Tim Sebastian

Begins with a secret US Special Forces team murdering a group of allied soldiers In the Iraq desert as they had found canisters of chemical nerve agents. The order was given by top military and political figures as the US had agreed that chemical warfare be outlawed internationally and did not want it to ne known that they were still holding stocks. A few years later two canisters went missing. A British journalist, Peter Marsh, was posted to Washington after reporting in Iraq and he had come across the officer who had led the attack on the allied soldiers. Vic Harden and his team had become contaminated by handling the canisters and he was one of the few sill alive, albeit he was close to death. He contacted Marsh as he wanted the story of the chemicals to become public knowledge. March uncovers a story of murder, treachery and inexplicable illnesses in the higher echelons of Washington and in partnership with a very ill Harden tries with only partial success to uncover the story. However, the powerful people in Washington, who were making money in selling these chemicals to countries around the world, would paper over the tracks and would ensure that no newspaper would publish Marsh's account. A very readable book and no doubt there may be truthful elements to the story. Let down by an implausible and weak conclusion.… (mere)

This novel is pitch perfect. Not your normal spy story. Very realistic. It kept me up almost all night. I read it in just one sitting. The suspense builds and builds. What started as beach reading ended up being something else entirely.
A good example of a spy novel that transcends the genre. For me the only question that matters when judging on how good a novel is, it's not whether it has spies or detectives or nurses marrying doctors. What matters is whether it shows instead of telling or whether there are literary devices that do not put me out of the story. In this case it was true on both accounts.
Nice discovery on holidays..."… (mere)