James Houston Turner

Very good read. I really enjoyed the storyline, layer upon layers, and the characters more than held their own.

Because of his past, Talanov was so careful to avoid becoming too close to anyone and when someone finally breaks throught the walls he had erected around his life and heart, his fears come true... His past finds him and threatens to destroy everything.

Well written and a blast to read, James Houston takes you on an adventure of a retired KGB spy, who defected to Australia when his department disbanded. A wild ride that doesn't let up until it reaches the conclusion.


This was a First-Reads selection.… (mere)

November Echo is a great book. Although it is short, it had suspense, humor, gritty action scenes and a brilliant story. I have never read any of James Houston Turner’s other books before and I think this was a great introduction to his work and a great introduction to Talanov. I will be reading his other works on this wonderful character.

I liked Talanov. He comes across a bit chauvinistic but lovable. There were times I wanted to hug him and other times I wanted to strangle him. I love how this character can make the choices he makes and is ready to handle those consequences from those choices.

There isn’t a lot to say about this book that won’t spoil it but I will say that if you are a fan of suspense and spy thrillers, you will definitely want to read November Echo.… (mere)

This is simply a masterpiece on espionage, a very intense thriller, like the good ones from the old days, when John le Carré, Ian Fleming and Frederick Forsyth were the master writers of espionage. Now the world has a new master! The story is superb and the characters very well develop. The plot is simple: an ex-KGB agent (Aleksandr Talanov) lives in Australia with his wife Andrea. During a farewell reception at his home in Sydney (they are planning moving to USA) for friends (ex-KGB agents and more), their guests are murder and he escape with his wife (by accident) and a wild persecution starts. The interesting part is that he has no clue what is going on, until he start linking some pieces together from his past with the help of trusted friends. Is there a second Department Thirteen?

Brilliantly written, this novel is a page turner that you read at the edge of your seat. You get so involved that you easily start cheering for our hero. And the end is superb. Really a masterpiece like I have not read in a long time. And things only get better with the sequel of this book, another masterpiece named "The Greco's Game", even better than this one, if that is possible! Read my review on "The Greco's Game".

This book was written by Mr. James Houston Turner and was published on September 2011. I recommend this book to the permanent library of any reader that loves thriller, espionage and a very well written novel that will keep you entertained for some hours. It took me around 11 hours to read this book.

The author was kind enough to provide me a book for reviewing in electronic format. I was not requested to provide a positive review. Opinion expressed here is my own.… (mere)

This is a very intense thriller, like the good ones from the old days, when John le Carré was the master writer of espionage. The story is superb and the characters very well develop. The plot is simple: an ex-KGB agent (Talanov) loses his wife and he blames himself for her death. He thinks he was the target when his wife was hit and died at his arms. After struggling for months and moving from Australia to Los Angeles, he gets involved with a Ukrainian prostitute named Larissa, that was caught on a human trafic scam by Russian mob. She drugs him and steal his wallet with his most precious possession: his wedding photo. When tracking Larissa down, Talanov gets involved in a world ruled by Russian mafia, composed by some old colleagues from KGB. His loyalty to his friends and mainly to Larissa is tested and the plot develops like a chess game. Brilliantly written, this novel is a page turner that you read at the edge of your seat. You get so involved that you easily start cheering for your hero. And the end is superb. Really a masterpiece like I have not read in a long time.

This book was written by Mr. James Houston Turner and will be released on September 2012. I recommend this book to the permanent library of any reader that loves thriller, espionage and a very well written novel that will keep you entertained for some hours. It took me around 11 hours to read this book.

The author was kind enough to provide me a book for reviewing in electronic format. Thank you James for the opportunity you gave me to review this wonderful book!
… (mere)