The Sirius Crossing

The Sirius Crossing by John Creed

Fiction/Spy-Thriller/Adult/213 Pages

"Jack Valentine has been in the intelligence game too long and it is starting to show, but he accepts one more mission - he always does. It seems like a simple task, but it throws up deadly questions and he doesn't know the answers. What were American Special Forces doing in Ireland Twenty-five years ago, and why does it matter now? What is the thread which leads from a deserted mountainside to the offices of the White House?

Suddenly Valentine has information that everybody wants, and he finds himself the quarry in a pitiless chase. To complicate matters, he is joined by an old friend who is staying just ahead of his own deadly pursuit. And he draws an old flame into danger, because it seems that wherever Jack Valentine goes, innocence seems to suffer. Valentine no longer knows what threatens him most; the dark alliance of men who want to kill him; the terrible storm crossing he is forced to undertake in a battered, converted trawler; or his own dangerous cynicism."

Review

An okay book, but it lets you down on a number of occasions.

The concept is a good one - American Special Forces on a clandestine mission in Northern Ireland at the height of the troubles in that country - and it has the potential for a cracking good yarn. Unfortunately, it sometimes felt like the author was padding the story; trying to flesh it out and establish more depth to his characters. He does this with the frequent use of flashbacks, which sometimes are placed inappropriately thereby interrupting the flow. Also, as well as trying to solve his own dilemma, the main protagonist, Jack Valentine, sets about resolving his friend's troubles, resulting in a sub-plot which is unsatisfactorily concluded. It left me with a feeling of "Huh ... ?

On the plus side, there are some excellent insights into the denizens of the IRA, and how their struggle shaped the political landscape. It also explores the darker side of the people caught up in the struggle. The descriptive passages are of a celluloid-like quality. And the crossing of the sea during the one-in-a-hundred-years storm is nail biting.

A word of caution. because of the nature of the characters in this book, the violence is quite graphic.

My Rating: