Death Force, Matt Lynn's tale of mercenaries, RPGs and the famously dangerous Helmand province takes me a long way out of my comfort zone.
Not since I was a schoolboy reading the books of Sven Hassel have I delved into military thrillers. And I doubt I would have picked this one up had the author not emailed me and offered a review copy. And I must admit I was swayed by his finance blog.
So I can't really give any indication as to how Lynn's books compare to those of the likes of Andy McNab and Chris Ryan, who have made the genre so popular and probably paved the way for the likes of Lynn. But I can say this: I was not surprised to discover, after finishing the book, that Lynn had host-written several successful military thrillers before, because he knows how to put a book together.
Death Force has a great set-up, is well-structured, moves with good pace, has some interesting, if occasionally clichéd, characters and moves to a gripping conclusion through a series of unexpected turns. On top of this Lynn can really write, and his dialogue and sense of timing in particular are impressive.
And I enjoyed it. It took me back to reading Sven Hassel and Commando comic books. It is boy's own adventure stuff. The weapons are a little more sophisticated, and there was a lot more swearing but it is unashamedly designed to appeal to the small boy who wanted to be a soldier in all of us.
Death Force covers the quest of Steve West, a former SAS soldier, to complete one last job that will give him financial security sufficient to retire for good from the dangerous business of working in a Private Military Corporation running security in Iraq and Afghanistan. But to achieve that the job has to be big, and so it is. He is recruited totake a team of 10 into Helmand to relieve an Afghan warlord of his £50m war chest, at a price of £3m per man. West recruits a motley crew that includes a drinking and gambling former Sandhurst prodigy, a Ghurka, an Aussie who prattles on about cricket and barbies, a pyschotic Russian etc etc.
It's good stuff. Death Force is said to be the first in a series. I suppose the acid test for me - as a non-reader of military thrillers - is whether I would read another one. And to my great surprise, I think I probably would.
