5 comments about Last Light (Unabridged).

1. Not the most action packed of the Nick Stone books, but I think it's the best. We finally get to see Nick Stone become human and have human reactions. In the other Nick Stone books, he is a bit of a super solider but in Last Light we get a glimpse of the real man. It's well written and the plot twists aren't predictable. I definitely enjoyed it.



2. After reading and enjoying Andy McNabýs first two books, Remote Control and Crisis Four with the continuing Nick Stone character I thought I had found a new series. Both were well written featuring interesting characters and plenty of action along with a complex mystery and plot. Andy McNab is a former Commando in the British SAS so he brings an incredible authenticity to the work. When he describes a gun working a certain way or other key details, you know he did not research it off the Internet or found it in some book; he lived it. But, his last book Firewall was a disappointment especially when compared to the first two. Unfortunately, that trend continues in this recent effort.

   As this novel opens, Nick Stone has put himself unknowingly into harmýs way once again. Desperate for money for himself as well as for treating Kelly (his orphan whose entire family was massacred because of his mistake) he has accepted a contract assassination job from The Firm. The target will appear outside the Houses of Parliament in London, England in what seems to be an officially sanctioned hit at the highest levels of the United States and Britainýs governments. Unbeknownst to him, the assassination is one very small part of a much bigger picture that will turn into a trap.

   Nick is seconds away from the kill shot when he aborts the attempt for a variety of reasons. Police swarm the area and while he escapes the initial gun battle with police he soon comes under their custody before being transferred to his very unhappy employers. They make their feelings physically known to him before giving him one more chance. The target will be in Panama for the next week. Nick is to go to Panama, surveil the target and complete the assassination, this time without fail. The target must be dead by the last light on Friday evening or they will kill Kelly.

   Soon Nick is in Panama and what should have been an action oriented read (despite the nonsense on the back jacket) takes a hard turn into the boredom zone. Along with Columbian guerrillas, United States Government interests, Chinese business interests, politics and the environmental movement become major characters in the work. The action slows to a near halt in the muddy jungles of Panama around the Canal Zone as various characters discuss politics and environmental policy with Nick. Unfortunately, the politics and environmental policy situation are old news for any reader who remotely pays attention to world events and as such, raises the boredom factor substantially. The arguments go on for page after mind numbing page and even after all the discussion and lectures, no solutions are offered to at least to attempt to make the preceding pages have some merit on any level.

   That fact along with the fact that the ending is amazingly vague and open ended to create the need for a sequel for all the characters, major and minor, makes this novel the absolute worst of the series to date. While the first two books were good and the third mediocre at best, the fall in this one is amazing. It comes across as the literary equivalent of base-jumping without a parachute. Hopefully, this is as bad as it gets, but Andy McNab is running out of time to save the series from himself.




3. Last Light is the fourth in the series of books written by Andy McNab. The whole series of books is great and this is no exception. Andy McNab obviously decided when writing this book that he needed to give his character some extra depth. In this book we see Nick Stone make some serious human decisions.

   After reading this book you come away with a lesson in survival, in a way it teaches you jungle tracking skills and gives you a good insight into how special operations are coordinated. If you're an SAS or any kind of Special Forces enthusiast it's a good read just to get inside the mind of a professional elite soldier.

   I enjoyed this book greatly, the plot keeps you guessing, and its never obvious what's going to happen. Am not going to spoil the book am sure if you want to find out what its about you just read the Amazon.com review but if you enjoyed the rest of the Nick Stone series this book is going to make you very happy.

   4 Stars




4. This is the first Andy McNab book that I have read. I doubt I will read another. His writing is not very gripping and the ending is simply a set up for the next book. His repetitive use of some descriptive phrases actually detracted from his writing style. For example, I lost count of the number of times he used the phrase "threw it down my neck" to describe eating. The first time was clever. After ten or so, it became irritating.



5. ... produce in a lifetime. Mr. McNab's SAS training and the degree to which he absorbed it and can recreate that type of thinking on the page combine to make a nearly unparalleled reading experience. His protagonists are far more capable, observant, knowledgeable, experienced, and (his term) switched-on than any I've met in other books. There is simply no comparison between how Nick Stone here sees, thinks, and works, and how your average thriller author imagines it might go. Last Light is so dense with pure thought, planning, detail, and tradecraft that I could hardly point to an outstanding passage. It's all good. That people like Mr. McNab exist and can do what he describes so expertly is astonishing. Thanks so much for putting this on paper, Mr. McNab. And by the way - you and your mates are awesome. Glad you're in our camp.
   
   Having said all that, this book does suffer from plot super-sizing. Just as in Crisis Four, Mr. McNab creates a huge conspiracy within which his agent thrashes around, and which the author simply can't resolve. It's too bad because if he just crafted the story of some mission without global complications it would be a jewel. As it is, Last Light abruptly ends in confused mid-plot. Why can't Nick be on a legit SAS mission instead of having it all forced out of him by the powers that be?
   
   And the backstory of Kelly, which I suppose is there to make Nick more of a person (and to provide plot hooks) soon becomes tiresome. I'm not interested in Nick Stone as a struggling surrogate father - but I'll be reading every page I can find describing him in the field. It's just too good to miss.
   
   An added benny of Mr. McNab's writing is that you get some thoughtful and highly observant commentary on the environments in which his agent moves. Last Light taught me a lot about Panama and the Canal situation. The downside to his books is that you can't face another action novel for a while, because you know that even a good one will be dishwater next to this.

No comments about SIX SECONDS IN DALLAS: A MICRO-STUDY OF THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION.

2 comments about The Assassination Please Almanac.

1. Tom Miller's Assassination Please Almanac was an extremely valuable reference work when first published in the '70s. Its chronology and other features remain unique and valuable today. It is good to see it available again!!



2. I lost this book years ago and no used dealer can keep it in stock. To see it reprinted is a dream come true.

No comments about Great Heroin Coup.

No comments about In the Crosshairs (Famous Assassinations And Attempts FromJulius Cesar to John Lennon).

No comments about Were we controlled?.

1 comments about The JFK Assassination : Dissecting The Corpus With Occam And Cassius.

1. The only reason this book rates 'one star' is because the option of 'zero stars' is not available.

   This book has to be one of the all-time worst books written about the assassination, right up there with the likes of 'Case Closed' and 'Final Disclosure.'

   Like 'Case Closed,' Hartwright's book is full of lies, deception, and misinformation.
   In addition, it is poorly written and contains multiple grammatical errors.

   The book also engages in bashing of liberals, homosexuals, Jews, Israel, and President Lyndon Johnson, just to name a few.

   Hartwright contends that Oswald supposedly acquired a high-tech 'exploding' bullet and intentionally loaded it as his third cartridge out of four. Any experienced assassination researcher would realize how ridiculous that theory is.

   Don't waste your hard-earned money on this volume of trash...

No comments about The Crime at Ford's Theatre The Picture Story of America's Greatest Crime The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

No comments about A Biography of Elihu Washburne: Congressman, Secretary, of State Envoy Extraordinary Volume Three: American Diplomat During the Assassination of Lincoln, Reconstruction Impeachment o.

No comments about The assassination of Abraham Lincoln and its expiation,.