Exterminating Angels

by Peter Dunant

Original Pluto Paperback Thriller !!!

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[Mad Medico · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pacey, readable novel that does little to excel itself. The ‘Robin Hood terrorists’ angle is emphasised at first but largely dropped around halfway in, especially when their last job starts to go awry. The terrorist characters are fairly well sketched, with the requisite tension between them over methods, aims and the balance of civilian and militant life. The intelligence services scenes are a major weakness for me, the characters being bland and underdeveloped and far too peripheral. The intrigue is another weakness, with the triple agent reveal being so obvious and low-key that is could be easily missed, buried as it is in a late chapter. Overall it’s an enjoyable novel which humanises the terrorist cell (and seems to ‘root for’ them especially considering the botched MI5 assassination at the end which takes out one of the hostages and calls to mind the Gibraltar IRA controversy of the period), but it doesn’t really approach the upper echelons of pinko drama represented by Edge of Darkness and A Very British Coup.