By Stealth

Tweed & Co. #9

by Colin Forbes

Paula Grey has her first inkling of danger when a boat vanishes in fog off Lymington, its sole occupant drifts ashore, dead. Then a British naval commander warns Tweed that vessels are disappearing. How are these and other factors related? By the author of Cross of Fire.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Espionage, Crime, Mystery, War, Action

544 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1992

About the author

Raymond Harold Sawkins was a British novelist, who mainly published under the pseudonym Colin Forbes, but also as Richard Raine, Jay Bernard and Harold English. He only published three of his first books under his own name.Sawkins wrote over 40 books, mostly as Colin Forbes. He was most famous for his long-running series of thriller novels in which the principal character is Tweed, Deputy Director of the Secret Intelligence Service.

Sawkins attended The Lower School of John Lyon in Harrow, London. At the age of 16 he started work as a sub-editor with a magazine and book publishing company. He served with the British Army in North Africa and the Middle East during World War II. Before his demobilization he was attached to the Army Newspaper Unit in Rome. On his return to civilian life he joined a publishing and printing company, commuting to London for 20 years, until he became successful enough to be a full-time novelist.

Sawkins was married to a Scots-Canadian, Jane Robertson (born 31 March 1925, died 1993). Together they had one daughter, Janet.Sawkins died of a heart attack on August 23, 2006.

Sawkins was often quoted as personally visiting every location he features in his books to aid the authenticity of the writing. As a result, there is detailed description of the places where the action in his books takes place.

Fury (1995) was inspired by the courage of his wife before she died, and he set it apart from his other novels “because of the strong emotion and sense of loss that runs through it”.

Just one of Forbes' novels was made into a film: Avalanche Express, directed by Mark Robson and starring Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw, which was released in 1979 to generally poor reviews.

Reviews

[Dag H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat engaging thriller (first half) due to the enigmatic enemy. The recurring (convenient) fog is unexplained though... Later the book flattens into the normal paper mache thriller protagonists and predictable action. Scarred by racist and jingoistic slur.

[Jan Jaap]

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Found a copy of the second printing of this book in the Dutch translation by Rob Schoemaker at De Stationsboekwissel on Utrecht Centraal.

In the https://webggc.oclc.org/cbs/DB=2.37/X... Dutch titledescription you find the printing history (1994 (1), 1995 (2+3), 1998 (4), 2002 (5), 1999 (7) ) (and correct ISBN (of this second printing)).

I like most stories of Colin Forbes. This certainly was for the time a very adapt theme. The storyline is most ingenious. Nevertheless I wasn't really bound to the story, so I was happy (without a reading addiction). Nice story.



https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... url

[Terry Halligan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was easily the best book that I have read this year and heads the list of those by this author. Paula Grey has her first inkling of danger when a boat vanishes in fog off Lymington, its sole occupant drifts ashore, dead. Then a British naval commander warns Tweed that vessels are disappearing. How are these and other factors related? By the author of "Cross of Fire".
A marvellous read and it is a great pity that the author has stopped writing.

[Susan]

Current times thriller set in New Forest, Brussels and Denmark

[Vinidhra Shankar · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise was good and the first half of the book was very engaging. The climax fell a bit flat and less dramatic as the plot.

[Nigel · Rating 4 out of 5]

By Stealth, is the ninth book in the Tweed and Co series and this one like the others offers an excellent story the spans many European cities as Tweed tracks down the mastermind of the intricate plot. There is usually mix of red herrings, a large pool of potential suspects and death defying escapes by the team. There is an element of formulaic plot construction by Forbes, but since it’s a formula that works I don’t see much of a problem with this.
Up next is book ten, “Cross of Fire” which I will approach with keen enthusiasm to see how Tweed and his team will save the world next time out.

[Laurna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mind-blowing crime thriller...!!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read by a good read by a good author.

[Marius Gurgu · Rating 1 out of 5]

boring and predictable