The Covenant

A Harrison & Swann Thriller #3

by Jeff Gulvin

Washington is being brought to its knees by a terrorist bombing campaign. Ill-equipped to deal with the spectre of domestic terrorism the FBI call in the Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist squad and Jack Swann. Meanwhile FBI agent Johnny Harrison is facing up to old ghosts as he investigates a series of killings among the hobs who ride the freight trains in the South, and unearths both an old friend and a plot to arm the militias for the coming war that will tear the USA apart. For years the USA has been spreading internal strife in countries opposed to it. Now somebody is doing the same to them and only two men - one American, one Englishman - can save the world’s most powerful nation from itself. Jeff Gulvin has used his extensive contacts within Special Branch and the FBI to create a nail-biting and uniquely authentic bang-up-to-date thriller about the shadowy world of security, espionage and terrorism. From the dusty railyards of Louisiana, to the corridors of the Pentagon and to the streets of West London, this is an atmospheric, fast-moving thriller heavy with the dangers we all face in the first years of the 21st century.

Genres: Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

AKA J.M. Gulvin.

Jeff Gulvin is the author of nine novels and is currently producing a new series set in the American West. His previous titles include three books starring maverick detective Aden Vanner and another three featuring FBI agent Harrison, as well as two novels originally published under the pseudonym Adam Armstrong, his great-grandfather’s name. He received acclaim for ghostwriting Long Way Down, the prize-winning account of a motorcycle trip from Scotland to the southern tip of Africa by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. The breadth of Gulvin’s fiction is vast, and his style has been described as commercial with just the right amount of literary polish. His stories range from hard-boiled crime to big-picture thriller to sweeping romance.

Half English and half Scottish, Gulvin has always held a deep affection for the United States. He and his wife spend as much time in America as possible, particularly southern Idaho, their starting point for road-trip research missions to Nevada, Texas, or Louisiana, depending on where the next story takes them.

Reviews

[John]

A very entertaining read. This is a thriller with a lot of plot threads and characters which interweave throughout the book, with the tying together at the end being quite effective, but a little bit rushed. If I tell you that the plot involves Bin Laden, samurai warriors, Chu-chi tunnel rats, hobos riding the rails, the murder of a US marine in London, the CIA, the FBI, etc you will get a feel of the complexity. It seems well researched, but the writing is a bit pedestrian. But, as I said I enjoyed it!

[Ian]

Enjoyable read - it took me a while to get into and introduces a lot of characters very quickly. The tension mounts and mounts and eventually all the disperate parts come together very well