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Sword of Allah
This highly topical techno thriller blends political intrigue with suspense and gutsy action in sharply researched Mediterranean settings. Weapons of mass destruction are in terrorist hands. With much of the story based on fact, this is a chilling portrayal of a possible future.
In February 2016 North Korea announced the successful testing of a fusion bomb. This sets the backdrop to frantic diplomatic activity and a multi-threaded tale of intrigue with the involvement of Iran as well as North Korea.
Ex-Royal Marine Steve Baldwin (Gate of Tears, Sicilian Channel) has been involved in tracking a rogue Chinese agent to Malta, but the capture does not go according to plan. Changed priorities resulting from the British Government’s dark objectives move the action to North Africa where political instability is the norm and duplicity the name of the game.
Thousands of lives are at stake, but the UK Prime Minister is bent on secretly acquiring the technology for her country.
This story is the second story in Marinero’s ‘Maghreb Trilogy’ and will be of interest to readers who enjoy topical tales of espionage and geopolitics based on leading edge technology with plenty of suspense and action.
In February 2016 North Korea announced the successful testing of a fusion bomb. This sets the backdrop to frantic diplomatic activity and a multi-threaded tale of intrigue with the involvement of Iran as well as North Korea.
Ex-Royal Marine Steve Baldwin (Gate of Tears, Sicilian Channel) has been involved in tracking a rogue Chinese agent to Malta, but the capture does not go according to plan. Changed priorities resulting from the British Government’s dark objectives move the action to North Africa where political instability is the norm and duplicity the name of the game.
Thousands of lives are at stake, but the UK Prime Minister is bent on secretly acquiring the technology for her country.
This story is the second story in Marinero’s ‘Maghreb Trilogy’ and will be of interest to readers who enjoy topical tales of espionage and geopolitics based on leading edge technology with plenty of suspense and action.
320 pages, Paperback
First published May 31, 2011
2 people are currently reading
272 people want to read
About the author
James Marinero
9 books9 followersJames Marinero grew up in West Wales and has at various times been a chef, a milkman, maths lecturer and IT consultant - but NEVER a nerd!
He has been passionately involved with boats and the sea for over fifty years and is now achieving a lifelong ambition to write novels, spending much of his writing time on his boat which he has sailed extensively in the Atlantic, and across the Pacific to New Zealand.
During his various careers he has worked in the Middle East, Russia, Scandinavia, the US, Kazakhstan and much of Europe.
His personal interests, career, education and travel background have equipped him well to write adventure and techno-thriller novels.
When he is not on his boat he lives on the Hampshire coast.
He has been passionately involved with boats and the sea for over fifty years and is now achieving a lifelong ambition to write novels, spending much of his writing time on his boat which he has sailed extensively in the Atlantic, and across the Pacific to New Zealand.
During his various careers he has worked in the Middle East, Russia, Scandinavia, the US, Kazakhstan and much of Europe.
His personal interests, career, education and travel background have equipped him well to write adventure and techno-thriller novels.
When he is not on his boat he lives on the Hampshire coast.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 8, 2011
Gate of Tears is a first rate geopolitical thriller on a grand scale. Author Marinero sets the main action of the novel in 2017, allowing him to extrapolate current geopolitical, economic and technical conditions, abilities and trends to create the setting and background of the story. In the first forty percent of the book (I read the Kindle version) the plot is interrupted at times with back-story for the development of characters, their history and explanations of technical and geopolitical background and developments since 2011. Thereafter, the unfolding of the complex plot with its many interlocking parts is relentless. The amount of information packed into this book is truly impressive. There’s geopolitical history, the UK and Chinese political structures and cultures, military technology and practices (air, land and naval), gold mining history and technology, economics, commodity trading and much more. In the area of espionage central to the book, there is spy craft, tradecraft and field craft in convincing detail. This is the only thriller of which I’m aware that has a bibliography of sources. The amount of research that had to have gone into the book is simply awesome. To the extent that I have some knowledge of the things dealt with in the book, I found the information, both broad and detailed, to be accurate in the extreme. In areas with which I don’t presume to have complete knowledge, I found the book to be plausible.
The characters in Gate of Tears, both major and minor, are well drawn and well developed. The villains are suitably psychopathic, but complex. The heroes are equally complex and suitable heroic without being saccharine. All the characters are believable.
The true test of a thriller is its action. In Gate of Tears, the action is fast paced, hard, gritty and realistic. A lover of the genre couldn’t ask for more or better. I rate this book a 5 star must read. I can’t wait for the second in the series, The Sicilian Channel, to appear. We are promised more of the ex Royal Marine Steve Baldwin. I also hope we have not heard the last of the beautiful Albanian assassin with her many names.
Lee Holz, author of the war on terror thrillers: The Abomination Assignment (#1) and The Honeymoon Assignment (#2) featuring Alice and Tom Bowin.
The characters in Gate of Tears, both major and minor, are well drawn and well developed. The villains are suitably psychopathic, but complex. The heroes are equally complex and suitable heroic without being saccharine. All the characters are believable.
The true test of a thriller is its action. In Gate of Tears, the action is fast paced, hard, gritty and realistic. A lover of the genre couldn’t ask for more or better. I rate this book a 5 star must read. I can’t wait for the second in the series, The Sicilian Channel, to appear. We are promised more of the ex Royal Marine Steve Baldwin. I also hope we have not heard the last of the beautiful Albanian assassin with her many names.
Lee Holz, author of the war on terror thrillers: The Abomination Assignment (#1) and The Honeymoon Assignment (#2) featuring Alice and Tom Bowin.
October 2, 2016
“Sword of Allah” is the second book of James Marinero’s Maghreb Trilogy and the third featuring Steve Baldwin as its protagonist and the ambiguous, many-named and utterly ruthless Albanian female assassin (see Marinero’s superb debut novel “Gate of Tears” for the first outing of the two). As in the prior to books, the action is fast and fierce and the writing crisp. The background of history, technology and geopolitics (all based on research documented in the bibliography – how many novels have one!) remains rich and solid. The sweep and scope of the plots have grown from book to book to reach breathtaking proportions. The extrapolations of existing technology and international politics remain believable. Apart from the characters and plot (which as in the first two books are beautifully done), the only thing that seems wholly fictional is the name and location of the terrorist organization to which the primary villain belongs. “Sword of Allah” is another must read for thriller lovers.
July 2, 2011
An intricate plot developing the character of a psychologically damaged Serbian girl who becomes a terrorist, interwoven with an arrogant Australian gold mining entrepreneur who runs his life like he plays his poker. Dry wit, plenty of action, and a delve into what the very near future holds for politics in the Middle East, Chinese superpower amibitions - both military / intelligence and financial. A real page-turner (I have been told by several informal reviewers) for those who enjoy techno-thrillers, it culminates in aerial and naval conflict in the Red Sea. Really a man's book, though there are many ladies who enjoy this genre. There's a bit more about the background at the book site Gate of Tears
December 20, 2016
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
Anyone who loves an intriguingly, solid plot well orchestrated thriller, this should be a novel on your reading list. Grasping my attention within the first few pages I felt swallowed into suspense and allowed the novel to take me on a journey until the the end. I feel with an omnipresence held within many international endeavours in today society that this novel resonates a very real factor, enhances eerie feelings held within a reader, while questions association to that in the real world of what lies between fact and fiction. Looking forward to Marinero future enterprises. A choice read!
Anyone who loves an intriguingly, solid plot well orchestrated thriller, this should be a novel on your reading list. Grasping my attention within the first few pages I felt swallowed into suspense and allowed the novel to take me on a journey until the the end. I feel with an omnipresence held within many international endeavours in today society that this novel resonates a very real factor, enhances eerie feelings held within a reader, while questions association to that in the real world of what lies between fact and fiction. Looking forward to Marinero future enterprises. A choice read!
December 15, 2016
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
If you enjoy a tightly-plotted. well-written thriller, this is the book for you! The story grabbed me at page one and didn't let up until the last page. The international geopolitical situation today makes this all seem real and that is so, so chilling. The line between fact and fiction is very vague.
Now when I listen to the daily news, I will be expecting the most ominous of those events to appear in the next of this series. An excellent read!
If you enjoy a tightly-plotted. well-written thriller, this is the book for you! The story grabbed me at page one and didn't let up until the last page. The international geopolitical situation today makes this all seem real and that is so, so chilling. The line between fact and fiction is very vague.
Now when I listen to the daily news, I will be expecting the most ominous of those events to appear in the next of this series. An excellent read!
January 22, 2022
I really enjoyed this thriller by James Marinero, the first I had read by this author. With well developed characters, plenty of action and a well researched insight into how future world politics and warfare may develop, it has everything a fan of a good military/political thriller would want. I can highly recommend it and will certainly be looking at reading any other novels Mr Marinero has written.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews