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Nick Stone #3
Firewall
Helsinki, December 1999. Nick Stone, ex-SAS, now a 'K' working for British Intelligence on deniable operations, is tough, resourceful, ruthless, highly trained - and desperately in need of cash...
Offered the lucrative freelance job of kidnapping a mafia warlord and delivering him to St Petersburg, it seems to Stone that his problems are over. In fact, they are only just beginning.
Stone enters the bleak underworld of the former Soviet republic of Estonia, where unknown aggressors stalk the bitter landscape, and he soon finds himself caught between implacable enemies. For Russia has embarked upon a concerted cyber-espionage offensive, hacking into some of the West's most sensitive military secrets. American and British intelligence agencies are determined to thwart them. And the mafia are waiting in the wings with their own chillingly brutal solution...
Offered the lucrative freelance job of kidnapping a mafia warlord and delivering him to St Petersburg, it seems to Stone that his problems are over. In fact, they are only just beginning.
Stone enters the bleak underworld of the former Soviet republic of Estonia, where unknown aggressors stalk the bitter landscape, and he soon finds himself caught between implacable enemies. For Russia has embarked upon a concerted cyber-espionage offensive, hacking into some of the West's most sensitive military secrets. American and British intelligence agencies are determined to thwart them. And the mafia are waiting in the wings with their own chillingly brutal solution...
576 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2000
334 people are currently reading
1070 people want to read
About the author
Andy McNab
205 books1,160 followersAndy McNab joined the infantry in 1976 as a boy soldier. In 1984 he was badged as a member of 22 SAS Regiment. He served in B Squadron 22 SAS for ten years and worked on both covert and overt special operations worldwide, including anti-terrorist and anti-drug operations in the Middle and Far East, South and Central America and Northern Ireland.
Trained as a specialist in counter terrorism, prime target elimination, demolitions, weapons and tactics, covert surveillance and information gathering in hostile environments, and VIP protection, McNab worked on cooperative operations with police forces, prison services, anti-drug forces and western backed guerrilla movements as well as on conventional special operations. In Northern Ireland he spent two years working as an undercover operator with 14th Intelligence Group, going on to become an instructor.
McNab also worked as an instructor on the SAS selection and training team and instructed foreign special forces in counter terrorism, hostage rescue and survival training.
Andy McNab has written about his experiences in the SAS in two bestselling books, Bravo Two Zero (1993) and Immediate Action (1995). Bravo Two Zero is the highest selling war book of all time and has sold over 1.7 million copies in the UK. To date it has been published in 17 countries and translated into 16 languages. The CD spoken word version of Bravo Two Zero, narrated by McNab, sold over 60,000 copies and earned a silver disc. The BBC's film of Bravo Two Zero, starring Sean Bean, was shown on primetime BBC 1 television in 1999 and released on DVD in 2000.
Immediate Action, McNab's autobiography, spent 18 weeks at the top of the bestseller lists following the lifting on an ex-parte injunction granted to the Ministry of Defence in September 1995. To date, Immediate Action has now sold over 1.4 million copies in the UK.
McNab is the author of seven fast action thrillers, highly acclaimed for their authenticity and all Sunday Times bestsellers. Published in 1997, Remote Control was hailed as the most authentic thriller ever written and has sold over half a million copies in the UK. McNab's subsequent thrillers, Crisis Four, Firewall, Last Light , Liberation Day , Dark Winter , Deep Black and Aggressor have all gone on to sell equally well. The central character in all the books is Nick Stone, a tough ex-SAS operative working as a 'K' on deniable operations for British Intelligence.
McNab's fiction draws extensively on his experiences and knowledge of Special Forces soldiering. He has been officially registered by Neilsen Bookscan as the bestselling British thriller writer of the last year.
Trained as a specialist in counter terrorism, prime target elimination, demolitions, weapons and tactics, covert surveillance and information gathering in hostile environments, and VIP protection, McNab worked on cooperative operations with police forces, prison services, anti-drug forces and western backed guerrilla movements as well as on conventional special operations. In Northern Ireland he spent two years working as an undercover operator with 14th Intelligence Group, going on to become an instructor.
McNab also worked as an instructor on the SAS selection and training team and instructed foreign special forces in counter terrorism, hostage rescue and survival training.
Andy McNab has written about his experiences in the SAS in two bestselling books, Bravo Two Zero (1993) and Immediate Action (1995). Bravo Two Zero is the highest selling war book of all time and has sold over 1.7 million copies in the UK. To date it has been published in 17 countries and translated into 16 languages. The CD spoken word version of Bravo Two Zero, narrated by McNab, sold over 60,000 copies and earned a silver disc. The BBC's film of Bravo Two Zero, starring Sean Bean, was shown on primetime BBC 1 television in 1999 and released on DVD in 2000.
Immediate Action, McNab's autobiography, spent 18 weeks at the top of the bestseller lists following the lifting on an ex-parte injunction granted to the Ministry of Defence in September 1995. To date, Immediate Action has now sold over 1.4 million copies in the UK.
McNab is the author of seven fast action thrillers, highly acclaimed for their authenticity and all Sunday Times bestsellers. Published in 1997, Remote Control was hailed as the most authentic thriller ever written and has sold over half a million copies in the UK. McNab's subsequent thrillers, Crisis Four, Firewall, Last Light , Liberation Day , Dark Winter , Deep Black and Aggressor have all gone on to sell equally well. The central character in all the books is Nick Stone, a tough ex-SAS operative working as a 'K' on deniable operations for British Intelligence.
McNab's fiction draws extensively on his experiences and knowledge of Special Forces soldiering. He has been officially registered by Neilsen Bookscan as the bestselling British thriller writer of the last year.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 121 reviews
November 21, 2021
In Andy McNab Firewall Nick stone is offered money to recover stolen military secrets, but soon finds he's a pawned in a bigger game in Finland. This was a great audiobook to listen to
November 28, 2017
I lied to a program...I am not finished. I will not finish. 1 out of 10 stars though it only lets me do 1 out of 5...
All right, I have to admit, I have read some terrible books and muddled through them JUST to say I do not give up and try and grasp what the author was trying to say...THIS ONE!!! The first 7 chapters is like a monologue and I just can't get into it. A blow by blow of what Nick Stone is doing and how his clothes are hanging and his thoughts on how things are going...for a few paras--maybe--for a few chapters? I think not. On to other books with a little more depth.
If you have time to waste or want to really go to war...tackle this book ..For me, I write this since I can not say I gave up....I placed it alone on my bookshelf now called "did not finish"...sigh...
All right, I have to admit, I have read some terrible books and muddled through them JUST to say I do not give up and try and grasp what the author was trying to say...THIS ONE!!! The first 7 chapters is like a monologue and I just can't get into it. A blow by blow of what Nick Stone is doing and how his clothes are hanging and his thoughts on how things are going...for a few paras--maybe--for a few chapters? I think not. On to other books with a little more depth.
If you have time to waste or want to really go to war...tackle this book ..For me, I write this since I can not say I gave up....I placed it alone on my bookshelf now called "did not finish"...sigh...
Read
July 1, 2009I DIDN'T read this book, I slipped while trying to hit TO-read. Now, it appears, there's no going back. I'll have to read it or pretend I didn't or maybe just change my name and leave the country.
December 20, 2008
The third of McNab’s Nick Stone book is just as good as the first two in the series. This time around the action is sent in a cold and wintry landscape, which cues lots of life-death battles in snowstorms and sub-zero temperatures, just as you would expect from the former SAS man. Stone dominates the action in this story, dodging from one bodged job to another, barely managing to stay alive and all the time trying to get some cash.
Ignore the fluff about orphaned kid Kelly and instead feel like you’re part of the team as you join Nick on lots of gritty missions. The book is dotted with great set-pieces and just seems to get better as it goes along. Things open with a kidnapping, followed by the infiltration of a secret computer base. Afterwards there’s an explosive attack on another compound and a final man-vs-elements scenario.
The set-pieces are expertly written and madly exciting. Attention to detail is spot on as always and, despite being packed with technical details, the writing is never boring. There are as many shoot-outs as you would expect, along with hard gangsters, tough guys and bomb-making in hotel bedrooms.
McNab always feels the need to have a gory attack in this series; in the first it was biting off someone’s face, in the second it was using an arrow on someone’s throat, and in this one it involves a tin can being used as a vicious weapon. McNab also does well at creating a loveable if sissy supporting character, Tom, and finding out what happens to him is one of the best parts of the suspense. All in all another excellent book.
Ignore the fluff about orphaned kid Kelly and instead feel like you’re part of the team as you join Nick on lots of gritty missions. The book is dotted with great set-pieces and just seems to get better as it goes along. Things open with a kidnapping, followed by the infiltration of a secret computer base. Afterwards there’s an explosive attack on another compound and a final man-vs-elements scenario.
The set-pieces are expertly written and madly exciting. Attention to detail is spot on as always and, despite being packed with technical details, the writing is never boring. There are as many shoot-outs as you would expect, along with hard gangsters, tough guys and bomb-making in hotel bedrooms.
McNab always feels the need to have a gory attack in this series; in the first it was biting off someone’s face, in the second it was using an arrow on someone’s throat, and in this one it involves a tin can being used as a vicious weapon. McNab also does well at creating a loveable if sissy supporting character, Tom, and finding out what happens to him is one of the best parts of the suspense. All in all another excellent book.
March 16, 2018
Firewall is the third of former SAS man, Andy McNab’s Nick Stone book and tts a decent enough thriller. As with the other Stone thrillers, all stories are written sequentially. So due to back story involved, I'd try to read them in the the order they were written.
Like all McNab novels, Firewall is filled with lots of authentic trade craft and attention to technical detail. Here the action is sent in a cold and wintry landscape. This gives rise to sub-zero life-death snowstorm battles with one set-piece following another. Stone dominates the action in this story. He zig-zags from one 'job /situation gone wrong' to another. Clinging onto life while trying to earn some cash in the process. As with the other books in the series, Nick Stone is a fallible human. And while Stone always survives the story itself is wide open. McNab writes about what he knows, so, while computers feature, this isn't a techno-thriller. Rather they are simply a motive for the bad guys. Lots of bomb-making, bad guy face punching, explosions, loud bangs and shoot-outs. Building to an inevitable man versus the weather climax at the end.
In this book we get a supporting character called Tom. McNab fleshes him out as a believable and likable person. The author also does fairly well in his descriptions of the bleak landscape and people who live in it. However, the child, Kelly, that Stone is looking after felt like a distraction to the main plot.
Recommended for lovers of fairly realistic Special Forces thrillers. Men who use their training as that are not super heroes.
Like all McNab novels, Firewall is filled with lots of authentic trade craft and attention to technical detail. Here the action is sent in a cold and wintry landscape. This gives rise to sub-zero life-death snowstorm battles with one set-piece following another. Stone dominates the action in this story. He zig-zags from one 'job /situation gone wrong' to another. Clinging onto life while trying to earn some cash in the process. As with the other books in the series, Nick Stone is a fallible human. And while Stone always survives the story itself is wide open. McNab writes about what he knows, so, while computers feature, this isn't a techno-thriller. Rather they are simply a motive for the bad guys. Lots of bomb-making, bad guy face punching, explosions, loud bangs and shoot-outs. Building to an inevitable man versus the weather climax at the end.
In this book we get a supporting character called Tom. McNab fleshes him out as a believable and likable person. The author also does fairly well in his descriptions of the bleak landscape and people who live in it. However, the child, Kelly, that Stone is looking after felt like a distraction to the main plot.
Recommended for lovers of fairly realistic Special Forces thrillers. Men who use their training as that are not super heroes.
January 19, 2011
If you want detailed descriptions of non-government special SAS ops by an individual in Finland and Estonia, where it is extremely frigid, dirty, dark, the government has failed (Estonia), the landscape and buildings represent a 1940-70's crumbling infrastructure that is dirty, dimly lit, under-heated, overpolluted, with mafia operatives operating at will independently (Estonia), then this is the book for you. If you're looking for gritty personal operations details involving that scenario and survival during and after an operation, then you'll find it here. 5 stars if that's what you're looking for.
There is no discussion of technology. If I mention Firewall 3 times, then I've exceeded it's use and explanation in the book. This is simply an operations book of detailed miserable minutia, that drags on for 200 pages past it's first climax, where the book should have ended. The name of the book and description describing encryption was just a charade to sell it.
Hats off to people with the personal stamina and trained skills to accomplish this level of infiltration and precise destruction. But that wasn't what I thought the book would rest solely on.
If you're looking for a techno-thriller with some James Bondish action to provide a plot, then keep on looking.
There is no discussion of technology. If I mention Firewall 3 times, then I've exceeded it's use and explanation in the book. This is simply an operations book of detailed miserable minutia, that drags on for 200 pages past it's first climax, where the book should have ended. The name of the book and description describing encryption was just a charade to sell it.
Hats off to people with the personal stamina and trained skills to accomplish this level of infiltration and precise destruction. But that wasn't what I thought the book would rest solely on.
If you're looking for a techno-thriller with some James Bondish action to provide a plot, then keep on looking.
February 14, 2019
For some reason there's something so enjoyable about reading Nick Stone ending up in the shit and trying to figure his way out of it. Great book; I can't wait to pick up the next one.
January 19, 2020
I romanzi con Nick Stone sono sempre belli, pieni di azione e di spiegazioni sullo spionaggio che a me piacciono molto, il tutto sempre unito a momenti di tenerezza molto emozionanti e personaggi che alla fine rimangono un po' nel cuore.
Il problema di questo terzo romanzo della serie è che ho trovato lo stile stavolta lento e ripetitivo, anche se poi alla fine gli accadimenti sono sempre interessanti e spingono ad andare avanti.
3.5*
Il problema di questo terzo romanzo della serie è che ho trovato lo stile stavolta lento e ripetitivo, anche se poi alla fine gli accadimenti sono sempre interessanti e spingono ad andare avanti.
3.5*
March 13, 2021
Excellent, with authentic action you don't read anywhere else. A fast paced page turner.
December 29, 2016
The fun part of the Nick Stone series is that the hero is not some sort of super special forces guy. He's fallible, human and has serious issues. I love the Seal Team Six No More books by Doug Murray, because the heroes die every now and then. But you know things will work out in the end. With the Nick Stone books all you know is that Nick will survive because there's another book in the Nick Stone series. That's all you know, for the rest the book stays wide open.
Furthermore, it is cleat that McNab is only writing what he knows about. There's no tech mumbo jumbo that makes no sense to the technical inclined reader. McNab knows about being in 'a drama' and how to get out of it. This part is significant because the story is about hi-tec computer stuff, and at no point McNab is pretending to understand that stuff, instead he makes it very clear he doesn't through Nick Stone. But he also makes it clear that this is irrelevant. It's a motive for the baddies in the story, but the details are left out, because they don't matter.
I can recommend this book to all of you that like thrillers about special forces fellas that are not super heroes.
Furthermore, it is cleat that McNab is only writing what he knows about. There's no tech mumbo jumbo that makes no sense to the technical inclined reader. McNab knows about being in 'a drama' and how to get out of it. This part is significant because the story is about hi-tec computer stuff, and at no point McNab is pretending to understand that stuff, instead he makes it very clear he doesn't through Nick Stone. But he also makes it clear that this is irrelevant. It's a motive for the baddies in the story, but the details are left out, because they don't matter.
I can recommend this book to all of you that like thrillers about special forces fellas that are not super heroes.
August 1, 2020
Very slow to start. The beginning had next to no action and felt quite dull. However, it all built up to one big finale, full of twists and turns similar to those in the other book. Did not enjoy reading it as much as the other ones, but I am definitely going to read the next book in the series.
November 28, 2021
I continue to enjoy the Nick Stone series of thrillers from Mr McNab, and this one continues the theme: our underdog hero desperately needs money to help his young ward (see previous books for details), and takes a job for the large pile of cash on offer.
All does not turn out well in this regard, although in the end, Nick sorts through it all, and most of the bad end badly, while on the whole the good survive. On the way, Nick is periodically beaten up by the bad, manages to fall into almost every available pile of vomit and/or urine, and gets very very cold and very very wet with the good.
This is part of the charm of Nick: all this bad stuff happens to him, and through it all he's definitely not the sort of Bond-like superhero, or the teflon-like character we find with Jack Reacher, say. Crap falls upon him from a great height at every turn - realistically bad stuff, too - and what we then get to see is the utter relentlessness of his character, his determination to see it through, come what may. He's like the Terminator: he "absolutely will not stop, until you are dead."
The other thing that we like about these books is the technical detail: when Andy McNab describes Nick improvises a tool for climbing a fence, he does it with gripping realism. When he has Nick coming across a stash of Russian ex-military explosives, Nick not only gives you the designation of the landmines, but he is also appalled at the fact that the detonators don't have their wires twisted together, as this puts them at risk of being detonated by a stray wireless signal. McNab really knows this stuff through personal experience, he's not just reading it out of his copy of Jane's Infantry Weapons 2007-2008.
Also worth noting that these books are very realistic in their descriptions of the environment he's moving through. As Nick travels through various Eastern Bloc countries, the details of the buildings and the landscape really ring true, and are well written.
Boy's own adventure stuff this may be, but it is top class, and I'll definitely be reading further in the series.
All does not turn out well in this regard, although in the end, Nick sorts through it all, and most of the bad end badly, while on the whole the good survive. On the way, Nick is periodically beaten up by the bad, manages to fall into almost every available pile of vomit and/or urine, and gets very very cold and very very wet with the good.
This is part of the charm of Nick: all this bad stuff happens to him, and through it all he's definitely not the sort of Bond-like superhero, or the teflon-like character we find with Jack Reacher, say. Crap falls upon him from a great height at every turn - realistically bad stuff, too - and what we then get to see is the utter relentlessness of his character, his determination to see it through, come what may. He's like the Terminator: he "absolutely will not stop, until you are dead."
The other thing that we like about these books is the technical detail: when Andy McNab describes Nick improvises a tool for climbing a fence, he does it with gripping realism. When he has Nick coming across a stash of Russian ex-military explosives, Nick not only gives you the designation of the landmines, but he is also appalled at the fact that the detonators don't have their wires twisted together, as this puts them at risk of being detonated by a stray wireless signal. McNab really knows this stuff through personal experience, he's not just reading it out of his copy of Jane's Infantry Weapons 2007-2008.
Also worth noting that these books are very realistic in their descriptions of the environment he's moving through. As Nick travels through various Eastern Bloc countries, the details of the buildings and the landscape really ring true, and are well written.
Boy's own adventure stuff this may be, but it is top class, and I'll definitely be reading further in the series.
May 26, 2013
Firewall is a very well written thriller by Andy McNab. For those of you who don't know, McNab is a former SAS (British commando) and the highest decorated living serviceman. He's also a good writer. Like all McNab novels, Firewall is filled with lots of trade craft. You could say trade craft is his stock in trade. Whether it's having an IV bag taped to your arm before you go on an operation (because you can't risk going to the hospital if you're shot) or cutting your bindings loose with a empty soda can or the excruciating details of hypothermia, McNab gives you the inside scoop. This is the third novel I've read in the series and is by far the best.
I hear it's going to be a novel either with Jason Statham or Tom Hardy (Band from Dark Knight Rises)
Reviewed by, David Feeney, author; Terror on the high seas
I hear it's going to be a novel either with Jason Statham or Tom Hardy (Band from Dark Knight Rises)
Reviewed by, David Feeney, author; Terror on the high seas
February 28, 2016
I have read all the Nick stone books ,after reading bravo two zero i looked for other books by Andy Mccnab. His style of writing fact or fiction grabs me from the first page obviously the fact the author has knowledge of the subject the detail makes it seem so real, I find his novels gripping and have never worked out the ending until i read it which is good, as to me nothing is worse when reading a book than to just know how's it's going to end!, I love the Nick stone characture he's so believable .
July 18, 2018
Like "The Martian" it seems to have been written backwards to allow the hero to just barely succeed at overwhelming odds, using improvised materials. But unlike "The Martian" the author leaves us mostly in the dark about what the plan is, and asks us to suspend disbelief that the improvised materials will suffice. So I ended up skimming many pages of complex preparation because I didn't enjoy the detail without knowing how and why he was doing it. I'm pretty confident the author will outgrow this tendency and limit the boring technical setups to an occasional page.
March 17, 2012
Another enthralling 'Nick Stone' novel with twists and turns on every page right to the end. Andy McNab's writing gets better and better. Deeply descriptive and nail biting - once again, an edge of your seat - can't put down read. The only thing I would mention, once again, is that the stories continue in sequential episodes of Nick Stone's life. Due to the back story material, it is best to read them in the sequence they were written to get the most out of them.
March 10, 2013
Most people read Andy McNab for the authentic detail in his operations. But what really caught my attention this time were his mind-blowingly keen powers of observation. His descriptions of the bleak Estonian landscape--the snow, the misery, the dirt, the unsmiling people, the sheer unrelenting poverty and what it does to the human spirit--knocked my socks off. A great thriller, and truly cinematic.
November 29, 2013
I am really glad I started reading Andy McNab again. Nick Stone is a real as it gets. Unlike in other book where the spy/secret agent always wins the fight, gets the stolen property with ease; Nick Stone actually has to fight and take his licks along the way. It makes him more human-like and the stories more enjoyable. Well done Mr. McNab I look forward to reading all your books!
October 11, 2009
One of the best Nick Stone novels from McNab. A great story and involved plot (something I find lacking in the later Stone novels) add up to a real page turner. The Stone character is a engaging as ever.
October 24, 2016
Read this book many years ago and has been on my shelf to reread. I bought the Finnish edition and when I cut out the time, I will read the Finnish and English side by side.
Have always held this book in high regard, and it is only leaving my shelf because I am buying the Kindle version.
Have always held this book in high regard, and it is only leaving my shelf because I am buying the Kindle version.
July 29, 2011
I was living in the very district in Helsinki at the time McNab set this story. His accurate description of the area and attention to detail is amazing. An excellent read, one of his best.
December 14, 2017
The story was good in itsself, but Andy is not a gifted story teller.
His work lacks emotion and involvement of the reader.
His work lacks emotion and involvement of the reader.
March 16, 2014
I think this book was better than the previous 2. I am all for constant action on the edge of your seat waiting for the next unexpected thing to happen. Nice work.
February 17, 2014
very good.... looking forward to the next one
May 9, 2016
Another page turner.
July 21, 2016
Pretty good book, great pace just a little too much description, my opinion.
January 19, 2017
This thriller was even harder to read than Crisis Four. Nick Stone is a bore and should be retired and put to rest. No more McNab for me.
February 1, 2017
Superb
Gritty with lots of twists and turns. Andy McNab is able to make you sweat while you think you're going to free to death.
Gritty with lots of twists and turns. Andy McNab is able to make you sweat while you think you're going to free to death.
October 9, 2012
Great Spy thriller based in Europe!!!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 121 reviews