Nicolas's Reviews > Darkness and Blood

Blood and Darkness starts with Pablo de Silva, an ex-CIA agent in hiding, as he is roused from his sleep one night by his former handler, Stuart Bishop. Bishop tells him that a former colleague and friend is dead, in strange circumstances.

Our 2 spies are now in a race to discover what happened to their friend, stumbling upon government secrets on the way and trying to avoid the agencies working against them.
From the start of this book, we are drawn in the story, we are with them, we are deeply involved. The psychology of our 2 characters is also very well written, for instance we can literally feel de Silva constant tiredness and his eagerness to go back to retirement.

My only critic is related to some of the plot items in the book. It is not an action book, it is more of a spy story after all, but I felt that, at time, our 2 heroes are handled vital bits of information on a plate, instead of it being the result of their cleverness or investigation. It seems at times they are more like spectators in the story.

But it wouldn’t fair to say Pablo and Stuart are passive! Not at all, we are in for a big ride, literally crossing oceans and involving some of the most powerful governments agencies in the world. There is also a lot of action, just don’t expect lot of gunfights or fighting.
And I must say, the ending, both clever and surprising, really got me, it really shows what angry spies can do when they take matter into their own hands!