The Opposite of Mercy

The Opposite Of MercyThis is the first novel I've read written by Tom WINSHIP, and after the first couple of chapters, the story begins to increase in pace, depth and complexity.It centres around a friendship involving Pasha Durrani, and his sister, Lara, Paul Curtis and Chris Napier, which had begun when they were all teenagers. Lara and Chris had been an item, and Paul had gone off to join the army.Several years later, Paul leaves the army, and is asked to rekindle the friendship with Chris, because his father believed him to need someone to look out for him. Paul discovers that Chris and Lara are now in a relationship, but this is not something which Pasha is willing to allow to continue.Pasha has changed from when he was a teenager, to a major and successful criminal. His criminal activities are such that the Police are using a variety of methods to follow him and to know what he's doing. He has acquired several multi-million pound properties, and is a major player in some substantial and significant crimes.Pasha needs to sell some of the properties, but suddenly his solicitors back out, and someone must take the blame for it. It becomes a murder investigation. But before much work is achieved in that, the Police discover that Pasha is aware that he is being listened to and followed. Who is the leak and giving Pasha such valuable information? Which Police Officer is the corrupt one and sharing secret intelligence to Pasha?Chris is beaten up, leading him to require hospital treatment. Lara is abducted, and then Paul is attacked too. Lara tries to persuade her brother to stop, but without any success. The activity quickly moves to the north of the country, and everyone's life is now at stake, unless DS Andy Macall and Paul Curtis can get there in time to stop the bloodbath. But can they?The book is very enjoyable to read, although Chapter One really feels very out of place - the date is May 29 2010, whereas Chapter Two, is May 22 2010. I'm not convinced that having Chapter One helps the plot, and for me, I found it rather distracting. But, overall the book is well worth reading, and I shall look forward to Tom WINSHIP'S next novel.

This is a seriously gripping thriller. I'm even more delighted that the author hails from my own county, indeed probably from the same area though this is not the reason I enjoyed the book so much.Paul Curtis takes on a sort of bodyguard job at the behest of the very rich politician father of an old school friend of Paul's, Chris Napier. Inadvertently, this brings him up against a manic Pakistani money-man, heavily involved in organised crime, the forces of SO15, not to mention an assortment of thugs and hitmen. The subject of most of this attention, Pasha Dirrani, has made a deal with another Pakistani family to agree to an arranged marriage for his sister Lara who also just happens to be both another of Paul's school friends and now the girlfriend of Chris.It is a complicated story but the author manages to cleverly weave the threads of the surveillance by SO15, the personal problems of Lara and friends and the man in the middle trying to do his job, Paul. The action is constant, the threats are well described and the terror felt by Lara comes across as real.Good, too, is the fact that Paul, although the hero of the story, does not get off lightly. His somewhat lopsided face and bruised body are testament to the force of the aggression meted out by Dirrani's thugs as Paul struggles to keep his friends out of the clutches of an obsessed and almost hysterical brother, soon watching the crumbling of his best laid plans.If I have a criticism it is the fact that much of the later action could not have taken place if a very careful police informer had not let down his guard at a time when it needed to be perfect nor that the police handler from SO15 made a contact arrangement, giving the details to a third party. I really don't believe that serious lapse in security would have taken place. But, if we overlook that point, it does move the action along. The author's sentences are short and terse; there is no superfluous use of words yet he sets the scene brilliantly, be it in in the North of England or in Camden. The ending is perhaps a little too convenient but in Paul Curtis, the author has a character all to himself, one I'm sure he can develop into an English action man not unlike some of his American counterparts but with the added flavour of the intracacies of northern life and the British police.I note the author lives in Brussels. Now, if he brought in those oddball characters to be found in Liege or nearby Aachen, Paul Curtis could have a real hardball game to hand. Whichever, I really look forward to Tom Winship's next book, even if Paul is to take a breather.

This is a thriller dealing with a soldier (Paul) returning from the Afghanistan conflict becoming caught up in intrigue surrounding his former school friends, Lara and Chris. Lara has been promised as a bride by her brother Pasha to a member of a shady family from Pakistan in return for previous financial support. However she is dating Chris and pursuing a career as a lawyer and has other ideas. The problem for Pasha is that if he can't deliver they may very well be killed. Meanwhile Pasha is heavily involved in organised crime and subject to the interest of Britain's security services. The basic storyline here is both topical and credible. Pasha is portrayed as a mixed figure, sometimes the victim of his own circumstances and sometimes as a violent thug.The main criticism of the book is that it is really not that thrilling. Having read the endorsement by Val McDermid in bold print on the cover I was wondering whether I was reading the same book. I also found the writing very clumsy in places, for example, at one point we are told Paul had a feeling of fear and then a few sentences later everything was happening so fast that he had no time to feel fear. In other places pronouns are used to start a sentence, but it isn't obvious who it is refering to. However, these niggles could be addressed by some tighter editing, although I found the author's writing style rather flat throughout. The story had the feel of a television drama, although I'm sure it would translate quite well to that medium. I also found the opening scene rather annoying, because it started almost at the end of the story, before going back in time to tell the story in a linear manner. Presumably the author did this to try to create tension, but for me just served to pre-empt where the story was going. I was actually considering not reading further than the first few chapters because I found the style so laboured, but the pace of the story picked up about a third of the way through and this increase in pace made this less noticeable.In summary, although the story line was reasonable, I felt the style of the book detracted from it. Although others reviewing the book to date seemed to have enjoyed it more I think 3-stars is a fair reflection.

This is another "War On Terrorism" novel that seems to have replaced "The Cold War" genre thriller.Returned Afghanistan veteran soldier? Check. Disturbed by his experiences? Check. Goodies and baddies? Never sure, apart from soldier Paul Curtis.As the novel progresses, we learn more about the characters and the political intrigues that are shaping their lives.The author keeps the reader interested by juggling a few storylines that interweave in sometimes unexpected ways.Characters sometimes gain and sometimes lose the reader's sympathy.The initial set-up is that Paul accepts a job from his childhood friend's estranged Dad to reconnect with his old friend and look out for him. Without letting him know. So Paul's loyalties are compromised from the outset. And things just get worse. And things turn out to be not as simple as he initially thinks.The goodies win in the end, of course, with some sacrifices.An enjoyable read, even if I got confused sometimes by the changes in narrative point-of-view which slowed it up a little for me. But it did add to the perspectives of the storytelling.Not a great novel, then, but not bad.

From the cover and the blurb, I expected a tense, tight, gripping thriller. It's not badly written but it isn't a gripper. The characters are rather stereotypical and two-dimensional, the action is fast paced but characterisation is somewhat lost. We are meant to care deeply about the fate of Lara but she wasn't filled out enough to make her fully engaging to me.It's a bit like a film with great special effects but wooden acting. You keep watching but you never involve yourself. No twists and turns, plenty of changes of scenery though and an ending you'll spot some way off.