Strawman

Author: Lindsey Mellon

Genre: Spy, thriller, mystery

Publisher: Northside House Ltd

Date Published: 2024

Book Length: 346

Format: paperback supplied by Love Books Tours in return for an honest review

Star Rating: 5***** I loved it and highly recommend

About Book: On 12th October 1984, an IRA bomb, intended to kill Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, rips the heart out of the Grand Hotel in Brighton. As part of the security response MI6 Station Chief Rome – Haydon Talbot – is tasked with foiling a Libyan plot to ship vast quantities of Semtex explosive to the IRA.

As the wheels of international espionage roll through Rome’s historic centre, Libyan and British agents are pitched against each other in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Haydon recruits British entrepreneur Charlie Lomax to front a sophisticated nuclear sting, with the aim of penetrating the highest levels of the Libyan security establishment. But his bosses will go to any lengths to score a political victory, even if it means sacrificing Haydon’s operation and agent in place.

As the IRA ship carrying the Semtex sails slowly north towards Ireland, Haydon faces conflicting pressures from above to interdict the shipment, whilst seeking to rescue Charlie from a brutal Tripoli jail.          

StrawmMy Thoughts:an by Lindsey Mellon is a spy, crime, mystery thriller based around the bombing in Brighton in 1984. Although, I have never lived in Ireland I was around during these times and remember it well. The book is hard hitting and gritty, the extensive research Mellon must have done shines through and although you have to concentrate with everything that is going on, it is well worth it. This is not a book to pick up and put down, but a book to savour, take time and read thoroughly.

The prose flows and for a first book, it is extremely well written. The atmosphere in the book is palpable which made it a page turner, and although it was fast paced the descriptions were meticulous.

In conclusion a hard hitting subject that has been meticulously researched. The atmosphere shines through and makes this book a page turner and one I would highly recommend.