Richard Roper is the worst man in the world. An arms dealer and a drug smuggler, he is also charming, cunning, and dangerous. Jonathan Pine, ex-British soldier and hotel night manager, has his reasons for wanting to take Roper down. With the help of a select few in British Intelligence, Pine goes deep under cover into Roper’s organization. Can he get close to Roper without losing himself, or his life?
I decided to read this book because I watched, and greatly enjoyed, the BBC/AMC miniseries that was based on it. Sadly, I did not enjoy the book, which ended up having many differences. I won’t go into detail about the television series accept to say that the changes made were, in my opinion, for the better.
The book was very slow. There were characters and information that were unnecessary to the plot and did nothing to move the story forward. The narration shifts a few times from past tense to present tense, and I had to stop reading and go back to make sure I wasn’t missing something. There seemed to be no reason for the change.
The interesting parts of the story often felt clipped or rushed, where the technical/political portions seemed to drag and have more information than necessary.
A few warnings: harsh language, sex, violence (these apply to the miniseries as well)
Overall, I wouldn’t suggest this one. This is one of those rare occasions where the book was not better.
1) Overall Plot = 2
2) Characters = 2.5
3) Flow/Pace of the story = 1.5
4) Is the story easy to follow? = 3.5
5) Overall Enjoyability = 1
Average score of 2.1 out of 5
The Reformed Writer 