Flawed action hero James Ryker is back in The White Scorpion – latest in the thriller series from author Rob Sinclair.
This opens with a bang – literally – and we find Ryker and his motley crew of highly trained but disparate operatives left a deadly situation in African jungle territory fighting for their lives with limited success.
Ryker is left alone in desperate straits and then the story swings back in time to reveal a complex and bloodthirsty web of politics and international relations that led to this point.
What makes the James Ryker stories stand out – certainly for me – is that the story is not really about violence and intrigue but the very human cares and conflicts that arise in even the hardest individuals and the internal battles being fought within.
His mission in itself is far from clear cut as he tries to infiltrate the government of Chabon in a country on the brink of civil war.
Loyalty, betrayal and the fine line between right, wrong and brutal are the constant conversation and no-one escapes this underlying narrative, even the British government.
The story is as much about the relationship between a team that begin at odds and about the loves and cares back home that haunt Ryker, even as he fights for his life in the jungle.
Even if you have not read the previous Ryker books you soon develop a sense of his internal battles as the story races to a thrilling climax as our rebel realises he must break a few more rules to save lives.
Recommended for fans of David Baldacci, Lee Child and Vince Flynn.
Reviewed by Nicola Adam.
You can buy it here: (no affiliation) LINK
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