Ex-soldier Ben Bracken, set-up and fed up, has engineered a break-out from Strangeways Prison and is now looking to settle the score with the London gangland boss that put him behind bars - Terry "The Turn-Up" Masters. He even has an insurance policy that will keep the eyes of the prison authorities elsewhere, while he does the job - if he can keep it safe.
Reconnecting with a young friend from his past, Jack Brooker, who has held Ben's money for him for the two years he has been in prison, it soon becomes clear that Jack is in a spot of bother. Jack's father was part of a nasty criminal gang based in Manchester, called the berg, and he has been the victim of an apparent gangland revenge killing. Jack is desperate to find the killer and extract some vengeance for his father and Ben's sense of duty means that he cannot let him do it alone - and his military training means he has just the right set of skills too.
As Jack's protector, Ben is drawn into the upper echelons of the berg and earns the admiration of the men at the very top - Felix Davison and his son Michael - who seem keen to aid him in the search for Jack's father's killer. They are so impressed by Ben's resourcefulness that Felix even offers him the chance to take Jack's father's place at the table, and he is forced to play along, eventhough he longs to take them all out - especially once he discovers that the full-scale of their operations make them just like his old nemesis Terry Masters.
But once Ben starts to look closely at the events surrounding the murder of Jack's father, he discovers that things are not quite as Felix and Michael have claimed. There is something else going on here and Ben does not like what he uncovers. Jack is in danger and Ben must find a way to save him from being a victim of the same fate as his father.
But can Ben also take down the berg at the same time?
*********************************************************************************
I was recently honoured to be part of the blog tour for the third cracking installment of the Ben Bracken books, The Penny Black, which I enjoyed enormously. See my review here: The Penny Black (Ben Bracken Book Three) by Rob Parker
It often happens, when you take part on blog tours, that you come upon a book series part way through, and you may not have read the books that have gone before. As a stickler for normally reading books in order, I always try to go back and read the previous books too, to fill in the back-story, though I must admit I do not always get around to this as my tbr pile is pretty enormous.
However, having galloped through the glorious The Penny Black, and I knew straight off that I would be absorbing Ben Bracken's back-story as soon as possible - so here I am, book one A Wanted Man down, and book two, Morte Point, to be consumed very, very soon.
What can I say, Mr Parker? I absolutely loved it!
Ben Bracken's first adventure starts with a prison escape and ends with an almighty ding-dong of a climax that left me rubbing my hands with glee. I particularly loved the way that Bracken's past is revealed slowly, over the course of the book, which I must admit I was not expecting. When you start reading, it is almost like you have missed a previous book (and I did actually double-check that was reading the first and not the second book, by mistake), but by the time you get to the thrilling end of A Wanted Man, you are definitely up to speed with the events that have made Bracken the way he is - a man who was keen to do his utmost to serve Queen and Country, but has been treated rather badly along the way. Bracken maintains his sense of duty, and a desire to do right by people that makes him an ideal sort of "Equalizer" - and he is not afraid to take the law into his own hands to achieve his aim.
There are thrills galore as Bracken sets out to try to save his friend Jack and bring down the mighty force of the berg - violent altercations, shootings, explosions, subterfuge and a literally banging ending - what more could you want? Move over James Bond!
No spoliers, but Bracken is a man on a mission and he is not happy with half-measures. The end of A Wanted Man leaves everything nicely set up of Morte Point, and cannot wait to get started.
Mr Parker, I am very soon going to be in need of the installment that follows on from The Penny Black. I hope you are working you socks off on the next adventure, so I will not have to wait too long!
No comments:
Post a Comment