A very good read indeed. Amazing how you end up with sympathy for the bad guy.

RELEASE NOTES:

Released to Alex26

I caught this from Peter26 (thanks). You know what, I think I could get seriously addicted to John Grisham.

The President issues a pardon to a corporate 'criminal' Blackman, but is released at the behest of the CIA to be a pawn in a wider international intelligence operation. The only thing they want to know is which country will try and kill Backman first. Armed with no passport, no posessions, no money and no friends, Backman is taken to Italy (where he has no Italien) and has only his intelligence to rely..... and as it turns out a little bit of luck.

This isn't a work of literary genius or anything and it heasn't changed my life. However, this is the kind of book where you wish your journey to work took longer, or you record your favourite TV show because you just got to a really good bit. It is a compelling page turner, well formed characters, clever twists and turns (wipes the floor with anything Dan Brown has done) and thankfully - although there is a romantic interest - doesn't feel compelled to turn his 50 something, anti-hero into some kind of improbable stud that leaves you reaching for the bucket!

I think I'm going to ask Peter26 for any more Grisham he has on the bookshelf ;o)

RELEASE NOTES:

At BC meet up

Fun read, with its anti-hero trying to escape the cat-and-mouse games of the CIA as they cruelly stake him out in Italy to be found by Mossad, the Saudis and the Chinese.
I liked the way Backman plausibly used his wits throughout, and came across as genuinely intelligent, and the small details of his self-taught spycraft. Overall, I would have liked a few more near-misses, and somehow once I reached the last hundred pages of the book it had lost tension for me, even though this was the time it should be getting scarier and more white-knuckle. I guess I've just been spoiled by five series of '24'...
Like Alex26, I thought the romantic subplot was well-handled. I was also left really wanting to go for an Italian meal...

I think I'm seriously addicted to Grisham!

I picked this up at the London meetup, and it has been my "airport book" for five flights and four countries, finally finishing it between Dallas and Charleston, where it will be left.

Many thanks for this book - I enjoyed it immensely, especially since I studied Italian at university!

Ciao!

RELEASE NOTES:

On the shelf in the lobby!