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Samuel Carver #4
Dictator
Africa has had more than its share of dictators, but Henderson Gushungo may be the worst. Millions starve and opponents are flung in jail, while Gushungo and his cronies get rich on the country’s rich natural resources.A powerful consortium of political and business interests offer Samuel Carver the job of enforcing regime change. Can the taking of one life save millions of others? And can Carver trust the men who hired him?As the action hurtles from the plains of southern Africa to the teeming streets of Hong Kong, and an old enemy rises from the grave to haunt him once more, Carver becomes both the hunter and the hunted in a deadly game where the survival of a nation is at stake.
496 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
About the author
Tom Cain
33 books116 followersTom Cain is the pseudonym of David Thomas, an award-winning journalist with twenty-five years experience working at Fleet Street newspapers, as well as for major magazines in Britain and the US.
Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
June 29, 2015
Book №4 in the Sam Carver series, and so far this has been the weakest one of all. It still has plenty of action, and the typical double crosses, but it does get rather predictable. Perhaps if I hadn't read the preceding books quite so recently, then I might have enjoyed this one more.
Initially Carver is tasked with a hostage retrieval mission, for the wealthy Wendall Klerk. His niece is the last surviving member of his family, and has been taken hostage. Them a few years later he contacts Carver again, with the prospect of another job in Malemba.
Malemba has surely got to be based on Zimbabwe. A despotic ruler who has ousted the white settlers, and has succeeded in turning a prosperous African country into one of misery and suffering. A popular figure is waiting in the wings to take over should the opportunity present itself.
Initially Carver is tasked with a hostage retrieval mission, for the wealthy Wendall Klerk. His niece is the last surviving member of his family, and has been taken hostage. Them a few years later he contacts Carver again, with the prospect of another job in Malemba.
Malemba has surely got to be based on Zimbabwe. A despotic ruler who has ousted the white settlers, and has succeeded in turning a prosperous African country into one of misery and suffering. A popular figure is waiting in the wings to take over should the opportunity present itself.
November 29, 2019
I should be fair and write reviews for the books I like too. But alas I am always much more moved to do so by books that are crap.
Which this is. I figured out who the twist villain was fairly quickly, but the author actually endeavored to muddy the waters by several descriptions of actions that are very unlikely to have happened in retrospect. So I am crying foul at that. I am also not really pleased with the psychopathy of that person, and I basically don't buy that whole part of the story; it's inauthentic and feels totally cooked up solely to provide a plot in which one side always knows what the other side is up to.
And all of that made the entire book drag on once you figured out they were always going to know what was coming at them, no matter what. And it's not like Carver caught on quickly enough.
While I enjoyed the thinly veiled portrayal of Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace including their faux Christianity, that just wasn't enough to make me like this book.
Which this is. I figured out who the twist villain was fairly quickly, but the author actually endeavored to muddy the waters by several descriptions of actions that are very unlikely to have happened in retrospect. So I am crying foul at that. I am also not really pleased with the psychopathy of that person, and I basically don't buy that whole part of the story; it's inauthentic and feels totally cooked up solely to provide a plot in which one side always knows what the other side is up to.
And all of that made the entire book drag on once you figured out they were always going to know what was coming at them, no matter what. And it's not like Carver caught on quickly enough.
While I enjoyed the thinly veiled portrayal of Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace including their faux Christianity, that just wasn't enough to make me like this book.
October 10, 2018
Loved it. Non stop action, good story line. Even the somewhat predictable ending didn't detract from my overall enjoyment. Been a while since I've read any Tom Cain, but I guess too many other books got in the way.
October 2, 2021
Good charity buy that was a quick paced read. The plot starts with a rescue of a kidnapped girl and then in the second part is the plot to restore order in a despotic African regime. Carver is the all action centre of this plot that for all its predictable moments rattles along to the end.
December 2, 2025
Book three, (Assassin), had thrown me off because Carver didn’t seem like himself. It read as if someone else was writing him.
But this one? A total change because Carver is back!
The intensity and style feel true to the earlier books. 👍
But this one? A total change because Carver is back!
The intensity and style feel true to the earlier books. 👍
September 6, 2017
Brilliant
January 8, 2019
I enjoyed reading about how Carver would accomplish his tasks. Also enjoyed the twist of the plot at the end.
August 3, 2021
Jam packed with action. Really enjoyed this read.
June 17, 2025
Enjoyable. Didn't have to think too much and raced through it
January 15, 2014
It's very difficult for me to detail the flaws in this book without giving away spoilers to the ending. It is not a good book, although, until a dozen or so pages from the end, it was interesting and gripping. The main problem is that the ending, attempting to provide a twist, is merely a tired cliche.
Not only is a predictable and overused trope chosen as the best way to conclude the story, but it also destroys interesting characters and renders many of the antagonists' actions retrospectively irrational.
I strongly suspected what the ending would be when I was roughly a third of the way through the book. I spent the next 300 pages discovering how illogical that ending would turn out to be, and then I read on in horror as the author managed to deliver a "twist" was both obvious and incongruous with the rest of the novel, the exact opposite of how they're meant to be deployed.
The last chapter, an insipid, exposition-strewn conversation between the few survivors of the story, offers no catharsis and merely injects a sense of nausea to the rapidly ascending feeling of bafflement at a promising storyline gone south.
There is also the issue of the grossly sexist portrayal of a certain female character, the misrepresentation of psychopathy and the cringeworthy dialogue.
Apart from that it's alright.
Not only is a predictable and overused trope chosen as the best way to conclude the story, but it also destroys interesting characters and renders many of the antagonists' actions retrospectively irrational.
I strongly suspected what the ending would be when I was roughly a third of the way through the book. I spent the next 300 pages discovering how illogical that ending would turn out to be, and then I read on in horror as the author managed to deliver a "twist" was both obvious and incongruous with the rest of the novel, the exact opposite of how they're meant to be deployed.
The last chapter, an insipid, exposition-strewn conversation between the few survivors of the story, offers no catharsis and merely injects a sense of nausea to the rapidly ascending feeling of bafflement at a promising storyline gone south.
There is also the issue of the grossly sexist portrayal of a certain female character, the misrepresentation of psychopathy and the cringeworthy dialogue.
Apart from that it's alright.
April 5, 2015
Samuel Carver is a former assassin who is approached by a former client who wants him to assassinate the tyrannical dictator of the fictional African country Malemba (loosely based on Zimbabwe). The plan is that this will open the doors for the democratic Opposition leader to step in. However there is more at stake than meets the eye.
This is the fourth book in a series which started with The Accident Man, but it works as a standalone novel. Samuel Carver is an interesting and flawed hero who consistently lets his emotions override his judgement. This annoyed me immensely in the early Tom Cain books, but I've grown to accept it.
This is a fast paced thriller which moves between Southern Africa and Hong Kong. Maybe because I approached this book with low expectations, I enjoyed it. It's a perfectly acceptable mindless holiday read which you'll tear through and then forget ten minutes after finishing it. There are flaws in the plot but the quickfire pace allows the reader to paper over them. One significant twist in particular never felt believable to me. There are also elements that borrow from heavily from other novels - particularly a lengthy gun battle which felt straight out of a Bond movie. (Cain acknowledges his debt to Ian Fleming at the end of the book).
This is the fourth book in a series which started with The Accident Man, but it works as a standalone novel. Samuel Carver is an interesting and flawed hero who consistently lets his emotions override his judgement. This annoyed me immensely in the early Tom Cain books, but I've grown to accept it.
This is a fast paced thriller which moves between Southern Africa and Hong Kong. Maybe because I approached this book with low expectations, I enjoyed it. It's a perfectly acceptable mindless holiday read which you'll tear through and then forget ten minutes after finishing it. There are flaws in the plot but the quickfire pace allows the reader to paper over them. One significant twist in particular never felt believable to me. There are also elements that borrow from heavily from other novels - particularly a lengthy gun battle which felt straight out of a Bond movie. (Cain acknowledges his debt to Ian Fleming at the end of the book).
January 24, 2016
Africa has had it's share of dictator's but Henderson Gushungo has to be the
worst. Millions of people are starving and anyone who opposes his regime is
thrown in jail or killed. While Henderson and his cronies get rich off of the countries
resources a powerful consortium of political and business interests offer Samuel
Carver the job of regime change. He accepts and this well may be his last job.
It's full of twists, turns killings, and back stabbing. This is book four in the Samuel
Carver series and I gave it a 4.
worst. Millions of people are starving and anyone who opposes his regime is
thrown in jail or killed. While Henderson and his cronies get rich off of the countries
resources a powerful consortium of political and business interests offer Samuel
Carver the job of regime change. He accepts and this well may be his last job.
It's full of twists, turns killings, and back stabbing. This is book four in the Samuel
Carver series and I gave it a 4.
November 12, 2011
I always enjoy Tom Cain's Carver books. They have a lot of action and are very fast paced. This one was set mainly in Africa and dealt with the starvation of a once prosperous country by an insane dictator. There was also a few twists along the way. The only reason I haven't marked this as 4 stars is because of one passage of sickening violence against a woman and her child that I felt was unnecessary and made feel nauseous.
Read
May 29, 2011Started reading this on a drive home and got through it very quickly, nearly half way already. Not as good as Wilbur Smith but still enjoying the story.......
Well I have finished and this book didnt take me long to read as it was a very easy read and very enjoyable....I will look for this author again.
Well I have finished and this book didnt take me long to read as it was a very easy read and very enjoyable....I will look for this author again.
August 10, 2011
A once good series deteriorates further and further. Implausible scenario straight of a bad Bond/Jason Statham B-movie blueprint; wishful thinking revenge subplot against financial markets to make it seemingly up to date; female characters are an insult and so full of cliches. Last time I'll be reading a Carver title...
November 17, 2013
The first chapter with the unnecessary sex depictions almost made me stop reading right there. Maybe sex sells, but not to me. The end confrontation was also one of those wtf moments concerning the female character, and the more I thought about it the more it seems that the author had to been desperate for things to tie back into the main plot/storyline.
July 25, 2014
Thriller set in Zimbabwe (thinly disguised Malemba) Johanesberg and Hong Kong. Plenty of action and backstabbing and setups. I tore thru this puppy in record time. No time wasted on anything other than the thrill to kill and vengeance. You will witness assassinations of a corrupt regime, an attempted coup, and a few beautiful women (because they are never plain). Good time waster.
October 23, 2012
This one has a confusing beginning. Very unclear direction of the history and time jump but the story is good and soon picks up into the fast paced read I've come to expect of the Carver novels. Still unclear as to where we are in the present context but other than that, it's all good..
June 18, 2013
The writer found the "formula" in which to write this series and this one is a very clear example, lacks a compeling plot, is completely predictable, everyone from Carver to the scotsman in charge of the hunting is boring and flat.
To be read as automatically as it was written.
To be read as automatically as it was written.
November 3, 2014
I always enjoy the Sam Carver books by the author every time I read them. And this one was no different it had great characters, story action sequences and a great twist near the end which I did not see coming but totally enjoyed the ending and can't wait to read the next one.
February 3, 2012
Not quite what I expected ,but nevertheless a good read in parts never going to be in the Wilbur Smith class.
June 29, 2012
Another awesome read in the same class as vince Flynn and Tom woods.
January 10, 2013
took a while to get into this one but picked up pace and became a jolly good romp!
September 5, 2013
an enjoyable piece of escapism. not as good as some books in the series but Sam carver is still worth keeping up to date with
February 1, 2016
For every reaction,there is an opposite and equal reaction.The story is exactly as mentioned.
January 19, 2012
the first chapter has you very hot under the collar
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews