The Vorpal Blade

Tweed & Co. #19

by Colin Forbes, Peter Wickham

The master thriller writer is back with his most powerful novel yet

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Espionage, Crime

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Raymond Harold Sawkins was a British novelist, who mainly published under the pseudonym Colin Forbes, but also as Richard Raine, Jay Bernard and Harold English. He only published three of his first books under his own name.Sawkins wrote over 40 books, mostly as Colin Forbes. He was most famous for his long-running series of thriller novels in which the principal character is Tweed, Deputy Director of the Secret Intelligence Service.

Sawkins attended The Lower School of John Lyon in Harrow, London. At the age of 16 he started work as a sub-editor with a magazine and book publishing company. He served with the British Army in North Africa and the Middle East during World War II. Before his demobilization he was attached to the Army Newspaper Unit in Rome. On his return to civilian life he joined a publishing and printing company, commuting to London for 20 years, until he became successful enough to be a full-time novelist.

Sawkins was married to a Scots-Canadian, Jane Robertson (born 31 March 1925, died 1993). Together they had one daughter, Janet.Sawkins died of a heart attack on August 23, 2006.

Sawkins was often quoted as personally visiting every location he features in his books to aid the authenticity of the writing. As a result, there is detailed description of the places where the action in his books takes place.

Fury (1995) was inspired by the courage of his wife before she died, and he set it apart from his other novels “because of the strong emotion and sense of loss that runs through it”.

Just one of Forbes' novels was made into a film: Avalanche Express, directed by Mark Robson and starring Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw, which was released in 1979 to generally poor reviews.

Reviews

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quite a loss of time.
The plot is thin, the characters are ugly and bad tempered without any reason.
All is dark, black, ugly and absolutely sad. The vice-president is thrown in the book without any liaison, the Swiss murderer is a damned fool.
A very, very poor book!

[Tessa Nadir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sa incepem cu titlul cartii care ne vorbeste despre un cutit, in ciuda faptului ca pe coperta a 4-a ni se spune ca ucigasul se foloseste de o secure, iar in interiorul romanului traducatoarea a folosit termenul de topor. Din aceasta ceata putem iesi consultand titlul original al cartii "The Vorpal Blade" si cautand o imagine a acesteia din care reiese ca este vorba despre un fel de chef's knife incrustat cu diferite motive. Asadar, pana la urma, titlul este cel nimerit desi mie mi-ar fi placut mai mult sa fi fost vorba despre o secure medievala.
In ceea ce priveste actiunea, facem cunostinta cu directorul adjunct de la Serviciul Secret de Informatii SSI, Tweed si echipa sa, care trebuie sa ancheteze un caz in care unul dintre fostii lor colegi este gasit decapitat. Romanul debuteaza chiar cu examinarea cadavrului la morga, ceea ce mie mi-a placut, mai ales ca activitatea legistului releva o particularitate a armei crimei.
Cu trecerea timpului alte asemenea crime apar, atat in America cat si in Europa, iar singurul lucru comun intre ele pare a fi bogata familie Arbogast, cu excentricii ei membrii si prieteni.
In ancheta, detectivii vor fi surprinzator ajutati de o spiritista romanca si de un reputat psiholog criminalist. Contributia lor se va dovedi importanta pentru ca amandoi vor avea de suferit din cauza descoperirilor facute. Venind vorba despre psihologul criminalist, doresc sa atrag atentia ca desi in tara noastra aceasta meserie este practic inexistenta, in America este respectata si foarte utila la locul crimei. Desi unii zambesc atunci cand amintim de psihologi criminalisti, concluziile acestora izvorasc din ani de cercetare, studiu si multa munca practica cu tot felul de tipologii de criminali. Daca asta nu este stiinta atunci ce e?
In ceea ce priveste personajul principal, acesta nu mi-a atras atentia, in ciuda inteligentei lui, pentru ca mi s-a parut sters si iritant. M-a nedumerit si relatia sa cu frumoasa lui asistenta, Paula Grey, el purtandu-se cu ea ca un fel de tata protector, desi in mod evident ea nu are nevoie de asa ceva. Nu am inteles de ce un barbat care place o femeie alege sa se poarte cu ea fratern, patern sau amical.
In incheiere pot sa zic ca nu mi-am 'pierdut capul' dupa aceasta lectura desi a avut parti care mi-au placut. Cu toate ca autorul a incercat sa ascunda bine identitatea faptasului, aruncand vina pe un grup de 5-6 persoane, eu nu am cazut in capcana si pe la jumatatea cartii mi-am dat seama despre cine era vorba. Mi-a ramas in minte si un citat despre felul in care Tweed ii vede pe cei din jur:
"Daca esti atent la ei, oamenii iti spun exact cum sunt, fara sa-si dea macar seama. Asta se numeste egocentrism."

[Rahul Pinnamaneni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow-paced and outrageously, outrightly boring, in it's best pages the book can be dubbed average. All we come across in the book are people indulging themselves in excessive Double Scotch and Coffee all along; a pathetic reporter who pops out of any wall or any table for that matter at the turn of every conversation, the deputy director of SIS moving around with a bunch of hillbillies and relying on dreams and psychosis experts to guess the murderer; a detective who showers at every possible opportunity and pokes her nose around every conversation in town, unfortunately for the reader, solving the complicated case by drinking gallons of Tea, Coffee, Water and Chardonnay alone. Too many loose ends and flaws in the plot, The Vorpal Blade certainly isn't the better of Colin's works. The only reason I had to complete the book is to write my first book review on Goodreads.

[Alice Hoha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first Colin Forbes book and it made me love the Tweed series!❤️

[Cliff · Rating 2 out of 5]

At one time I avidly read every Colin Forbes/Tweed & Co novel I could lay my hands on. This is the first I have read in many years and I was not at all impressed. Tween is still Deputy Head of the SIS, but he and his merry crew go dashing off hither and yon after a murderer who has little or nothing to do with national security. We are told that at one time Tweed was 'Head of Homicide' at Scotland Yard. Homicide is, however, a term which is not used officially in the UK and certainly not to describe a police officer. Quite unbelievably, the book also has the American Vice-President rushing all over Europe accompanied only by one FBI agent. Surely, in the very unlikely event of a VEEP doing such a thing, he would have CIA agents guarding him? At one time during th narrative, we learn that the Head of Special branch has been sent to Switzerland to bring Tweed et al back to the UK. Quite why this should be necessary is very unclear. The author's prose is not of the best with a heavy reliance on cliched adjectives. Murders are invariably 'diabolical', woman have 'cat like' eyes while those suspected of being wrongdoers have 'dead' eyes. Men, inevitably, have 'chiselled' cheek bones. I could go on, but won't bother. But surely the 'best restuarant' in Lugano would not serve paella but rissotto? I had the impression that with its tourist like descriptions of Maine and Switzerland, the author had half an eye on film or TV rights. However, I learned from his Wikipedia entry that of all his vast output only one (Avalanche Express) has ever been filmed. I cannot remember, since it is so long since I read one of his novels, whether the author's style deteriorated - he did in 2006, aged in his 80s, this book having been publised four years earlier. Incidentally the expression 'Vorpal Blade' comes from Jabberwocky and now means any very sharp sword. A bit odd since themurders in the book are carried out using an axe. A newspaper reporter that nobody like is called Synder...'nuff said? 2* is generous!

[Artur · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unimaginative and repetitive. No plot, no suspense. Avoid.

[Janani Ramjee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perks you gain out of reading this book:
1. A virtual tour of Switzerland, along with some visits to the U.S. of A, as Forbes puts it.
2. Explore the various modes of travel, and each one is a first class experience and not an economy class.
3. A thorough knowledge of cars ranging from audi to ford.
4. Gain some knowledge about autopsy and decapitated heads.
5. They keep you guessing not by any plot twist, but by merely adding characters in each of the chapters. Mind you, there are around 25 to 30 active characters in this book.

But overall, not the best in the Tweed series.
So yeah, it is kind of a wild goose chase with nothing but dreams and nightmares that play the major role in here.

[Niki Florin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately one of those books I decided to quit before the end. I always give a book a chance until page 100 but if I still don't enjoy it by then, I put it away. Life is too short to read bad books. The first 100 pages were boring, the characters didn't have much character and nothing enticed me to keep reading. A loss of time...

[Ellaisa Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It keeps you guessing that's true, but the thing is it's kinda boring, and I really don't get how a lady murderer of her size lift a heavy axe that easily and chopped a head so neatly, so yeah. Its confusing and I really don't get the point of this book.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keeps you guessing until the very end.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end was predictable, but in all it was good writing.

[Manoj · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Vorpal Blade leading the trail of headless corpses speaks of the brutality of the murders with each murder carried out in the same fashion.It takes about interesting turns making us wonder about the murderer's identity as Tweed's team take on the pressure mounting on them while solving the mystery.The ending is rather surprising.Could have been a little different, but its a good story all the same.

[Kanika · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an awesome book! For people who like criminal thrillers Colin Forbes is your man! He writes a book every year and his writing is lucid and simple to understand.... This book is a bit gory as the people murdered are beheaded and their heads stolen!! please don't feel squeamish 'cause when you are reading it, it's loads of fun....

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pedestrian. But enough entertainment. The travel was detailed but too convenient to be believable. More of a crime thriller than a spy or action thriller this time which shows diversity. Even if that's not your normal cup of tea.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book progressed along nicely for 380+ pages and even the rushed climax was tolerable, however the explanations in the epilogue lacked structure and forethought. Forbes should think about altering the line-up of SIS (maybe kill someone off) to re-inject some life back into the series.

[Carole · Rating 3 out of 5]

good read

[Kaylol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good case

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read by a good author.