The Main Chance

Tweed & Co. #23

by Colin Forbes

At the urgent plea of his old friend, Commander Buchanan of Scotland Yard, Tweed, once ace detective, now Deputy Chief SIS, visits Mrs Bella Main, formidable matriarch controlling the Main Chance, the most powerful private bank in Europe. Bella tells Tweed and Paula Grey, his assistant, that she has refused an enormous offer from Calouste Gubenkian, the most ruthless and villainous man in Europe. Within days of their visit Bella is murdered. Tweed and Paula return to investigate the atrocious act. The bank's HQ is based in a huge Elizabethan manor hidden in The Forest, a vast area in the deep south of England. Tweed has already met members of the two families, run by their forefathers for generations. Was Bella murdered by one of them - or is it the work of the vicious Calouste? The movement never stops, changing to Calouste's Chateau Les Rochers in the Belgian Ardennes. A ferocious battle takes place. Two more murders are committed at the manor. Tweed and Paula race to tiny Seacove on the rugged Cornish coast to prevent another murder. Finally, Tweed proves the Bank, founded in 1912, was based on a brutal crime all those years ago.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Espionage, Mystery, Suspense

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

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

[Orlok · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really couldn't get into this book, and in only about the 3rd or 4th time in my life, stopped reading before the end.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still keep reading these even though I do not think they are well written and Forbes is a master of over description.

[Siddharth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing is quite amateurish with several incidents seeming implausible. For a plot set in the modern era, the absence of technology is conspicuous by its absence.

[The Honest Book Reviewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second Colin Forbes novel I've read. Although this isn't a fantastic novel, it entertains. The plot is loose, the scenarios are, at often times, ludicrous. Still, there is a charm to the writing and to the characters that makes me think this novel as being so British. Even though the plot seems to take place in modern times, there are cell phones after all, I can't help picturing a bunch of intelligence from the 50s.

I think the characters are what draws me into these novels, both the main cast and the supporting crew. Forbes did a marvelous job of creating a whole bevy of suspicious types and unpleasant personalities for this novel. It had me guessing who the culprit could be, and the end reveal came as a surprise. It did feel odd having Tweed & Co basically live at the crime scene - I couldn't work out why that would be permitted, but I guess it added something to the story.

I've a few more Forbes novels on the shelf to read, all picked up at book fairs. All seem to be late in the series. I'm keen to read something from early on - maybe one day I'll come across some.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast-paced, with some twist. Forbes does well for once to add in a number of characters with duplicitous personalities. However, as ever Forbes has over-simplified things. All "coincidences" are tied-up, so long as they have a bearing on the case, but those that may be related, but ultimately aren't, aren't even questioned by the characters. These books have lost their initial attraction, as Tweed is now just a detective of the Yard in all but name. Hopefully, Forbes' final novel 'The Savage Gorge' will be different, but I won't be holding my breath.

[Palkit Berg]

This must be the worst book I have ever read. I cant believe all the positive reviews of Forbes’ book after reading this one. Perhaps he let a less talented grandson write it? There are just so many errors and ridiculous stuff in this book one wonders if it was written to check if anyone actually reads the book. No stars by me.

[John Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Those things that with the slightest hint you did not notice. I kept on reading expecting more while it was all happening till I got to the end. I wasn't even in the mood to go back again, so maybe till next time I get to read it again.

[lexi ୨୧ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very confusing. Characters are all over the place. The suspension is there, but i didn’t feel indulged in the story. Boring. Very predictable. The plot is lame and transparent. Average writing. I enjoyed it, but barely.

[Gail Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad read, not one of my favorites. Not quite sure why? Too much information, characters??

[Paschalis]

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[Ian Higgs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always an enjoyable read. I particularly like the interplay between the different characters.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bella Main is worried about attempts from a ruthless European Banker, the mysterious Calouste Doubenkian, to take over the immensely rich and totally private bank that she heads. When Bella offers Tweed the job of Chief Administrator of the Main Chance Bank he declines, but the visit to the mysterious manor house Bank Headquarters deep in a dense fir forest in Southern Britain stays with Tweed and Paula.

When Bella Main is brutally murdered, Tweed's SIS team is immediately called in to track down the killer. As all chief executives of the Bank are members of the family, and live in the Manor there is no shortage of suspects within the family, but there is also the mysterious Calouste, who is lurking nearby and he wants Tweed dead.

Fans of the TV Show The Avengers will likely have bells ringing in their heads as they read this book. Tweed heads up a small multi-talented team with the inimitable Miss Grey as his ever present sidekick. The rest of the team are made up of the world's most renowned marksman come mountaineer, the world's best engineer and, well you get the picture....

The plot includes an awful lot of charging around England, lurking around in forests, unlikely hiding places for the arch villain right in the bosom of the investigation, family tensions, elaborate and slightly bizarre ships, light planes, Audi's, Rolls Royces and bullets flying. There's a chateau, a trip to Belgium, corrupt police, huge numbers of Calouste loyal thugs and hidden passages / mysterious buttons in lifts.

All of this adds up to something that, whilst it's totally unbelievable and utterly without social commentary or anything vaguely resembling thoughtful consideration of the murder and it's outcomes, is a romp, a silly fantasy. It's really not much of a stretch to see Diana Rigg in a tight black jumpsuit and Patrick Macnee in a bowler hat. It's been a long time since I first read a few Colin Forbes books and there is certainly a lot that's similar to those in THE MAIN CHANCE, but who cares, once you realise that there's nothing in this that's supposed to be anything other than a bit of light amusement, it was fun with lots and lots of groan aloud moments!

[Nigel · Rating 2 out of 5]

As the Tweed & Co series draws to end, this penultimate instalment fails to reach the heights of the earlier books. As with Blood Storm Tweed seems to have returned to his role as a Homicide detective doing the bidding of Buchanan (which is largely at odds with their relationship throughout the most of the series. Missing are the pan European (and occasionally worldwide) plots that were the centre point of the early books. Instead we have a simply murder story, interspersed with the usual attempts to kidnap Paula and /or assassinate Tweed.
The series is definitely declining but as there is only one more book Savage Gorge I will complete it in the hope that this book will be better.

[Rob & Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast paced thiller in a detective story that crosses England and Europe and shows how the bank was originally created by stolen gold bars in 1912.
In the interim , almost every chapter has somebody being murdered in a grusome way.
The characters of Tweed SIA are quite interesting and form a good team.

Rob

[Abhishek Prakash · Rating 2 out of 5]

coming to think of it, dres nt mch diffrnce btw colin forbs n franklin w dixon's hardy boys series..nw comin to d book...
fairy tale plot, wid a team made of d peopl who r d best in deir ....d writing is so amateurish dat u want to quit reading at times...no serious writing..losse plot..twists n turns lyk evrything being served on a plate....
my recomndation
AVOID COLIN FORBES

[Mélodie Herbas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think it is a really bad book but I didn't enjoy it. I found that there are too many repeated sentences through the book which weighed it. The plot is ok but nothing extraordinary and the outcome is strange and not very well written. It was my first book from this author and I don't think I will read any of his other books.

[Kirti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not one of his better ones!

[Joanne Quick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my type of mystery, but I didn't pick the culprit

[Bobby · Rating 3 out of 5]

was ok...plot was a little predictable towards the end...would make a bad movie

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read by a good author.

[Kevin Chilvers · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know what went wrong with this book but I found the plot and especially the ending unbelievable.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book, brilliant twists and turns at the end as always!

[Manoj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colin Forbes' signature style of writing from the word go. For a engrossed novel reader, the novel tends to be a little predictable, but otherwise a good read.

[James Oliver · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring

A book written towards the the end of Mr Forbes life, very lacking in detail, as if it was a basic outline to be filled out later.