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Assassins Rule #1
Dark Market
Kill anyone, anywhere, anytime. Never get caught.
Coles is: "Hemingwayesque" - BBC's Focus Magazine.
John Savage is a special force of one. A corporate investigator who had to leave when an investigation went wrong. He's become a 21st century warrior serving overseas but not for any one government only the highest bidder.
When he finds a dead body with links to his old life he returns and finds that what forced him out was only the beginning of a conspiracy to commit murder on a grand scale. The Dark Market. In which anyone can take part and anyone can be a victim. Now Savage must battle to finish what he started.
Coles is: "Hemingwayesque" - BBC's Focus Magazine.
John Savage is a special force of one. A corporate investigator who had to leave when an investigation went wrong. He's become a 21st century warrior serving overseas but not for any one government only the highest bidder.
When he finds a dead body with links to his old life he returns and finds that what forced him out was only the beginning of a conspiracy to commit murder on a grand scale. The Dark Market. In which anyone can take part and anyone can be a victim. Now Savage must battle to finish what he started.
352 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 24, 2012
About the author
Frank Coles
25 books24 followers"...there is something refreshingly Hemingway-esque about Coles's Philosophy that deserves to be heard." BBC's Focus magazine.
Frank Coles is a media professional of nearly 20 years standing across TV, radio, news media, marketing, branding, publishing and the internet. He is a published author and has his own National Geographic web channel.
Frank has lived and worked all over the Middle East, SE Asia, Europe, and as far north as the pole.
You can find out more about him, watch NatGeo/YouTube videos, or contact him at:
www.frankcoles.com
Frank Coles is a media professional of nearly 20 years standing across TV, radio, news media, marketing, branding, publishing and the internet. He is a published author and has his own National Geographic web channel.
Frank has lived and worked all over the Middle East, SE Asia, Europe, and as far north as the pole.
You can find out more about him, watch NatGeo/YouTube videos, or contact him at:
www.frankcoles.com
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 13, 2016
I read a fair share of thrillers, the more insipid ones usually on audiobooks, but this might have been too shabby even for that. Frankly, my OCD was the only reason I finished this book. It didn't impress me to start with and from there on disappointed progressively, Fibonnaci style. It isn't the worst book ever written, the author did seem to try, but there is nothing here to recommend itself. The main concept of the assasins' market doesn't even come into play until the end of the book. The rest is taken up by cardboard cutout characters doing inane over the top things, a tedium no amount of action, femme fatales or even an orgy scene can salvage. How tedious? Well, you ever watch someone count money? It's like that. Analogy most apt due to the fact that the main protagonist, the man appropriately laughably named John Savage, is an investigator for FSA, so majority of the book is dedicated to tracking money for the obnoxiously wealthy. Oligarchs beware, John Savage is on the case, that sort of thing. The plot itself was such a mix of convolution and silliness, that it's designed to be twisty to follow and offers nothing to motivate the reader to do so. This thriller is so profoundly unthrilling that even an author might have picked up on that, since this is billed as number one in the series as of years ago and no sequel has appeared since. It might appeal to fans of mindless testosterone driven action, but otherwise the only thing it does is kill time and no in a good way either. Pass.
March 4, 2019
Good book
You people should just read this novel yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourselves and I really enjoyed reading this novel very much so. Shelley Ma
You people should just read this novel yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourselves and I really enjoyed reading this novel very much so. Shelley Ma
November 14, 2012
English review after the Italian one
Il lato British dell'azione
Ammetto che all'inizio della lettura di "Dark Market" ero disorientata. C'è un tizio che si suicida e non se ne capisce il motivo. C'è un gruppo di mercenari in medioriente coinvolti in frenetiche scene d'azione, non semplicissime da immaginare, trattandosi di un libro e non un film.
Ma sono andata avanti ed ecco che emerge in tutta la sua completezza il personaggio di John Savage e una storia che è allo stesso tempo ricca di azione, ma con una trama meticolosamente costruita, in cui tutti gli elementi che appaiono lungo la narrazione pian pianino si uniscono formando un perfetto intreccio.
Lo stile dell'autore è diretto, divertente, ti catapulta dritto dentro l'azione, in un mondo in cui commissionare un omicidio è diventato un gioco dei potenti. I personaggi sono ben caratterizzati e credibili, nell'ambito di ciò che è normalmente ritenuto credibile in un action-thriller, genere che adoro sullo schermo e che non mi dispiace vedere rappresentato anche in un libro. La mia fantasia è perfettamente in grado di fornire la parte visiva e la narrazione di Coles rende questo compito ancora più facile.
Senza dubbio è un autore che merita una certa attenzione e "Dark Market" è una lettura che consiglio a tutti gli amanti dei libri con una trama complessa dal ritmo veloce.
Si tratta inoltre del primo libro di una serie, che vede come protagonista John Savage. Sarò sicuramente curiosa di leggere gli altri che verranno.
The British side of action
I must admit that while reading the beginning of "Dark Market" I was disoriented. There's a guy who commits suicide and we do not understand why. There is a group of mercenaries in the Middle East caught up in frenetic action scenes, not easy to imagine, as it is a book, not a movie.
But I went ahead and here emerges in all its fullness the character of John Savage and a story that is both action-packed, but with a carefully constructed plot, in which all the elements that appear along the narrative get slowly together to form a perfect combination.
The author's style is direct, funny, throws you right into the action, in a world in which a commissioned murder has become a game of the powerful. The characters are well defined and credible in the context of what is normally considered credible in an action-thriller, a genre that I love on the screen and I'm not displeased to see represented in a book. My fantasy is perfectly able to provide the visual part and the narrative of Coles makes this task even easier.
No doubt this is an author who deserves some attention and "Dark Market" is a reading that I recommend to all lovers of books with a complex fast-paced plot.
It is also the first book in a series, starring John Savage. I'll definitely be curious to read the others to come.
Il lato British dell'azione
Ammetto che all'inizio della lettura di "Dark Market" ero disorientata. C'è un tizio che si suicida e non se ne capisce il motivo. C'è un gruppo di mercenari in medioriente coinvolti in frenetiche scene d'azione, non semplicissime da immaginare, trattandosi di un libro e non un film.
Ma sono andata avanti ed ecco che emerge in tutta la sua completezza il personaggio di John Savage e una storia che è allo stesso tempo ricca di azione, ma con una trama meticolosamente costruita, in cui tutti gli elementi che appaiono lungo la narrazione pian pianino si uniscono formando un perfetto intreccio.
Lo stile dell'autore è diretto, divertente, ti catapulta dritto dentro l'azione, in un mondo in cui commissionare un omicidio è diventato un gioco dei potenti. I personaggi sono ben caratterizzati e credibili, nell'ambito di ciò che è normalmente ritenuto credibile in un action-thriller, genere che adoro sullo schermo e che non mi dispiace vedere rappresentato anche in un libro. La mia fantasia è perfettamente in grado di fornire la parte visiva e la narrazione di Coles rende questo compito ancora più facile.
Senza dubbio è un autore che merita una certa attenzione e "Dark Market" è una lettura che consiglio a tutti gli amanti dei libri con una trama complessa dal ritmo veloce.
Si tratta inoltre del primo libro di una serie, che vede come protagonista John Savage. Sarò sicuramente curiosa di leggere gli altri che verranno.
The British side of action
I must admit that while reading the beginning of "Dark Market" I was disoriented. There's a guy who commits suicide and we do not understand why. There is a group of mercenaries in the Middle East caught up in frenetic action scenes, not easy to imagine, as it is a book, not a movie.
But I went ahead and here emerges in all its fullness the character of John Savage and a story that is both action-packed, but with a carefully constructed plot, in which all the elements that appear along the narrative get slowly together to form a perfect combination.
The author's style is direct, funny, throws you right into the action, in a world in which a commissioned murder has become a game of the powerful. The characters are well defined and credible in the context of what is normally considered credible in an action-thriller, a genre that I love on the screen and I'm not displeased to see represented in a book. My fantasy is perfectly able to provide the visual part and the narrative of Coles makes this task even easier.
No doubt this is an author who deserves some attention and "Dark Market" is a reading that I recommend to all lovers of books with a complex fast-paced plot.
It is also the first book in a series, starring John Savage. I'll definitely be curious to read the others to come.
September 25, 2012
Dark Market by Frank Coles both entertained and infuriated me (often at the same time). I’m not a big fan of the Jack Reacher type of Teflon-coated action man and the central character in Dark Market, John Savage, definitely falls into that category. However, there is something very human about Savage which made me root for him, even when part of my brain was saying, oh for goodness sake, surely with so many guns and so much muscle against him he should be dead by now!
This is, first and foremost, an action novel, but it is saved from being a predictable shoot-em-up by a complex and well thought out plot. John Savage is an investigator for the Financial Services Agency, but if this is the type of person they are now using I would say the banking world should be trembling in fear. Savage returns from the Middle East, where he has been working as a mercenary, after he finds a link between a murdered news reporter and the suicide he’d caused years earlier. Once back in his old job at the bank he begins to delve into crimes, cover ups, scandal and intrigue on a massive scale. The dark market of the title refers to a ‘game’ whereby anyone with the right amount of money can arrange for whoever they choose to be an assassin’s target and the bank is facilitating it. A premise disturbingly possible.
I found the book’s opening section less than engrossing, but I’m glad I persevered because the book gets better and better as it progresses. Characterisation is good; even though most of the characters are a bit OTT, they are still credible.
Would I read another John Savage tale of death and destruction if Frank Coles produces one? On balance, yes, I would.
This is, first and foremost, an action novel, but it is saved from being a predictable shoot-em-up by a complex and well thought out plot. John Savage is an investigator for the Financial Services Agency, but if this is the type of person they are now using I would say the banking world should be trembling in fear. Savage returns from the Middle East, where he has been working as a mercenary, after he finds a link between a murdered news reporter and the suicide he’d caused years earlier. Once back in his old job at the bank he begins to delve into crimes, cover ups, scandal and intrigue on a massive scale. The dark market of the title refers to a ‘game’ whereby anyone with the right amount of money can arrange for whoever they choose to be an assassin’s target and the bank is facilitating it. A premise disturbingly possible.
I found the book’s opening section less than engrossing, but I’m glad I persevered because the book gets better and better as it progresses. Characterisation is good; even though most of the characters are a bit OTT, they are still credible.
Would I read another John Savage tale of death and destruction if Frank Coles produces one? On balance, yes, I would.
April 25, 2015
Goodreads really should have provision for giving half stars... I would like to rate this story a 3.5/5.
The story combines action packed sequences with some high technology. The action part is crackling, though mostly implausible. What the heck, it is fiction after all!
The technology part is interesting, too... The concept of dark market is truly frightening. But, I wish it was developed more.
And, the end had me disappointed a bit...
To summarise, it is a fast-paced action-thriller that is good to pass time with.
Frank Coles certainly shows lot of promise, I look forward to more from him.
The story combines action packed sequences with some high technology. The action part is crackling, though mostly implausible. What the heck, it is fiction after all!
The technology part is interesting, too... The concept of dark market is truly frightening. But, I wish it was developed more.
And, the end had me disappointed a bit...
To summarise, it is a fast-paced action-thriller that is good to pass time with.
Frank Coles certainly shows lot of promise, I look forward to more from him.
February 7, 2015
'Dark Market' pulled me in from the beginning and didn't let go. I loved the storyline. Packed with action, thrilling scenarios, mystery and a spectacular cast of characters. I literally was not sure how this book would end. I love to be completely shocked by the end results, and this novel delivered. Savage makes a great kick-ass lead. And even Echo surprised me. I truly enjoyed the writing style of Frank Coles. A great add to your tbr list. Recommended.
September 3, 2014
Great read!
I would recommend this book to anyone who hates knowing where the story is going and how it will end up after reading the first chapter of a novel. THIS is for action fans who enjoy their heroes a bit twisted. loved the plot, kept me in my seat until the last paragraph.
I would recommend this book to anyone who hates knowing where the story is going and how it will end up after reading the first chapter of a novel. THIS is for action fans who enjoy their heroes a bit twisted. loved the plot, kept me in my seat until the last paragraph.
April 15, 2012
I enjoyed this thriller set in banking's Golden Mile. It reminded me of A Loyal Spy (illuminating backstory) and Carte Blanche (modern day technology).
FSA investigator John Savage has the world of finance to rake through and finds his old skills as a mercenary very useful...
FSA investigator John Savage has the world of finance to rake through and finds his old skills as a mercenary very useful...
May 24, 2015
John Savage was a financial investigator before he caused Michael's suicide. He takes off to the Middle East where he serves as a mercenary for three years. Fed up with the killing, he returns to London where he is hired to investigate a banks missing millions. This one is full of twists and turns.
September 19, 2014
Fascinating
NEVER saw this one coming. The twists and turns will not allow you to put it down. Fans of Dan Brown will love this book.
NEVER saw this one coming. The twists and turns will not allow you to put it down. Fans of Dan Brown will love this book.
September 30, 2014
I enjoyed the story but have to say that I struggled with some of the systems and vocabulary of the finance world.
June 29, 2015
Good read
Fast paced. It's like Die Hard in London. Had no idea who, what, where or how til the end. Good job!
Fast paced. It's like Die Hard in London. Had no idea who, what, where or how til the end. Good job!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews