Time to Kill

by Brian Freemantle

A tense revenge thriller - Jack Mason, once Russia's most successful CIA embedded traitor, has spent the last fifteen years in a penitentiary planning his vengeance on the defector who exposed him. Former KGB Colonel Dimitri Sobell has made a life for himself in America. Until he gets an official letter advising him of the man's impending release, he'd virtually forgotten Jack Mason. But Mason hasn't forgotten, and when these two men are pitted against each other, only one outcome is possible the death of whoever makes the one fatal mistake.

Genres: Fiction, Espionage

281 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Aka John Maxwell, Jonathan Evans, Jack Winchester, Harry Asher and Richard Gant.

Brian Freemantle [b. 1936] is one of Britain's most acclaimed authors of spy fiction. His novels have sold over ten million copies worldwide. Born in Southampton, Freemantle entered his career as a journalist, and began writing espionage thrillers in the late 1960s. Charlie M (1977) introduced the world to Charlie Muffin and won Freemantle international recognition—he would go on to publish fourteen titles in the series.

Freemantle has written dozens of other novels, including two featuring Sebastian Holmes, an illegitimate son of Sherlock Holmes, and the Cowley and Danilov series, about an American FBI agent and a Russian militia detective who work together to comabt organized crime in the post-Cold War world. Freemantle lives and works in London, Englad.

Reviews

[Klaus J. Engelhardt · Rating 2 out of 5]

It begins like an interesting story. The more you get into it, however, you see a lot of absurdities starting with the Russian spy falling in love with the wife of the agent he is running, a CIA mole spying for Russia. He promptly defects to be with her shortly before being recalled. The CIA spy is caught and spends 15 years in prison vowing revenge once he gets out. The ex-KGB agent and the wife subsequenntly enter the Witness Protection Program. The protagonists' feelings are described at length and become repetitive. Still, it makes for some entertaining reading if you have no better book available. So the plot slogs along with a lot unrealistic twists, e. g. Mason, the ex-CIA operative, seduces his female probation officer. This happens within a day or two of meeting her. What?? He owns a Glock 10, a very uncommon handgun. The author should know that the weapon of choice, if a Glock, would be the Glock 17, widely used in the U. S. Anne, the wife, purchases a 25-caliber gun, which at 3 kilograms is as light as a feather. What?? In prison Mason acquired a hacker's skills and could enter emails and sites at will from his laptop. And Mason is free on parole, not on remission. The remaining 5 years were suspended, this is why he is on parole. It appears that the author doesn't know too much about the U. S.
The implausibility reaches its height at the ending. While getting ready to carry out his revenge killing a loudspeaker tells him to drop his weapon, but he starts shooting and Anne, who had become a good shot, kills him. Then it turns out the authorities were onto him from the get-go with his probation officers knowing full well his goings and comings. Their supervision included one of them even having sex with Mason. Well, that ending killed the book. With a different ending it could probably be worth a better rating but this way is sort of laughable.
This is the first Freemantle book I read. On checking all his books I found that he churns out books like a mass production on a conveyor belt. It seems like putting together novels with pre-written parts.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Orrible. I hated all the characters including the so-called good guys.

[Patricia Eichenlaub · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grim story. Not well written. Good ending.