Το πτώμα της άγρια δολοφονημένης όμορφης γυναίκας στην κρεβατοκάμαρα του σπιτιού του έδειχνε πόσο αδίστακτοι ήταν εκείνοι που επιχείρησαν να τον παγιδέψουν. Ο Τουΐντ δεν ξέρει ποιοι βρίσκονται πίσω από αυτή την καλοστημένη πλεκτάνη, υποψιάζεται όμως ποιος είναι ο στόχος τους: ο Σόκγουεϊβ, ένας τεράστιος ηλεκτρονικός υπολογιστής, βασικό στοιχείο ενός νέου αμυντικού συστήματος. Και ο Τουΐντ είναι υπεύθυνος για τη μεταφορά του στη Βρετανία... Για να μπορέσει να αποδείξει την αθωότητά του και συγχρόνως να αποκαλύψει τους συνωμότες που κρύβονται στα ανώτερα κυβερνητικά κλιμάκιρ της χώρας του, ο μέχρι χτες υπαρχηγός της SIS θα διαφύγει στην Ευρώπη. Όμως οι αντίπαλοί του εξαπολύουν εναντίον του ένα αμείλικτο ανθρωποκυνηγητό. Σε κάθε του βήμα βρίσκεται αντιμέτωπος με μια θανάσιμη παγίδα και του είναι όλο και πιο δύσκολο να διακρίνει ποιοι είναι οι εχθροί του και ποιοι οι φίλοι του... «Κανένας δε γράφει σαν τον Colin Forbes».
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.
Read this book back in the early 90's around its release, as borrowed from a friend that had read it and this was the first book I could not physically put down. Loved the suspense and the characters, as this was the first book read by this author.
Over time have read the other books in this series, but this one remains special as still resides in my bookcase for unlocking the magic of a good suspense. Have re-read this some years later, and it didn't loose the magic (with recall of the plot).
Number seven in the Tweed and Co series and another fast moving thriller. There are times when the plot does stretch credibility a little bit, and just how many well planned ambushed can one group of people evade! If you’re looking for an accurate espionage thriller then this probably isn’t for you, on the other hand if what you are after is a good dose of adventurous escapism to while away a few hours then this will suit.
A good old-fashioned thriller that's still worth reading. The sheer pace of this fast-moving story is enough to keep the reader far to busy turning the pages to worry about the limitations of character development or occasional wooden dialogue that others have noted.