The Stockholm Syndicate

by Colin Forbes

Jules Beaurain is Commander of Telescope, an elite strike force, which is confronted by The Syndicate, a group which uses blackmail, bribery and terror to gain control of the economy of the West. Beaurain must locate and eliminate its leaders, but The Syndicate have already issued a death order against him. From the author of FURY.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Espionage, Action, Adventure, Suspense

Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

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

[Simon Mee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have not looked into it, but this feels so much like an unfinished concept where Forbes decided to send it out anyway because you get from A to B, even without knowing what A or B is.

The plot starts mid-action and a number of the characters, especially the three main "gunners", could each be the same brand of toilet roll in terms of distinctiveness. Ed Cottel's plotline is an atrocious mess, existing as link to the top of the American political system only - it otherwise lacks personality, theme, tension or meaning.

However, I will give it three because it rumbles along, and the extremely generous spacing of the text boosts my page count.

[Nadine Van Haute · Rating 3 out of 5]

Niet slecht, maar een beetje verouderd verhaal, zoals de typisch Amerikaanse CIA en co verhalen.

[Sharanya Mukherji · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Stockholm Syndicate by Colin Forbes
A review by Sharanya Mukherji
4.5/5

“তুমি চলো ডালে ডালে,
আর আমি চলি পাতায় পাতায়।”
- A popular Bengali proverb

If I ever have to phrase my feelings for this book, then along with the Bengali proverb above, I will definitely call this a “cat and mouse chase”, where the Cat has to go after 4 baby rats and then deal with the mother rat in the end. Or does he?

The story is about two factions. Telescope, an anti-terrorist group that functions almost like an NGO, is patronised by influential individuals who have pledged a war on terrorism. Then comes the Stockholm Syndicate, patronised by people who seek to profit handsomely from terrorism. Only time can tell who wins in this battle, in the peaceful landscapes of Scandinavia.

Jules Beaurain and his ragtag group of soldiers are on a mission to end terrorism, while Viktor Raskin and his trifecta of lieutenants, Otto Berlin, Benny Horn and Theodore Norling, are doing their very best to stop them.

And so begins a drama of guts and bullets across the different locales of Northern Europe, as they sail through the elements of Earth, Sky and Water.

Colin Forbes's prose goes at an upbeat tempo that never rests till the last page of this book, making the reader sit at the edge of their seats, not even allowing them to fucking breathe. It makes one feel that one is racing against time, as the fate of the Western World lies in the hands of warriors of truth and justice.
This is espionage in its finest and rawest form. You don't know who to trust. Alliances are made and broken, while the world is slowly pushed to the deepest pits of despair.

Unputdownable, unputdownable, unputdownable. This is action with guts and brains, it can't get better than this. But my only gripe with this is that it could have been 30 to 40 pages less in its length. That's why I am unable to give it a higher score.

[Michael Koch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually quite a good book. If it was in my preferred genre, I would probably rate it four stars instead of three. The book is written in the early 1980's and reflects its time in a number of minor of ways.
There are actually female agents on both side, however they both need some protecting including protecting from seeing the worst atrocities. This would probably not occur in the same book today.
Both the antagonist and protagonist use a lot of communications however the reader is no party to this and the book predates cellphone technology. There seems little time for the plans of the protagonist to be distributed to a rather large team spread over several transportation modes yet they all seem to know exactly what is expected of them all; truly amazing.
Nevertheless there is blood and guts with losses on both sides. However, the downed "good guys" may be slightly tainted and having them killed off may make it easier to reach a satisfactory finish.

[Tailor_K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Przeczytana po raz trzeci i niezmiennie wciągająca.

Jest to ten typ książki na który podświadomie czeka każdy chłopak, zafascynowany światem 007. Skomplikowane intrygi, walka, zdrada i poświęcenie. Choć brzmi to pompatycznie to znajdziecie to w tej książce, napisanej prostym a jednocześnie plastycznym i żywym językiem.

Aż strach pomyśleć, że wydarzenia z tej książki mogły się wydarzyć. Lub dzieją się nadal

[Andreas · Rating 2 out of 5]

The eternal struggle between the forces of good and evil. This time represented by two groups being the Telescope and the Stockholm Syndicate; the good and the evil respectively. Told against the background of Cold War Europe the plot races through major European cities towards its ultimate climax. The detailed descriptions of the various cities could be used as a wish list for places to visit in the future. I decided on Bruges as my first choice and Stockholm coming in second.
Unrelated to the book, as a side note, I bought this book about 30 years ago, but never got around to read it. Back then I read a lot of books by Ludlum, Carre and Forbes and enjoyed the books greatly. This book wasn't bad, it was just not for me anymore, I suppose. Tastes change over time and the lesson learned here is not to buy too many books for the far future anymore. Just buy the ones you want to read in the next few weeks and then buy some more. In that regard the book taught me a good lesson along with a not too bad story.

[Abitha Ganesan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good plot and suspense of the plot was maintained through out the book.

[Donald Trump · Rating 2 out of 5]

Low Energy!
** 2 Stars.

[Alex Sparky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boring

[Gillis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Een beetje gedateerd, maar dat heeft ook zijn charme.
Het mysterie rond de identiteit van de 'bad guy' had ik wel al een heel tijdje voor de onthulling ontrafeld.

[Conor O'mahony · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is showing its age. Slow and predictable.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read.