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Martin Calvary #1
Severance Kill
Martin Calvary is going to Prague to kill a man.
First he has to rescue him.
Calvary works for The Chapel, a branch of British Intelligence that identifies enemies of the state who are beyond the reach of the law, and eliminates them. Permanently.
But Calvary has had enough of the killing and wants out. His employers make him an offer: if he carries out one more assassination, he’s free to leave. If he refuses, evidence of his involvement in all the previous killings will be passed on to the police and he’ll become a wanted criminal facing life in prison.
Trapped, Calvary travels to Prague to carry out the hit. The target is Sir Ivor Gaines, a retired senior British diplomat and Cold War traitor who escaped justice more than twenty years ago. But Calvary discovers he’s not the only one with an interest in Gaines. Also hunting him are the city’s gangland boss, and the local branch of the successor organisation to the Soviet KGB…
Calvary’s hit on Gaines fails, and he’s plunged into a race against time to locate and terminate the man before either Prague’s premier organised crime family or the Russians discover just why Gaines is so important, and what the explosive repercussions would be were he to be taken to Moscow. Haunted by the memory of a terrible error he made five years ago, Calvary must track down Gaines to achieve severance not only from his job, but from his past itself.
First he has to rescue him.
Calvary works for The Chapel, a branch of British Intelligence that identifies enemies of the state who are beyond the reach of the law, and eliminates them. Permanently.
But Calvary has had enough of the killing and wants out. His employers make him an offer: if he carries out one more assassination, he’s free to leave. If he refuses, evidence of his involvement in all the previous killings will be passed on to the police and he’ll become a wanted criminal facing life in prison.
Trapped, Calvary travels to Prague to carry out the hit. The target is Sir Ivor Gaines, a retired senior British diplomat and Cold War traitor who escaped justice more than twenty years ago. But Calvary discovers he’s not the only one with an interest in Gaines. Also hunting him are the city’s gangland boss, and the local branch of the successor organisation to the Soviet KGB…
Calvary’s hit on Gaines fails, and he’s plunged into a race against time to locate and terminate the man before either Prague’s premier organised crime family or the Russians discover just why Gaines is so important, and what the explosive repercussions would be were he to be taken to Moscow. Haunted by the memory of a terrible error he made five years ago, Calvary must track down Gaines to achieve severance not only from his job, but from his past itself.
269 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 21, 2012
170 people are currently reading
726 people want to read
About the author
Tim Stevens
30 books57 followersI'm British born but grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. Currently I live near London with my wife and daughters, where I work as a doctor in the National Health Service. Ratcatcher is my debut novel.
My blog, Thrillhound, is here:
http://timstevensblog.wordpress.com/
My blog, Thrillhound, is here:
http://timstevensblog.wordpress.com/
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
November 29, 2013
This almost turned into another 'stopped reading' review, except that I wanted to know what happened to Martin Calvary, the protagonist. So I ignored my many reasons to delete this book from my Kindle and struggled through the formatting errors that cropped up in the last quarter of the book.
Should I have? Perhaps not, but I was curious to see if Stevens had a twist at the end that would be worth it. There was something that should've been a twist, except that it didn't surprise me in the slightest. Maybe less discerning readers will be surprised by the ending, I don't know.
So, the formatting errors... I actually contacted the author and he wrote me a very nice PM telling me that he had a giveaway through Bookbub with some 30,000 downloads, with all the Kindle versions containing the formatting errors, but not the ePubs. I can understand that through some mistake an older file containing proofreading notes and formatting errors ends up in an e-book.
So, if you have one of these screwed up Severance Kill e-books, maybe you can get a new corrected file through Manage my Kindle. Or you can just ignore the typos, missing quotes and strike-through sentences. And overlook the awkward prose when a sick woman running up the steps is ‘ignoring the complaints from her unaccustomed knees’ and operatives being ‘linked up telephonically’.
However, I pointed out that there were many more mistakes unrelated to the formatting issue. Mr. Stevens didn’t show any interest in my feedback, so I’ll just put them in my review.
On the whole, the book was well-written. I had some trouble with the start of the book, where Calvary is getting his ass kicked out of a fourth-floor apartment, manages to keep from falling to his death, and gets back into the apartment to finish the target. The target, who first puts up a fight and almost finishes Calvary, suddenly retreats into his apartment, where the target suddenly changes into a weakling.
Calvary crouches in front of the sitting target, lays a hand on either side of the man’s face and kills him with a crack… So what did Calvary do? Break his neck? Let’s just say, don’t believe the action movies you’ve seen about how easy it is to break someone’s neck. The author is a doctor with the National Health Service, so he might be hesitant to give an exact blow-by-blow on how to break someone’s neck, but to break someone’s neck while crouched in front of him and holding his ears is quite a challenge.
After that, Calvary gets blackmailed into doing a last job in Prague, where he reminisces about his past kills. And I almost put the book down.
Why?
Because Calvary reminisces about electrocuting a target in his bathtub. By throwing a battery-operated transistor radio into the bath. The death of the target is horrifying. “Crackles and screams, churning mix of water and blood and effluent, like a shark’s attack” and the victim dies with a rictus of agony and a hand clawing the air.
Impressive, if it wasn’t that a battery-operated transistor radio tossed in a bathtub will not have a sufficiently high charge to electrocute a human being. I could start a whole explanation about the milliamps used by transistor radio and how many transistor radios would have to be submerged in your bath to tickle your heart into the high frequency fatal fluttering of a heart attack, but even then the victim will not flail about like they are chewing on a high voltage wire.
And while I can understand someone emptying their bowels when they are electrocuted, how exactly does all that blood get in the water? And what makes the water churn? Not the two 9V batteries in the transistor radio, I can tell you.
If killing someone by tossing a battery-operated transistor radio into their baths would work, lots of disgruntled housewives would be buying battery-operated transistor radios…
With my bullshit radar now on full alert I read on.
Calvary relieves someone of his semi-automatic pistol and thumbs the safety before he slips it in his pocket. When he takes the pistol from his pocket a few pages later and hands it to someone, the pistol turns out to be a Glock 17. And Glocks have not safety to be thumbed. The safety of the Glock is a small ‘second trigger’ inside the trigger.
Moments later Calvary takes ‘the Browning’ because ‘the Browning has to be cocked before every shot and the Glock chambered a new round automatically, making it easier for a novice to use’. The Browning, like the Glock, is a semi-automatic pistol. You might have to pull the slide to chamber the first round, but after that the blowback action of the slide will chamber a new round from the spring-loaded magazine in the grip.
The last part of the story featured strike through sentences, misspelled words like ’trial’ for ‘trail’, omitted words like ‘[character name] phone went’, double words like ‘ahead he fancied saw the car park’ [maybe so you can choose which verb you think is most appropriate?] and quotes missing so you have to guess what is narrative and what is dialogue. Sometimes the Third Person Limited perspective featured intrusions of First Person, often right in the middle of action scenes, ‘one of her feet catching him on the cheekbone. It wasn’t enough to put me off. Calvary began to crawl…’ and so on.
All that could be overlooked if the characters didn’t start doing improbable things, like Calvary on the run renting a car with cash but expressing no worries about having to show his driving license because ‘he [protagonist] doubted [antagonists] would be monitoring every car rental place in the city’.
Really?
Their spy craft must be worse than mine, because—despite not being a professional spy—I would definitely monitor every means of (public) transport in a hundred mile radius if I were looking for a spy on the run.
But then, Calvary could be right about the antagonists lack of tracking skills. The scene shifts to the antagonists who are fretting because one of their operatives has been incommunicado for almost a day. Finally the leader has a brilliant idea and goes to the communications officer, where the leader asks an underling ‘can you get a GPS trace on [missing operative’s] phone?’ The comm officer, who has been twiddling her thumbs apparently, answers affirmatively and set to work.
Again: seriously? These antagonists are supposed to be veteran’ intelligence’ officers, and they wait for hours before they decide to put a trace on their missing team member?
With my suspension of disbelief blown beyond repair I finished the book.
Wasted potential. 2/5 stars. Only recommended if your suspension of disbelief is made out of sturdier material than mine…
Should I have? Perhaps not, but I was curious to see if Stevens had a twist at the end that would be worth it. There was something that should've been a twist, except that it didn't surprise me in the slightest. Maybe less discerning readers will be surprised by the ending, I don't know.
So, the formatting errors... I actually contacted the author and he wrote me a very nice PM telling me that he had a giveaway through Bookbub with some 30,000 downloads, with all the Kindle versions containing the formatting errors, but not the ePubs. I can understand that through some mistake an older file containing proofreading notes and formatting errors ends up in an e-book.
So, if you have one of these screwed up Severance Kill e-books, maybe you can get a new corrected file through Manage my Kindle. Or you can just ignore the typos, missing quotes and strike-through sentences. And overlook the awkward prose when a sick woman running up the steps is ‘ignoring the complaints from her unaccustomed knees’ and operatives being ‘linked up telephonically’.
However, I pointed out that there were many more mistakes unrelated to the formatting issue. Mr. Stevens didn’t show any interest in my feedback, so I’ll just put them in my review.
On the whole, the book was well-written. I had some trouble with the start of the book, where Calvary is getting his ass kicked out of a fourth-floor apartment, manages to keep from falling to his death, and gets back into the apartment to finish the target. The target, who first puts up a fight and almost finishes Calvary, suddenly retreats into his apartment, where the target suddenly changes into a weakling.
Calvary crouches in front of the sitting target, lays a hand on either side of the man’s face and kills him with a crack… So what did Calvary do? Break his neck? Let’s just say, don’t believe the action movies you’ve seen about how easy it is to break someone’s neck. The author is a doctor with the National Health Service, so he might be hesitant to give an exact blow-by-blow on how to break someone’s neck, but to break someone’s neck while crouched in front of him and holding his ears is quite a challenge.
After that, Calvary gets blackmailed into doing a last job in Prague, where he reminisces about his past kills. And I almost put the book down.
Why?
Because Calvary reminisces about electrocuting a target in his bathtub. By throwing a battery-operated transistor radio into the bath. The death of the target is horrifying. “Crackles and screams, churning mix of water and blood and effluent, like a shark’s attack” and the victim dies with a rictus of agony and a hand clawing the air.
Impressive, if it wasn’t that a battery-operated transistor radio tossed in a bathtub will not have a sufficiently high charge to electrocute a human being. I could start a whole explanation about the milliamps used by transistor radio and how many transistor radios would have to be submerged in your bath to tickle your heart into the high frequency fatal fluttering of a heart attack, but even then the victim will not flail about like they are chewing on a high voltage wire.
And while I can understand someone emptying their bowels when they are electrocuted, how exactly does all that blood get in the water? And what makes the water churn? Not the two 9V batteries in the transistor radio, I can tell you.
If killing someone by tossing a battery-operated transistor radio into their baths would work, lots of disgruntled housewives would be buying battery-operated transistor radios…
With my bullshit radar now on full alert I read on.
Calvary relieves someone of his semi-automatic pistol and thumbs the safety before he slips it in his pocket. When he takes the pistol from his pocket a few pages later and hands it to someone, the pistol turns out to be a Glock 17. And Glocks have not safety to be thumbed. The safety of the Glock is a small ‘second trigger’ inside the trigger.
Moments later Calvary takes ‘the Browning’ because ‘the Browning has to be cocked before every shot and the Glock chambered a new round automatically, making it easier for a novice to use’. The Browning, like the Glock, is a semi-automatic pistol. You might have to pull the slide to chamber the first round, but after that the blowback action of the slide will chamber a new round from the spring-loaded magazine in the grip.
The last part of the story featured strike through sentences, misspelled words like ’trial’ for ‘trail’, omitted words like ‘[character name] phone went’, double words like ‘ahead he fancied saw the car park’ [maybe so you can choose which verb you think is most appropriate?] and quotes missing so you have to guess what is narrative and what is dialogue. Sometimes the Third Person Limited perspective featured intrusions of First Person, often right in the middle of action scenes, ‘one of her feet catching him on the cheekbone. It wasn’t enough to put me off. Calvary began to crawl…’ and so on.
All that could be overlooked if the characters didn’t start doing improbable things, like Calvary on the run renting a car with cash but expressing no worries about having to show his driving license because ‘he [protagonist] doubted [antagonists] would be monitoring every car rental place in the city’.
Really?
Their spy craft must be worse than mine, because—despite not being a professional spy—I would definitely monitor every means of (public) transport in a hundred mile radius if I were looking for a spy on the run.
But then, Calvary could be right about the antagonists lack of tracking skills. The scene shifts to the antagonists who are fretting because one of their operatives has been incommunicado for almost a day. Finally the leader has a brilliant idea and goes to the communications officer, where the leader asks an underling ‘can you get a GPS trace on [missing operative’s] phone?’ The comm officer, who has been twiddling her thumbs apparently, answers affirmatively and set to work.
Again: seriously? These antagonists are supposed to be veteran’ intelligence’ officers, and they wait for hours before they decide to put a trace on their missing team member?
With my suspension of disbelief blown beyond repair I finished the book.
Wasted potential. 2/5 stars. Only recommended if your suspension of disbelief is made out of sturdier material than mine…
February 16, 2013
In his spy yarn, Severance Kill, author Tim Stevens knocks the ball right over the deepest part of the left field fence.
The book’s hero is Martin Calvary, the most secret kind of secret agent that exists in spy fiction: a guy who works for a British agency, The Chapel, that is so obscure even the people in British intelligence have never heard of it.
Calvary is sent to Prague to assassinate a retired MI6 hand named Ivor Gaines who is suspected of selling out the Brits to the old Soviet Union. This task is made more challenging because Gaines is kidnapped by a Czech organized crime group before Calvary can terminate him.
The spy has to spend most of the rest of the novel trying to track Gaines down, a hunt complicated by the fact that his agency is not the only one looking for the suspected mole: also on the chase are the Russian secret police, who have made Gaines a top priority target for some “wet” work of their own.
The pursuit occurs at breakneck pace, with violent episodes aboard a Czech passenger tram, a bookstore, a café, a hospital, a public park and a half dozen other sites. Calvary remains steadily one half step behind his opposition, but the guy is so good at mayhem that the fact he is playing catch up throughout the book hardly seems to be a disadvantage.
In the background is always the open question: what will Calvary do when he finally does catch up to the suspected mole? Will he kill Gaines? Turn him over to the Russians? Let him go? To Stevens’ credit, he manages to make the outcome uncertain until the very end of the book.
Severance Kill has everything you want in a spy novel: plenty of exotic atmosphere, political cynicism, a menacing aura of menace, automatic weapons, high speed vehicular chases and a body count large enough to have changed the outcome of the Vietnam War. There is even a hint of romance between Calvary and a young Czech woman who becomes enmeshed in the action.
In addition to the frantic pace and high-stakes violence, the novel is driven by a series of subplots and back stories that add just enough intrigue to augment the action. How did Calvary come to be recruited by The Chapel? Who really is the double agent? Will the plucky activists trying to publicize the Czech underworld succeed or will they be wiped out by the gangsters beforehand? What drives the aging female Russian intelligence bureaucrat who is trying to grab Gaines and rub Calvary out in the process?
And last but not least, will Calvary succeed in making this “one last job” his means to escape from his unscrupulous and underhand Chapel bosses?
The Russians are cold-blooded, the gangsters are vicious and barbaric, the activists dedicated and pure, and our hero is cynical and world-weary. Mercifully, there are no ejection seats in Aston-Martins, no briefcases with tear gas bombs, and no other gadgetry more complicated than pair of radio tracers and a hand drill (don’t ask how it comes into play – believe me, you need to know that like you need a hole in the head!)
Severance Kill is a real throwback – an old-fashioned page-turner filled with chills, thrills and suspense with a minimum of psychoanalysis and a blessed absence of bedroom scenes. It is short, sweet and to the point, and offers a perfect diversion for the armchair espionage fan who wants to spend a few highly enjoyable hours reading a tightly-plotted adventure yarn.
A couple of writing quirks gave me pause, including Stevens’ reference to bullet holes “spackling” the windows of automobiles (every definition of “to spackle” I could find involved filling holes, not making them). But the book is remarkably free of bad writing and editing, which made it a pleasure to sit down and wolf through like a hungry man eating a blood rare T-bone steak.
Stevens, a doctor for the British National Health who lives in Essex, has written two earlier spy novels featuring an agent named John Purkiss that I look forward to reading.
Severance Kill can be purchased from Smashwords or for Kindle from Amazon. This is not exactly John Le Carré but for what it is, it gets a full five nooses from this reviewer.
The book’s hero is Martin Calvary, the most secret kind of secret agent that exists in spy fiction: a guy who works for a British agency, The Chapel, that is so obscure even the people in British intelligence have never heard of it.
Calvary is sent to Prague to assassinate a retired MI6 hand named Ivor Gaines who is suspected of selling out the Brits to the old Soviet Union. This task is made more challenging because Gaines is kidnapped by a Czech organized crime group before Calvary can terminate him.
The spy has to spend most of the rest of the novel trying to track Gaines down, a hunt complicated by the fact that his agency is not the only one looking for the suspected mole: also on the chase are the Russian secret police, who have made Gaines a top priority target for some “wet” work of their own.
The pursuit occurs at breakneck pace, with violent episodes aboard a Czech passenger tram, a bookstore, a café, a hospital, a public park and a half dozen other sites. Calvary remains steadily one half step behind his opposition, but the guy is so good at mayhem that the fact he is playing catch up throughout the book hardly seems to be a disadvantage.
In the background is always the open question: what will Calvary do when he finally does catch up to the suspected mole? Will he kill Gaines? Turn him over to the Russians? Let him go? To Stevens’ credit, he manages to make the outcome uncertain until the very end of the book.
Severance Kill has everything you want in a spy novel: plenty of exotic atmosphere, political cynicism, a menacing aura of menace, automatic weapons, high speed vehicular chases and a body count large enough to have changed the outcome of the Vietnam War. There is even a hint of romance between Calvary and a young Czech woman who becomes enmeshed in the action.
In addition to the frantic pace and high-stakes violence, the novel is driven by a series of subplots and back stories that add just enough intrigue to augment the action. How did Calvary come to be recruited by The Chapel? Who really is the double agent? Will the plucky activists trying to publicize the Czech underworld succeed or will they be wiped out by the gangsters beforehand? What drives the aging female Russian intelligence bureaucrat who is trying to grab Gaines and rub Calvary out in the process?
And last but not least, will Calvary succeed in making this “one last job” his means to escape from his unscrupulous and underhand Chapel bosses?
The Russians are cold-blooded, the gangsters are vicious and barbaric, the activists dedicated and pure, and our hero is cynical and world-weary. Mercifully, there are no ejection seats in Aston-Martins, no briefcases with tear gas bombs, and no other gadgetry more complicated than pair of radio tracers and a hand drill (don’t ask how it comes into play – believe me, you need to know that like you need a hole in the head!)
Severance Kill is a real throwback – an old-fashioned page-turner filled with chills, thrills and suspense with a minimum of psychoanalysis and a blessed absence of bedroom scenes. It is short, sweet and to the point, and offers a perfect diversion for the armchair espionage fan who wants to spend a few highly enjoyable hours reading a tightly-plotted adventure yarn.
A couple of writing quirks gave me pause, including Stevens’ reference to bullet holes “spackling” the windows of automobiles (every definition of “to spackle” I could find involved filling holes, not making them). But the book is remarkably free of bad writing and editing, which made it a pleasure to sit down and wolf through like a hungry man eating a blood rare T-bone steak.
Stevens, a doctor for the British National Health who lives in Essex, has written two earlier spy novels featuring an agent named John Purkiss that I look forward to reading.
Severance Kill can be purchased from Smashwords or for Kindle from Amazon. This is not exactly John Le Carré but for what it is, it gets a full five nooses from this reviewer.
December 13, 2012
Masterful nonstop action. . .
This novel, about an assassin chasing quarry, starts with action that continues straight through to the end. Reading it is like watching a destruction derby, with good guys and bad guys as moving parts. The author lays on movement, action and violence, providing plenty of graphic bloody details, offering an expert's lesson in anatomy. Action hurtles forward at breakneck speed, abetted by frequent changes in viewpoint from hunter to hunted during the numerous chases.
In the first few chapters, I experienced some confusion sorting out the characters and their relationships. It soon became clear that the novel involves four separate groups of people with exotic names (e.g.,Yaroslavovna, Tamarkin, Oleg, Arkady, Blazek, Grechko) and even a Welshman named Dafyydd Llewellyn. For a while I considered the possibility the names were an inside joke I didn't get. I was relieved to find that, after I read on, everything fell into place.
The main character is Martin (AKA Calvary) who works for an ultra-secret branch of British Intelligence service (codename Chapel). He was hired from the Army after proving his talents during combat. He knows his handler but little else about Chapel. Martin is intelligent, skilled with weapons, willing to risk his life to serve his country. He has killed several men and is close to burnout, but Chapel will not release him until he performs one more job. The target is a former British diplomat named Gaines, once a double agent for the Russians.
The action starts. In a nutshell's nutshell, it goes something like this: Martin locates Gaines, pursues him, Russians join the chase and interfere, organized crime figures join the chase and interfere, underground activists join the fray on Martin's side, and the story works its way to a conclusion, with a twist at the end, and then another twist. What I left out in the framework just given is the violent action at each intersection of parties, which includes car chases, shootouts, foot chases, stabbings, scuffles, torture, grenade launching, and the like.
Steven's writing is superb, intelligent and filled with energy. The entire enterprise is tight and well-edited, without a wasted word. Overall, an impressive book. Highly recommended.
This novel, about an assassin chasing quarry, starts with action that continues straight through to the end. Reading it is like watching a destruction derby, with good guys and bad guys as moving parts. The author lays on movement, action and violence, providing plenty of graphic bloody details, offering an expert's lesson in anatomy. Action hurtles forward at breakneck speed, abetted by frequent changes in viewpoint from hunter to hunted during the numerous chases.
In the first few chapters, I experienced some confusion sorting out the characters and their relationships. It soon became clear that the novel involves four separate groups of people with exotic names (e.g.,Yaroslavovna, Tamarkin, Oleg, Arkady, Blazek, Grechko) and even a Welshman named Dafyydd Llewellyn. For a while I considered the possibility the names were an inside joke I didn't get. I was relieved to find that, after I read on, everything fell into place.
The main character is Martin (AKA Calvary) who works for an ultra-secret branch of British Intelligence service (codename Chapel). He was hired from the Army after proving his talents during combat. He knows his handler but little else about Chapel. Martin is intelligent, skilled with weapons, willing to risk his life to serve his country. He has killed several men and is close to burnout, but Chapel will not release him until he performs one more job. The target is a former British diplomat named Gaines, once a double agent for the Russians.
The action starts. In a nutshell's nutshell, it goes something like this: Martin locates Gaines, pursues him, Russians join the chase and interfere, organized crime figures join the chase and interfere, underground activists join the fray on Martin's side, and the story works its way to a conclusion, with a twist at the end, and then another twist. What I left out in the framework just given is the violent action at each intersection of parties, which includes car chases, shootouts, foot chases, stabbings, scuffles, torture, grenade launching, and the like.
Steven's writing is superb, intelligent and filled with energy. The entire enterprise is tight and well-edited, without a wasted word. Overall, an impressive book. Highly recommended.
September 2, 2013
Severance kill is a good solid spy thriller which touches on that well worn theme, "taking the one last job". But as we all know, taking that job can lead to more trouble than it's worth.
The novel begins brutally with the protagonist Martin Calvary engaging in an incredibly destructive fistfight with a former Egyptian Unit 777 soldier turned terrorist. Calvary is an assassin for "The Chapel" a deniable branch of the SIS who's job is to kill threats to Britain's security. Calvary prevails, and decides its time to retire. However, his handler has other plans and obliquely blackmails him into taking a final job, the titular "Severance Kill". He's tasked with punishing a former British diplomat Sir Ivory Gaines who seemingly burned one of the Service's best sources in Czechoslovakia and is now unacceptably close to the Russian Federation. Travelling to Prague, Calvary makes his preparations, and tracks down the diplomat. Unfortunately, he discovers the SVR have been tailing his target and a third faction sends a team of masked gunmen to abduct Gaines before he can get into killing range. With time running out, Calvary blazes a trail of destruction through the beautiful streets of Prague in order to find his target and the actual reason behind his mission before his handler burns him and leaves him with no place to hide.
Plot wise, Severance Kill is good. With many unexpected complications confronting Calvary, and the true reasons behind what seemed to be a straightforward killing becoming murky, the paranoia levels runs high in the book and fans of LeCarre will taste a stench of betrayal as events come to a destructive climax. The action in the story is one of the many areas where the book shines. From hand to hand combat more destructive than the Daniel Craig Bond films to car chases which would make Jason Bourne green with envy, Severance Kill is a very cinematic book, but one which portrays the action with surprising plausibility. The research in the book also gains top marks. The equipment and weapons are accurate and it seems the author had been talking to the right people with his description of surveillance tactics and trade-craft. But the fire power takes a back seat. The author, a doctor with the NHS uses his medical knowledge to make the action even more vivid and lifelike including the damage Calvary endures in the story and a uniquely horrifying execution done by one of the antagonists (face removal).
Characters are very good and here are some stand outs. Firstly, Martin Calvary is someone you can easily cheer for. Images of Daniel Craig's James Bond portrayal come to mind. He's not perfect, the opposition against him sometimes getting the better of him and near the end of the novel he's on his last legs, literally. But his impressive knowledge of trade-craft allows him to bring down the factions which out-gun him. Next, there's the SVR "illegals" rezident Krupina. Unlike the typical stereotype of a female Russian spy in the genre, she's middle aged and dying of cancer. However, she's a proper professional at her job, highly intelligent, even having Calvary at her mercy at one point and unlike the fictional Russian spymasters who came before her cares about her subordinates and tries to look out for them. Finally, there's Bartos, the most powerful criminal in Prague and someone you'll love to hate. However, he's completely out of his depth when several extremely dangerous intelligence officers roll into town and becomes increasingly deranged as the hunt for the British diplomat reaches its conclusion.
However, serious, major quibble that may put some of you off. While mostly well edited, near the end, several lines are crossed out, words aren't completed and it can be jarring for people who have high standards when it comes to editing. as a result, one star has been removed from the initial five.
Overall, Severance Kill is a solid spy novel. While touching on well used themes, its surprisingly good research, destructive action set pieces and great characters mean you will get your money's worth when reading. Very Recommended.
The novel begins brutally with the protagonist Martin Calvary engaging in an incredibly destructive fistfight with a former Egyptian Unit 777 soldier turned terrorist. Calvary is an assassin for "The Chapel" a deniable branch of the SIS who's job is to kill threats to Britain's security. Calvary prevails, and decides its time to retire. However, his handler has other plans and obliquely blackmails him into taking a final job, the titular "Severance Kill". He's tasked with punishing a former British diplomat Sir Ivory Gaines who seemingly burned one of the Service's best sources in Czechoslovakia and is now unacceptably close to the Russian Federation. Travelling to Prague, Calvary makes his preparations, and tracks down the diplomat. Unfortunately, he discovers the SVR have been tailing his target and a third faction sends a team of masked gunmen to abduct Gaines before he can get into killing range. With time running out, Calvary blazes a trail of destruction through the beautiful streets of Prague in order to find his target and the actual reason behind his mission before his handler burns him and leaves him with no place to hide.
Plot wise, Severance Kill is good. With many unexpected complications confronting Calvary, and the true reasons behind what seemed to be a straightforward killing becoming murky, the paranoia levels runs high in the book and fans of LeCarre will taste a stench of betrayal as events come to a destructive climax. The action in the story is one of the many areas where the book shines. From hand to hand combat more destructive than the Daniel Craig Bond films to car chases which would make Jason Bourne green with envy, Severance Kill is a very cinematic book, but one which portrays the action with surprising plausibility. The research in the book also gains top marks. The equipment and weapons are accurate and it seems the author had been talking to the right people with his description of surveillance tactics and trade-craft. But the fire power takes a back seat. The author, a doctor with the NHS uses his medical knowledge to make the action even more vivid and lifelike including the damage Calvary endures in the story and a uniquely horrifying execution done by one of the antagonists (face removal).
Characters are very good and here are some stand outs. Firstly, Martin Calvary is someone you can easily cheer for. Images of Daniel Craig's James Bond portrayal come to mind. He's not perfect, the opposition against him sometimes getting the better of him and near the end of the novel he's on his last legs, literally. But his impressive knowledge of trade-craft allows him to bring down the factions which out-gun him. Next, there's the SVR "illegals" rezident Krupina. Unlike the typical stereotype of a female Russian spy in the genre, she's middle aged and dying of cancer. However, she's a proper professional at her job, highly intelligent, even having Calvary at her mercy at one point and unlike the fictional Russian spymasters who came before her cares about her subordinates and tries to look out for them. Finally, there's Bartos, the most powerful criminal in Prague and someone you'll love to hate. However, he's completely out of his depth when several extremely dangerous intelligence officers roll into town and becomes increasingly deranged as the hunt for the British diplomat reaches its conclusion.
However, serious, major quibble that may put some of you off. While mostly well edited, near the end, several lines are crossed out, words aren't completed and it can be jarring for people who have high standards when it comes to editing. as a result, one star has been removed from the initial five.
Overall, Severance Kill is a solid spy novel. While touching on well used themes, its surprisingly good research, destructive action set pieces and great characters mean you will get your money's worth when reading. Very Recommended.
August 7, 2016
Severence Kill By Tim Stevens is a mystery and thriller read.
Calvary works for the chapel, a branch of British intelligence that identifies enemies of the state who are beyond the reach of the law, and eliminates them. Permanently.
Absolutely fantastic read.
Simply unputdownable.
Devoured in less than 24 hours.
What a plot.
With twists and turns all the way through the book.
Martin was my favourite character.
What a gem.
Can't wait to read next part.
Highly recommended.
Definitely worth more than 5*.
Thanks to tbc on fb for the arc.
#tbconfb.
Calvary works for the chapel, a branch of British intelligence that identifies enemies of the state who are beyond the reach of the law, and eliminates them. Permanently.
Absolutely fantastic read.
Simply unputdownable.
Devoured in less than 24 hours.
What a plot.
With twists and turns all the way through the book.
Martin was my favourite character.
What a gem.
Can't wait to read next part.
Highly recommended.
Definitely worth more than 5*.
Thanks to tbc on fb for the arc.
#tbconfb.
June 29, 2013
Should be made into a movie!
February 20, 2014
Jim read this on 2-19-14 and rated it 4.2 stars.
August 31, 2020
Mr. Stevens did a good job with character development in this book. The plot was a bit, "been there seen that" in other books and certainly the movies. What kept me reading to the end was the characters and the fact that the story moved at a rapid pace. I can overlook editing errors and still rate a book 4/5; what I cannot do is overlook certain items in the book that was over the top and simply not plausible. This was an action/thriller type book, I don't believe it was intended to be pure fantasy. Again, if it had not been for good character development this book would have been dead on arrival and I would not have finished it.
May 8, 2017
This is the first in a series of novels featuring Martin Calvary, a British assassin. In this story he is sent, against his will, to Prague to finish off a former British Agent. He is also dealing with Czech gangsters and Russian agents all of whom are after the same person. The plot is pure pulp fiction thriller, but there is way too much violence for my taste. Had I not been captured by the plot I would not have finished the book.
February 7, 2018
It took me a bit to figure out the characters in the beginning, there were a lot. But once I got all the foreign names down, it really got interesting. Lots of non-stop action, okay character development, and a plot with lots of twists and turns. Just when you think it's all over, the author throws you a bone. The editing could use some work, but all in all a good read.
August 28, 2018
Interesting story. This guy is a Jason Bourne wanna be. Book would have been more enjoyable but for the horrible editing/proofreading. Not sure if it was Brit slang or common Brit spelling but lots of odds words and spellings- couldn’t tell if it was bad grammar, bad spelling, or just different words I’ve never seen before.
October 27, 2023
I really wanted to love this book so much but I just couldn't get hooked into reading it. It was a great book but just didn't keep my attention. It's a fast paced thrilled with pretty much non stop action.
May 16, 2017
I've quit reading this book
September 4, 2017
Good book
You people should just read this book yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourself and I really enjoyed reading this book very much so. Shelley MA
You people should just read this book yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourself and I really enjoyed reading this book very much so. Shelley MA
January 2, 2020
Good book but I was shocked that it was edited so poorly. Some of the last few pages even had strike throughs on a few sentences. Very unprofessional.
February 17, 2017
Slow build up to non-stop intense action.
Tim Stevens is masterful. I can't believe I hadn't read his work before. As good or better in many ways as Robert Ludlum
Tim Stevens is masterful. I can't believe I hadn't read his work before. As good or better in many ways as Robert Ludlum
April 20, 2015
If you like your books fast and furious with a fair amount of gore in them, then this could be for you. Calvary (what a great name) is a very complex character, and there are times when he is distinctly unpleasant, but there are enough occasions that give him time to show just how capable he is, and how sympathetic he can be. He makes decisions very quickly, and is obviously highly skilled with an incredible pain threshold – the description of the torture on his head is pretty precise and it is not something that any of us would wish to have delivered to us, but his powers of recovery are a little startling as well. I think that I would have been hospitalised for weeks if not months!
There are also a number of highly unpleasant characters, many of whom are well described and who develop into ones that I really did dislike, particularly Kodiak who is given his name because he resembles, you’ve guessed it, a very shaggy, and in his case, angry, bear with a very short temper. The action scenes, which follow one another very quickly, are luridly described and none of them could be described as less than violent.
There are a number of surprises in store for Calvary and the reader, with some quite unexpected developments.
A not entirely enjoyable read, but one, despite a fair number of typos, that did have me wanting to see how everything was going to work out. I may well come back for more!
There are also a number of highly unpleasant characters, many of whom are well described and who develop into ones that I really did dislike, particularly Kodiak who is given his name because he resembles, you’ve guessed it, a very shaggy, and in his case, angry, bear with a very short temper. The action scenes, which follow one another very quickly, are luridly described and none of them could be described as less than violent.
There are a number of surprises in store for Calvary and the reader, with some quite unexpected developments.
A not entirely enjoyable read, but one, despite a fair number of typos, that did have me wanting to see how everything was going to work out. I may well come back for more!
December 24, 2014
Another excellent Tim Stevens novel. What more can I say? If you like action spy thrillers, they don't get much better than this--especially indie novels for which I am rapidly becoming a fan. Why? Because they surprise me instead of being the same old commercial stuff that's out there.
This well-plotted novel starts with a bang, carries through with a cast of interesting and well-crafted characters, and finishes on a note that makes you want more. This is the third novel I've read from this British author, and I have not been disappointed with any of them. And what I like most is that the British language is retained here, with no attempt to "Americanize" it. That makes it feel even more authentic.
This well-plotted novel starts with a bang, carries through with a cast of interesting and well-crafted characters, and finishes on a note that makes you want more. This is the third novel I've read from this British author, and I have not been disappointed with any of them. And what I like most is that the British language is retained here, with no attempt to "Americanize" it. That makes it feel even more authentic.
September 8, 2016
Severance Kill (Martin Calvary #1)
It seems to be an impossible task, find Sir Raines, retired, SIS, living in the same country where he retired from active service; but the knowledge he possesses poses for too great a threat to TARPA, a Mole buried in the Russian intelligence division. He has to be eliminated or brought back to England. In a country, whose prime language he doesn't know, Calvary relies on his ability the speak Russian, a little German and English to recruit help, but suddenly becomes the hunted, because someone else has informed the local mob boss, about his mission. You'll have to read the book to find out if Calvary is successful. Thanks for letting me know a little more about counterterrorism.
It seems to be an impossible task, find Sir Raines, retired, SIS, living in the same country where he retired from active service; but the knowledge he possesses poses for too great a threat to TARPA, a Mole buried in the Russian intelligence division. He has to be eliminated or brought back to England. In a country, whose prime language he doesn't know, Calvary relies on his ability the speak Russian, a little German and English to recruit help, but suddenly becomes the hunted, because someone else has informed the local mob boss, about his mission. You'll have to read the book to find out if Calvary is successful. Thanks for letting me know a little more about counterterrorism.
September 30, 2015
Lots of moving parts
This book is definitely not for the rookie reader. there is an awful lot going on and an awful lot of complex characters. I did enjoy the read, but found many other productive ways the novel could have went. I hope the author continues this series as it is good from time to time to read fiction that makes you think. I am a huge fan of the Purkiss series Rat Catcher. a solid four stars just be careful when you read and be ready to think and compartmentalize. keep up the good work Tim I enjoy your work!
This book is definitely not for the rookie reader. there is an awful lot going on and an awful lot of complex characters. I did enjoy the read, but found many other productive ways the novel could have went. I hope the author continues this series as it is good from time to time to read fiction that makes you think. I am a huge fan of the Purkiss series Rat Catcher. a solid four stars just be careful when you read and be ready to think and compartmentalize. keep up the good work Tim I enjoy your work!
October 8, 2016
I like books like this where the action never seems to stop. I guess this book is sort of James Bond-ish with more violence and less sex. I guess the good guys should always live thru the action, and the hero manages that in this book, but there are so many escapes in this book that it turns out like a video game. Some of the escapes where well planned and plausible, but so many others were just too far out there. I enjoyed the book, even though it was not very realistic.
March 15, 2014
Severance Kill was an ok read for me. I picked it because I wanted something with a bit off action and that is what I got. I didn't think the story was too original but it is very well written and definitely good enough for me to grab another book by the author. If you are looking for a good thriller it won't disappoint you.
August 5, 2016
Another good read from Tim Stevens, Martin Calvary joins John Purkiss and Joe Venn as another all action man on a mission. Sent in to kill a traitor under the threat of blackmail, Martin goes on a non stop roller coaster ride, attacked on all fronts. Good read and looking forward to the next in the series.
December 3, 2021
Severance Kill
This is the second time I've read this book, although it has been several years ago and I had forgotten about reading it. A well written spy thriller I enjoyed reading. I think I may have to purchase the other books in the series and see what happens to Martin Cavalry.
This is the second time I've read this book, although it has been several years ago and I had forgotten about reading it. A well written spy thriller I enjoyed reading. I think I may have to purchase the other books in the series and see what happens to Martin Cavalry.
September 8, 2016
A fun action adventure where the hero named Calvary is larger than life and easily takes on Russian gangs, foreign government operatives and special ops. The good guys are not always good, the bad are really bad. And nothing is what is seems. This was an interesting change of pace from my usual reads. Will most likely follow up with the second book in this trilogy.
February 28, 2014
Great book if you like the Bourne series
Cavalry is a man with all the skills. Some of his escapes are pretty fantastic but that what I was looking for. A take no prisoners kind of guy. I will read more of his books. If you like the Bourne books, you will like this
Cavalry is a man with all the skills. Some of his escapes are pretty fantastic but that what I was looking for. A take no prisoners kind of guy. I will read more of his books. If you like the Bourne books, you will like this
March 15, 2014
For me this was a good nuts and bolts thriller which is written as escapism and it works really well. The storyline is strong enough to keep you turning the pages and the action is nicely balanced against the plot. This my weekly commute read and I enjoyed it very much.
March 15, 2014
A high octane spy thriller this one had me at the first page. I loved the Martin Calvary character and the dark world he inhabits. The plot was gripping enough to keep me guessing and there was never a dull moment. Tim Stevens knows his genre and seems to me to be an author who delivers good reads.
September 10, 2016
I accidentally started reading this book - just to show a learner how to pace herself when reading on a device. So I finished it, but wasn't overly impressed with it. I'm not REALLY into spy thrillers, so this one was a bit of a bore - don't think I'll remember it ...
September 14, 2016
Severance kill
Enjoyed following martin calvary, brit assassin handled by Llewellin, an untrustworthy member of the "Chapel" group. Martin is a man who thinks outside the box, and handles most situations easily. A good, fast paced novel
Enjoyed following martin calvary, brit assassin handled by Llewellin, an untrustworthy member of the "Chapel" group. Martin is a man who thinks outside the box, and handles most situations easily. A good, fast paced novel
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