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Tom Morton #3
In the Red Corner
This crime/thriller novel is set in England with detours to France and Hong Kong. The publisher's note says:
Following straight on from the climax of Volume II, the characters in this final book return to England where their separate actions lead to a shocking climax on Morecambe Bay.
In Earlsbury, the search is on for the senior police officer who was pulling the strings when DS Griffin was murdered, and Patrick Lynch receives an unwelcome visitor.
At Fylde Racecourse, Conrad finds himself in charge of the money laundering, and then he finds a way to communicate with Mina. He settles in to his new role and starts enjoying country life, but the idyll is very short-lived.
Without Tom to counsel her, Kate decides to discover what happened to Vinnie, no matter where the trail takes her.
As each character has to decide where their loyalties lie and who to trust, their decisions mean that the final hand in this game of poker is going to be All-in for Everyone.
The pace in this final volume of the Jigsaw trilogy continues the page-turning intensity of the first two books. Now that we know the characters, the reader’s sympathies are tugged one way and the other as they try to survive the struggle to bring down – or save – the corrupt empire of Sir Stephen Jennings.
Following straight on from the climax of Volume II, the characters in this final book return to England where their separate actions lead to a shocking climax on Morecambe Bay.
In Earlsbury, the search is on for the senior police officer who was pulling the strings when DS Griffin was murdered, and Patrick Lynch receives an unwelcome visitor.
At Fylde Racecourse, Conrad finds himself in charge of the money laundering, and then he finds a way to communicate with Mina. He settles in to his new role and starts enjoying country life, but the idyll is very short-lived.
Without Tom to counsel her, Kate decides to discover what happened to Vinnie, no matter where the trail takes her.
As each character has to decide where their loyalties lie and who to trust, their decisions mean that the final hand in this game of poker is going to be All-in for Everyone.
The pace in this final volume of the Jigsaw trilogy continues the page-turning intensity of the first two books. Now that we know the characters, the reader’s sympathies are tugged one way and the other as they try to survive the struggle to bring down – or save – the corrupt empire of Sir Stephen Jennings.
347 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 18, 2014
53 people are currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Mark Hayden
27 books285 followersAuthor also writes under Ruth Ward
Mark Hayden is the nom de guerre of Adrian Attwood. He lives in Westmorland with his wife, Anne.
Adrian has had a varied career working for a brewery, teaching English and being the Town Clerk in Carnforth. He is now a part-time writer and part-time assistant in Anne's craft projects.
He is also proud to be the Mad Unky to his Great Nieces & Great Nephew.
His current writing project is the King’s Watch series of urban fantasy novels, from 13th Witch all the way down to Zero Hour. If he can keep it up.
Mark Hayden is the nom de guerre of Adrian Attwood. He lives in Westmorland with his wife, Anne.
Adrian has had a varied career working for a brewery, teaching English and being the Town Clerk in Carnforth. He is now a part-time writer and part-time assistant in Anne's craft projects.
He is also proud to be the Mad Unky to his Great Nieces & Great Nephew.
His current writing project is the King’s Watch series of urban fantasy novels, from 13th Witch all the way down to Zero Hour. If he can keep it up.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 5, 2020
Obviously do not try to read this book without at the very least having read Green for Danger.
When the second book finished it was a cliffhanger. Tom had been blown-up in a car-bombing, Kate was being framed by her new boss in Hong Kong and Conrad had been despatched from Afghanistan to make Kate disappear.
This is just adrenalin fuelled, gripping and tense as Tom struggles to uncover the king pins behind Operation Jigsaw and Conrad must fight to survive, which way will he jump?
In amongst the high-octane chases there is still time for some touching scenes between Conrad and Mina (oh how I love their romance) but we also get the story of how Conrad got his old lighter (the one Mina threw away) and his ex makes an appearance.
So often the end to a series can be a crushing disappointment (Lost and Game of Thrones are good examples) but not in this case. I was also thrilled to see foreshadowing of events in the King's Watch with the tall shadowy figure in a cloak and hat that Conrad sees in Hong Kong and to meet some other characters that we see in that series.
Brilliant.
When the second book finished it was a cliffhanger. Tom had been blown-up in a car-bombing, Kate was being framed by her new boss in Hong Kong and Conrad had been despatched from Afghanistan to make Kate disappear.
This is just adrenalin fuelled, gripping and tense as Tom struggles to uncover the king pins behind Operation Jigsaw and Conrad must fight to survive, which way will he jump?
In amongst the high-octane chases there is still time for some touching scenes between Conrad and Mina (oh how I love their romance) but we also get the story of how Conrad got his old lighter (the one Mina threw away) and his ex makes an appearance.
So often the end to a series can be a crushing disappointment (Lost and Game of Thrones are good examples) but not in this case. I was also thrilled to see foreshadowing of events in the King's Watch with the tall shadowy figure in a cloak and hat that Conrad sees in Hong Kong and to meet some other characters that we see in that series.
Brilliant.
January 12, 2020
Best author on Kindle unlimited
Hands down the best thing I've read on Kindle for a long time, not just on unlimited. DCI Tom Morton is up there with people like John Rebus, and Conrad Clarke is the best character I've read in years. I love these books.
Hands down the best thing I've read on Kindle for a long time, not just on unlimited. DCI Tom Morton is up there with people like John Rebus, and Conrad Clarke is the best character I've read in years. I love these books.
June 4, 2021
[The Operation Jigsaw trilogy is a series of novels that introduce us to Conrad Clarke and several other characters whose stories are explored more fully in the much longer King’s Watch series of novels and short stories. This review covers the entire trilogy instead of the individual tales. I read them between April 28 and May 31 of 2021. That alone should tell you almost all you need to know about how strong - and how addictive - these stories are.]
Although I read these three novels after I’d started Hayden’s much longer and more in-depth King’s Watch series, which tells of many of the same characters and their back stories, they were no less enjoyable for that. In fact, the severe shift in world views made the stories different enough that they were almost as much fun as Watch tales.
At their center is one Conrad Clarke, a RAF helicopter pilot deployed in Afghanistan at the time the stories take place. We quickly learn that Clarke is, along with several of his military colleagues, involved in some less-than-legal activities that reverberate all the way back home in the UK.
These three novels give as much, or more, attention to Tom Norton, a talented detective with the Metropolitan Police in London. Though his background is in money laundering and fraud, he’s not at all afraid to get involved in more direct and dangerous investigations. Tom and his cousin Kate, also deployed in Afghanistan for a while, slowly connect the crimes they’re investigating in England with some of the actions Clarke and his team are conducting in Afghanistan.
While The King’s Watch stories all have very deep supernatural aspects, these three are entirely magic-free. Having read the Watch stories first it was a little jarring to read about Conrad’s and Tom’s lives and relationships without that element. Soon, mainly because the storytelling is so good and the characters and their actions so compelling, that was not a sticking point, or a barrier to the suspension of my disbelief.
Like most great tales, nobody in this one is ever simply black and white; most live in the very gray in-between areas that are always more interesting than the poles of Good and Bad. Even though Conrad never hesitates to bend the rules, military and otherwise, we know he’s not an inherently evil person. He remains conflicted and definitely has lines he will not cross. To be sure there are some Big Bads that are totally bad, and some Good characters that are almost always pure and good, but Conrad and his team are all flawed in some deep way. Often times these flaws are physical as well as mental or spiritual; I don’t think I’ve ever come across a story where so many of the principals are so scarred and battle-worn, from facial deformities, to slow-to-heal broken or replaced bones, to the shrapnel scars left by survivors of explosions, no one seems safe from some sort of physical tragedy or impairment. None of them are truly whole, or who they were before the trials they’ve lived or are living through.
Though these books can be read quickly, the ebb and flow of the action is set at a very manageable and natural pace. I’m not sure I could have read all of them so quickly otherwise.
I can’t recommend these books highly enough for anyone who likes their stories loaded with action and adventure, intrigue, heroism (and its counterpart), and even a little romance. You will not be disappointed.
Although I read these three novels after I’d started Hayden’s much longer and more in-depth King’s Watch series, which tells of many of the same characters and their back stories, they were no less enjoyable for that. In fact, the severe shift in world views made the stories different enough that they were almost as much fun as Watch tales.
At their center is one Conrad Clarke, a RAF helicopter pilot deployed in Afghanistan at the time the stories take place. We quickly learn that Clarke is, along with several of his military colleagues, involved in some less-than-legal activities that reverberate all the way back home in the UK.
These three novels give as much, or more, attention to Tom Norton, a talented detective with the Metropolitan Police in London. Though his background is in money laundering and fraud, he’s not at all afraid to get involved in more direct and dangerous investigations. Tom and his cousin Kate, also deployed in Afghanistan for a while, slowly connect the crimes they’re investigating in England with some of the actions Clarke and his team are conducting in Afghanistan.
While The King’s Watch stories all have very deep supernatural aspects, these three are entirely magic-free. Having read the Watch stories first it was a little jarring to read about Conrad’s and Tom’s lives and relationships without that element. Soon, mainly because the storytelling is so good and the characters and their actions so compelling, that was not a sticking point, or a barrier to the suspension of my disbelief.
Like most great tales, nobody in this one is ever simply black and white; most live in the very gray in-between areas that are always more interesting than the poles of Good and Bad. Even though Conrad never hesitates to bend the rules, military and otherwise, we know he’s not an inherently evil person. He remains conflicted and definitely has lines he will not cross. To be sure there are some Big Bads that are totally bad, and some Good characters that are almost always pure and good, but Conrad and his team are all flawed in some deep way. Often times these flaws are physical as well as mental or spiritual; I don’t think I’ve ever come across a story where so many of the principals are so scarred and battle-worn, from facial deformities, to slow-to-heal broken or replaced bones, to the shrapnel scars left by survivors of explosions, no one seems safe from some sort of physical tragedy or impairment. None of them are truly whole, or who they were before the trials they’ve lived or are living through.
Though these books can be read quickly, the ebb and flow of the action is set at a very manageable and natural pace. I’m not sure I could have read all of them so quickly otherwise.
I can’t recommend these books highly enough for anyone who likes their stories loaded with action and adventure, intrigue, heroism (and its counterpart), and even a little romance. You will not be disappointed.
September 6, 2021
Best of the Three!
Compared to the first two books I enjoyed this one the most, but it did seem to go on & on. However it was a story that needed telling that fleshes out a lot of the supernatural books with Conrad.
The Author however does have a talent at story telling & it shows how invested he is in his characters.
Compared to the first two books I enjoyed this one the most, but it did seem to go on & on. However it was a story that needed telling that fleshes out a lot of the supernatural books with Conrad.
The Author however does have a talent at story telling & it shows how invested he is in his characters.
July 16, 2020
Conrad's story
I read these 3 books to pick up on the hints in the King's Watch series about Conrad's previous life. I prefer fantasy but enjoyed them, but the proofreading is poor. I shall not be following Tom Morton but still have some of Conrad to read.
I read these 3 books to pick up on the hints in the King's Watch series about Conrad's previous life. I prefer fantasy but enjoyed them, but the proofreading is poor. I shall not be following Tom Morton but still have some of Conrad to read.
March 4, 2023
Wonderful finale
This was a brilliant read, and coming back to it after reading some of the later books was truly eye opening. If you want some adventure action crime and a great plot then this series must be on your reading list.
This was a brilliant read, and coming back to it after reading some of the later books was truly eye opening. If you want some adventure action crime and a great plot then this series must be on your reading list.
May 10, 2023
a real page turner!
Excellent final volume in the trilogy. The last half of the book rapidly twists and turns and is a real rollercoaster. You cannot put the book down. Beautifully written and a pleasure to read.
Excellent final volume in the trilogy. The last half of the book rapidly twists and turns and is a real rollercoaster. You cannot put the book down. Beautifully written and a pleasure to read.
January 21, 2020
A solid page turner to conclude the trilogy. I'll be honest, a couple of weeks after reading it I have mostly forgotten the plot of this instalment, but I know I enjoyed reading it as it went.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews