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Nick Stone #18
Cold Blood
Accompanying a group of veteran soldiers on an expedition to the North Pole should be a simple job for ex-deniable operative Nick Stone. But when they're intercepted in their tracks by hulking men with powerful weapons and an enormous ice-breaker ship claiming to be US Navy, Stone immediately understands that not everyone on this trip is who they say they are.
When members of the crew begin to die, it is clear that the murderer must be amongst them. And when the very motivations of the trek are called into question, Stone doesn't only have multiple murders on his hands, he has an international crisis to deal with too.
When members of the crew begin to die, it is clear that the murderer must be amongst them. And when the very motivations of the trek are called into question, Stone doesn't only have multiple murders on his hands, he has an international crisis to deal with too.
381 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2016
136 people are currently reading
562 people want to read
About the author
Andy McNab
205 books1,160 followersAndy McNab joined the infantry in 1976 as a boy soldier. In 1984 he was badged as a member of 22 SAS Regiment. He served in B Squadron 22 SAS for ten years and worked on both covert and overt special operations worldwide, including anti-terrorist and anti-drug operations in the Middle and Far East, South and Central America and Northern Ireland.
Trained as a specialist in counter terrorism, prime target elimination, demolitions, weapons and tactics, covert surveillance and information gathering in hostile environments, and VIP protection, McNab worked on cooperative operations with police forces, prison services, anti-drug forces and western backed guerrilla movements as well as on conventional special operations. In Northern Ireland he spent two years working as an undercover operator with 14th Intelligence Group, going on to become an instructor.
McNab also worked as an instructor on the SAS selection and training team and instructed foreign special forces in counter terrorism, hostage rescue and survival training.
Andy McNab has written about his experiences in the SAS in two bestselling books, Bravo Two Zero (1993) and Immediate Action (1995). Bravo Two Zero is the highest selling war book of all time and has sold over 1.7 million copies in the UK. To date it has been published in 17 countries and translated into 16 languages. The CD spoken word version of Bravo Two Zero, narrated by McNab, sold over 60,000 copies and earned a silver disc. The BBC's film of Bravo Two Zero, starring Sean Bean, was shown on primetime BBC 1 television in 1999 and released on DVD in 2000.
Immediate Action, McNab's autobiography, spent 18 weeks at the top of the bestseller lists following the lifting on an ex-parte injunction granted to the Ministry of Defence in September 1995. To date, Immediate Action has now sold over 1.4 million copies in the UK.
McNab is the author of seven fast action thrillers, highly acclaimed for their authenticity and all Sunday Times bestsellers. Published in 1997, Remote Control was hailed as the most authentic thriller ever written and has sold over half a million copies in the UK. McNab's subsequent thrillers, Crisis Four, Firewall, Last Light , Liberation Day , Dark Winter , Deep Black and Aggressor have all gone on to sell equally well. The central character in all the books is Nick Stone, a tough ex-SAS operative working as a 'K' on deniable operations for British Intelligence.
McNab's fiction draws extensively on his experiences and knowledge of Special Forces soldiering. He has been officially registered by Neilsen Bookscan as the bestselling British thriller writer of the last year.
Trained as a specialist in counter terrorism, prime target elimination, demolitions, weapons and tactics, covert surveillance and information gathering in hostile environments, and VIP protection, McNab worked on cooperative operations with police forces, prison services, anti-drug forces and western backed guerrilla movements as well as on conventional special operations. In Northern Ireland he spent two years working as an undercover operator with 14th Intelligence Group, going on to become an instructor.
McNab also worked as an instructor on the SAS selection and training team and instructed foreign special forces in counter terrorism, hostage rescue and survival training.
Andy McNab has written about his experiences in the SAS in two bestselling books, Bravo Two Zero (1993) and Immediate Action (1995). Bravo Two Zero is the highest selling war book of all time and has sold over 1.7 million copies in the UK. To date it has been published in 17 countries and translated into 16 languages. The CD spoken word version of Bravo Two Zero, narrated by McNab, sold over 60,000 copies and earned a silver disc. The BBC's film of Bravo Two Zero, starring Sean Bean, was shown on primetime BBC 1 television in 1999 and released on DVD in 2000.
Immediate Action, McNab's autobiography, spent 18 weeks at the top of the bestseller lists following the lifting on an ex-parte injunction granted to the Ministry of Defence in September 1995. To date, Immediate Action has now sold over 1.4 million copies in the UK.
McNab is the author of seven fast action thrillers, highly acclaimed for their authenticity and all Sunday Times bestsellers. Published in 1997, Remote Control was hailed as the most authentic thriller ever written and has sold over half a million copies in the UK. McNab's subsequent thrillers, Crisis Four, Firewall, Last Light , Liberation Day , Dark Winter , Deep Black and Aggressor have all gone on to sell equally well. The central character in all the books is Nick Stone, a tough ex-SAS operative working as a 'K' on deniable operations for British Intelligence.
McNab's fiction draws extensively on his experiences and knowledge of Special Forces soldiering. He has been officially registered by Neilsen Bookscan as the bestselling British thriller writer of the last year.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
October 12, 2020
McNab had a good idea here, wrap an ex-serviceman polar exhibition with a thriller. It starts well and with a genuine feel of the cold and the environment but then goes rapidly downhill. It feels like the author didn't really know how to make the scenario work and his plot and characters are all over the place. It's complex and just a bit daft, nobody (especially Stone) acts with any logic and the underlying theme does not work at all.
The worst of all the McNab books
The worst of all the McNab books
February 8, 2019
Not the best, but not the worst.
I enjoyed this book, but the ending just left me underwhelmed. There was no villain to best and the ending leaves them all waiting in the snow. Even Stone's grief is left rather uninterrupted.
I got the premises, British Soldiers suffering wounds and PTSD try to reach the north pole and get caught in the secret war between Russia and the West. Sounds thrilling right, except that's pretty much where it ends...
Just left me feeling rather underwhelmed, but still an interesting read and very educational.
I enjoyed this book, but the ending just left me underwhelmed. There was no villain to best and the ending leaves them all waiting in the snow. Even Stone's grief is left rather uninterrupted.
I got the premises, British Soldiers suffering wounds and PTSD try to reach the north pole and get caught in the secret war between Russia and the West. Sounds thrilling right, except that's pretty much where it ends...
Just left me feeling rather underwhelmed, but still an interesting read and very educational.
November 4, 2017
Not one of the better Nick stone books but still an enjoyable read
November 11, 2022
From what it looks like this might be the penultimate book in Andy McNab's Nick Stone series of books, which, as someone who’s read all of them except the very first one, it’s a bit of a shame but after this one and the last few, perhaps it’s a series that should have finished a bit earlier.
Nick Stone finds himself at the top of the world. Grieving the loss of his family, a former officer persuades him to escort his war wounded son and a group of other disabled veterans on an endurance hike to the North Pole. Trying to escape his own demons, he agrees to help this band of physically and mentally damaged veterans. However, the atmosphere at the pole is tense; global warming has made the ability to access a treasure trove of resources under the ice more accessible and the great powers are levering themselves to take them and stop the other. Nick and his team have got to not only cope with a bunch of issues within the team but a secret war brewing about the oil under the ice.
I fell out a bit with the Nick Stone books about 4 books back at least. The rinse and repeat of Nick reacquainting himself with a former friend or their family from the army, corrupt MI6 agent, ending with his friend dead, after 10 books was getting a bit depressing and stale. At least those managed to create tense moments and a coherent plot from the beginning to end. Here there’s like an A and B plot, which don't really run parallel with each other or even linked together in some kind of convenient way. One, that takes up much of the first third at least, about one of the veterans smuggling in drugs for his jailed stockbroker brother and running foul of the of the local Russian mob. The other, much more global political clandestine in nature, about the US and Russia making moves to secure oil fields under the ice, with nick and his team trapped in the middle. These two plots aren't connected. They don't merge together.
The drug mule story takes up the majority of the first part, but then is solved or dropped and doesn't come up again, as the story flips to secret oil surveying by the Russians and Americans. While this storyline is hinted at from the start, it doesn't really kick off until halfway. It just seemed like two separate stories mashed together. It feels like either two stories fighting for attention or a waste of time spending so much time on one, when it could have been better spent boosting the other.
The main plot I’d guess, the secret oil surveying, isn’t much either. With no antagonist, or conclusion, Nick and his team just find themselves in the middle of this plot, do nothing and resolve nothing. There's no central villain or victory or even a defeat. Just saying stuff happens is a better explanation in what happens. There’s not even the small victory like the team reaching the pole. Which is odd, as there’s always some sort of victory even if it’s a pyrrhic victory in these Nick Stone books.
There’s more characters here going along with Nick than usual, but many get any time to standout or do anything of note. There's Jack who planned the expedition and is very stoic; Stedman, who is a bit loud and abrasive and is the one smuggling in drugs; Will, who seems to be riven by personal demons and his wife, Jules who is trying to protect him by his side and Rio, who’s a bit cheeky and just there. Jack and Stedman get the most focus while Will, Jules and Rio just occasionally pop up to remind the reader that they are still there. I mean even Will and Jules die, offscreen as well and its sort of brushed over very quickly, so it lacks any sort of punch that it should have had. The book avoids the issue that almost every other Nick Stone book has had – an old friend/acquaintance turns up and they go on a dangerous mission, Nick gets betrayed by MI6/ex-MI6/industrialist/other intelligence agency and his friend dies. Which is good for a change and less depressing, but the plot is so lacklustre without any agency to it, by the end it did it feels a bit pointless.
The writing feels like the other books. Nick was never a deep personality, but as the silent secret agent it worked. But too much has happened to him to still be that guy. Here, without it coming up, you wouldn’t have seen much difference in his character and him from a couple of books back (in the last one his baby son and ex were killed). For those that have read a good number of these books, you wouldn’t see any change in his demeanour at all, when you feel you really should.
There’s some action scenes in there, but I felt a bit disinterested in them; I’m not sure because they were written worse than in previous books, because I don’t think they were, but that they ultimately didn’t lead to or mean anything.
Overall, this is a disappointment. The excitement I had for this series had drained away awhile ago, but this book seemed to have no spark to it and seemed to be just going through the motions. The book ends with Nick thinking of starting his own security firm with the disabled veterans he’s just met. Which would have been a promising idea if; 1. He had any kind of real bonding or emotional connection with any of them throughout the book. 2. If this had been done at least three books previously. I think for his book, it would have been better dumping all the spy ops stuff and just focus on a grieving Nick and a team of broken ex-servicemen trying to make it to the North Pole and how the overcome both the challenge and their own personal battles. I will read the final book, as I feel obligated to after reading the rest, but I will do it out of some kind of duty rather than because I still really enjoy them. It’s the same with recommending this one; unless you’ve read most of the series don’t bother and certainly don’t make this the first one you pick up to read.
Nick Stone finds himself at the top of the world. Grieving the loss of his family, a former officer persuades him to escort his war wounded son and a group of other disabled veterans on an endurance hike to the North Pole. Trying to escape his own demons, he agrees to help this band of physically and mentally damaged veterans. However, the atmosphere at the pole is tense; global warming has made the ability to access a treasure trove of resources under the ice more accessible and the great powers are levering themselves to take them and stop the other. Nick and his team have got to not only cope with a bunch of issues within the team but a secret war brewing about the oil under the ice.
I fell out a bit with the Nick Stone books about 4 books back at least. The rinse and repeat of Nick reacquainting himself with a former friend or their family from the army, corrupt MI6 agent, ending with his friend dead, after 10 books was getting a bit depressing and stale. At least those managed to create tense moments and a coherent plot from the beginning to end. Here there’s like an A and B plot, which don't really run parallel with each other or even linked together in some kind of convenient way. One, that takes up much of the first third at least, about one of the veterans smuggling in drugs for his jailed stockbroker brother and running foul of the of the local Russian mob. The other, much more global political clandestine in nature, about the US and Russia making moves to secure oil fields under the ice, with nick and his team trapped in the middle. These two plots aren't connected. They don't merge together.
The drug mule story takes up the majority of the first part, but then is solved or dropped and doesn't come up again, as the story flips to secret oil surveying by the Russians and Americans. While this storyline is hinted at from the start, it doesn't really kick off until halfway. It just seemed like two separate stories mashed together. It feels like either two stories fighting for attention or a waste of time spending so much time on one, when it could have been better spent boosting the other.
The main plot I’d guess, the secret oil surveying, isn’t much either. With no antagonist, or conclusion, Nick and his team just find themselves in the middle of this plot, do nothing and resolve nothing. There's no central villain or victory or even a defeat. Just saying stuff happens is a better explanation in what happens. There’s not even the small victory like the team reaching the pole. Which is odd, as there’s always some sort of victory even if it’s a pyrrhic victory in these Nick Stone books.
There’s more characters here going along with Nick than usual, but many get any time to standout or do anything of note. There's Jack who planned the expedition and is very stoic; Stedman, who is a bit loud and abrasive and is the one smuggling in drugs; Will, who seems to be riven by personal demons and his wife, Jules who is trying to protect him by his side and Rio, who’s a bit cheeky and just there. Jack and Stedman get the most focus while Will, Jules and Rio just occasionally pop up to remind the reader that they are still there. I mean even Will and Jules die, offscreen as well and its sort of brushed over very quickly, so it lacks any sort of punch that it should have had. The book avoids the issue that almost every other Nick Stone book has had – an old friend/acquaintance turns up and they go on a dangerous mission, Nick gets betrayed by MI6/ex-MI6/industrialist/other intelligence agency and his friend dies. Which is good for a change and less depressing, but the plot is so lacklustre without any agency to it, by the end it did it feels a bit pointless.
The writing feels like the other books. Nick was never a deep personality, but as the silent secret agent it worked. But too much has happened to him to still be that guy. Here, without it coming up, you wouldn’t have seen much difference in his character and him from a couple of books back (in the last one his baby son and ex were killed). For those that have read a good number of these books, you wouldn’t see any change in his demeanour at all, when you feel you really should.
There’s some action scenes in there, but I felt a bit disinterested in them; I’m not sure because they were written worse than in previous books, because I don’t think they were, but that they ultimately didn’t lead to or mean anything.
Overall, this is a disappointment. The excitement I had for this series had drained away awhile ago, but this book seemed to have no spark to it and seemed to be just going through the motions. The book ends with Nick thinking of starting his own security firm with the disabled veterans he’s just met. Which would have been a promising idea if; 1. He had any kind of real bonding or emotional connection with any of them throughout the book. 2. If this had been done at least three books previously. I think for his book, it would have been better dumping all the spy ops stuff and just focus on a grieving Nick and a team of broken ex-servicemen trying to make it to the North Pole and how the overcome both the challenge and their own personal battles. I will read the final book, as I feel obligated to after reading the rest, but I will do it out of some kind of duty rather than because I still really enjoy them. It’s the same with recommending this one; unless you’ve read most of the series don’t bother and certainly don’t make this the first one you pick up to read.
November 30, 2016
I would avoid. This will be the last of Nick Stone for me sadly :(
March 16, 2018
This was the first book by Andy McNab I have read meaning also the first of the Nick Stone series. This is good as a stand alone book and you don't need to have read the others to understand this book at all.
To read my full review please check my website: www.movieandbooksgirl.com
To read my full review please check my website: www.movieandbooksgirl.com
November 11, 2017
A great rip roaring story! I enjoyed the book immensely and the adventure on ice with wounded veterans was a twist I enjoyed!
November 20, 2017
This is another book in the Nick Stone series by Andy McNab and follows the ex SAS man after the death of his wife and child on a trip to the north pole. There he meets up with some young ex army amputees who want to trek unaided on foot to the north pole. However, their sponsors have stopped their funding. So you would expect with an ex SAS man and a bunch of ex squaddies things go easy. This is a decent read and well worth the effort.
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May 27, 2017I was hertened by a male's description of how his greif was constrained, in the death of a loved one. This is a big problen in men. Page 82 is riviting to me, as I found my son's body 2 days after he died, age 34. His faher, shut down and and is unapproacable. I would like more opening of this squelched area of greif in men, as all women would.
October 12, 2017
I thought this was another very good Nick Stone story. I thought the constant danger of freezing to death made the story feel claustrophobic and very tense. I also found the story to be very poignant in how it dealt with the wounded veterans.
January 24, 2017
#18 is not his best.... Lacking the suspense and tradcraft content of his previous books. I did enjoy the story to a point but it was lacking.
April 7, 2017
Normal McNab gritty goodness!
October 15, 2017
Another great Nick Stone thriller, just as you'd expect from Andy McNab, can't wait for the next book!
April 27, 2017
typical McNab. Liked it!
June 27, 2017
Quickly read. Good set-up for continued adventures.
September 28, 2017
Another good Nick Stone story. A very fast pace story.
November 2, 2017
Always enjoy a mcnab book. Easy reads, but this one is poor. To easy escape and suddenly it's over, last page.
January 28, 2018
This book follows Nick Stone after he loses his wife and son and takes a job to get a group of wounded ex-military to the North Pole. The group stumbles into a silent, cold war going on as two nations compete for the oil underneath the North Pole.
For a thriller, this book was incredibly slow. It could have been 100 pages shorter and would have been better for it. I really liked the group's struggles with the cold and travelling to the Pole but the wider plot underneath was dull and a little confusing. I liked some parts of it but I would have been a lot happier if it had been removed.
I haven't read any other Nick Stone books before and this book did not make me want to read any more in the series. Whenever the book focused on Nick Stone as a character, and him dealing with the grief of who he had lost, it was definitely better but at other times it felt like Nick was just a stand-in character to observe the group and what was going on.
I was bored and that isn't why you read thrillers. 2 stars!
For a thriller, this book was incredibly slow. It could have been 100 pages shorter and would have been better for it. I really liked the group's struggles with the cold and travelling to the Pole but the wider plot underneath was dull and a little confusing. I liked some parts of it but I would have been a lot happier if it had been removed.
I haven't read any other Nick Stone books before and this book did not make me want to read any more in the series. Whenever the book focused on Nick Stone as a character, and him dealing with the grief of who he had lost, it was definitely better but at other times it felt like Nick was just a stand-in character to observe the group and what was going on.
I was bored and that isn't why you read thrillers. 2 stars!
March 31, 2018
Nick Stone wordt ingehuurd om een groep veteranen naar de noordpool te begeleiden. Het gaat om mannen die een ledemaat, been of arm, verloren hebben in een van de vele oorlogen waaraan legers tegenwoordig deelnemen. Het zou goed voor het moraal van de mannen zijn indien ze dit soort prestatie zouden kunnen neerzetten, goed om hun leven terug op te pikken.
Al snel blijkt dat niet iedereen is wie hij is en met dezelfde motieven meegaat.
Nick moet alles uit de kast halen om de mannen te laten overleven, helaas lukt dat niet voor iedereen.
Er komen Amerikanen, Russen, Tsjetsjenen in voor, het is allemaal erg koude oorlog gericht.
Via Nick kom je veel te weten over de gevaren van de kou, hoe je moet overleven. Maar om dit boek nu echt spannend te noemen, daarvoor ontbreekt toch wel een en ander. Actie is er wel, maar ook die vind ik nogal gefragmenteerd zijn. Ik betwijfel of dit het beste boek van Andy McNab is.
Al snel blijkt dat niet iedereen is wie hij is en met dezelfde motieven meegaat.
Nick moet alles uit de kast halen om de mannen te laten overleven, helaas lukt dat niet voor iedereen.
Er komen Amerikanen, Russen, Tsjetsjenen in voor, het is allemaal erg koude oorlog gericht.
Via Nick kom je veel te weten over de gevaren van de kou, hoe je moet overleven. Maar om dit boek nu echt spannend te noemen, daarvoor ontbreekt toch wel een en ander. Actie is er wel, maar ook die vind ik nogal gefragmenteerd zijn. Ik betwijfel of dit het beste boek van Andy McNab is.
January 28, 2018
Nick stone is dead...
And it was McNab who killed him! This was not a “Nick Stone thriller” I’m not sure what has happened to Andy McNab but he is clearly off his game or has just run out of ideas on how to keep this series bringing in the cash! The end of the previous book “Detonator” Nick’s child and ex partner Ann and Nicholai die but the end revenge scene was over very quickly and that theme is definitely present in this book it is over before it began. McNab should have gone out with a bang and finished with “Silencer” leaving Nick and Anna happy and together with their Son Nicholai instead he needlessly kills them off in book 17 and sends Nick on a pointless Arctic adventure in book 18. I will not be attempting to read book 19 as they are no longer Nick Stone thrillers they are hollow imitations.
And it was McNab who killed him! This was not a “Nick Stone thriller” I’m not sure what has happened to Andy McNab but he is clearly off his game or has just run out of ideas on how to keep this series bringing in the cash! The end of the previous book “Detonator” Nick’s child and ex partner Ann and Nicholai die but the end revenge scene was over very quickly and that theme is definitely present in this book it is over before it began. McNab should have gone out with a bang and finished with “Silencer” leaving Nick and Anna happy and together with their Son Nicholai instead he needlessly kills them off in book 17 and sends Nick on a pointless Arctic adventure in book 18. I will not be attempting to read book 19 as they are no longer Nick Stone thrillers they are hollow imitations.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 12, 2020
Got to chapter 44 and called it a day. I am astonished that this was published at all. It never seems to get started. The opening three or four chapters hold much promise with the prospect of a Polar expedition and an underlying threat but when whole pages are given over to buying flight tickets and descriptions of clothing I realised I was wasting my time. There is a complete absence of pace and the characters are confusing and hold little interest.
The "hero" isn't particularly engaging and just before I gave up on his tale he condoned cold blooded murder of an enemy. Even if someone is themselves a murderer the behaviour is unethical so I lost all respect for him and his rather woeful new buddies. My first and I suspect last Andy McNab read. Slow, dull and over-hyped.
The "hero" isn't particularly engaging and just before I gave up on his tale he condoned cold blooded murder of an enemy. Even if someone is themselves a murderer the behaviour is unethical so I lost all respect for him and his rather woeful new buddies. My first and I suspect last Andy McNab read. Slow, dull and over-hyped.
January 30, 2018
Andy McNab’s books will never be classed as great literature, but the great thing about them is that you always know exactly the sort of story you’re going to get and they’re easy to read.
There are some well written parts where the reader can almost feel for themselves how cold it is, however I have to say that overall this is maybe not as good as others in the series.
It gets rather complicated and pointless in places - and then finishes rather abruptly without a proper conclusion (maybe a mechanism for setting up scenarios for future books?), but nonetheless it satisfied my occasional need for action and violence.
There are some well written parts where the reader can almost feel for themselves how cold it is, however I have to say that overall this is maybe not as good as others in the series.
It gets rather complicated and pointless in places - and then finishes rather abruptly without a proper conclusion (maybe a mechanism for setting up scenarios for future books?), but nonetheless it satisfied my occasional need for action and violence.
June 5, 2019
I enjoyed this book and learnt a lot about how to survive in the North Pole, but I wouldn’t call it my favourite Nick Stone thriller.
This book dealt with many important things, such as how ex - military (and serving) personnel deal with major injuries and how it affects their lives, and their families. I also liked the usual sarcastic humour from Stone which added a bit of comical relief, and how Stone deals with grief himself: I felt it brought us closer to his character.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thrillers, but would say that the plot is a bit slower than previous books, but still a good and entertaining read from which you can learn a great deal.
This book dealt with many important things, such as how ex - military (and serving) personnel deal with major injuries and how it affects their lives, and their families. I also liked the usual sarcastic humour from Stone which added a bit of comical relief, and how Stone deals with grief himself: I felt it brought us closer to his character.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys thrillers, but would say that the plot is a bit slower than previous books, but still a good and entertaining read from which you can learn a great deal.
January 14, 2021
Arctic trek thrills!
Another cracking adventure thriller from McNab, full of barracks room black humour, paced with critical detail of SAS survival, tactics, and a genuine grasp of human traits. This time, in grief, Nick Stone agrees to chaperone an ill matches band of ex-service wounded as they attempt to reach the North Pole, unaided, on skis. But there are various political, and big business groups squaring up to fight for mineral rights, and the hapless team are potentially an obstacle. With a shrewd knowledge of his former trade, and a grasp of real world events, McNab weaves a thrilling adventure. Great fun, pacey, and satisfying.
Another cracking adventure thriller from McNab, full of barracks room black humour, paced with critical detail of SAS survival, tactics, and a genuine grasp of human traits. This time, in grief, Nick Stone agrees to chaperone an ill matches band of ex-service wounded as they attempt to reach the North Pole, unaided, on skis. But there are various political, and big business groups squaring up to fight for mineral rights, and the hapless team are potentially an obstacle. With a shrewd knowledge of his former trade, and a grasp of real world events, McNab weaves a thrilling adventure. Great fun, pacey, and satisfying.
October 23, 2017
Not bad. Not nearly what I’m used to with the Nick Stone series. I loved the premise of the expedition to the North Pole. It’s also interesting to see how Stone attempts to recover from his loss on the previous book. It taught me something new as usual about the sinking of the Kursk. I just found parts of it difficult to follow. I felt it could of done more to educate the reader on the seriousness of the global competition for oil and the various competitors. I think that would of helped to tie things together for me.
November 10, 2017
I have read a couple of books by Andy Mcnab now and you can obviously tell he has been in the military. He seems to want to explain every situation a soldier faces and how they are forgotten after injury or suffering from flashbacks.
The story tells of a group of ex military with different problems travelling to the North Pole. To me the book lacked action and far to much explanations on how cold can affect your mind and body. The group are tricked by Russia and America and at times I lost the plot. I feel they could be great books but I find all the explanations spoil the books.
The story tells of a group of ex military with different problems travelling to the North Pole. To me the book lacked action and far to much explanations on how cold can affect your mind and body. The group are tricked by Russia and America and at times I lost the plot. I feel they could be great books but I find all the explanations spoil the books.
August 10, 2018
Dropped this onto my Kindle in Japan ready for the train and flight back. But my phone died. So picked up on my spare phone back home. Im on holiday so loads of time to read and like most McNab books I burnt through this one. This time Nick is not a lone wolf he has a bunch of ex-military with him in difficult circumstances. It has a different pace about it - not all wham bam thank you ma'am.
Interesting to see how the author will develop this character - who must be getting on a bit now as this was the 18th Nick Stone outing.
Interesting to see how the author will develop this character - who must be getting on a bit now as this was the 18th Nick Stone outing.
January 28, 2021
This has to be my new favorite book! It's original, it's interesting, it's organically funny. It shows that there is plenty of life left in Andy McNab's somewhat repetitive genre and that he, himself, is capable of taking it to different spaces.
If any criticisms can be called out, then perhaps the ending is the ONLY weak link. The final few pages are quite a gear change where a lot happens very quickly. As a reader, I had to change my own pace of concentration to grasp exactly what happens at the end. But this CANNOT take away my enjoyment of this book - Outstanding!
If any criticisms can be called out, then perhaps the ending is the ONLY weak link. The final few pages are quite a gear change where a lot happens very quickly. As a reader, I had to change my own pace of concentration to grasp exactly what happens at the end. But this CANNOT take away my enjoyment of this book - Outstanding!
September 2, 2018
Very good book but a lot slower than some NS thrillers and Andy McNab books. That said - its well put together an well researched. The level of detail is also very good.
The reason for me the 3 stars is that i just felt i was missing something when i finished it - it was just the whole book is focused in NorthPole (Or thereabouts).
Definitely a worth while read - i am not sure where Nick Stone goes next.......
The reason for me the 3 stars is that i just felt i was missing something when i finished it - it was just the whole book is focused in NorthPole (Or thereabouts).
Definitely a worth while read - i am not sure where Nick Stone goes next.......
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October 30, 2019A very good read. Short chapters which I like. The characters were well build and developed through the book. The story plays out in the arctic so it's not just the enemy you will have to battle against; it's also nature.
It's the first book about Nick Stone I have read so some reference did fail me. It's a serie and this is the eighteen book in the series. Will see if I can get my hand of the rest because the character Nick Stone seems interesting.
Would I recommend the book? Yes.
It's the first book about Nick Stone I have read so some reference did fail me. It's a serie and this is the eighteen book in the series. Will see if I can get my hand of the rest because the character Nick Stone seems interesting.
Would I recommend the book? Yes.
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