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No Mortal Thing
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416 pages, Paperback
First published July 2, 2015
About the author
Gerald Seymour
99 books299 followersGerald Seymour (born 25 November 1941 in Guildford, Surrey) is a British writer.
The son of two literary figures, he was educated at Kelly College at Tavistock in Devon and took a BA Hons degree in Modern History at University College London. Initially a journalist, he joined ITN in 1963, covering such topics as the Great Train Robbery, Vietnam, Ireland, the Munich Olympics massacre, Germany's Red Army, Italy's Red Brigades and Palestinian militant groups. His first book, Harry's Game, was published in 1975, and Seymour then became a full-time novelist, living in the West Country. In 1999, he featured in the Oscar-winning television film, One Day in September, which portrayed the Munich Olympics massacre.
Television adaptations have been made of his books Harry's Game, The Glory Boys, The Contract, Red Fox, Field Of Blood, A Line In The Sand and The Waiting Time.
The son of two literary figures, he was educated at Kelly College at Tavistock in Devon and took a BA Hons degree in Modern History at University College London. Initially a journalist, he joined ITN in 1963, covering such topics as the Great Train Robbery, Vietnam, Ireland, the Munich Olympics massacre, Germany's Red Army, Italy's Red Brigades and Palestinian militant groups. His first book, Harry's Game, was published in 1975, and Seymour then became a full-time novelist, living in the West Country. In 1999, he featured in the Oscar-winning television film, One Day in September, which portrayed the Munich Olympics massacre.
Television adaptations have been made of his books Harry's Game, The Glory Boys, The Contract, Red Fox, Field Of Blood, A Line In The Sand and The Waiting Time.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
January 31, 2016
Seldom do I find myself restricted by Goodreads five star rating system but this is one of those occasions. I have read a few of Gerald Seymour's books previously but can't say that I was an out and out fan. On the strength of No Mortal Thing I reckon it's going to be hard to dislodge as my pick for 2016. If it is then I am in for a year of great reading. No Mortal Thing starts off in Berlin as Jago who is working on loan as a banker witnesses an attempt to set up a protection racket at a local pizzeria. He gets involved to try and protect the young woman who is resisting the attention and demands of what looks like a mafia shakedown, which it is. When the hoods arrive the following day Jago is also present and the young woman has her face carved up by the young mafioso. Jago uses his penknife to scratch Marcantonio's precious limousine but gets away with it because the hood is running short of time to catch a plane home to Calabria in Italy. Jago decides that he will defend the honour of the pizzeria's family and also heads for the home of the mafia clan. What evolves from here is fraught with danger and tension. Seymour's telling of this story is nothing short of superb. All of the parties, including Marcantonio, his grandfather and mafia leader Bernando, two imbeded local cops, Jago, a local woman he meets, are all subject to the ebb and flow of the tension that Seymour creates brilliantly. And the ending is priceless.
June 20, 2017
I enjoyed the characters development and the story,
February 27, 2018
Gets better if you stick with it but slow going until the end. The setting a bit dated and overused.
December 26, 2015
Thoroughly enjoyed this tale following one of Italy's organised crime families. The story is presented from a multitude of perspectives - the prosecutor wanting the patriarch captured; the patriarch's grandson earmarked to be the new leader; the banker who witnesses a vicious assault committed by the grandson and decides to get involved; the seemingly uninterested policeman who takes the bankers report; the woman pursuing a non-violent protest campaign against the families influence in her home town.. and many more. It is this 360 degree perspective of events, all in intricate detail, that engrossed this reader from start to finish.
The way the narrative is delivered is reminiscent of "The Cartel" by Don Winslow, my favourite book of 2015.
The way the narrative is delivered is reminiscent of "The Cartel" by Don Winslow, my favourite book of 2015.
June 4, 2023
I listened to the audio book version.Slow moving story but interesting storylines and characters.
February 8, 2017
True to form, the latest Gerald Seymour has all of the elements of past works. An evil adversary that has stymied the judicial and law enforcement systems. An ingénue in way over his head who has an irrational urge to avenge a wrong. Tired, middle age cops who have been ground down by the system but who soldier on. Internal corruption and indifference at the highest levels. And a strong sense of place where most of the action takes place in the hills of Calabria
Way back in the 1980's when I first started reading Seymour, I found his style and narratives to be gripping with protagonists you could root for. But with each succeeding decade, the stories became more hit-and-miss as the reader had to decide whether the internal demons of the characters were worth putting up with. There's rarely moral clarity in a Seymour novel. Many threads are started that ultimately resolve themselves, sometimes in a page turning way, or, as in this book, sometimes in a less page-turning way.
I'd say this book was 100 pages too long as the main characters' inner thoughts get sufficiently well-developed by page 150 and the next 100 pages don't push the plot forward enough to compensate for the repetition of those inner thoughts.
Recommended for Seymour fans. Newcomers should read his first books such as Harry's Game to see the author before he latched onto his formula.
Way back in the 1980's when I first started reading Seymour, I found his style and narratives to be gripping with protagonists you could root for. But with each succeeding decade, the stories became more hit-and-miss as the reader had to decide whether the internal demons of the characters were worth putting up with. There's rarely moral clarity in a Seymour novel. Many threads are started that ultimately resolve themselves, sometimes in a page turning way, or, as in this book, sometimes in a less page-turning way.
I'd say this book was 100 pages too long as the main characters' inner thoughts get sufficiently well-developed by page 150 and the next 100 pages don't push the plot forward enough to compensate for the repetition of those inner thoughts.
Recommended for Seymour fans. Newcomers should read his first books such as Harry's Game to see the author before he latched onto his formula.
September 24, 2023
Maybe I have been reading too much crime fiction and gotten bored (not really, I liked quite a few I read recently). This book was terrible. If I could give negative stars, I would. I do not care about anything that happened in the entire book. The pacing is terrible. The motivations of characters are terrible. Everything is so boring. It's a good option if you want to read something and go to sleep because it will BORE you. I'm not a fan of mafia stuff so maybe that's the problem. Nothing really happens except in the last 10-20 pages maybe, and by that point I just want to get it over with (because I don't like not finishing books). Extremely boring.
May 8, 2016
The story just didn't hold true for me - too many things happened that just didn't make sense. Plus, I found it hard to keep track of all the people in the story, especially when the name/label being applied to a character changed several times on the same page, for example, who is "the boy"? on one page it is two different characters. I usually like Seymour, but this one just didn't grab me.
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October 29, 2016Hugely disappointing. Have read almost everything he's written. This felt like a retread of an earlier Mafioso story. Dense, and layered, but not in a good way. Managed 100 or so pages, then decided to cut my losses.
January 29, 2025
It's been so long since I'd read anything by him (local library has a limited offering), I'd almost forgotten what a great, and challenging, thriller/spy novel writer Gerald Seymour is. "No Mortal Thing", written about 10 years ago, is a great example of his brilliance and challenge for his readers (or for me, at least).
Jago Browne is a young Brit ex-pat on his way up in his career, living in Berlin and working at a prominent bank. He's enjoying a break in a park when he witnesses a brutal shakedown by an Italian hood named Marcantonio (who we later find out is the grandson of the leader of a Calabrian crime syndicate), during which a young woman is disfigured. He confronts the thug, gets worked over as expected, but gains at least a little revenge by 'keying' the criminal's Beemer. Jago, realizing he's not really done anything with his life to make his mark on the world, makes it his raison d'etre to hurt Marcantonio and manages to learn where his family resides in Italy. He travels there and indeed makes his mark.
Of course, that description of the storyline shortchanges the numerous threads also going on. Marcantonio's grandfather is in hiding in an underground bunker in the family compound, Italian cops have the grounds under surveillance from a camouflaged site, a big drug buy is being negotiated between the syndicate and a couple Brits, an Italian top cop is trying to close down the investigation, the daughter of the syndicate head is running the show and trying to move up, a young anti-organized crime activist is helping Jago.... I can go on and on. Which is what makes Seymour so challenging: he changes the focus of the story between characters multiple times, often in the same chapter and sometimes on the same page. Even tougher is when he changes characters but doesn't identify who he's talking about until perhaps half a paragraph is completed, so you're reading a narrative that you think is about one character but discover a few sentences later that it's another person he's referencing. It's not a big deal- you do get used to it and it does make the story move along quickly.
No Mortal Thing is a fine thriller with a main character who doesn't exactly make great decisions but does get his revenge. The conclusion is rather unexpected and seemingly out of character for Jago, but otherwise it's an interesting tale.
Jago Browne is a young Brit ex-pat on his way up in his career, living in Berlin and working at a prominent bank. He's enjoying a break in a park when he witnesses a brutal shakedown by an Italian hood named Marcantonio (who we later find out is the grandson of the leader of a Calabrian crime syndicate), during which a young woman is disfigured. He confronts the thug, gets worked over as expected, but gains at least a little revenge by 'keying' the criminal's Beemer. Jago, realizing he's not really done anything with his life to make his mark on the world, makes it his raison d'etre to hurt Marcantonio and manages to learn where his family resides in Italy. He travels there and indeed makes his mark.
Of course, that description of the storyline shortchanges the numerous threads also going on. Marcantonio's grandfather is in hiding in an underground bunker in the family compound, Italian cops have the grounds under surveillance from a camouflaged site, a big drug buy is being negotiated between the syndicate and a couple Brits, an Italian top cop is trying to close down the investigation, the daughter of the syndicate head is running the show and trying to move up, a young anti-organized crime activist is helping Jago.... I can go on and on. Which is what makes Seymour so challenging: he changes the focus of the story between characters multiple times, often in the same chapter and sometimes on the same page. Even tougher is when he changes characters but doesn't identify who he's talking about until perhaps half a paragraph is completed, so you're reading a narrative that you think is about one character but discover a few sentences later that it's another person he's referencing. It's not a big deal- you do get used to it and it does make the story move along quickly.
No Mortal Thing is a fine thriller with a main character who doesn't exactly make great decisions but does get his revenge. The conclusion is rather unexpected and seemingly out of character for Jago, but otherwise it's an interesting tale.
April 1, 2025
A cunning story told from multiple viewpoints. After witnessing an assault in Berlin, a banker decides to hunt down the perpetrator, the grandson of the head of a notorious ‘Ndrangheta mafia-style family. We follow the banker, Jago, as he follows his quarry to the family home in Calabria. We learn more and more about the family and their control over local and international affairs through the eyes of Jago, various Cancelo family members, authority figures tasked with bringing the family down and other interested parties, from a girl whose family was driven out of their business by the Cancelo protection racket to a UK “Mr Big” trying to put in place the one big drugs deal that will cement his place as gangster #1 in London. Introducing all of these threads makes the start of the book necessarily slow, like chess pieces being placed in position ahead of the great attack. Once everything is in place, the tension really does begin to ramp up and the story becomes much more un-putdownable. So if you can get through the first 150 pages, the rewards are there for you later on. The multi-viewpoint approach greatly increases the tension too, but I feel that at least one of the threads (Bentley Horrocks) added little to the overall story and merely made the book a little too long. There is a twist at the end, which I predicted due to one throwaway comment earlier in the book. I struggled to understand how it came about though, as it isn’t specifically revealed, therefore I found it to be something of a let down, when a part of me didn’t get the full closure I was expecting and hoping for. Still a wonderful story though, the setting was vivid, the characters rich and varied. The slow start and slightly confusing finish are the only slight disappointments to balance out the absolute cracker of a story in the middle.
January 7, 2022
You always know you will be entertained when you pick up a book by Gerald Seymour. This one is no different.
A dissatisfied bank worker, an activist who is conflicted about the worth of non-violent protest, an English thug wanting to expand his drug racket in London, a Customs officer who was moved on from the action and now feels irrelevant, a German police officer who is a little random with commitment to his job, a mafia family in transition.
All of these characters interact and impact each other in ways you would expect but also with some surprises thrown in. You expect standover tactics, bribery, corruption and the battle for power in organised crime and this abounds. What is interesting is the relationships Seymour constructs.
The banker, Jago becoming obsessed with the mafia padrino, Bernardo who is dealing with his empire and who will take it over. Bernardo's sons are in goal and his grandson Marcantonio is dubbed the successor - but is he too big for his boots?
Consolata, the activist, becomes obsessed with Jago and his aloofness draws her in with consequences she could not have seen.
A story that weaves across countries with characters that support and also fight each other every step of the way leading finally to a conclusion that I did not see coming!
A dissatisfied bank worker, an activist who is conflicted about the worth of non-violent protest, an English thug wanting to expand his drug racket in London, a Customs officer who was moved on from the action and now feels irrelevant, a German police officer who is a little random with commitment to his job, a mafia family in transition.
All of these characters interact and impact each other in ways you would expect but also with some surprises thrown in. You expect standover tactics, bribery, corruption and the battle for power in organised crime and this abounds. What is interesting is the relationships Seymour constructs.
The banker, Jago becoming obsessed with the mafia padrino, Bernardo who is dealing with his empire and who will take it over. Bernardo's sons are in goal and his grandson Marcantonio is dubbed the successor - but is he too big for his boots?
Consolata, the activist, becomes obsessed with Jago and his aloofness draws her in with consequences she could not have seen.
A story that weaves across countries with characters that support and also fight each other every step of the way leading finally to a conclusion that I did not see coming!
June 4, 2017
Calling Gerald Seymour's books 'thrillers' does them a disservice. They are much more, with finely drawn characters and stories that take you to the heart of an issue (in this case how the 'Ndrangheta crime clans control Calabria). This novel has all the classic Seymour elements: the "fish out of water" young English hero, plus "old sweat" veteran law enforcement officers fighting lack of resources as well as ruthless criminals. There are all the vivid details that flesh out the plot and set the scene superbly (the methods used to dispose of victims' bodies will linger in the memory).
A star is dropped as some of this is familiar territory for Seymour fans ("The Collaborator" & "Killing Ground"). There's also a lot of waiting & watching: this might be authentic for anti-crime operations but sure slows things down. You certainly need to adjust after the "crash, bang, wallop" pacing of most modern thrillers.
A star is dropped as some of this is familiar territory for Seymour fans ("The Collaborator" & "Killing Ground"). There's also a lot of waiting & watching: this might be authentic for anti-crime operations but sure slows things down. You certainly need to adjust after the "crash, bang, wallop" pacing of most modern thrillers.
March 27, 2023
4 - 4 1/2 star read. I've always enjoyed Seymour's intelligent thrillers. This one starts off slowly and builds suspense as it goes along. Jago is a boy from the London streets who has made a good life as a banker, working in the Berlin office and on a nice trajectory to a good life. But he runs into Marcantonio, a pampered man-boy thug, the grandson of an "Ndragheta crime boss. The thug terrorizes and beats a young girl, scarring her for life. Jago decides he is going to do something to right this wrong and follows the man to his home in Calabria, a place where everyone is on the side of the crime family and the 'Ndragheta. This book is a slow burn and a good little read. I was cheering for Jago from beginning to end.
September 30, 2019
This was my first Gerald Seymour book and I was straight into it. There was a good natural rhythm to it. I enjoyed the twist in the tail, the more so because it took a day or two for the penny to drop. If I have a criticism, it was that I had to work really hard keep up with who was who, and I felt that it had a more or less superfluous strand of plot that, while helping to pad it out to the more or less mandatory 400 pages, did not add a great deal to the whole while interrupting the flow of the remainder. I found it long and the ending seemed rather drawn out and lost my interest a bit. Certainly a good holiday read, but less certain whether I will read any more.
December 25, 2020
Superb Thriller from the Master!
Seymour never disappoints me and in this Mafia adventure, he's right on the money! In this thrilling book we have the Callabrian family, with an ambitious young gun eager to take over from ageing grandfather. A young English banker witnesses a brutal protection racket incident in Berlin, and intervenes. Jaded UK customs officer and a German detective become an odd couple who insinuate themselves with Italian police in investigating the Mafia family. A superbly narrated surveillance, a vicious explosive series of incidents lead to an exciting climax with Seymour's usual lyrical cadences. Brilliant!
Seymour never disappoints me and in this Mafia adventure, he's right on the money! In this thrilling book we have the Callabrian family, with an ambitious young gun eager to take over from ageing grandfather. A young English banker witnesses a brutal protection racket incident in Berlin, and intervenes. Jaded UK customs officer and a German detective become an odd couple who insinuate themselves with Italian police in investigating the Mafia family. A superbly narrated surveillance, a vicious explosive series of incidents lead to an exciting climax with Seymour's usual lyrical cadences. Brilliant!
May 31, 2018
If you like cliff-hanging suspense, thrills, and a story-line encompassing the crude, cruel world of Calabria's N'Drangheta, this is the book for you. Posing as poor mountain peasants, N'Drangheta families control vast networks for money-laundering, drug and people smuggling, prostitution and murder. Gerald Seymour provides a vivid portrait of one such family, the vicious way it controls its members, the spying, the informing, the killing of wives who have affairs, its utter disregard for human life among its own ranks, within the police forces arrayed against it and all who get in the way of the toxic N'Drangheta.
July 23, 2018
Very interesting thriller showing that it takes a special type of person to fight with criminals using their own methods.
Story is slightly slower at the middle, pace could be faster (a lot of things looked like a filler) but overall this was one of the "faster" novels by the author (not that other books suffered because of the "slow" developments).
Ending was a little bit surprising but it shows that you cannot trust people fighting your enemies to be fully (or at all) on your side.
Recommended to all thriller fans.
Story is slightly slower at the middle, pace could be faster (a lot of things looked like a filler) but overall this was one of the "faster" novels by the author (not that other books suffered because of the "slow" developments).
Ending was a little bit surprising but it shows that you cannot trust people fighting your enemies to be fully (or at all) on your side.
Recommended to all thriller fans.
February 14, 2021
This is the first book I have read by this author, I should say listen to and well read by Ben Allen. I would like to read more of Gerald Seymour’ work. Given that Italy’s Mafia trial in Calabria started only last month this book gives very interesting back ground to ‘NDtangheta syndicate. There are 355 suspect to defend. In this book they don’t all get away with their crimes we will have to see if this is the case in true life. There was a fair amount of hanging around for some of the story but still an enjoyable story.
September 11, 2021
Not all Seymour books can be digested easily as his unique style of writing sometimes grates on one. This book is well plotted and the different strains are brought together to keep the suspense going. However the Author tends to skirt the boundaries of believability at times. His research of terrain and the Ndrangheta is absolutely spot on. The story of this idealistic, but not very likeable, banker who goes on to track and target a particularly brutal clan keeps one engrossed. There's a twist in the end so the reader is warned.
October 14, 2017
Another outstanding storyline. Well plotted. Great character development. May lull you into too early conclusions. Lots of surprises.
Many characters that enter and return with nuance.Because there are so many characters it can get confusing if the story is not pursued daily.
As usual, a clever ending.
Many characters that enter and return with nuance.Because there are so many characters it can get confusing if the story is not pursued daily.
As usual, a clever ending.
February 8, 2017
Gerald Seymour has a distinctive style of writing never more so then in this book. The plot is interesting that to me it is a tale of revenge as they say "revenge is best tasted cold and sweet" and never more so then here. A very well told story.
No Spoilers with my reviews....
No Spoilers with my reviews....
August 23, 2017
I have read many of Gerald Seymour's books over the past 35 years and enjoyed the majority of them. This book gives an insight into the poison that is organised crime and those who fight it.
I was disappointed by the ending.
I was disappointed by the ending.
December 2, 2017
I wanted to quit reading this several times, but every now and then I would hit a patch of good writing that kept me going. Alas, they were few and far between, and I should have stayed with the original hunch. From what I've heard of Seymour's writing, this book was a big disappointment.
January 27, 2019
Holiday read. A steady Seymore’ read. Light, quick and not too taxing. Not very believable for the central character Jago, but a nice twist at the end. Using a customs officer as a source of credible international drug investigation stretched it too far for me.
April 2, 2022
I enjoyed this read--good story with nicely maintained crescendo in the suspense, well-knit characters, especially within the crime family, and multi viewpoints were very effective at telling the tale.
July 20, 2026
Mrs F gave up on this because there were too many characters in it. That's partly true and a couple could have been left out. Nonetheless, the story unfolded and was satisfactory although the ending seemed a bit muddled and not adequately explained.
May 19, 2017
Gripping until the end
A plot that develops over a long time with many interconnection characters and scenes, all pulled together piece by piece to a surprising end...
A plot that develops over a long time with many interconnection characters and scenes, all pulled together piece by piece to a surprising end...
September 19, 2017
An enjoyable read - found very interesting the Italian crime family - it would make a good film
October 13, 2017
Quite an abrupt ending considering the length of the book. The Kindle version has a chapter of another of his books at the end so at 92% I thought there was plenty of story to go.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews