Deadly Impact

Richard Mariner #28

by Peter Tonkin

Richard Mariner - Book 28 ‘A master of seagoing adventure.’ Clive Cussler Meet Sayonara, Heritage Mariner’s newest asset and the world’s largest liquid natural gas tanker, controlled entirely by computers. The ship is bound for Japan, where her cargo will power the construction of the new floating city - Kujukuri. So, when a group of pirates break into the ship, Richard Mariner must step in and take back the vessel. Mariner has just a few days to assemble a crew, curb the pirates onboard and regain control of the computers - before the tanker collides with a nuclear power station. With his wife Robin attempting to unravel the events from afar, the pair race against time to outwit and outfight the pirates. Peter Tonkin was born in 1950 in Ulster, Northern Ireland and was raised in the UK, Holland, Germany, and the Persian Gulf. The son of an RAF officer, Tonkin spent much of his youth travelling the world from one posting to another. He is the author of the Trojan Murders series, Caesar's Spies and the Tom Musgrave Mysteries. Praise for Peter ”Edge-of-the-seat terror.” Daily Post “A welcome aura of old-fashioned expertise.” Publishers Weekly “A good thriller, recommended.” Library Journal “Tonkin is a superb storyteller who creates big, brash, swashbuckling adventures with taut suspense, fast-paced action and tough, resourceful characters.” Booklist ”Equals the best of James Clavell.” Daily Telegraph ”Good technical detail, plus an exciting climax, makes this entertaining reading.” Publishing News

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2014

About the author

Peter Tonkin's first novel, KILLER, was published in 1978. His work has included the acclaimed "Mariner" series that have been critically compared with the best of Alistair MacLean, Desmond Bagley and Hammond Innes.

More recently he has been working on a series of detective thrillers with an Elizabethan background. This series, "The Master of Defense", has been characterised as 'James Bond meets Sherlock Holmes meets William Shakespeare'. Each story is a classic 'whodunit' with all the clues presented to the reader exactly as they are presented to the hero, Tom Musgrave. The Kirkus Review described them as having 'Elizabethan detail, rousing action sequences, sound detection...everything a fan of historical mysteries could hope for."

Reviews

[Alex Cantone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very late to the party, Deadly Impact was one of my earliest reads on joining and struggling my way through Good Reads. Back then, I rated it 2★ and instead of a review, mistakenly submitted a comment instead: “Well written with good descriptions of the vessel and seamanship; plot had its moments but the characters were a little too far-fetched for me and lacked empathy. (Mar 11, 2016 04:06PM)”

A bit rough, considering 78% of readers liked it, and though 6 and a half years have lapsed, I still remember the pertinent bits: the star performer - a crewless mega liquified gas tanker, controlled by computer systems and GPS, boarded by pirates who hack into the system, sending it on collision course with Tokyo harbour. Richard Mariner to the rescue. Can’t remember what the wife did. That was the good bit.

Where it dragged (for this reader) was the endless back chatter and descriptions of designer clothes and food worn/devoured by husband and wife sea captains, Richard and Robin Mariner, and, the insertion of a pair of lesbian anti-terrorists (as if it mattered), as though author Peter Tonkin was pitching towards that segment of the market.

Because of this I shied away from further episodes in the “Mariner series”, until recently. I won’t wait as long again.

[s · Rating 2 out of 5]

I imagine I would've liked this better if I were really into boats. Since I'm not, most of the descriptions of the boats and the scenes on them were really boring to me. Too much "boat jargon" for someone (like me) who doesn't know starboard from aft.

This also made it nearly impossible for me to visualize what was a lot of the time. Unfortunately I borrowed this awhile ago and I don't have access to the story to give any examples. But it was really
frustrating to not be able to picture what was happening, particularly in action scenes.

[Josef Hernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another strong thriller by Peter Tonkin

For a full review, please go to http://www.examiner.com/review/deadly... and follow me on Twitter @josenher