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Decisive Measures
A breathtaking adventure thriller from the increasingly-popular John Nichol - the British Tom Clancy. When helicopter pilot Jack Griffiths leaves the RAF to join a private military company, Decisive Measures, he hopes to put behind him forever the brutal ethnic conflicts he witnessed in Bosnia and Kosovo. His new job takes him to Sierra Leone to protect the diamond fields. Once there he meets Layla, a doctor working with a local charity, but their growing friendship is torn apart when civil war crupts and Jack is sent back into combat. Then Decisive Measures abandon the mine workers and Jack and Layla are forced to decide where their true loyalties lie.
- GenresFiction
310 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2000
3 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
John Nichol
31 books60 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Flight Lieutenant Adrian John Nichol (born December 1963) is a retired Royal Air Force navigator who was shot down and captured during the first Gulf War.
Flight Lieutenant Adrian John Nichol (born December 1963) is a retired Royal Air Force navigator who was shot down and captured during the first Gulf War.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 12, 2021
Fast-paced action novel starring a helicopter pilot and a medic who work to protect/aid a diamond mining community in Sierra Leone and fight off rebels.
The story was reminiscent of Top Gun with its bravado but with more noble intentions. The pace was like Jurassic Park except there were rebels at every corner instead of dinosaurs. There were even some traitors.
There are some good messages here regarding whether the rebels really are rebels or just protecting their mines from foreign ambition.
The main couple were better than most for this type of story. There was a lot of learning from each other. The leading lady was strong and independent at the beginning but gradually became a bit of a strong damsel by the end.
I realised early on that I had already read a book from this place and would normally have aborted mission but I was really enjoying it so I gladly kept going.
The story was reminiscent of Top Gun with its bravado but with more noble intentions. The pace was like Jurassic Park except there were rebels at every corner instead of dinosaurs. There were even some traitors.
There are some good messages here regarding whether the rebels really are rebels or just protecting their mines from foreign ambition.
The main couple were better than most for this type of story. There was a lot of learning from each other. The leading lady was strong and independent at the beginning but gradually became a bit of a strong damsel by the end.
I realised early on that I had already read a book from this place and would normally have aborted mission but I was really enjoying it so I gladly kept going.
May 5, 2019
Tekstille antaa selkänojaa se, että kirjoittaja on ollut sotilaana Persianlahdella ja Bosniassa ja ollut myös sotavankina. Tosin kirjan tapahtumaseudusta, Sierra Leonesta hänellä ei sotilaskokemusta liene. Alku on hyvin todentuntuinen ja mielenkiintoinen, keskiosa aika puuduttavan yksitoikkoista helikopterilentäjän taistelukuvausta. Loppupuolella tarina muuttuu aikamoiseksi selviytymistaisteluksi ja samalla mielenkiintoisemmaksi. Inhimillisyyttä kirjassa antavat paitsi vahinkolaukauksen vaikutus omatuntoon, alkuasukkaiden auttaminen ja erityisesti tarinaan sisällytetty rakkauskertomus. Opus antaa myös realistista kuvaa palkkasotilaiden elämän raadollisuudesta ja heidän moraalistaan tai oikeammin tämän puutteesta.
July 19, 2024
This was like every good three-star action movie from the 90s. I had a list of things that I was expecting were going to happen, and every single one of them did. I feel like there's a certain comfort in reading something so familiar, and while I appreciate that, I was also looking for a surprise and that I did not get.
The plot's a pretty standard rendition of the kind of stuff that Forsyth's been writing lately. The protagonist, Griffiths is a pilot who was earlier employed by the RAF, but who then retired due to a traumatic incident and now flies helicopters for private entities in poverty-stricken, war-infested regions. He meets a young nurse Layla who he falls in love with, but she likes to take things slow, so the author has this sexual tension bubbling under the surface throughout. Griffiths, while working for a corporation that mines diamonds in Sierra Leone, gets involved in a civil war/coup that breaks out in the region and he has to use every bit of his strength, his skill, and his training to get himself and Layla out of the mess they find themselves in.
Now coming to the good and the bad...what works in the book's favour is the general competence with which it has been written. Since John Nichol was a military pilot himself, he manages to describe the flying in a very detailed and engaging manner. This was one of those rare occasions when I was able to visualize the working of a machine as it was described in the book. The big positive surprise for me was the dialogue. It was pretty grounded and was exactly how I assumed a bunch of ex-military guys would speak. Given Nichol's lack of training as a writer, this was an impressive feat. Also, the book struck a good pace early on and stuck to it by avoiding veering off in a bunch of irrelevant directions. This ensured that it did not become a tedious read.
What makes this book a pretty average read though is the cliched plot. If you'd read the blurb, you could've made a reasonable assumption of how the book was going to start and how it was going to end. It started off at that point A and drew to a close at point B without a point C in between. There was no standout portion in the plot. It proceeded like a typical mercenary tale, about a tough-as-nails guy who also has a heart and is slightly better than the rest of his peers. The depth that Nichol tried to add to Griffith's character with that traumatic incident from his time as an RAF pilot did very little to make me care for the guy. The romantic angle was undercooked and even Griffith's connection with the villagers seemed tenuous and forced, almost as if Nichol wanted that extra bit to leave no doubt in the reader's mind that his protagonist was a good guy. A more layered and more sensitive plot was definitely needed.
Still, if you are looking for a well-paced, mindless read to get you through a weekend or a long flight, you can surely do worse than Decisive Measures.
The plot's a pretty standard rendition of the kind of stuff that Forsyth's been writing lately. The protagonist, Griffiths is a pilot who was earlier employed by the RAF, but who then retired due to a traumatic incident and now flies helicopters for private entities in poverty-stricken, war-infested regions. He meets a young nurse Layla who he falls in love with, but she likes to take things slow, so the author has this sexual tension bubbling under the surface throughout. Griffiths, while working for a corporation that mines diamonds in Sierra Leone, gets involved in a civil war/coup that breaks out in the region and he has to use every bit of his strength, his skill, and his training to get himself and Layla out of the mess they find themselves in.
Now coming to the good and the bad...what works in the book's favour is the general competence with which it has been written. Since John Nichol was a military pilot himself, he manages to describe the flying in a very detailed and engaging manner. This was one of those rare occasions when I was able to visualize the working of a machine as it was described in the book. The big positive surprise for me was the dialogue. It was pretty grounded and was exactly how I assumed a bunch of ex-military guys would speak. Given Nichol's lack of training as a writer, this was an impressive feat. Also, the book struck a good pace early on and stuck to it by avoiding veering off in a bunch of irrelevant directions. This ensured that it did not become a tedious read.
What makes this book a pretty average read though is the cliched plot. If you'd read the blurb, you could've made a reasonable assumption of how the book was going to start and how it was going to end. It started off at that point A and drew to a close at point B without a point C in between. There was no standout portion in the plot. It proceeded like a typical mercenary tale, about a tough-as-nails guy who also has a heart and is slightly better than the rest of his peers. The depth that Nichol tried to add to Griffith's character with that traumatic incident from his time as an RAF pilot did very little to make me care for the guy. The romantic angle was undercooked and even Griffith's connection with the villagers seemed tenuous and forced, almost as if Nichol wanted that extra bit to leave no doubt in the reader's mind that his protagonist was a good guy. A more layered and more sensitive plot was definitely needed.
Still, if you are looking for a well-paced, mindless read to get you through a weekend or a long flight, you can surely do worse than Decisive Measures.
June 26, 2025
Not my usual read but like to try different topics and genres. A well written book of air combat that has you on the edge of your seat at times with believable characters
October 29, 2022
Great John Nichol story again
Gave Feel of life and risks faced in Africa. Enjoyed the contrast to his other books which grip you in the action and detail!
Gave Feel of life and risks faced in Africa. Enjoyed the contrast to his other books which grip you in the action and detail!
July 23, 2013
John Griffin is a pilot with the RAF. When he makes a dreadful mistake, he resigns. But he still needs a job, and the only thing he knows how to do is fly helicoptors.
So he signs on with Decisive Measures, a firm that supplies the diamond mines in Sierra Leone with guards, provisions, knowledge. When a civil war breaks out, John Griffin has to deicide what he will do - keep his job, or do something totally new.
So he signs on with Decisive Measures, a firm that supplies the diamond mines in Sierra Leone with guards, provisions, knowledge. When a civil war breaks out, John Griffin has to deicide what he will do - keep his job, or do something totally new.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews