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Jonas Merrick #3
In at the Kill
a suburban crime family grips a whole city with fear.
And their ambition reaches further still.
an entire community waits on the windswept edge of Europe for the delivery of four tonnes of cocaine, brought across the ocean in an almost unbelievable craft.
Jonas Merrick, grey and quiet, alone in a small office, seems an unlikely character to be tasked with bringing down an international drug network.
But while Jonas's colleagues regard him as scratchy, fastidious, old, he is also ruthless, cunning and brutally pragmatic. And he has a man on the a would-be money-launderer on that wild Spanish coast. A man who has been undercover for so long, he has almost forgotten who he really is.
And he is due to come home. Has to. For he will be given no mercy if he is caught.
But Jonas needs him to stay.
The superb Jonas Merrick is fast becoming one of the great figures of British spy fiction. In At The Kill may be his most compelling story yet.
And their ambition reaches further still.
an entire community waits on the windswept edge of Europe for the delivery of four tonnes of cocaine, brought across the ocean in an almost unbelievable craft.
Jonas Merrick, grey and quiet, alone in a small office, seems an unlikely character to be tasked with bringing down an international drug network.
But while Jonas's colleagues regard him as scratchy, fastidious, old, he is also ruthless, cunning and brutally pragmatic. And he has a man on the a would-be money-launderer on that wild Spanish coast. A man who has been undercover for so long, he has almost forgotten who he really is.
And he is due to come home. Has to. For he will be given no mercy if he is caught.
But Jonas needs him to stay.
The superb Jonas Merrick is fast becoming one of the great figures of British spy fiction. In At The Kill may be his most compelling story yet.
464 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 19, 2023
120 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
About the author
Gerald Seymour
127 books281 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 39 reviews
February 17, 2023
An expert at spinning multiple plates at the same time. Brilliant storytelling!
September 6, 2024
Always know that Gerard Seymour delivers and your in for a good story.
This third novel of Jonas Merrick is excellent and l love the way Seymour lays out the characters, the plot and then pulls them together.
Hopefully there will be a fourth tale of the cunning, scratchy Jonas
This third novel of Jonas Merrick is excellent and l love the way Seymour lays out the characters, the plot and then pulls them together.
Hopefully there will be a fourth tale of the cunning, scratchy Jonas
January 4, 2025
Excellent thriller, really well written and that exemplary, eccentric hero Jonas Merrick strikes again!! Up with the very best.
January 30, 2023
Gerald Seymour writes character lead thrillers that are more slow boilers rather than flat out thrillers. This latest episode is no exception. But, in this installment, things take a time to get going and then after you, the reader, have all the players understood, it takes a bit more time to get going and then, finally you get to the climax of the story. Also, if the characters were suppose to be bad, then where was the terrible violence that crime families would inflict. All we mainly got was an acne face young lad staring daggers across the table. This person thought Seymour has written far better novels than this one, but because of the sheer ability to write: his prose, complexity of the story and character development carried this effort to three stars. For other authors, this person would not be so kind. Out of the Jonas Merrick novels, this person thought that 'The Foot Soldiers' was the best one so far. 3 STARS.
Gerald Seymour can certainly churn out novels. Here are a few ranked accordingly:
5 Stars ~ ‘A Line in the Sand’ and ‘Home Run’.
4 Stars ~ ‘The Waiting Time’, ‘Holding the Zero’, ‘The Dealer and the Dead’, ‘’No Mortal Thing’, The Outsiders’,‘A Deniable Death’, ‘A Damn Serious Business’, ‘Archangel’, ‘The Collaborator’, ‘Killing Ground’, ’The Journeyman Tailor’, ‘Field of Blood’, 'The Foot Soldiers' & ‘Harry’s Game’.
3 Stars ~ 'The Crocodile Hunter', 'In at the Kill', ‘A Song in the Morning', 'In Honour Bound’ & ‘The Untouchable’
2 Stars ~ ‘The Corporals Wife’ & 'The Unknown Soldier’.
Other similar authors include: John le Carre, Len Deighton, Graham Greene, Alan Furst, Mick Herron, Ted Allbeury, Robert Ludlum, Dan Fesperman, Simon Conway, Henry Porter and Adam Brookes.
Gerald Seymour can certainly churn out novels. Here are a few ranked accordingly:
5 Stars ~ ‘A Line in the Sand’ and ‘Home Run’.
4 Stars ~ ‘The Waiting Time’, ‘Holding the Zero’, ‘The Dealer and the Dead’, ‘’No Mortal Thing’, The Outsiders’,‘A Deniable Death’, ‘A Damn Serious Business’, ‘Archangel’, ‘The Collaborator’, ‘Killing Ground’, ’The Journeyman Tailor’, ‘Field of Blood’, 'The Foot Soldiers' & ‘Harry’s Game’.
3 Stars ~ 'The Crocodile Hunter', 'In at the Kill', ‘A Song in the Morning', 'In Honour Bound’ & ‘The Untouchable’
2 Stars ~ ‘The Corporals Wife’ & 'The Unknown Soldier’.
Other similar authors include: John le Carre, Len Deighton, Graham Greene, Alan Furst, Mick Herron, Ted Allbeury, Robert Ludlum, Dan Fesperman, Simon Conway, Henry Porter and Adam Brookes.
February 26, 2023
Please do get out there and purchase this (so far) trilogy. You're life will be so much better for it! The amazingly boring gray civil servant Jonas Merrick turns out in an unbelievable fashion to be the real James Bond. Do read it.
And to mr Seymour: pleeae keep writing!
And to mr Seymour: pleeae keep writing!
February 19, 2023
Back in top form
This is Gerald Seymour back at his very best. I have read every one of his books and this one is right up there with "Harry 's Game" and I can't rate it higher than that!
This is Gerald Seymour back at his very best. I have read every one of his books and this one is right up there with "Harry 's Game" and I can't rate it higher than that!
January 20, 2023
Jonas Merrick is a fussy little man dismissed by many as an admin guy overdue for retirement. But his grasp of detail and the scheming of the human heart set him apart.
Sidelined by his security service bosses to work on organised crime, he tracks a cocaine-packed submersible and the crime families betting their empires and vanity on its cargo.
You don't read Gerald Seymour, you commit totally. His stories have amazing depth and detail yet you still fly through the pages.
His distinctive style has commanded readers' attention since Harry's Game in 1975. Your effort is well rewarded.
Sidelined by his security service bosses to work on organised crime, he tracks a cocaine-packed submersible and the crime families betting their empires and vanity on its cargo.
You don't read Gerald Seymour, you commit totally. His stories have amazing depth and detail yet you still fly through the pages.
His distinctive style has commanded readers' attention since Harry's Game in 1975. Your effort is well rewarded.
March 1, 2023
This represents the third outing for Jonas Merrick, MI5’s querulous counter-intelligence data analyst. He previously featured in The Crocodile Hunter (in which he dodged imminent retirement by singlehandedly apprehended a would be suicide bomber) and The Foot Soldiers (in which he was loaned to sister service MI6 to help investigate an apparent leak).
Still as querulous and obdurate as ever, he has been assigned to help the fight against OCG (organised crime groups). Contrary to what we might infer from watching Line of Duty, this area of work is considered a bit oif a backwater by everyone in the intelligence community. That does not deter Merrick. Having been assigned, he works as assiduously as ever, and the fact that he has a wholly new sphere of external contacts to deal with, does not make him try to be any more gracious or amenable than he has been in the past.
He soon finds himself at the centre of a network of informants, undercover operatives and contacts from a collection of police and intelligence services around the globe. Their principal operation is to follow a semi-submersible craft which is transporting a huge volume of cocaine (worth around £300 million at prevailing street prices) across the Atlantic, where it will be collected by representatives of a leading Spanish OCG family, who have been joined by the matriarch of another criminal family based in Liverpool, who see this as a n opportunity to move up into the next league.
The story takes the form of several different narratives, each following different characters. I found this initially offered an interesting perspective on the developing plot, although it gradually became rather irritating. Still, the story itself is engrossing, and in many ways almost frighteningly plausible.
Merrick is a particularly well drawn character, evoking alternating reactions from the reader. At times I felt a great empathy for his position, being almost ostracised from most of his colleagues. The rest of the time, however, I felt how irritating he would be to work with.
I wonder how far Gerald Seymour can extend this series before the personality of Merrick becomes so odious to the reader that they can’t take any more. We are not there yet, but for this reader at least, that point cannot be too far away.
Still as querulous and obdurate as ever, he has been assigned to help the fight against OCG (organised crime groups). Contrary to what we might infer from watching Line of Duty, this area of work is considered a bit oif a backwater by everyone in the intelligence community. That does not deter Merrick. Having been assigned, he works as assiduously as ever, and the fact that he has a wholly new sphere of external contacts to deal with, does not make him try to be any more gracious or amenable than he has been in the past.
He soon finds himself at the centre of a network of informants, undercover operatives and contacts from a collection of police and intelligence services around the globe. Their principal operation is to follow a semi-submersible craft which is transporting a huge volume of cocaine (worth around £300 million at prevailing street prices) across the Atlantic, where it will be collected by representatives of a leading Spanish OCG family, who have been joined by the matriarch of another criminal family based in Liverpool, who see this as a n opportunity to move up into the next league.
The story takes the form of several different narratives, each following different characters. I found this initially offered an interesting perspective on the developing plot, although it gradually became rather irritating. Still, the story itself is engrossing, and in many ways almost frighteningly plausible.
Merrick is a particularly well drawn character, evoking alternating reactions from the reader. At times I felt a great empathy for his position, being almost ostracised from most of his colleagues. The rest of the time, however, I felt how irritating he would be to work with.
I wonder how far Gerald Seymour can extend this series before the personality of Merrick becomes so odious to the reader that they can’t take any more. We are not there yet, but for this reader at least, that point cannot be too far away.
June 26, 2023
The 3rd instalment in Seymour’s Jonas Merrick series, this is typical. It starts as a slow burner but the pace accelerates gradually into a shatteringly tense, exciting climax.
The structure is similar to those of its predecessors. Merrick is tasked with intelligence gathering to counter a particular threat. In this novel, however, he has found himself moved from handling potential security threats to dealing with organised crime groups and one Liverpool-based one in particular. His intelligence gathering spans continents and he has learned of a huge drug shipment being sent on a poorly constructed semi-submersible vessel all the way from the upper Amazon basin across the Atlantic to a rendezvous off the coast of the Azores. Weather intervenes and the semi-submersible is forced to push on towards a landing on the Spanish Costa del Morte, the coast of death around Cape Finisterre.
MI5 (via Merrick) has a deeply implanted agent in that area, one with an almost 3 year undercover engagement there, someone who has managed to become well infiltrated into the ruling drug running family of the region.
Seymour develops the plot and the characters slowly at first but with increasing speed and depth. As in earlier novels, Merrick acts as a lone wolf and manages to antagonise senior officers in parts of the UK’s law enforcement agencies outside MI5. However he again retains his deep engagement and concern with those agents undercover at the front line.
Like all Seymour novels, right and wrong mingles and moral dilemmas occur. In this novel, Merrick’s covert agent knows that, if he is successful in his mission, the son of someone he has become very close to will be murdered horribly by Columbian drug lords. That son had been offered as security against the successful delivery of drugs into Spain.
The structure is typical of Seymour novels. The story bounces around frequently between the main characters, as does the POVs. However all the threads draw together inexorably. Also typical is that Seymour does not do happy endings. There is always some tragedy involved and this novel is no different in that regard.
I found the first 100 pp fairly slow going but the pace picked up very quickly after that and the last quarter or so of this novel is as tense and exciting as any of Seymour’s previous works. It’s a great read.
The structure is similar to those of its predecessors. Merrick is tasked with intelligence gathering to counter a particular threat. In this novel, however, he has found himself moved from handling potential security threats to dealing with organised crime groups and one Liverpool-based one in particular. His intelligence gathering spans continents and he has learned of a huge drug shipment being sent on a poorly constructed semi-submersible vessel all the way from the upper Amazon basin across the Atlantic to a rendezvous off the coast of the Azores. Weather intervenes and the semi-submersible is forced to push on towards a landing on the Spanish Costa del Morte, the coast of death around Cape Finisterre.
MI5 (via Merrick) has a deeply implanted agent in that area, one with an almost 3 year undercover engagement there, someone who has managed to become well infiltrated into the ruling drug running family of the region.
Seymour develops the plot and the characters slowly at first but with increasing speed and depth. As in earlier novels, Merrick acts as a lone wolf and manages to antagonise senior officers in parts of the UK’s law enforcement agencies outside MI5. However he again retains his deep engagement and concern with those agents undercover at the front line.
Like all Seymour novels, right and wrong mingles and moral dilemmas occur. In this novel, Merrick’s covert agent knows that, if he is successful in his mission, the son of someone he has become very close to will be murdered horribly by Columbian drug lords. That son had been offered as security against the successful delivery of drugs into Spain.
The structure is typical of Seymour novels. The story bounces around frequently between the main characters, as does the POVs. However all the threads draw together inexorably. Also typical is that Seymour does not do happy endings. There is always some tragedy involved and this novel is no different in that regard.
I found the first 100 pp fairly slow going but the pace picked up very quickly after that and the last quarter or so of this novel is as tense and exciting as any of Seymour’s previous works. It’s a great read.
January 23, 2024
As a long time fan, I feel a twinge of guilt at leaving only a three star review. I just didn't find this particularly thrilling. The set up is deftly drawn (drugs shipment due to land in Spain), the characters established early on but then not much happens for a very long time. I appreciate that Gerald Seymour books are all about the gradual build up of tension but this was pedestrian and the pay-off not worth the wait.
One saving grace is the presence of our new recurring hero Jonas Merrick. After thirty odd novels with different protagonists, it's perverse to have such a dull central figure for our first regular character. Jonas is unashamadely boring and prickly, an elderly desk warrior who gets his kicks from visiting historical sites in his caravan. He has a long-suffering wife, Vera, a cat called Olaf and is very skilled in reverse parking his caravan. His determination, cunning and bravery ensure the reader is on 'team Jonas' throughout. Despite Vera's warnings, he also shows signs here of wanting to emerge from behind his desk, to get "in at the kill". It's refreshing to read a book that has no wish to be the "new Reacher."
Even the covers of these recent novels seem deliberately plain. That said, my paperback included a sneaky peek at the next book. This has more excitement in the opening pages than the previous 420 and promises a genuine return to form for the maestro.
One saving grace is the presence of our new recurring hero Jonas Merrick. After thirty odd novels with different protagonists, it's perverse to have such a dull central figure for our first regular character. Jonas is unashamadely boring and prickly, an elderly desk warrior who gets his kicks from visiting historical sites in his caravan. He has a long-suffering wife, Vera, a cat called Olaf and is very skilled in reverse parking his caravan. His determination, cunning and bravery ensure the reader is on 'team Jonas' throughout. Despite Vera's warnings, he also shows signs here of wanting to emerge from behind his desk, to get "in at the kill". It's refreshing to read a book that has no wish to be the "new Reacher."
Even the covers of these recent novels seem deliberately plain. That said, my paperback included a sneaky peek at the next book. This has more excitement in the opening pages than the previous 420 and promises a genuine return to form for the maestro.
April 19, 2023
Another outstanding and hugely satisfying instalment in the Jonas Merrick series from Gerald Seymour. I have followed Seymour, and read all his books, since Harry's Game in the 1970's and like a fine wine he seems to get better and better as the years pass.
In Jonas Merrick, Seymour has created a fascinating, annoying and infuriating character everyone who has ever worked in a large organisation can relate to - the apparently irrelevant jobsworth who quietly and meticulously weaves his web and achieves results that surprise all of those who have dismissed him as a nobody. Yet Seymour also endows him with two endearing character traits - his desire to be in on the action at the sharp end, despite his physical limitations that should restrict him to his behind the scenes role, and his angst at the impact his plans will inevitably have on the sometimes entirely innocent people who are caught up in the operations he plans.
Every Seymour novel is like a runaway train heading down a sloping track, steadily gathering pace until eventually it crashes, with inevitable consequences for the characters, good and bad, that he has introduced us to. It is never an easy read, as Seymour builds the fear and worry you feel for the characters as the climax approaches, but once you are a single chapter into a Seymour novel I would defy anyone to put it down and leave the rest unread. I only wish I could write half as well as he does!
In Jonas Merrick, Seymour has created a fascinating, annoying and infuriating character everyone who has ever worked in a large organisation can relate to - the apparently irrelevant jobsworth who quietly and meticulously weaves his web and achieves results that surprise all of those who have dismissed him as a nobody. Yet Seymour also endows him with two endearing character traits - his desire to be in on the action at the sharp end, despite his physical limitations that should restrict him to his behind the scenes role, and his angst at the impact his plans will inevitably have on the sometimes entirely innocent people who are caught up in the operations he plans.
Every Seymour novel is like a runaway train heading down a sloping track, steadily gathering pace until eventually it crashes, with inevitable consequences for the characters, good and bad, that he has introduced us to. It is never an easy read, as Seymour builds the fear and worry you feel for the characters as the climax approaches, but once you are a single chapter into a Seymour novel I would defy anyone to put it down and leave the rest unread. I only wish I could write half as well as he does!
May 28, 2023
As usual in my reviews, I will not rehash the plot or the publisher's blurb - instead I highly recommend that you read this for yourself.
I understand that this is the third book in a series - although I haven't read the earlier novels, I felt that this book worked just fine as a standalone.
This was a very enjoyable read. The plot is very well thought out and takes place in multiple locations - all extremely well researched and described, with the various strands being gradually woven into place. The sense of tension and intrigue continues throughout.
I liked the writing style, which conveyed a real sense of brooding atmosphere throughout. The pace is perfectly measured - rather than the somewhat frenetic "throwaway" action of some espionage novels I've read.
My favourite character was the "hero" Jonas Merrick, a beautifully understated "conductor", masterminding events from his nondescript backroom lair. I loved the fact that he seemed so ordinary but was so instrumental to national and international security.
This is the first book I've read by Gerald Seymour, but I intend to remedy that as I enjoyed it so much.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.
I understand that this is the third book in a series - although I haven't read the earlier novels, I felt that this book worked just fine as a standalone.
This was a very enjoyable read. The plot is very well thought out and takes place in multiple locations - all extremely well researched and described, with the various strands being gradually woven into place. The sense of tension and intrigue continues throughout.
I liked the writing style, which conveyed a real sense of brooding atmosphere throughout. The pace is perfectly measured - rather than the somewhat frenetic "throwaway" action of some espionage novels I've read.
My favourite character was the "hero" Jonas Merrick, a beautifully understated "conductor", masterminding events from his nondescript backroom lair. I loved the fact that he seemed so ordinary but was so instrumental to national and international security.
This is the first book I've read by Gerald Seymour, but I intend to remedy that as I enjoyed it so much.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.
March 17, 2024
Extremely tedious, frustrating and very slow. Far too long. The story could have been effectively told in 100 pages (or less) rather than 420! On the plus side, the main character, Jonas, is quite interesting and one of the baddies, ‘Bengal’, does engender a degree of threat. This is also badly written, particularly in terms of sentence construction. Often, presumably either to save words or make the prose move more quickly (in which it fails), the author does not use a subject for the verb. For example, ‘Saw them all …,’ instead of ‘He saw them all’. This is both annoying and confusing. The story jumps around between seemingly hundreds of difficult to identify characters which also makes it frustrating to read. I had to give up after about 80 pages - an extremely rare occurrence - and jump to the end just to see what happened. And that was not particularly satisfying or original. Perhaps I should have given it one star.
September 13, 2023
I came to this novel on the recommendation of a friend. I thought it ok, but not much more than that.
I felt that the author was attempting to go down the Frederick Forsyth/John le Carre route re espionage, but it didn't really come off. I found the plot linear and it was too easy to see where the narrative was heading. As a result, the reader does not have to do any of the hard yards.
Having said that, it was an enjoyable enough book, albeit not taxing. I think that he could have trimmed a little from it as it seemed to take an eternity to get to the end point and by that time I was not invested enough in any of the characters to really care very much.
All told, I left the book with a feeling of disappointment due to both the warm recommendation and the reputation of the author from his ITN reporting days. I did wonder that if this manuscript had come from someone without this reputation, would Hodder and Stoughton have been so keen to publish?
I felt that the author was attempting to go down the Frederick Forsyth/John le Carre route re espionage, but it didn't really come off. I found the plot linear and it was too easy to see where the narrative was heading. As a result, the reader does not have to do any of the hard yards.
Having said that, it was an enjoyable enough book, albeit not taxing. I think that he could have trimmed a little from it as it seemed to take an eternity to get to the end point and by that time I was not invested enough in any of the characters to really care very much.
All told, I left the book with a feeling of disappointment due to both the warm recommendation and the reputation of the author from his ITN reporting days. I did wonder that if this manuscript had come from someone without this reputation, would Hodder and Stoughton have been so keen to publish?
February 22, 2023
The annual Gerald Seymour novel. With his trademark, slow-burn story - ultimately slight in nature - and a largish cast of well-drawn characters, expertly executed.
The third in the Jonas Merrick series, and with Merck there now seems insufficient character left to be developed.
How to solve this reader-killer question? I'm thinking, "Let's get rid of Vera!" (Unfortunate incident with the caravan? Lethal scratch from Olaf?) so we can see Jonas adapting to new - and difficult - circumstances as a widower, whilst continuing his Eternal Flame duties.
Look forward to the next one . . .
The third in the Jonas Merrick series, and with Merck there now seems insufficient character left to be developed.
How to solve this reader-killer question? I'm thinking, "Let's get rid of Vera!" (Unfortunate incident with the caravan? Lethal scratch from Olaf?) so we can see Jonas adapting to new - and difficult - circumstances as a widower, whilst continuing his Eternal Flame duties.
Look forward to the next one . . .
September 1, 2023
My thanks to the Author publisher's and NetGalley for providing me with a Kindle version of this book to read and honestly review.
This is the third book in this excellent series featuring the totally believable and ever so endearing Jonas Merrick. A character right up there with the incomparable 'George Smiley'. Character driven clever descriptive imaginative and intelligent, and totally engaging from first to last page, with the tension building with every turn of the page. There are references to the previous books but would work as a standalone story. As usual our hero to the possible detriment to his own health gets a little too close to the action.
More please soon.
Completely recommended.
This is the third book in this excellent series featuring the totally believable and ever so endearing Jonas Merrick. A character right up there with the incomparable 'George Smiley'. Character driven clever descriptive imaginative and intelligent, and totally engaging from first to last page, with the tension building with every turn of the page. There are references to the previous books but would work as a standalone story. As usual our hero to the possible detriment to his own health gets a little too close to the action.
More please soon.
Completely recommended.
December 8, 2023
Jonas Merrick works in counter surveillance helping to keep the country safe and break any criminal enterprises. This time focusing on drug rings, organised crime, you name it.
I’ve seen this book called a slow burn and that is the authors style, it’s done deliberately as all the plots are bubbling way nicely until the climax when it comes together. The only drag back for me is despite a great lead character and plausible supporting cast and storylines, the big crescendo that is seemingly built up never arrives. If it had ended on that teased bang, Merrick would have had one hell of a story he was a part of.
I’ve seen this book called a slow burn and that is the authors style, it’s done deliberately as all the plots are bubbling way nicely until the climax when it comes together. The only drag back for me is despite a great lead character and plausible supporting cast and storylines, the big crescendo that is seemingly built up never arrives. If it had ended on that teased bang, Merrick would have had one hell of a story he was a part of.
September 2, 2024
Gerald Seymour has been writing crime and espionage thrillers for half a century now. In my opinion he is the unrivalled Grand Master of thriller writers. He always find a subject that is topical and then fills his plot with a wealth of fascinating detail.
This time, as always, the plot is intensely complex and he tells his story from half a dozen different viewpoints. Taking the illegal drugs trade as a starting point he informs us of the way cocaine leaves Columbia, transported across the ocean to the Coast of Death in Spain, and eventually floods the streets of cities like Liverpool.
This is tense, suspenseful and an absolute must read for thriller fans.
This time, as always, the plot is intensely complex and he tells his story from half a dozen different viewpoints. Taking the illegal drugs trade as a starting point he informs us of the way cocaine leaves Columbia, transported across the ocean to the Coast of Death in Spain, and eventually floods the streets of cities like Liverpool.
This is tense, suspenseful and an absolute must read for thriller fans.
March 28, 2023
The plotline of this latest novel from Gerald Seymour is excellent, multi-national criminals involved in drugs smuggling become the focus of multi-agency efforts to prevent them from succeeding under the direction of Jonas Merrick from his desk in Whitehall. The players were well written and interesting, the plot intrigued and I should have loved it but I didn't.
The character of Jonas Merrick seems to have developed in a rather unpleasant way that I found irritating to such an extent that it distracted from the storyline rather than added to it.
A good read not a great one.
The character of Jonas Merrick seems to have developed in a rather unpleasant way that I found irritating to such an extent that it distracted from the storyline rather than added to it.
A good read not a great one.
December 4, 2023
Gerald Seymour does not disappoint. Jonas Merrick in his Smiley-esque role is a slow moving puller of strings but the book travels at a fast pace, not least because of the episodic structure of the writing, which means keeping the reader's wits alert as each scene changes. He is something of an anti-hero, who cares little for his perceived persona but a great deal for the team he directs into danger. Also apparent is his devotion to his wife and cat in his commuter home at Raynes Park. At the end of the book there is the reassurance of another Merrick novel to come.
January 23, 2023
Splendid stuff. A hugely enjoyable annal in ‘The Merrick Files’…
Jonas returns in a new guise. He’s the same old grumpy & fussier, fogey, but wow, a great tale. How does Vera put up with all the hard action!
I feel the best recommendation I can give you is… read it, immediately, you’ll not be disappointed.
Jonas returns in a new guise. He’s the same old grumpy & fussier, fogey, but wow, a great tale. How does Vera put up with all the hard action!
I feel the best recommendation I can give you is… read it, immediately, you’ll not be disappointed.
February 11, 2023
Great read. More than the story it is the thorough research and background of the plot. You get to learn something new related to the plot and the greater political scene in each book. I have read all his books and eagerly waiting for the next one
April 2, 2023
A superb third entry to the Jonas Merrick series! Gerald Seymour never fails to engross and entertain me with his unique characters, finely crafted plot lines and gift of weaving tension and passion into his tales. Thank you Mr. Seymour!
July 7, 2023
A reliable crime story
As with the previous two vols of this trilogy it proved a reliable crime read. Sufficiently tantalising to see you quickly through to the end. Slightly slow in some parts.
As with the previous two vols of this trilogy it proved a reliable crime read. Sufficiently tantalising to see you quickly through to the end. Slightly slow in some parts.
March 2, 2024
It’s a good read but I found the writing style a bit difficult to get into although I warmed to the protagonist at the end of the book I still think he is an arrogant arse. Great plot good ending much too like.
April 5, 2024
My first Gerald Seymour (and Jonas Merrick book). In at the kill is the third of the Jonas Merrick trilogy ... a good intro. with depth and detail, a gripping story and well written characters. Will read more.
February 6, 2025
I enjoyed this once I had got used to the way the author jumps between characters. To start with this confused me greatly. The plot was good and I'll try another in the series some time. This book chosen by Andrew for the Woolpack Warriors Book Club
February 5, 2023
A wonderful read
March 15, 2023
Great story with multiple story lines brought to a satisfactory ending. And featuring a caravan. Brilliant writing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 16, 2023
Decent
I found there was so much going on jumping back and forth between Columbia, Spain and the Uk I struggled to follow it. Good result in the end!
I found there was so much going on jumping back and forth between Columbia, Spain and the Uk I struggled to follow it. Good result in the end!
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