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Jonah Said #1
Rage
Jonah Said is a man with nowhere left to run. Hunted, haunted, and bearing the horrific scars of a life spent on the frontline of some of the world's bloodiest battlefields, he's not what you'd call a model soldier. That's why the British Army has shipped him to the Zone—a lawless strip of desert between Iraq and Kuwait where everything is for sale and nothing is what it seems. From the moment he lands, Jonah is in over his head. Drawn into a ruthless world of corruption, he's about to learn that in the Zone, life is cheap…and the truth is deadly.
- GenresFiction
352 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2006
7 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
About the author
Simon Conway
16 books115 followersSimon Conway is a former British Army officer and international aid worker. With The HALO Trust and later as director of Landmine Action he cleared landmines and unexploded bombs in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
As Co-Chair of the Cluster Munition Coalition he successfully campaigned to achieve an international ban on cluster bombs.In 2014 he returned to The HALO Trust to lead the organisation's effort to address urban conflict in the Middle East.
He lives in Glasgow with his wife the journalist and broadcaster Sarah Smith. He has two daughters.
As Co-Chair of the Cluster Munition Coalition he successfully campaigned to achieve an international ban on cluster bombs.In 2014 he returned to The HALO Trust to lead the organisation's effort to address urban conflict in the Middle East.
He lives in Glasgow with his wife the journalist and broadcaster Sarah Smith. He has two daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 8, 2008
This book was incredibly realistic, with the closest thing to fiction being a missile contaminated with smallpox designated to be launched over the city this is a very intense book. I would not recommend this to younger children.
January 9, 2021
I discovered the author Simon Conway via the Spybrary podcast, and the great reception his latest publication, The Stranger, has received . But, despite its rave reviews I chose to begin my journey into Conway’s work with his second novel, Rage.
The protagonist, Jonah Said, is an army officer of mixed Guyanan and Palestinian heritage and a fluent Arabic speaker, seeming initially reminiscent of Frederick Forsyth’s Mike Martin from the Afghan and Fist of God novels. But fear not, Conway steers well clear of the men from “a small town in the West Country” and leads us down another far less travelled route. A path littered with mine fields, politics and the debris of war, that of the United Nations observer mission and although we are occasionally moved back in time for the purpose of back-story, particularly the catalyst of 9/11, the bulk of the novel is set in the days before the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The author places us vividly in the border zone, a biblical landscape bearing all the scars of modern warfare, not only from Gulf War One but also the remains of the internecine Iran/Iraq conflict of the mid 80s.
Jonah Said finds himself in the ramshackle UN set up as the clock ticks down towards war and soon encounters a strange community occupying the Zone including a squadron of salvage scavengers waiting to flood in behind the invaders and exploit the carnage, a jumble of ancient sects of various Arab and religious allegiance and the international peacekeepers to whom he is attached.
The UN contingent also includes troop of malevolent Russian paratroopers at the top of the food chain who seem to have their own agenda.
There is a love interest in the alluring Miranda, her ties and allegiances to the Iraqi regime and beyond are far less clear than her personal objective, a reunion with her long-lost son. There are also a pair of unusual antagonists, firstly the an ex CIA man ingeniously named after a biblical demon, whereabouts unknown since the New Testament and in his shadow is Malik, a seemingly omnipresent Marsh Arab Spy cum desert Caligula.
All these parties are very interested in Jonah Said, because on his first night in Kuwait he found himself in a very naughty bar, the Desert Palm, drinking with an even naughtier Norwegian, called Odd, who shared information which could make them both rich, very rich indeed. But Odd is found the morning after, in trap-one of the toilets with his throat slit, and all fingers are pointing at Jonah Said as the prime suspect. But it’s the dead man’s information about the contraband that all parties are their after from Jonah, and what will they do to get it?
The flow and wit of the first-person narrative is immediately and favourably comparable to the Deighton’s unnamed spy series and the prose among heat waves, storms and mirages of the desert, has a definite hallucinatory quality.
Jonah Said isn’t a dynamic spearhead character himself, more of an Ambler-esque type finding himself in the eye of the storm by happenstance. But when it comes on top his military training kicks-in and he does rise to the occasion in flash point situations.
Speaking of eyes- actually I’d better not because that’s major spoiler territory.
The book’s cover, a head and shoulders of a desert kit squaddie rather than a silhouette figure (possibly a former Black Watch officer)seems to be aimed more at the militaristic Thor and Clancy market than true spy fans, which may be a deception in itself self. Simon Conway’s Rage is definitely a different flavour, Arabian spices, vodka and cordite and maybe a trace of field mushroom in there somewhere. Bon Appetit. Highly recommended.
Keep staying safe- until next time- Onyx out.
(This review is a transcript of a review on the Spybrary Podcast https://spybrary.libsyn.com/the-rage-... )
The protagonist, Jonah Said, is an army officer of mixed Guyanan and Palestinian heritage and a fluent Arabic speaker, seeming initially reminiscent of Frederick Forsyth’s Mike Martin from the Afghan and Fist of God novels. But fear not, Conway steers well clear of the men from “a small town in the West Country” and leads us down another far less travelled route. A path littered with mine fields, politics and the debris of war, that of the United Nations observer mission and although we are occasionally moved back in time for the purpose of back-story, particularly the catalyst of 9/11, the bulk of the novel is set in the days before the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The author places us vividly in the border zone, a biblical landscape bearing all the scars of modern warfare, not only from Gulf War One but also the remains of the internecine Iran/Iraq conflict of the mid 80s.
Jonah Said finds himself in the ramshackle UN set up as the clock ticks down towards war and soon encounters a strange community occupying the Zone including a squadron of salvage scavengers waiting to flood in behind the invaders and exploit the carnage, a jumble of ancient sects of various Arab and religious allegiance and the international peacekeepers to whom he is attached.
The UN contingent also includes troop of malevolent Russian paratroopers at the top of the food chain who seem to have their own agenda.
There is a love interest in the alluring Miranda, her ties and allegiances to the Iraqi regime and beyond are far less clear than her personal objective, a reunion with her long-lost son. There are also a pair of unusual antagonists, firstly the an ex CIA man ingeniously named after a biblical demon, whereabouts unknown since the New Testament and in his shadow is Malik, a seemingly omnipresent Marsh Arab Spy cum desert Caligula.
All these parties are very interested in Jonah Said, because on his first night in Kuwait he found himself in a very naughty bar, the Desert Palm, drinking with an even naughtier Norwegian, called Odd, who shared information which could make them both rich, very rich indeed. But Odd is found the morning after, in trap-one of the toilets with his throat slit, and all fingers are pointing at Jonah Said as the prime suspect. But it’s the dead man’s information about the contraband that all parties are their after from Jonah, and what will they do to get it?
The flow and wit of the first-person narrative is immediately and favourably comparable to the Deighton’s unnamed spy series and the prose among heat waves, storms and mirages of the desert, has a definite hallucinatory quality.
Jonah Said isn’t a dynamic spearhead character himself, more of an Ambler-esque type finding himself in the eye of the storm by happenstance. But when it comes on top his military training kicks-in and he does rise to the occasion in flash point situations.
Speaking of eyes- actually I’d better not because that’s major spoiler territory.
The book’s cover, a head and shoulders of a desert kit squaddie rather than a silhouette figure (possibly a former Black Watch officer)seems to be aimed more at the militaristic Thor and Clancy market than true spy fans, which may be a deception in itself self. Simon Conway’s Rage is definitely a different flavour, Arabian spices, vodka and cordite and maybe a trace of field mushroom in there somewhere. Bon Appetit. Highly recommended.
Keep staying safe- until next time- Onyx out.
(This review is a transcript of a review on the Spybrary Podcast https://spybrary.libsyn.com/the-rage-... )
April 12, 2011
Rage is a book of never ending lies to protect that person and there loved ones.The story is based in the middle east in the middleof war just after the 9/11 attack on America. The story is so dramatc that the author has to bring n the smallpopx virus bomb into the story where the terriost located all around the world are trying to find it and possible destroy the whole of the world with this new super virus. so how will it end??????
June 16, 2015
Wow, this book had me hooked from the start and didn't let go until the finish. If it was a car it wud say get in shut up, belt up, hold on and enjoy the ride, fantastic story.
December 31, 2022
I’m going to read at least 1 more Simon Conway.
April 13, 2024
The writing is at a quite high level but constantly desultory, with too much meaningless explicit contents. The logic of the plot is very weak.
December 30, 2022
Simon Conway has been a great discovery for me.
Really compelling reading with terrific tension and plot.
His Jonah Said protagonist is also great so look out for those novels.
Really compelling reading with terrific tension and plot.
His Jonah Said protagonist is also great so look out for those novels.
April 11, 2014
This is not the kind of book I usually read but, on seeing the first page was well written, I gave it a go.
Jonah is on a secret mission in "the zone", which is a few miles of land separating Iraq from Kuwait. Told from his point of view, this story tells of the gritty undercurrents of impending war, which breaks out towards the end of the novel. Definitely worth reading if you're a fan of Chris Ryan, Andy McNabb etc.
Jonah is on a secret mission in "the zone", which is a few miles of land separating Iraq from Kuwait. Told from his point of view, this story tells of the gritty undercurrents of impending war, which breaks out towards the end of the novel. Definitely worth reading if you're a fan of Chris Ryan, Andy McNabb etc.
September 4, 2013
I had to give up very quickly. Like previous reviewers, I found it extremely disjointed and difficult to follow, with no connection to the main character at all. I was disappointed, as I really felt in the mood for a good beat-em-up thriller and ended up not bothering after the first few chapters.
July 13, 2012
A good unpredictable yarn. Great airport reading
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews