Deadly Echoes by Philip Donlay

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Deadly Echoes by Philip Donlay (Oceanview Publishing, 2014), the fourth novel to feature Donovan Nash, offers me a chance to use a word I can’t remember ever using in a review before. Yes, this is a. . . wait for it. . . a ripsnorting adventure. Now I’m not entirely sure what gas emerges from the rip but, when you snort it, it gives you extraordinary vigour as a reader. Why use the word here? Well, there are times when you read a book and you wonder how the author can make the situation ever bigger and more over the top. Well this book is one possible answer to that question. To give you but one example. In The Winter’s Tale, Shakespeare fell back on the then tried and trusted stage direction. If events have been slowing down and you can’t think of anything witty to say, have your characters chased off the stage by a bear. That was guaranteed to produce hilarity and vast applause from the pit audience. Well, in this book, if you’re not paying attention, the confrontation and pursuit involving a bear is almost gone before you have a chance to register it. Yes, the classic Shakespearean device has been relegated to a few lines as our hero fights his way from start to finish.

Does it all depend on “him”? I hear you ask. Well, our hero may be good in the flying, and fighting, and shooting, and the hanging from helicopters, and other stunts you would probably want to ask the stunt double to do should this ever be planned for the cinema. But when it comes to saving the Earth (well, perhaps only Alaska, parts of Canada and a few of the northern US states), you have to turn to his wife. Yes, this is a partnership effort. Although their marriage may be going through a rough patch, what with assassins trying to kill her and their child, she’s the one with the brains. When it comes to seeing the big picture and envisaging how the impossible solution might become possible, she’s the one to get the scenario from the planning stage to the go-decision in the shortest possible time. No, this is not science fiction in the literal sense of the words. Think science possible if you close one eye and squint through the other. Then it all becomes perfectly possible and entirely plausible.

Philip Donlay

Did I mention all the shooting and fighting? There’s a high body count by the time we’re finished.

So this book follows on from Zero Separation. This gives me a major advantage because I know who everyone is and how the whole backstory fits together, Had I not read that, I suspect I would be feeling fairly lost and not a little frustrated since this is one of those revenge thrillers in which a figure from our hero’s past re-emerges to a fanfare of bullets and dismemberments. Do I like these people any better than I did the last time around? Well, we’re not given a great deal of time to worry about that because once the action starts, it keeps going at a ferocious pace. But the answer is, “Not really.” Everything that happens in this book is deeply complicated by the threat to disclose our hero’s real identity. Everyone “in the know” has to lie to the CIA, the FBI, Mossad, Interpol and local law enforcement agencies in the US and France. As a hook, the continuous threat for our hero to be revealed is not the most attractive. In other books where our protagonists are living off the grid, there’s usually an explanation to engage our sympathies, to encourage us to root for them as the forces of the law swirl around them. But this lot just want to keep the money and avoid going to jail. Hardly the most laudable of motives no matter how much good they may be doing through their organisation.

This all leaves me feeling somewhat ambivalent. As with the last book, this has a gonzo terrorism climax. In fact, it’s the kind of scenario Hollywood would enjoy doing with full CGI effects. I suppose the extravagance of it all wins me over. This is not just a few punches thrown and an explosion or two. This is non-stop action featuring a lot of flying, something our author knows a lot about. So if you do decide to come on this ride, be prepared for not just a hail of bullets — there’s a positive blizzard blowing through the book. A few are wounded and many die. Some of the deaths would have been quick. Others are designed for their shock value. Deadly Echoes certainly exceeds the average wow factor in terms of thriller plot. If only the lead characters were more likeable, I would be strongly recommending this. As it is, I suggest you read Category Five, the first in the series, to see whether you are hooked by the situation to make you want to read through to this point. If you are sufficiently tuned in and are rooting for these people, this will certainly hold your attention as the pages flash by in full page-turner mode.

For a review of another book in this series by Philip Donlay, see Zero Separation.

A copy of this book was sent to me for review.