Thursday, April 5, 2012

Review - Department Thirteen by James Houston Turner

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Book Summary from Amazon

Department Thirteen - the assassination and sabotage unit of the KGB - never officially existed, but retired KGB colonel Aleksandr Talanov knows that it did. It’s but one of the many secrets he’s worked hard to forget. Now living in Australia, Talanov and dozens of dinner guests are suddenly the target of assassins. Talanov and his wife are mistakenly spared, but soon find themselves running for their lives, hunted by the killers, blamed by the police, increasingly pivotal to an invisible network of death about which they know nothing. But someone thinks they know. For in 1983, a second Department Thirteen was created, and Talanov discovers they have but one purpose: to kill him, whatever the cost.


My Review - 4 1/2 Great to the last Drop

So amazing, what a thrilling rush, non stop action, thought provoking and brilliant characters.  Talanov, the ex secret agent is my favourite character this year so far, love him.  He is like a cat, has 9 lives, this was my only complaint, one to many close calls during his run for life adventure or is it that he is just that good.

I have never read an espionage book that I can think of and thriller is my favourite genre, crazy right.  Well, this book had a great opening and did not let up until the last paragraph.  Talanov has became the target for assassins but he was a successful spy so he was trained by the best of the best and wasn't going to let him or his wife die without knowing why.  He was trained to protect and read people to know what was coming next.

There were many characters but they were all defined and added to the storyline, easy to keep track of.  Some were hardcore which included strong females which is always refreshing. I initially thought it would be to many but J Turner executed his characters perfectly.  Some were only known as code names, Three and Four, which added to the story as everything and everyone was a cover up.

I love how this story was so intricate, an onion, peeling away each clue, development, the past, who else will die and when, intense brilliance.

This is an unputdownable read for sure.  I found myself daydreaming and cheering for Talanov, when I wasn't reading and in my sleep.  I highly recommend this to all crime, mystery, thriller fans.  One of the best I have read in a long time.  If you enjoy movies like Mission Impossible, you will love this one.  Need a recommendation for the men in your life, this is it.

And the characters will make you want more and guess what..... James Turner will be giving us more this year September, the next is called Greco's Game.

I usually like to share favourite quotes but honestly this book just had so many memorable scenes it was hard to choose quotes.  I suggest you go read it.

My only concern is that there are unbelievable scenes and Talanov should have died but he knows his stuff and when assassins think they have the upper hand and then try to get information also, it all goes wrong, for them........




17 comments:

  1. I read alot of crime and thrillers as well, other than the Bourne books I haven't read any espionage either. Will have to check this out. Thanks!

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  2. Sounds like a good one. Great review! Thanks. I love espionage.

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  3. Sounds like an awesome read. I hadn't heard of it before.

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  4. It N EXCITING read from an exceptional writer. Bravo James.

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  5. This is my favorite genre and your review has me hooked!

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  6. Great review!!! From your review, I am putting this one on my wishlist. You sure you can't review for Partners In Crime...your reviews are fantastic?

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    1. Cheryl, at the time I knew it wasn' good timing for me but 2nd part of year maybe. Thanks for the feedback, that makes my day.

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  7. I haven't read any spy stories (indifferent about Bond movies lol) but this one sounds like a good one to start!

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  8. Thank you so much for this outstanding review, Marce. I based Talanov on the actual KGB agent who leaked word out of Moscow back in the eighties that I was on a KGB watchlist for my smuggling activities behind the old Iron Curtain. He risked his life to help me, as have other people in my life, including the doctors who worked a genuine miracle to save me from cancer when I had but weeks to live. So I feel a bit like Talanov as a cat with nine lives. Thank you again for your downright awesome review. Blessings from Australia. ~James

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  9. James, thanks for commenting, so can't wait for the next one. Are you sure your not putting yourself at risk by writing these books? Are you in hiding, lol Thanks again

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  10. I haven't read a lot of these kinds of books either, but recently read J. Thomas Shaw's latest book, " The Rx Factor- " just love the fast paced, non-stop action. I'm now hooked on this genre. I will definitely be checking out Department Thirteen- thank you for the great review!

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  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Becky, thank you for commenting and leaving a recommendation, I really appreciate it.

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  12. I'm not much of an espionage fan, but you are very enthusiastic about it so it must be good. And I like it when authors take the time to comment. Points for James :)

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  13. Here's a link to the author's site for The Rx Factor (sorry, my previous link did not work)
    http://www.therxfactor.com

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  14. You are welcome Marce... I hope you enjoy The Rx Factor as much as I did.

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  15. The only espionage/spy books I ever read are Cold War ones. So I read a lot in the 80s but not so much after that. Fortunately, the theme is becoming popular again and this sounds brilliant. I'm pinning this right away to my tbr list.

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