Second Strike by Mark Abernethy Allen and Unwin
Second Strike by Mark Abernethy Allen and Unwin
In this action-packed and gripping sequel to Golden Serpent featuring the indefatigable MacIn the early hours of October 13, 2002, Australian spy Alan McQueen is jolted awake and told to immediately head to Bali, where more than two hundred people have been killed in a series of bomb blasts.
Descending into Denpasar, Mac finds tensions running high between MI6, ASIS and the CIA, not to mention the Indonesian national police and Indonesian intel. Assigned to keep watch on the Australian forensic scientists working the bomb site - where the official line being peddled is that all the bombs were home-made - Mac learns that in fact one of the bombs was a military-grade mini-nuke.
Trying to glean the motives for misleading the public, Mac pursues a shady group of businessmen-terrorists through the wilds of west Java and into Sumatra. But the trail goes dead when the terrorists fly out of Sumatra in an unmarked plane.
Five years later, Mac is a freelance investigator living in Surfers Paradise, with his wife, Jenny, and baby daughter. During an apparently routine assignment looking into the people behind an Indonesian bio-engineering facility, Mac's partner is shot and MI6 turn up rather too quickly. Before too long Mac finds himself embroiled in the dangerous world of a new nuclear arms race.
Forced on the run, with no Commonwealth back up, Mac suspects a connection between what's going on and the 2002 Bali bombings. Remembering back to a puzzling note he found back then with M4' written on it, he suddenly realises it referred to Mantiqui Four, the legendary Fourth Brigade of Jemaah Islamyiah, who are dedicated to an attack on Australian soil.
The race is on as Mac discovers that the Fourth Brigade still have one remaining mini-nuke device. With ever-increasing tension, he trails his quarry from Indonesia to the Australian outback. In a thrilling denouement, involving three SAS troopers, several Israelis, the Indonesian police, and a Pakistani, Mac finds faced with more questions than answers
In this action-packed and gripping sequel to Golden Serpent Mark Abernethy confirms his status as a master thriller writer.
About Mark Abernethy
Mark Abernethy is a speechwriter, ghostwriter, journalist and author. Born in New Zealand, he has lived in Australia for most of his adult life. A former editor at Australian Penthouse magazine, he now writes for the Australian Financial Review.
- Filter shelf by title: Go Clear
-
Now reading (1 in total)
-
Paperback -
Next to read (0 in total)
-
-
Have read (0 in total)
-
Member comments
By: at 30 August, 2008 - 06:51
I have finished Second strike and it fulfilled expectations. It is a well written spy novel, with some action incorporated. It was well paced. It has some great conspiracies, and is a fun read. There are twists and turns to keep one engaged. It will be interesting to read further novels by this author - I want to see where he takes the complicated family like of Macca.
I have just finished Golden serpent which I also enjoyed.
By: at 17 August, 2008 - 06:57
I had not read anything by this author prior to this book. I am enjoying his take on spying in South East Asia (I am just over half way through this novel). This novel makes good use of contemporary events, and the various spin off ideas (and with a spy novel I am really reluctant to provide any spoilers) is fun. Abernethy writes about possibilities which could concern the paranoid or the easily depressed, but also which could happen. He uses names we have heard in a terrorist context.
By: at 13 August, 2008 - 22:12
Hello Booktaggers,
We think free books are great, we've been very grateful for the free books we've received from Publishers. I hope you are too :). If you've received a free book please write a review for it. We all want to know what you thought of the book (and it was a condition of receipt).
To write a review hover over the book and select Book info. Then on the Books profile page select Write a review from the menu next to the book image.
I look forward to hearing what you think of the books you've been reading lately.
Kind Regards,
Jeremy
Booktagger
By: at 13 August, 2008 - 21:21
I was a little dubious about this one before I started and occasionally the Ossie Ossie Ossie Oy Oy Oy grated a bit; the hero's ability to continuously drink beer and subject himself to extreme exertion was also testing, but this was a great holiday read and I am keen to read Mr Abernathy's first book.
Excellent to read something written in a SE Asian context, the settings were great, enjoyed the tradecraft and the scenario for our region, basically once I got into the book I couldn't put it down.
Forums
No forums found that relate to this bookclub.Be the first to start a forum discussion
By: Jennifer C at 4 September, 2008 - 20:27
I finished the novel last week and am busily integrating my thought to write a review. While aspects irritated me at times (mostly the jargon which jerked me out of the story) once I became used to it, I enjoyed it. I need to read the 'Golden Serpent'.