Fallout

Fallout is the story of many characters who are entangled in a web of mystery and deceit. The book starts out with a single character who is trying to escape an ill fate during the Cold War. What happens to him does not resurface again until the end of the book. In the present day, two brothers, Sean Garrett and Banastre Montjoy, set out to find out who killed their grandmother, Madeleine Halliwell, a spy during the war. Halliwell, along with Geoffrey Charleton, and William Lindsay, who are also spies, are all marked for murder as is Montjoy. Lindsay ends up in a coma, and Montjoy manages to escape his fate. The name of the game is to find out who is working for whom, and who is a possible double, or better yet, triple agent.

Throughout the book, several countries are involved, which makes this book a little tricky to read. There are the Americans, the Russians, and the British, who are all involved in one way or another. Although it seems as if Montjoy is the main character, the book really skips around from one place to another and focuses on each of the characters until several of them are killed off. The names of the assassins and spies are hard to keep track of. One character had three names, depending on his identity being compromised and the new country he was in. This was confusing at times because the other characters would talk about him using the different names. However, the story comes together well in the end. I enjoyed one of the last scenes of the book very much in which two of the characters battle it out in hand-to-hand combat. I also appreciated the proper names of the different guns and rifles being used. This gave the book a feel of authenticity as did the names of the different missions and code names the characters were given. Codenames and missions, such as Spindle, Operation Trapdoor, Gemini, and Safeguard, bring this book to life. Also, the fact that the author’s female characters were very strong — both physically and mentally — was a nice touch. The conversation between Verity Scott and Sam Anderton is one that would have played out nicely in a movie. Anderton’s respect for Scott shows through in this conversation, and she is able to extract as much information as Scott has to offer.

Fallout is an action-packed story with an extensive cast of characters and a surprise around every corner. An authentic spy novel laced with revenge. You never know where loyalty lies.