"Mister Smith", a criminal mastermind, is planning the greatest act of crime in history - not for political or financial reasons, but simply for the thrill and glory of pulling off the perfect crime. Among his minions, he hires three of the world's most accomplished solo criminals: Mike Graham, an ex-CIA weapons expert gone rogue; C.W. Whitlock, nicknamed "the Black Spider-Man" for his ability to, with strength and adeptness, climbing anything; and Sabrina Carver, a thief as smart and adrift as she is beautiful.

As UNACO (the United Nations Anti-Crime Organization) desperately tries to figure out what Smith is up to, the clock is ticking...and Smith's three operatives each have plans of their own.

Anyone who is very, very bored and seeking a quick, light and sickly entertaining read (sickly entertaining in the sense that one is laughing at the author, not with him). Or a writer in need of a morale boost by comparing his/her writing to the unfortunate embarrassment of John Denis's (i.e. me ).

Putting the book away.

Where to start?

Plot: Predictable and with a few holes. Mercifully it moved quickly. Lacked any mystery and the only plot twist could be seen from a mile away. Everything went too easily for the "good guys".

Setting: Almost non-existent, except for an overdose on the names of places in France which I couldn't care less about (skimmed all the French stuff).

Characters: Shallow. I never got to know them well. Mike Graham was the most interesting because of his attitude and cynicism, but even that was kinda false. C.W.'s African American slang was overdone, and it irritated me that every time he was mentioned there was some allusion to him being "black", having "black skin" or being a "black man" (especially when Graham was distinguished as "the American"...just because he's white?! I'm confused...). Sabrina Carver's finest quality was her figure, and it didn't sit right with me that she was called by her first name instead of her surname, like the guys. Which brings me to my last point: the author's portrayal of women. He seems to have no clue about the mind of a woman, that they are actually human and intelligent - throughout the book they were portrayed as objects, never without a sexy or downright sexist reference, and every single one of them was in love with or attracted to one of the male characters. Also, whenever one of the male characters made a witty or sleazy remark, the female character couldn't think of any comeback and simply "blushed" or "sniffed" or "looked away". I mean...what the heck?! (While I was laughing at how pathetic the dude sounded and thinking of about ten things I could say, trying to pick and choose which one!) And on top of it all, the book was laced with crude sexual scenes and implications which were as off-putting as they were completely unnecessary.

Style: Poor. John Denis's writing was amateur and unpolished, and I noticed quite a few typos. The dialogue was clumpy and unnatural, stiff in some places and overly casual and others. Most of the time, it was the last thing I would expect to hear in the situation. And I only laughed, or kind of snorted/smirked, in one place (can't even remember what it was).

Go read a real book.

Frustrated and mildly amused. And better, as a writer. It's a good thing to read a few bad books in your life to understand what not to do.

Lacked wit, humour, conviction and the discipline to edit and improve his work.

It's a quick read, and amused me in a condescending kind of way.

...of pretty much everything.

Note: This book's plot, along with others in the UNACO collection, was roughly outlined by the famous author and master of action/adventure fiction, Alistair MacLean, before his death. Later, other writers were given permission to use the plots for their own books. This book in no way reflects Alistair MacLean's writing. I am a huge fan of MacLean and highly recommend his books, particularly H.M.S. Ulysses and Ice Station Zebra. I suspect MacLean's name was stamped on the front of this book not in tribute but to sell more copies.

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Created Nov 19, 2014 at 4:09pm • Submit your own review...