The review relates to the paperback version.

If you have just a peripheral knowledge of technology, you will be annoyed with the completely implausible things that happen in this book. For instance, at one point an aerial photo is taken from a helicopter of the innards of a satellite while it's being prepared for launch in a fenced-off area near the launch-site; satellites are only worked on in sterile. dust-free rooms. Also, from this photo, Forbes' super-scientist (whose name I have forgotten) can tell which phone-numbers it is programmed to dial up. Yeah, right! And the entire idea of killing people sitting in front of computers by sending signal over "the information super-highway" clearly shows that the author has no understanding whatsoever of how computer-hardware actually works. I stopped reading towards the end of the book, when the author, quite obviously, used one of his characters to get up on his (the authors) own little soapbox and berate us all about the dangers of modern technology. Not that I entirely disagree with the basic point he was trying to make, but I was done so clumsily that it insults the readers intelligence. Add to that several good, old-fashioned logical mistakes in the book (like Eve Warner seeing Marler in the back of Newmans car, and later having no knowledge of his existence, or Keith Kent having Eve Warner in his house and later not recognizing her when he is face to face with her in the street and talking to her, and more...) and I would recommend you skip this one.

Britain's best secret agents Tweed, Paula Grey and international foreign correspondent Bob Newman are back once again. In this 1996 thriller, they are on the trail of billionnaire Leopold Brazil, a communications tycoon. Tweed suspects he has a major world-threatening plan after seeing photographs of a rogue satellite being launched from French Guiana on the Ariane rocket delivery system. Brazil, with a base in Switzerland and a residence in Dorset, England, hides behind heavies and devious lawyers alike. Tweed's trail takes him and his team to Dorset, Geneva, Zurich and also the Swiss Valais canton. Paula Grey is almost kidnapped, and battle erupts on a mountainside when Brazil's plan to disable global communications and bring back Russia as a leading world power gets under way. Can Tweed and co. stop Brazil. You will surely guess the ending . . . or will you? Add to the plot a mystery assassin called the Motorman and Eve Warner, a disgruntled accomplice of Brazil's who nobody can trust and you have a surefire Forbes classic. One of his best of his later novels.

ANY BOOK WRITTEN BY COLIN FORBES IS 5 STARS +....... IF YOU GO TO AMAZON.CO.UK YOU CAN PURCHASE ALL HIS BOOKS WRITTEN IN PROPER ENGLISH. WE LIVE IN UK, AND CALIFORNIA, AND A BOOK OF HIS IS WORTH IT'S PRICE IN GOLD. ONCE TRIED YOU WILL READ ALL HIS, EVEN HIS EARLY LITLE PAPER BACKS. WONDERFUL MAN AND GREAT AUTHOR. SHARYN WHITING.

I think I had to spend too much time using my imagination to fill in spots Mr. Forbes left in his story-telling and smoothing over surface inconsistencies. He didn't draw many pictures for me, I had to do much of it myself.

On the other hand, the story was gripping, fascinating - I got quite a bit of enjoyment out of racing virtually across the European continent with Newman, Tweed and the gang.

I'd recommend for light-to-medium reading.

My first Forbes-book. I liked it a lot

This is another classic British thriller! In this follow-on from SHOCKWAVE, England's finest secret agents Tweed, Paula Grey and Bob Newman especially, investigate a frightening covert military conspiracy funded by INCUBUS, a massive American banking concern. They intend to create instability in Eastern Europe using rather unconventional means. Once again, Forbes has created a cracking novel! The suspense is loaded big time, the locations, particularly Sweden and Finland are well-researched and added to the interest, and once again Tweed, Paula and Bob Newman find time to stay to the best hotels and drink champagne! So fill up that tall glass and ENJOY!

I had to check to see when this was written, because it is so devoid of current technology, it could easily have been written in the 60s or 70s. The villain, Dr. Goslar, is one of those all-powerful shadowy figures usually seen in pulp fiction (e.g., Fu Manchu). If he is so powerful and such a threat with some new biological weapon, why are there only a few agents attempting to bring him down? And why does Goslar fail again and again to kill them? There is also a plot twist involving sisters which I saw coming at least three hundred pages early. Weak, especailly when stacked up against say, Frederick Forsyth or Andy McNab.

Ah, but we love Colin Forbes for this! His books are so entertaining. This is his latest thriller(at least until RHINOCEROS comes out) and is up to his usual standards! The main characters are once again Britain's best MI6 agents Tweed, Paula Grey and Bob Newman. Along witb ace sniper Marler and also heavies Pete Nield and Harry Butler, they are up against the evil genius Dr Goslar who has perfected a bio-chemical weapon of mass destruction. France, hungry for Euro-domination, wants this weapon, and sends agents of their own after Goslar. America's military is also after it - who will reach Goslar first? Along the way, Paula Grey is kidnapped, a former British Army weapons expert Brigadier Adam Burgoyne helps out - but whose side is he really on? The action of this story takes place in Geneva and also the French town of Annecy. Forbes describes his locations authentically, I have visited Annecy myself when Inter-Railing five years ago and could relate to these parts of the book well. The climax and final twists in the plot are well unexpected too. Add to all this two token ladies also trying to get to Goslar, Serena Cavendish and Judy Warner who Tweed cannot trust and you have a real top potboiler of a novel! In typical Forbes vein, the narrative does contain some unintentionally funny lines. For instance:

(p.1) Tweed, talking to a police inspector: 'I told you Roy. Because of the message that came into SIS headquarters in London. From that evil genius, Dr. Goslar!'

(p.45) Tweed: 'La Defense? That's the amazing business centre in Paris with incredibly tall buildings.'

(p. 341) The main rotor blade struck him just below the jaw, sliced off his head.(poor grammar!) It flew through the air like a melon, a leaking red melon.

Not to mention Goslar's mansion called GARGOYLE TOWERS. But it's all great. clean fun. And of course, they all get to stay in the best hotels and drink litres of champagne and wine in between tracking the baddies. Hugely entertaining.

The first couple of pages of 'The Power' are intriguing and promise to develop into a gripping thriller. However, after that it is downhill all the way. This is possibly one of the worst books that I have ever read. The characters are paper thin, and completely unbelievable. The dialogue is mundane and pedestrian. The development of the plot is juvenile, it reminds me of the universal baddies such as Smersh from the Man from U.N.C.L.E. The 'stage whisper' comments from the characters explaining the significance of particular plot developments are insulting to the readers intelligence.

For a far more credible, readable and enjoyable thriller read Stephen Leather.

Colin Forbes sets his novel in rural US, in Washington, the UK and mainland Europe. Clearly a travelled and educated writer, Forbes has written an interesting and suspenseful novel, with convicing and sympathetic characters. For my taste, a few too many players in this ruthless story of murder, intrigue and power play, it is nonetheless a great book for a long plane ride.

And a very unlikely villain, which is apparent in the closing chapters! British secret agents Tweed, Paula Grey and Bob Newman investigate a string of murders brought to their attention by a reporter on the run. Then a massacre takes place in a mansion in Cornwall, Tweed's headquarters is firebombed and the agents are on their own, even the Prime Minister won't sanction a mission to track down the perpetrators. Who is behind all of this? The action and story move from the UK to Switzerland, France and the White House, where a power struggle with a corrupt right-wing President is under way in a deadly sense. Then Even Amberg, widow of a Swiss banker killed in the Cornwall massacre, and high-class prostitute Jennie Blade appear on the scene, who have connections with a leading industrialist. What is his part in the Washington power struggle and the aftorementioned murders? This thriller weaves its way through some unexpected twists and turns very typical of Brit writer Colin Forbes, the locations add to the interest and overall, it is a satisfyingly original storyline with an easy-to-read narrative. Highly recommended.

I usually pick up a book for three reasons: 1) to read becasue it's a good one and I can't put it down 2) because I need to learn something or study something and 3) because I have a habit of reading a book while I have a snack. This latest one by Colin Forbes definitely falls into the third catergory. Why? Well, you can eliminate the 2nd catergory for sure. Let me explain. For years I have picked up books by Colin Forbes - our library has a huge collection of his books. After reading this one I think he'd better definitely stick to the Tweed & Paula Gray series. Golden Ape disappointed me - Arabs again! The rest of the family agreed with me on this point - there are definitely too many novels and stories with Arabs being the bad guys because of oil prices and deals made through OPEC etc. Enough is enough! Why add another? They tend to bore. Golden Ape was no exception. I expected something else after the hijack of the oil tanker - but nothing! I was left very disappointed. The supposed climax of the story - well, it wasn't much of a climax. But I do admire Forbes for how much depth he created in his characters - I find that that seems to come easy to him and in this case - Winter was a great success on his own but as part of the book - well, there was a big difference in the characters. A lot like a bar graph: when it came to the characters, the bar would shoot up, when it came to the plot and story line it would hover below zero. Minus points for originality, plus points for character. It sounds like someone definitely ran out of oil or gas or petrol on this one and it wasn't the US or UK.

This is the first time I have put down a book without finishing it. Puerile dialogue. If I had read once more about Paula saying something "merrily" I would have thrown up. Very jolly hockey stockings early 50s British kids books' dialogue. How the hell did Marler have all those contacts with arms dealers (presumably illegal)and yet Alvarez could provide licences immediately Marler returned to the hotel? Come on Colin! Until I stumbled briefly onto this I thought that The Devil's Teardrop was the worst book I had ever read and I finished that one. Apologies to Jeffrey Deaver but Colin Forbes' effort leaves yours for dead.

My second attempt at a Colin Forbes novel. I must put it down midway through the book. Unbelievable characters and childish narrative. A thriller? I think not.

In this typical Colin Forbes thriller, a billionaire industrialist called Vincent Bernard Moloch with concerns in the US, the UK and Middle East, and the director of the worl'ds biggest multinational called AMBECO, invents a new type of explosive called Xenobium. Supposedly more powerful than the A-bomb, Moloch makes a point of demostrating it with spectacular results and a view to selling it to Middle Eastern nations for military use. So who is there to stop him? Enter the British MI6's finest gourmet-loving, champagne-drinking, well-dressed secret agents Tweed, Paula Grey and foreign correspondent Bob Newman who infiltrate AMBECO and discover that the madman's plans are bigger than they realise. And as they fight off killers in speedboats, a loony employee of AMBECO with a mother fixation and use sniper Marler to pick out the bad guys(isn't it convenient he can buy all the arms he needs anywhere in the world! ), they still find the time to dine at the best parties! And the narrative contains some hilarious lines. For instance:

(p169): 'And he paid them very well. I don't know how much, but they started appearing in more expensive clothes.'

(p265-266): (referring to a courier delivering essential documents) 'They will reach you in seven hours time.' 'Seven hours? How are they coming? By rocket?' 'I've got government co-operation. They must be using one of their incredible new supersonic aircraft.'

Enough said. But on the book's finer points, it is a very good, if somewhat familiar story, and the pacing is fast and action never stops until two explosive climaxes in California and Cornwall. Worth a read, at least Colin Forbes's novels have a knack of being extremely entertaining, if somewhat in the wrong way, which is notable in his later books.

Like Janus, this book had two faces, one bad and one ugly. I do not mind it if an author is going to pass off an old, well-used story line on us - this is the spy mole hunt with the odd pairing of hinters, but you have to make it interesting. We just kind of moved through this book at a plodding pace that never picks up, the characters are so weakly described that you really never care to find out what happens. I heard he was a good author so I struggled through to the end, but I now regret the lost time.

This book could have been much, much better if Forbes would have described better his characters. The story is about a Russian spy known as Balkan, who is the head of one of the European headquarters of the SIS. The chief of the European sector, Tweed, tries to find out, who the black sheep is. His help is a newswriter called Newman who is actually his bodyguard. The plot is too simple and the characters don't really have "faces". If we forget about this, the book is good, readable, but not so much enjoying. That's the cause of the 2 stars.