Dark Market (Assassins Rule) [Kindle Edition]

Dark Market by Frank Coles both entertained and infuriated me (often at the same time). I'm not a big fan of the Jack Reacher type of Teflon-coated action man and the central character in Dark Market, John Savage, definitely falls into that category. However, there is something very human about Savage which made me root for him, even when part of my brain was saying, oh for goodness sake, surely with so many guns and so much muscle against him he should be dead by now!

This is, first and foremost, an action novel, but it is saved from being a predictable shoot-em-up by a complex and well thought out plot. John Savage is an investigator for the Financial Services Agency, but if this is the type of person they are now using I would say the banking world should be trembling in fear. Savage returns from the Middle East, where he has been working as a mercenary, after he finds a link between a murdered news reporter and the suicide he'd caused years earlier. Once back in his old job at the bank he begins to delve into crimes, cover ups, scandal and intrigue on a massive scale. The dark market of the title refers to a `game' whereby anyone with the right amount of money can arrange for whoever they choose to be an assassin's target and the bank is facilitating it. A premise disturbingly possible.

I found the book's opening section less than engrossing, but I'm glad I persevered because the book gets better and better as it progresses. Characterisation is good; even though most of the characters are a bit OTT, they are still credible.

Would I read another John Savage tale of death and destruction if Frank Coles produces one? On balance, yes, I would.

I was given this free by the author to read and review.
This is a fast paced novel with the action scenes much in the style of Lee Child although the plot is more complex. John Savage, investigator for the FSA (Financial Services Agency) and ex mercenary has a troubled past in the Middle East and nightmares of what happened, revealed in the first few chapters, colour his actions throughout the book. I thought that after a fairly uncertain start the book was a good read with a fairly complex plot with Savage trying to find out where a bank's money had disappeared which is only the start of his adventures. I liked how the characters and locations were described with even the minor characters although larger than life believable. There are a number of strands which all come together in a satisfactory conclusion at the end.
Well worth a read.

I read "Dark Market" to keep me entertained during a flight. I couldn't put it down and finished it at 3.30 in the morning. What gripped me was Frank's ability to throw in teasers that kept you reading on and on. I was also impressed by the visual nature of the book and just kept thinking this would make one hell of a film. It reminded me of Dan Brown.

Basically, in the character of John Savage, Frank has developed a modern day Bond. Not on her majesty's service but a freelancer with a dark, haunting past. Not someone with high-tech gadgets from Q but a savvy cynic with burglary skills. The book is clearly aimed at the action genre and has the subtlety of a typical Bond film. There is some cheese in there, particularly some of the cliched stuff the characters say. But then, no different to Bond. The characters - if these are based on real characters, God help us. We've all heard stories of "private contractors" used by the US army to do the dirty work, so must assume that such people exist. Made me think of my reaction after seeing "Good Fellas". After reading this book, you feel a little more unsafe and not at all at ease. And the premise of the book, that rich, powerful banks control who dies and who doesn't, fits perfectly into modern times. London as the assassin's playground.

The book has got pace. Right from the prologue it's like having the literary equivalent of a stun grenade thrown at your feet. Shocking. It made me want to read more, because I couldn't even fathom what the one character did in the prologue and how this was related to the rest of the book. And then straight into the first chapter you are somewhere completely different. There's no slack in the book. In the middle of the night, I thought "wow, what a page-turner", then realized that it should be "what a finger-swiper of an e-book".

Now that I've read the first one, I want the next one (or maybe the third one) to be about John Savage's missing three years. What made him into the man he was in "Dark Market"? Write more, Frank.