Like the reviewer from the New Forest, I too bought Debacle because Paul Henke persuaded me to (instead of a Tom Clancy novel) at a book-signing session - and I'm glad he did! However, I would regard his style as more Colin Forbes than Frederick Forsyth, both authors whose books number among my favourites along with Clancy and the sadly departed master (in my opinion) of thriller writing Robert Ludlum.
As an ex-lt.cdr. Royal Naval Diving and explosives specialist, Paul Henke is able to write with authority and so helps to make the plotline believable. I liked the concept of the Allied Strikeforce (similar to Clancy's Rainbow group and possibly a UK-based rival to Op-Centre) and it was good to be able to follow the story through the one main character of Nick Hunter. Also, it brought to mind the real-life disaster a few years back involving a helicopter carrying top military/intelligence personnel.
My preference is to be able to submerge myself into whichever book I'm reading, and although I wasn't quite able to do that with Debacle I did enjoy reading it - and so did a number of my friends. I would recommend it to anybody who enjoys reading thrillers.
The second Nick Hunter novel, Mayhem, has recently been released and while I haven't yet got around to reading it I shall certainly do so. If Debacle and Mayhem are the start of a whole series of Nick Hunter novels, then write on Mr Henke, write on.
