Vengence Wears Black by Seumas Gallagher

[Joe McCoubrey]

The first thing that struck me about this rip-roaring yarn was that the author is a true storyteller in the mould of Scotland’s greatest adventure writer, Alastair Maclean. Having been a Maclean devotee for most of life I wouldn’t throw comparisons lightly around but Glaswegian Gallagher comes pretty darn close to his compatriot for pace, excitement and credibility.

This is Gallagher’s second outing for Jack Calder and a stellar cast of specialist security firm operatives who right wrongs around the globe, usually making do with a volley of lead where others get by on single-shot solutions. There’s an up-and-at-em approach to problem-solving that makes you feel almost sorry for the bad guys!

In this latest romp Calder and the gang are out to avenge the death of a colleague and find themselves in a drugs turf war that takes them across Europe in search of the furtive movers and shakers. The action is relentless, the body count high, and the tension is strung at just the right tautness to make you keep turning the pages.

If you ignore the character-hopping and those maddening examples of bad formatting (paragraph and page divisions) often found in ebooks, you will enjoy this for what it is – a highly readable, high enjoyable piece of escapism guaranteed to chase away the blues on many a long night.