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Remote Control

Remote Control

List Price: $110.95
Your Price: $110.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: top-notch thriller
Review: After reading a fair number of thrillers, you can tell when someone is writing from knowledge and experience without even knowing anything about the author. Andy McNab has learned much from being in the SAS, and it shows-- Stone is one of the most cunning and believable characters in thriller fiction. I got the same feeling of excitement reading this book as I did when I first read Alistair McLean's early novels. Highly recommended.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great start to what Promises to be a great set of books
Review: After reading Bravo Two Zero and Immediate Action I decided to take a read of Remote Control, being the first fiction book Andy McNab has written I was unsure what to expect. After reading the first few pages I was hooked, it got my interest right away. Andy McNab maintains his successful down to earth writing style, he is descriptive but to the point, its rare you find yourself bored by a flood of inconsequential technical details.

The character, Nick Stone, is like McNab an ex SAS soldier. He now lives his life doing deniable operations for the British intelligence agency. The rest you just got to read to find out.

It's this book that opens the door to what I hope will be a very interesting and somewhat educating series of books. McNab's down to earth sense of things shows in the way he writes the book, Nick Stone is no super hero, he can't take out a whole regiment of soldiers with a few grenades and an Uzi. This is the kind of book I have been waiting for, a book written by a guy who knows what he is talking about, he knows his characters limits and he doesn't breach these, I only hope this is maintained through the series.

I particulary like the obvious advertising placed in the book, it must be nice to be offered such a large sum of money to mention a product in your book, nice one Mr McNab!

I give this book 5 Stars.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: McNab creates a great new hero in this tense thriller
Review: Andy McNab's first thriller is a top-notch combination of violent action,
pulse-pounding excitement and edge of your seat suspense.

In "Remote Control" McNab introduces a new hero, Nick Stone, who makes most
other famous fictional heroes look like prancing twits (can you say "Dirk Pitt"?) An
ex-SAS operator and current deniable ops specialist for Britain, Stone is something
of a cross between Hammett's Continental Op and Alistair MacLean's Phillip
Calvert: tough as jacketed hollow points, totally on-task, and cunning enough to
beat the bad guys at their own game. Nick Stone has more life in him (and more
blood and soul) than any action hero this side of Pendleton era Mack Bolan.

The action in "Remote Control" never lets up for more than a few pages, and even
when Stone isn't facing guns and fists he's deep into the task at hand and planning
2 or 3 moves ahead so that the pace just keeps up and the tension builds.
Stone has to work against a plot without any help after he finds the family of a
friend murdered. On the run and out in the cold with his friend's seven year old
daughter in tow, Stone uses his training, intelligence and toughness to best
advantage. And just when he's past one challenge, an even greater one confronts
him. The story is told in first person and it really sounds like authentic dialogue.
This is like the golden age of Len Deighton's spy writing but with a tougher and
more realistic hero. Hard-boiled stuff!

The great relationship between childless Stone and seven year old Kelly is a
wonderful thing in this book. I think I worried as much for him when he had to
finally tell Kelly her family was dead as when he was in any of the many deadly
encounters in the story. McNab obviously knows something about children and
Kelly's character is so real it makes the reader very frightened for her safety.

The cover quote from author Stephen Coonts claims McNab is "the best suspense
thriller writer. . . since Alistair MacLean" and I can't argue with that. This book was
everything you'll want in a thriller. I can't wait to start the next one!

This is a 5 star effort if ever there was one. Read it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Tradecraft and action!
Review: Andy McNab's Nick-the-SAS-guy character makes an impact with Remote Control. It's obviously an earlier Nick, and written by an obviously less-experienced Andy McNab, but it's chock-full of tradecraft and suspense. I started reading this series with Crisis Four, the second most recent book, and decided that I enjoyed it enough to go back in time.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Remote husband
Review: Great setting for a crime - everyone snowbound or snowblind perhaps. The psychologist/sleuth is only a husband bringing his
wife's purse to the hospital. A good read if you enjoy lawyers in trouble

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Gripping plot
Review: I heard of Andy McNab through the letters pages of the excellent espionage comic "Queen and Country" by Greg Rucka. McNab came highly recommended from Rucka, a writer I hold in high regard, so I thought I'd give him a chance. To say the least, I was floored. "Remote Control" is as good a spy thriller as you're bound to find these days. It mixes excellent "working field knowledge" with high suspense. Moreso, you get the feeling that, as highly trained as Nick Stone is, he is still as vulnerable as you or me - not some invincible Bond-type figure. It makes the violence in the book all the more riveting when you take this into consideration.

About the only flaw I found in the book is some minor points of characterization with the young girl, Kelly. Without giving away the plot, I will say that her reactions to her entire situation were a little too calm and understanding, especially considering her age. I doubt a real child of 8 or 9 would be able to keep a cool emotional head as she does throughout the majority of this book.

That said, the end of this book, and how Kelly is involved, is absolutely stunning. A wonderful read! I look forward to reading more of McNab's work.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Damn Good Read
Review: REMOTE CONTROL is an exciting, bullet flying, rib cracking, guts spewing story about an ex-SAS man, Nick Stone, who gets caught up in the vicious murder of an old friend and his family. Rescuing the only surviving member of the massacre a seven-year-old shell shocked little girl called Kelly, Nick goes on the run, and finds out that even friends are potential enemies in a world of IRA deals, drug cartels and messy TransAtlantic politics. This is a knuckle bitingly good book and I spent the whole of an evening reading it from cover to cover. Andy McNab is as good a writer of fiction as he is of fact. I liked his hero because it showed the man to be human and not just a killing machine as SAS soldiers are often portrayed in many novels. I hope that McNab thinks of writing a sequel to REMOTE CONTROL as Nick Stone and Kelly make quite a formidable team. A big thumbs up for this cracker of a first novel.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great book Andy!
Review: this Book is his best one so far i think, it was very hard for me to put it down and i think it's a very exciting read and andy has a great story once more and the more the book advances you are wondering how the book will end, very good job Andy!





Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Adventure Reading
Review: This guy seems like the real thing. The special thing about this series is the hero's relationship to the little girl in his care.
While much of the action seems fantastic, it never crosses over to unbelievability.
Obviously, the author has been there and done it.
Escapist reading of the highest order. First of the series.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Believable and fast paced
Review: This is the first book I've read from McNab but I'm sure I'll read more. Similar to the Rogue Warrior series, I like McNab a bit better. McNab is not quite as arrogant, but nevertheless, special forces must grow an in-your-face attitude.

I particularly enjoyed the detailed observations and the reasoning behind the tradecraft actions. What's Nick Stone, the hero, doing looking inside a fire extinguisher? What's he going to make with the kitchen supplies? One always gets a bit more involved when the writing not only entertains but also educates.

The relationship with Kelly also moves the story. Surely a SAS operative would have problems with relating to a seven year old but by the end of the book, it's quite believable how they have grown attached.

I had only a couple of minor irritants. McNab's British background is evident as expected. However, some actions would get different reactions in the US. I can't believe a British citizen wouldn't draw more attention with an American child in tow. Particularly with the scratches and cuts gathered along the way during the characters romp through the seedy side of America. Who from England would want to stay in a hotel in the warehouse district?

Also, as some of the other reviewers pointed out, the story is somewhat predictable. Even I could tell early in the book who the ultimate villans had to be. Nevertheless, REMOTE CONTROL was an enjoyable way to spend the weekend.


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