The Catalan Gambit

Rating:
Summary: An action packed thriller from start to finish!
Review: Reviewed by: Tyrone Vincent Banks of Betsie's Literary Page.

An action packed thriller about a father's quest to save his children.

Ever since Henry Ellis lost his wife, his twins have been the focal point of his life. He still felt the pain of being a widower, and he has realized that he could not control the events that took his wife from him. However, when the plane carrying his children to Spain was hijacked, Henry Ellis vowed to do anything possible to save them. Henry was aware of the President's refusal to negotiate with terrorists; therefore he has rested the responsibility for liberating the twins squarely on his own shoulders.

He arrives in Spain where he makes contact with the "underground" through a priest and "old men" from his family's past. He makes some startling realizations about the "old men" that his mother advised him to be wary of and realizes that they may be behind the bloody hijacking that has been orchestrated. Ellis exists now in a world about which he was uncertain and learns to trust no one. He learns about his father, a "hero" who died for the cause many decades ago and now questions if he really was a hero or just a terrorist similar to the ones who were now holding his children and killing the passengers one at a time.

Douglas Quinn delivers a truly captivating and gritty story. His writing style is very honest and frank. His use of imagery and bloody, vivid descriptions are not to frighten us - they are to enlighten us. It's an emotional roller coaster ride as you shift between the events that involve Henry Ellis, the U.S. Government and the terrorists. Scenes are written and at the last word a major event unfolds and the reader will draw his or her own conclusions, only to have them rebuffed at the beginning or middle of the next scene.

This book has it all - love, action, drama, mystery, suspense and a small dose of horror. All of these key elements reside between the pages of "The Catalan Gambit" and you will enjoy this book. It is an adult read that chronicles the Post 9-11 society that we live in and it will frighten you and then relieve you in some ways. This cycle of emotions will repeat throughout this work and captivate you in the process.

Prepare yourself for the ultimate action movie when you read "The Catalan Gambit" by Douglas Quinn. This book has it all, so, give it a read!


Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly engaging, unpredictable suspense thriller
Review: The Catalan Gambit is a rip-roaring good read as timely as it is exciting. While there is no such thing as a simple hijacking, of course, the hijacking that stands at the center of this suspense thriller is much more complicated and fascinating than it originally seems. Douglas Quinn gives the reader a look at a truly frightening scenario through the eyes of everyone involved in the crisis, demonstrating how the ideas and plans of the "good guys" can sometimes be just as disturbing as those of the evildoers themselves.

Henry Ellis is a widower who is settling down to a quiet two weeks at home while his twin children enjoy an educational class tour of Spain, but his peace is soon shattered when he learns that the Iberian Air jet carrying the school group has been hijacked before taking off from Madrid en route to Barcelona. On the news, he sees his daughter held at gunpoint in front of the passenger door, sending his impotent frustration to epic levels. Unhappy with the generic information being handed out to the families via the State Department, Henry sets off on a desperate quest to fly to Spain and offer himself to the terrorists in exchange for the safety of his children. Making the transatlantic trip is an ordeal in itself, as he is forced to evade the resisting arms of the State Department, but his troubles really begin once he reaches Spain. Having been born in that country himself, he seeks the aid of his uncle and a friendly priest, having no idea that his rather ill-conceived plans will soon make him a puppet in the hands of multiple interests directly involved with the hijacking. The Palestinian hijackers claim to represent the intifada, but ties to their despicable plot weave their way through ETA, the Basque separatist movement, as well as an obsessed ex-CIA agent.

This novel works on two levels. First, the drama of the hostage situation itself is intense and at times visceral. Quinn pulls no punches in showing just how inhumane and sadistic the terrorists can be. Second, the web of conspiracy that lies behind all of this drama is complex and increasingly surprising as the truth is slowly revealed to the reader. Cooperation between different terrorist groups can be rife with backstabbing and double-crossing, but in this particular conspiracy, you can't even be sure that the line in the sand dividing the "good guys" from the "bad guys" has any real meaning.

The main characters are all presented in impressive fashion, allowing the reader a necessary perception into their feelings, loyalties, commitments, and - thus - rationales. I wasn't a big fan of Henry Ellis early on, as he berated the lack of responsiveness by the government, but once he arrived on Spanish soil he became a hero in every sense of the word. Thinking only of his children, he is more than willing to sacrifice his life for their safety. I do have a few questions about the guy in charge of foiling the hijacking, and I'm still a little murky on just how the conspiracy itself could have been put together, but the thrilling conclusion to the novel's massive buildup of suspense left me quite enthralled with the whole reading experience.

The ending is particularly interesting, as one seemingly controversial aspect of it certainly took me by surprise and kept the story fresh in my mind long after I finished the book. The whole novel really resonates in the post-9/11 world we live in. Here we have a plane full of American students hijacked by Palestinian terrorists in a foreign country - Spain. What does the American government do in such a nightmarish situation? What should it do? If you want a nail-biter of a novel that leaves you pondering questions of ethics, morality, and government policy-making in this terrorist age we live in, The Catalan Gambit should prove quite an engaging read for you.