The Black Sun - James Twining

A while back I reviewed The Double Eagle, a competent, engaging thriller which whilst adding nothing new to an already over-crowded genre was still pretty readable and entertaining. The Black Sun is the sequel and, if I'm perfectly honest, I could almost copy and paste my earlier review; most of the points would be equally applicable. The Black Sun is an inoffensive, enjoyable read. It sweeps you up in a sequence of daft events and entertains you sufficiently to keep you reading. It's not great literature, the characters are somewhat clichéd and it won't stick in the mind once you've turned the last page. What matters, though, is that whilst you are reading ...  Read the complete review

There is something about the Nazis that make good copy. Here is a bunch of folks that can be uncategorically called evil. What they did was unforgivable and so extreme that it is hard for the modern minded person to imagine it. Therefore; documentaries, films, books and games can use this sense of outrage as a way of selling a product. Why try and think of a motive behind an enemies attack when you can just use the Nazis? Channel 5 and the history channel are known for their Nazi output (as well as their shark output), but other people also drink from the same well. Personally, I find media that uses Nazis as go-to bad guys is usually generic and lacks imagination. ...  Read the complete review

A year after helping the FBI to solve the mystery and retrieve the Double Eagle coins, Tom Kirk has decided to get out of the art theft game. He has now set up a legitimate organisation with his partner in crime Archie to help people find lost works of art. So when he is called to Prague to follow up on a missing painting it seems like a straight forward case. When the painting turns up in his freezer with the arm of a murdered Auschwitz Survivor it seems things aren't as straightforward as they might at first appear. Now Tom has to solve the mystery behind these occurrences, whilst trying to stay one step ahead of an old advisory. I'd been reasonably ...  Read the complete review