When an NYPD terror suspect steps foot on to UN property in New York the UN security take the warning seriously and shoot the suspect. Instead of a terror suspect however, they have shot 77 year old British tourist Gerald Merton. The UN turn to one of their former employees, lawyer Tom Byrne to go to England and make peace with Merton's daughter Rebecca. Once in England with Rebecca things start to unfold that hint that Gerald Merton wasn't quite as innocent as he made out, some shocking revelations are about to spill forward. I actually bought this book thinking it was a totally different author and lead character. Having read Sam Bourne's debut novel The ...  Read the complete review

'The Final Reckoning' is a 2008 thriller novel by Sam Bourne (pen name of journalist Jonathan Freedland). I've read a couple of Bourne's novels before, both of which were solid reads as very Dan Brown-esque, "conspiracy/secret society" focused thrillers, so I picked up 'The Final Reckoning' upon recognising the author in my library, but wasn't expecting anything mind-blowing. ==---Plot---== A suspected suicide bomber approaching the United Nations building in New York is shot on sight, causing panic and lockdown in the area. However the suspicious man, Gerald Moreton turns out to be an innocent, seventy year-old Lithuanian Jew. Desperate ...  Read the complete review

Having just completed a course on Holocaust literature I thought I would get away from it and enjoy a more casual, fictional novel - How wrong I was with this book! I had no idea from the back cover that this would involve a detailed insight into the Holocaust, the Jewish ghettos and some of the repurcussions of it. To start off with I will round up the synopsis of the novel. Tom Byrne is a former UN lawyer currently working for the mafia to tidy up lawsuits and earn himself big bucks. However when a seemingly innocent old man is killed walking into the UN in a case of mistaken identity (the gunmen had been told the old man could be a terrorist threat) Tom is ...  Read the complete review

Ever since Dan Brown brought out the first of his 'intelligent' thrillers, there has been a rise in other authors jumping on the bandwagon. In fact many books now are compared to his in both derogatory and praiseworthy ways. So when I first came across Sam Bourne's novels I expected something similar. As I quite enjoyed most of Brown's novels I know that any comparison means nothing in terms of expectation. Sam Bourne is the pseudonym of Jonathon Freedland, an award-winning journalist and a columnist for the Guardian newspaper since 1997. His previous books have all been bestsellers and I expected no less of this one. I was, in fact, slightly disappointed to ...  Read the complete review