Admittedly the hype levelled at this book (almost as good as Forsyth, better than Grisham, etc) perhaps opens it up to unfair critiscism. The names dropped are those of impressively successful thriller authors, Grisham himself even admitting that his first novel, A Time to Kill is not his best written piece of work. Unfortunately I'm a fan of Forsyth's work, so I admit that is was hard to read it without expectation, therefore the following review does contain some bias and I've attempted to get the Forsyth comparisons out of the way first!

Forsyth's works are typified by extensive research and an engaging writing style that is thoroughly engaging and makes his fiction seem all to real. Cain starts brightly, opening with evidence of similar research written in an equally engaging manner. The downside is that this doesn't last.

Forsyth creates engaging characters and has the knack of making even the strangest coincidence utterly plausible, as well as often having a major impact on events. Cain's characters on the other hand seem a little one dimensional and clichéd, as a result it's often difficult to engage with them and I struggled through the book as a result. The main character, Sam Carver appears to change from efficiently ruthless, to completely useless depending on when the story suits and most of his back story seems to be dropped in as an afterthought.

Forsyth comparisons aside, a lot of the book's 400+ pages seem to be dedicated to action sequences with little build up or intrigue to raise the tension and draw the reader in, resulting in The Accident Man reading more like the script for a Michael Bay film. To make matters worse these seem to be over-egged, with blood and brain matter spraying about in what appears to be an attempt to create excitement.

There are some positives, however, which is why this gets 3 stars, Cain starts off well with some excellent research and picks an interesting concept. He also manages to create a genuinely harrowing ending which is part of the reason I felt the book deserves more than a completel mediocre 1 or 2 star rating. Had this been followed up with better characterisation, continued good research and a more engaging and thought out plot this could have been a 5 star thriller. Hopefully the follow up will have all of these things.

As things stand a lot of the elements in this book have been done better by others, if you want an engaging assassin, try Barry Eisler's John Rain, if you want a fugitive thriller, then try John Grisham's The Broker or Pelican Brief and of course, if you just want a damn good thriller pick up anything by Frederick Forsyth.

RELEASE NOTES:

Inside the door, turn left, as you enter the Cafe, the book shelf is on the right.