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 Recalled
to Arms - Bryan
Marlowe |
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Recalled to Arms
by Bryan Marlowe
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UK price:
£6.99 US
price:
$9.79
Publisher:
DIADEM BOOKS
Format: Paperback
Pages: 258
ISBN-10: 1908026421
ISBN-13:
978-1908026422
Published:
Feb 2012 |
Readers of Leaving Mercy to
Heaven, which introduced Eli
(Mac) Murray, an embittered
ex-SAS captain and Sarah
Shahar, an Israeli Army
captain, who joined forces
to fight a fanatical
terrorist group, in North
Africa and the Middle East,
might be interested to learn
that they are bent on action
again.. They are now
married, but find they
cannot settle down to a
humdrum life and are ready
and eager to answer a call
to arms. This time they are
engaged by a powerful
British media magnate to
take on the task of rescuing
his son (a foreign
correspondent) and his
daughter-in-law, who have
been arrested and imprisoned
by the Syrian Secret
Security Service. Their
mission takes them,
incognito, to turbulent
Syria, where President
Bashar al-Assad's tyrannical
government is engaged in
brutally subduing the
dissident populace, who are
demonstrating and dying in
their attempt to overthrow
him and replace his
government. As you might
expect, the action is very
strong, with Mac and Sarah
giving covert, but no holds
barred, support to the
rebels in exchange for their
help in freeing the
newspaperman and his wife.
About the author
Bryan Marlowe was born in
the City of London in 1930.
He left school at the age of
14 and had innumerable jobs
before being called up for
National Service in the
Royal Air Force from
1948/50. He rejoined the RAF
in1951 and retired in 1971.
He worked for twenty years
with a Northern Police
Force. On retirement he took
up voluntary work with
Witness and Victim Support,
co-ordinated Neighbourhood
Watch schemes and worked as
a newspaper columnist. He
has travelled extensively
and lived abroad. He now
lives in southeast London.
Review of Recalled to Arms
by Tom Slaughter:
RETURN OF THE MAC MAY BE
MARLOW’S BEST YET
Since former York police
Divisional Administration
Unit Manager, RAF warrant
officer and newspaper
columnist Bryan Marlowe
turned his talents to
fiction a few years back,
there can be no doubt that
his efforts have improved
considerably in terms of
their narrative structure,
impact and, most noticeably,
their dialogue.
This reviewer has followed
the work of the author for
some time and, while always
trying to provide a balanced
and fair account of what I
felt to be Marlowe's
shortcomings as far as
realism is concerned when
his characters talk, I have
at times found the going
tough.
Which was a pity, because
there is no doubt that
Marlowe's talents as a born
storyteller nevertheless do
shine through in books such
as Settled out of Court,
Memoirs of an Errant Youth
and Leaving Mercy to Heaven,
to which his latest,
Recalled to Arms, is a
sequel.
And I am more than happy to
report that, with the return
of Eli (Mac) Murray, the
fomer SAS captain with more
than his fair share of life
grievances, Marlowe has
reached his personal
pinnacle thus far when it
comes to moving the
(genuinely exciting) story
forward, and doing so with
dialogue that does not jar,
but rather roots the tale in
believable realism.
A brief
synopsis - Mac and his bride
Sarah, an Israeli army
captain whom he met and fell
in with love in Leaving
Mercy to Heaven as the pair
joined forces against a
fanatical terrorist group,
are happily married, but
there's no doubt they miss
the thrill of the chase, the
hunt, the battle. Their
chance to come out of
retirement comes with the
kidnapping, by the Syrian
Secret Security Service, of
the son and daughter-in-law
of a British media magnate,
who hires them to go
undercover in Syria, which
here as in the real world is
suffering enormously under
the rule of President Bashar
al-Assad, and get Justin and
Celeste Anstruther out. And
it's going to be far, far
easier said than done...
The cast of characters is as
colourful as we have come to
expect from the author's
work and, as I have said,
the realistic depiction of
covert military life,
doubtless inspired by
Marlowe's own experiences,
is now matched by dialogue
displaying a good deal more
flair and subtlety than has
sometimes previously been
the case with the author's
efforts, with characters'
utterances no longer
seemingly just there to
explain plot developments,
in case you're not paying
attention.
And the excitement does
build very well - there's no
surprise that Marlowe has
returned to Mac, who comes
across as a very likeable
but nonetheless utterly
ruthless protagonist, a kind
of James Bond without the
glitter. The ending itself,
following a breathless
build-up, does come across
as a touch pat, but I have
no doubt that there is a
trilogy awaiting completion
here, and I for one look
forward to part three
immensely. Nice work.
*
Carl
Miller says:
'Recalled to Arms' is
the quintessential
definition of 'a page
turner'.
Carl
Morris Miller, author of "The
Wacky Waikiki Gang Who
Robbed the Mob'.
Available from the
following on-line
bookstores:
Also by Bryan
Marlowe:
|
Unfriendly
Fire
by Bryan Marlowe
|
|
UK price:
£6.99 US
price:
$9.79
Publisher:
DIADEM BOOKS
Format: Paperback
Pages: 254
ISBN: 978-1908026187
Published:
July 2011 |
Jack Drake is highly
disciplined, skilled in all
aspects of his job and
courageous; an ideal career
soldier who is well regarded
by his superiors and singled
out for early promotion. But
there is a dark side to
Drake's character - he wants
to track down his father,
known only to him as a
soldier called 'Rowdy,' and
exact revenge on him for
deserting his mother. The
story moves dramatically
between the lives of Jack
and the soldier called
Rowdy. Jack's relentless
pursuit of Rowdy takes him
to war-torn Iraq and to
Afghanistan where they have
their final confrontation,
while fighting for their
lives against a large force
of merciless Taliban
warriors. Unfriendly Fire is
a family saga spanning over
sixty years and involves
betrayal, blackmail,
bravery, loyalty, love,
romance and revenge.
A romantic saga dedicated to
those who have lost the love
of their life and live in
hope of one day regaining
it.
Tarnished Heroes
by Bryan Marlowe |
UK price:
£8.38 US
price:
$15.95
Format: Paperback
Size : 5 x 8
Pages: 228
ISBN: 0-595-40750-1
Published: Aug-2006
|
It's the cold war in the Far
East and a chain of deadly
circumstances forces two
former world war heroes to
form an alliance to save
those they love in a final
desperate act of heroism and
redemption.
Be warned; don’t be fooled
by Gary Remington’s
gentlemanly demeanour. He’s
a tough, war-hardened
ex-sergeant major, who
exercises unremitting
relentlessness in whatever
he undertakes. He’s now on a
mission of merciless
vengeance and he’ll take no
prisoners!
Tense, gripping and with a
rich seam of black humour,
Settled Out Of Court
is the latest thriller from
Bryan Marlowe—a man with a
literary mission of his own.
Leaving Mercy
to Heaven
is a
bang-up-to-date, dramatic
action-packed tale of
revenge, intrigue, betrayal,
and romance, involving
terrorism, modern
Casablanca, and the Israeli
Secret Service
Marlowe's
Manuscripts
(From
Up Front)
James Drew
takes a trip down memory
lane, with a shameless plug
for his one-time
journalist-cohort turned
published novelist, Bryan
Marlowe. Not heard of him
yet? Well, that's why he's a
'cult hero'. Read on...
 It
does seem like a long time
ago. Eleven years, in
fact...before falling in
love with Brussels (where he
arrived via a circuitous
journalistic route, taking
in The Yellow Advertiser in
East London
http://icessex.icnetwork.co.uk,
which explains why he's a
West Ham supporter), your 'umble
hack Drew started scribbling
in the ancient northern town
of York, where a certain UP
Front editor Tony Mallett
(yes, him again), made a big
mistake - he gave him a job
as a journalist.
The sadly-defunct free-sheet
The York and District
Advertiser was where Drew
first won his spurs and, if
you're wondering when I'm
ever going to get to the
point of this yarn, don't
worry, it'll be any second
now.
Because, at this time (told
you), Drew also came into
the orbit of one Bryan
Marlowe, a letter-writer
extraordinaire, a man with
more bylines in The York
Evening Press (www.yorkpress.co.uk)
than many of its
journalists. Drew, anxious
to score points against the
'Tizer's fiercest rival (ah,
memories), shamelessly
bribed the man with
competition prizes, free
meals and more than a few
sherbets, to ensure that
Marlowe's missives began
flowing into another
newspaper.
The York Press (as they are
now called) had the last
laugh, unfortunately -
doubtless stung by their
plucky rival's chutzpah,
they offered Bryan a job as
a columnist. Which he took,
the swine...[Good point -
exactly why are we giving
him a plug, Drew? - ED]
But enough of the past -
Marlowe, who was born in
London in 1930 (revenge
truly is a dish best served
cold) and left school at the
age of 14, has long lived
the rover's life.
Conscripted for National
Service in 1948, he served
two years, was demobbed,
then worked for Siemens and
rejoined the RAF as a
regular in January 1951.An
RAF regular from 1951-71, he
then worked for a further 20
years with a northern police
force. His extensive foreign
travels, combined with his
life's career path, inform
the genuinely exciting
narratives of his four books
to date. Up to press, these
are As Long As There's
Tomorrow, an intensely
personal romantic saga about
love lost and regained,
Memoirs of an Errant Youth,
a tongue-in-cheek account of
the author's early years of
employment in wartime
Britain and the immediate
post-war period of
austerity, Tarnished
Heroes, a cold-war
thriller set in the Far East
and A Kind of Wild
Justice, an
ex-sergeant-major-turns-vigilante
page-turner.
  
And, just for those readers
wondering what the
connection is between Bryan
and Brussels, be informed
that he says he'd "very much
like to revisit the capital
of Belgium, so long as the
G+Ts are on Drew's tab".
Just what we need in town -
another writer...[Drew,
you're fired - ED]
For more information on the
man Marlowe and his work
(he's currently working on a
fifth, Settled Out of
Court), go to
http://www.diadembooks.com/tomorrow.htm,
where you'll also find links
to purchase all of his
thus-far published tomes.
Happy reading!
Brussels-based freelance
journalist Tom Slaughter
reviews
Settled Out Of Court
by Bryan Marlowe.
Considering that he only
turned to novels two years
ago, Bryan Marlowe proved
himself prolific and more
than adept at handling a
range of genres, from the
whimsical nostalgia of
Memoirs of an Errant Youth,
via the military rough and
tumble of Tarnished
Heroes, to riveting
revenge yarn A Kind of
Wild Justice.
Settled Out Of Court
runs along similar lines to
…Justice, but
Marlowe’s choice of a
sociopathic, revenge-driven
young man as central
character lifts the
narrative into the realm of
psychological study, as well
as being a cracking read.
Dermot Baxter is the man
with a plan – his father Rex
died in jail after being
wrongly imprisoned for the
murder of his au pair lover.
Still at home but distant
from his mother, Baxter
embarks on a calculated
mission of revenge against
all those members of the law
and judiciary whom he
believes must pay for the
injustice. But the law is
slowly and surely closing
in…
Marlowe’s own police
experience (he worked for 20
years with a northern force
in the UK) is put to good
use here; the dialogue
between the ‘coppers on the
case’ is believable, even if
it occasionally seems forced
between Baxter and his
mother. By the same token,
the writer’s gift for
creating enjoyable
page-turners has once again
been employed – that we are
suckered into sympathising
for a cold-blooded killer is
an impressive turn from
Marlowe, and there are more
than enough twists and
turns, coupled with
genuinely suspenseful
set-pieces, to keep
thriller-hounds happy.
Recommended.
T.S.
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