“The blow to the side of his head dropped Ridley Fox to the floor. The cold surface against the side of his face, the jarring pain, and the spinning were the last things he remembered before he blacked out. When he awoke, the throbbing pain remained as he was dragged by his legs across the floor, the concrete scraping the back of his scalp. He opened his eyes, only to stare into the barrel of a Russian AK-108 assault rifle that was less than a foot above him.”

Russell Brooks’ book debut “The Pandora’s Succession” launches digitally on October 24^th, 2010 – a superb non-stop action thriller set in the world of bio-weapons, chemical warfare and espionage.  I enjoyed the novel, Russell’s style is engaging and considering this is his first book is well executed. As most authors will tell you, writing the first book is extremely hard work – the second is even harder in many ways. Amazon US & Amazon UK

Since Lee Child exploded on the scene in March of ’97 we have seen a spate of enigmatic, no-nonsense action heroes, I see no reason why Russell can’t continue in this tradition and develop Ridley Fox as a character – dependent on Brooks of course!

The story begins on the outskirts of Grozny, Chechnya in an old bunker – Ridley Fox, a likeable leading man, is captured, beaten and in poor shape. Someone has set him up. Sveta Stechnia, an informant helps him escape but inevitably pays the ultimate price and the CIA operative leaves alone.

A hyper deadly microbe called “Pandora” has ruled out ancient civilisations and has returned. A deadly and virulent microbe, Pandora takes no prisoners, leaves anyone behind – Pandora is a desirable commodity and there’s no shortage of interested parties. A weapons consortium called The Arms of Are (or ARES) has it. Step forward interested parties!

When Fox learns that factions within the Japanese Intelligence want the deadly microbe, he travels to Tokyo still uncertain who he can trust. It transpires that the CDC and a major pharmaceutical company plan to unleash Pandora’s devastating power. Fox can only trust one person; a woman he nearly got killed!

Pandora’s Succession utilises a blend of descriptive narrative and dialogue – both combining to ensure a flowing rollercoaster of a novel. The characters are interesting and Fox has a certain fallibility to him, losing a Fiancé to the ARES consortium will do that! Although I’m not certain it was planned I found parts of the dialogue humorous and gave the book an unexpected charm.

So there we have it; a tight plot, a good action-thriller and a deadly Microbe named Pandora. The novel is a decent page turner and will have you enthralled right up to its dénouement.

Available from the 24^th October as an eBook. Amazon US & Amazon UK