A new, ruthless breed of suicide bombers has seven of the world's police forces stumped, when a rein of terror, seemingly unrelated to religion or politics breaks out.
Dead Centre
When a bomb goes off in Scheherazade's, a posh department store in Baghdad, leaving nearly 200 people dead or wounded, the authorities and the police think that it is just another routine case of it's type and appoint Captain Ali Allawi of the National Police to head the investigation.
He has no clues to go on and no organisation claims responsibility, but one sharp-eyed member of his team notices something on the CCTV surveillance footage that is unusual - baffling even.
Then they notice other discrepancies that lead Captain Allawi to suspect that they are facing a new, unimaginable type of threat.
However, none of these clues make sense.
He seeks help from Interpol, but they do not seem to have any other cases with data matching his, so he puts up a flag on the Interpol database that he wants to be informed of any bombings with criteria matching those of his - that is that the suicide-bomber is Caucasian.
Two more come in rapid succession: one in France and one in Ireland. Captain Allawi and his team study the footage and think that they have found a relationship between the three atrocities and so the three police forces start working togeether to track down the perpetrators.
However, three more occur in the USA, London and Germany, and so then there are six police forces working on the matter.
The implications of this new form of crime are unthinkable. They also appear to be unpredictable and so, unstoppable.
Ali Allawi's gut feelings tell him that he is on the trail of a new phenomenon, but there is just so little information to go on despite the six occurrences.
The fact is that there is an agency called 'Dead Centre' run by two ex-SAS Welshmen living in Pembroke, West Wales, from where they run their organisation. They make millions and employ other ex-SAS to help them on an ad hoc basis.
This is the story of how six police forces from around the world combine their skills and join both with China, the nation with the greatest hackers on Earth, and the legendary SAS, to try to defeat this new, devastatingly successful terrorist gang.
It is a truly international story that takes the reader to Baghdad, Marseille, Essen, Belfast, New York and London, Wales and Thailand.
Follow how the six operations are planned and carried out and how the six police forces and the SAS work to uncover and stop the people hehind the bombings, piecing it together bit by painstaking bit.
This is an exciting story that will have you on the edge of your seat and make you think again about many aspects of criminality that you have taken for granted.
An original action thriller, not for the faint-hearted!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars An original action thriller, not for the faint-hearted!, 29 July 2014
By
Enrico Grafitti
This review is from: Dead Centre: Not All Suicide Bombers Are Religious! (Kindle Edition)
When I read Owen Jones’ take on the vampire myth, ‘The Disallowed’, one of the things I enjoyed most about it was how he took such a tried and tested meme and gave it new interest and a freshness that is so lacking in vamp novels today.
Well, he’s done it again in his latest offering ‘Dead Centre’.
Two ex-Special Ops soldiers decide to set up in business but follow a different tack than many others of their ilk. Instead of offering Executive Protection services, security consultancy or basic mercenary skills, these two come up with a completely unique ‘product’ that attracts equally original clients.
Jones tells the tale from the point of view of the ex-SAS men rather than the loose coalition of International Law Enforcement that sets out to curtail the success of their ‘product’ (sorry, NO SPOILERS here folks) and that in itself is also a refreshing change. Here you could say that the protagonists of the tale are the antagonists, yet a certain sympathy evolves toward them as we are allowed to see the reasoning behind the deadly service they provide.
The novel will expose the reader to a moral ambiguity that may be uncomfortable for many, but that should not put you off; Owen Jones handles the issue with impeccable taste and does not lose sight of the narrative in the process.
Definitely one to recommend to readers who enjoy the works of Andy McNab, Chris Ryan and Stephen Leather.
Corporal Travis dreamed of partnering with a police dog, but Fate handed him a faery and something unexpected instead.. As his normal world spirals into chaos, he is thrust into a centuries-old conflict with stakes higher than he ever imagined.
