Land of Fire

by Chris Ryan

Book Overview

Fans of Andy McNab, Lee Child, Clive Cussler and Stephen Leather will love this gripping, no-holds-barred, all-action thriller from the Sunday Times top ten bestselling ex-SAS novelist Chris Ryan. A... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0099432382
• ISBN13: 9780099432388
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Arrow
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Non-stop excitement

I'm reviewing the audiobook version of this story and right from the start this was the sort of book that had your attention - and kept it. Sometimes we had to pause it whilst driving as our attention was so taken by the story that we weren't paying enough attention to the route. That's not something that happens to me very often and was a notable aspect to this book. The story covers two events, the Falklands campaign in 1982 and a revisit to the Falklands twenty years later. The hero, Mark Black, is a young and fresh SAS member during the first campaign, struggling to find his own position in the SAS with his overprotective brother shielding him. Their major operation during the war goes wrong and they end up having to walk out to the border with Chile, an excellently described journey of a week in the freezing and inhospitable environment. Having also had to contend with a helicopter crash, a ship sinking, loss of fellow SAS men and even the discovery of a young Argentine female spy, there's a lot going on in young Mark's life. The story moves on twenty years when Mark is on his last tour with the SAS and is a completely different sort of character, older and wiser and with failed relationships in his past. When he and the rest of the team are asked to carry out an observation mission on an Argentine airbase it seems like a fairly straightforward, if dangerous, job. However as they leave the Falklands it seems there may be sabotage and as they arrive in Argentina and suffer losses of personnel and almost constant danger, Mark finds himself teaming up with an unlikely new comrade and being one of the few people who can potentially avert the Argentinians retaking the Falklands. There's danger, double-crossing, firefights, secrecy and more. It's always a gripping ride. Although overall I loved this book there were a few negatives. The dialogue was pretty dodgy in places and the writing was pretty simple without that much depth, although this is fine for this genre of book, I imagine; it ended a little bit abruptly and I would have liked a little epilogue to tell me what happened in the future, particularly for Mark, but also to explain a couple of loose ends (for example, who caused the food poisoning incident on the Falkland Islands); I was also somewhat surprised at how Mark and the others seemed to extract themselves from almost certain doom many times - it felt rather like a James Bond film in that they always managed to get away. Mark's character was interesting - he is clearly great at soldiering but not so good at reading people, at planning and at relating to women - there's a rather awkward scene that treads perilously close to rape at which point the female character apparently ditches her anti-British sentiment, firmly held for over 20 years, and falls in with him. Still, despite these few reservations this was a great book with the chilly background of Argentina with its cold wind and snow adding much to the enjoyment.

A bit dissapointing

This book was a bit dissapointing for me, but it's another good story, it certainly ain't great, but i read it with great excitement sometimes.Ryan knows how to interest people, and even though this is not one of his best, i think it's worth a read.4 stars are justified.