Review: No Remorse by Ian Walkley

Title: No Remorse

Published: Marq books Jan 2012

Synopsis: No Remorse follows Lee McCloud, an ex-US Army Special Operations commander out for revenge after his 16-year-old goddaughter, Sophia, is abducted while on a family holiday in Mexico. After an unauthorised mission to save Sophia goes horribly wrong, McCloud finds himself cut-loose from the army and given an ultimatum – jail, or assist in a top-secret operation to hunt down and confiscate billions of dollars used to fund terrorism. Tasked with infiltrating the world of the super-rich exiled Saudi, Sheik Khalid, and forced against his will to team up with Tally, a sexy computer specialist with a hatred of soldiers and all things military, McCloud uncovers a sinister conspiracy with global consequences and a secret black market operation with clues to Sophia’s whereabouts, and Khalid’s horrific plan for the girl. Racing against time and hunted by enemies on both sides, McCloud and Tally must set aside their differences and unravel an intricate web of corruption and deceit to prevent worldwide conflict and chaos, and bring Sophia home. Read an Excerpt.

Status: Read from August 17 to 18, 2012 — I own a copy {Courtesy the publicist}

My Thoughts:

No Remorse is an action packed international thriller that begins with the abduction of two young American girls holidaying in Mexico. Ignoring protocol, Lee McCloud, a Delta Force soldier, leads his unit in a bid to rescue the teenagers, one his goddaughter Sophia, but the operation goes horribly wrong and Mac faces a court martial for his actions. When the CIA offers McCloud a way out he accepts, joining a black ops unit involved in electronically confiscating millions in ill-gotten gains. Determined to find out what happened to Sophia, Mac runs his own secret agenda under the guise of his assigned mission, stunned to learn that both causes lead to the same man, Saudi Prince Khalid.

There are enough gunfights, explosions and chase scenes in No Remorse to keep any adrenaline junkie happy. The plot is heavy with spies, terrorists, thugs, traitors and a complex web of intrigue that leads McCloud from Mexico, to Europe and to the Middle East. The pace is frenetic and the tension kept high once all the players are in place. Walkley weaves multiple threads with surprising skill and though I felt the story was perhaps too crowded at times, it all resolves quite neatly in the end.

Mac, like all good action heroes, is tough, resourceful and unwilling to obey the rules. He fights his own demons during the course of the novel which demonstrates some vulnerability as does his budding relationship Tally, his CIA partner.
Walkley’s villains are irredeemable, not only intent on triggering war with stolen nuclear armaments, Kahlid and his cohorts traffic in human slavery, the sexual exploitation of children and organ harvesting. Not everyone will be comfortable with some of the explicit aspects of the novel, I found the scenes of child rape and torture particularly confronting and shuddered at the idea of live organ donation.

While I did think there was the occasional issue with sentence structure and areas that could have been edited more ruthlessly, No Remorse is very well written, particularly for a debut novel with such an ambitious storyline.

A gripping novel offering an exciting adventure, No Remorse will appeal to blockbuster action thriller fans who will enjoy hanging on for a wild ride.

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About the Author

Ian Walkley is an entrepreneur and former social researcher and market strategist from Brisbane, Australia, making his authorial debut with the novel, No Remorse. In addition to writing novels, Ian continues to do consulting in the areas of marketing strategy, social and market research, travel writing, and copywriting marketing material. Recently, Ian has established his own indie publishing company, Marq Books, through which No Remorse is published. Ian lives in Brisbane with his wife and three children.

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