The Watchman

March 24, 2014
Magson (Execution and four other Harry Tate thrillers) introduces freelance shadow operative Marc Portman in this action-filled adventure pitting Portman against seemingly insuperable odds in various foreign hot spots. Portman’s daring, improvised rescue of an American engineer in Colombia and his escape from a deadly trap in Tijuana bring him to the attention of Thomas Vale, an officer in Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service. Vale is concerned about Operations Director Colin Moresby’s reckless plan to send inexperienced SIS officer Angela Pryce, with just one other agent, to the Somalia-Kenya border to negotiate a hostage release with clan chief Yusuf Musa. Trying to avert disaster, he secretly hires Portman to shadow the pair. Vale’s fears prove well-founded, and Portman must overcome overwhelming odds to save the agents. He makes for a convincingly formidable one-man army, and Magson handles the action scenes with panache, in this enjoyably straightforward yarn that is likely to lead to sequels. Agent: David Headley, DHH Literary Agency.

Starred review from March 15, 2014
In this adrenalin-fueled action thriller, American gun-for-hire Marc Portman heads to Somalia to keep a discreet eye on two British SIS agents sent into hostile territory to negotiate with terrorist Yusef Musa for the release of two UN workers. Portman's brief comes from MI6 operatives chief Tom Vane, who smells a rat in Musa's offer to negotiate. Vane has gone behind his bosses' backs to hire Portman, but his concern is genuine. One of the agents is his prot'g', Angela Pryce, and he's not sure she's ready for the kind of high-profile, intensely dangerous situation she's sure to encounter. As it turns out, Vane's suspicions about Musa are right. Instead of negotiating with Pryce and her partner, Doug Tober, Musa has a deadly plan that will gain global visibility for his militant terrorist group. The term thriller hardly does justice to this taut page-turner that's packed with action, adventure, danger, ingenuity, bravery, horror, and shocking violence. A gripping read that will appeal to all adventure lovers and especially to fans of Alex Berenson's John Wells, another international deep-cover agent routinely asked to do the impossible.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)