Undiscovered Scotland

 

Take a very deep breath before you open the cover of "Names of the Dead" by Mark Leggatt, because it will your last chance for a while to do so. Connor Montrose is an employee of the CIA who has been seconded to Interpol to keep him out of the way, following a bout of private enterprise that saw him access highly sensitive information about CIA flights over Central America. We join him after he has defied orders to end a surveillance operation in Naples and followed his targets to Rome. The body-count begins on page 13, and from there it ticks over remorselessly throughout a book in which more of the minor characters seem to die than survive. Page 13 is also the first time someone tries to kill Montrose, but again this is only the first of many attempts on his life.

From Rome we follow Connor Montrose to Zurich, and then to Paris, where much of the action takes place. Then we follow him to Morocco and finally to Tehran for the book's climax. And wherever he goes, Montrose leaves a trail of blood, some of his own and a great deal of other people's, in his wake. The pace of the action is compelling and you find yourself fairly whizzing along in the wake of this one-man angel of death as he first tries to find out what exactly it is he has stumbled upon, and then tries to clear his name and stop his own pursuit by every police force in Europe, and others who are far more ready to kill him.

At various points Montrose encounters people who might, or might not, be on his side, or who might share his objectives. But what really drives the book along is the reader's access to Montrose's inner dialogue as he analyses events and situations; as he tries to make sense of what is happening around him; and as he tries, repeatedly to kill before he is killed. This inner commentary is at times highly entertaining and helps the reader understand events that might otherwise be hard to follow. The action in the book is so fast paced and unrelenting that at times it takes on a slightly unreal quality. But the same sort of over-the-top approach never got in the way of anyone's enjoyment of James Bond's adventures, and it certainly doesn't get in the way of enjoying Connor Montrose's exploits. So, take a very deep breath, prepare to suspend disbelief from time to time, and get ready to be entertained...