James Holland - The Odin Mission

review by Brian Lowen on show 16th June

It is 1940 and the Nazis have invaded Norway. The small, ill-equiped British force is retreating northwards in the face of the remorseless German advance.

It is in this book that we are introduced to Sergeant Jack Tanner. This is his first adventure and we are obviously to expect more. He reminds me of a Jack Reacher (from Lee Childs books) in uniform.

Jack Tanner’s patrol gets stranded in a desperate rearguard action and then become involved with a small group of Norwegians trying to get a mysterious Professor out of the country before the Germans can capture him and force him to work for them.

And so we follow the exploits of this small band as they trek north to catch up with the retreating British forces. Tanner must outfox and outwit the pursuing Nazis who are desperate for the secrets the Professor holds. He is not helped by the fact that there is a traitor in the ranks, sending coded messages to the pursuing Germans, and also having to join forces with a group of French mountain troops led by an inefficient and inexperienced Captain who assumes command of the group, much to the exasperation of our hero, Jack Tanner.
review by Brian

Feb 11th 2010

guests Brian Lowen & Ro Bennett & welcome to Lynn & Lyndsay who say they are listening over in Holland. I will be reading a review sent to me by Lyndsay later in show. It is a romance book review which is quite apt bearing in mind it is valentines this weekend. BUT 14th Feb is also the start of the Chinese new year this year being the year of the Tiger . What animal are you guys?

Reviews this week are interesting:
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Cooking With Fernet Branca (how on earth do you pronounce that?) by James Hamilton-Paterson
At Risk by Stella Rimington (ex head of MI5)
The Old Man and Mr Smith by Peter Ustinov
And the one sent to me by Lyndsay Townsend: A Different Kind of Honesty by Jane Richardson.
You certainly find some unusual books to review Ro and Brian.

I loved the comment a reviewer made on Amazon about Fernet Branca: a taste, texture and appearance something like Duckhams 20-50 motor oil. Which I have to say I had never heard of before and in fact thought the book was just a cookery book!

A good tip for 'Water For Elephants': listen to it on audiobook. The two readers, David LeDoux and John Randolph Jones, do a wonderful job of bringing both Jacobs (young and old) to life.