Published by Berkley on January 29, 2019

Max McLean has the usual tough guy credentials — he’s seen “Syrian torture chambers” and “Columbian cartels’ killing rooms.” He’s killed a lot of people. McLean was identified in the military as a legally sane psychopath, someone who would follow orders to kill without questioning them, regardless of the circumstances. A couple of decades later, McLean has developed an ethic, if not a conscience. His failure to follow an order stirs up a commotion, but he is given a chance to redeem himself with a new assignment.

McLean is an off-the-books asset of the British government, a civilian assassin who, as part of “the Unknown,” does not officially exist. His new assignment, opposed by the more sensible heads on the team of decisionmakers, is to terminate the command and control of a group of rebels in Sierra Leone who are considered an imminent threat to the British government’s interests. The rebel force is believed to be ruthless and Russian-backed. The last guy the Brits sent on that mission returned without his sanity, although he might not have had much sanity to lose.

McLean’s first inkling of the trouble he’ll face comes when he encounters victims of gruesome killings who, in addition to being beheaded and disemboweled, seem to have been chewed upon by human teeth. The descriptions are quite graphic, although I imagine that sensitive readers who might be particularly disturbed by them do not read tough guy novels. Still, take this as a warning.

The underlying story — the mystery McLean uncovers in Sierra Leone — is not particularly original. That doesn’t make it a bad story (most thrillers aren’t particularly original) but don’t expect to encounter a “wow” factor.

The plot does offer one big surprise that plays into the developing characterization of McLean prior to the big reveal. The surprise might be a bit contrived but contrived surprises are common in modern thrillers, and this one is no more contrived than most. It also adds an interesting wrinkle to the story, which makes it forgivable.

McLean spends too much time telling us that he feels empty inside. Emptiness is standard characterization for a tough guy protagonist who has seen the horrors of war, but when it comes across as whining, readers lose empathy for the character. McLean’s abandonment issues are too heavy-handed to generate empathy, but at least they integrate well with the plot. And given that most action heroes are self-righteous nitwits, it is always a relief to find one who doesn’t consider himself the savior of the limited population groups he deems worthy of salvation.

Some of the story borders on the ridiculous. James Brabazon crosses the border by the novel’s end when the terrible evil is unleashed. The Break Line features some strong action scenes, although when one guy with a handgun took out six guys with assault rifles, I had to take a brief break from reading to roll my eyes. McLean dodges mortar rounds and RPGs and machine guns and takes on fighters who have the equivalent of superpowers. The story becomes more outlandish and less believable as it moves forward, but it is exciting in the way that video games can be fun without being plausible. And the ending, which reverts in some ways to a traditional spy thriller, is quite good.

RECOMMENDED

Thank you Berkley Pub for inviting me on to the Blog Tour and for providing me with an E- ARC in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I rate this book a 3.5 out of 5 Stars.

This was a brilliant debut novel and I am very glad that I got to be a part of it. The writing was new and fresh, the plot was intense, and I felt like I flew through the pages. Granted I do not read a lot of this type of thrillers. So it’s a bit outside of my realm. For a newbie to the more action packed side of thrillers, I think this was a job well done. I think that THE BREAK LINE is going to have a lot of readers, and will have great success.

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Caro

At the beginning of the story, we see a flashback in which Max McLean is remembering Raven Hill, the school where he learned all his skills and the details of his first mission. Back in the present, Max is now in South America taking care of another mission: find the target, kill the target and get out. But something doesn’t look right. His target isn’t the one described in the brief and he lets the person go. Recently, for Max the thrill of killing the target has changed, it doesn’t feel right and he is starting to question whether if this is the life he wants to continue on.

Back in London, Max is assigned his new mission. Max’s new target is in Sierra Leone and the only way to know who he is is through a blurry photograph. Max needs to be extra careful with this mission. He will have limited contact with London and, again, he has to kill his target and get out.

Once in South Africa, Max, using the undercover of a Canadian doctor, meets his guide/contact Roberts who knows the area well and speaks the local language. Roberts gives Max all that he will need for his mission. Days later they set on a road trip to find Max’s target but on the way they come across an infected village were all of its inhabitants have mysteriously died. Local authorities are trying to cover the deaths by saying it was Ebola or Cholera but Max has never seen anything alike from what the villagers died of. There is something more than a simple virus killing people in Sierra Leone and Max’s target is behind the killings of innocents and entire villages.

I really enjoyed reading The Break Line and it is really difficult not to spoil the story. My first impression was to think of Max as a Jason Bourne/secret agent type of character. Max is a great sniper and soldier who goes around the world undercover after targets. He, himself has a mysterious background. His father died while on a mission and his mother died not so long after from how heartbroken she was leaving Max without parents to later join become a soldier.

Everything seems normal up until the point where Max is assigned his new mission in South Africa. One of the first things he notices is that the mission wasn’t originally his and now he has to finish it. He doesn’t have much details about his new target except for a blurry picture of a man with a vague inscription on the back. And then he sees the bodies of the villagers and the state they were left. Things instantly start to look suspicious and the only way to figure out what is going on is to find the man from the picture, finish the mission.

I was definitely not expecting some of the things that happened throughout the book and some even caught me off guard. There are several really good and well-described scenes, even one delivered by a little girl. I can very well see the book as a live action movie. If you like action, thriller, and mystery The Break Line is the book for you.

Favorite Quotes:

“Of course it’s not the fall that kills you. It’s the landing.”

“Very few things in nature are black―except for coal, and, perhaps, the heart of a sniper.”

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*

Many thanks to the author / Berkley Publishing Group / Netgalley for the advanced digital copy of this thriller. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

This is the author's debut thriller introducing Max McLean, a British Intelligence Operative and Assassin.

Handlers send Max to Sierra Leone where he finds someone ... or something ... is slaughtering innocent villagers. It's his job to find who is responsible, but maybe the London office consider him disposable.

This is a rather complex spy thriller loaded with action .... a real page turner. It's a well-written scary concept with an unexpected ending.

When I first started blogging, I wasn’t reading too many thrillers, let alone government thrillers.

But over the years, I have read a few here and the genre started to grown on me. Since I started blogging, I have increased my thriller base substantially.

Often though, I find that I am coming into a thriller series late in the game, with established characters and well developed subplots. When I had the opportunity to start this government thriller from the beginning, I eagerly said yes.

This is a debut novel for author James Brabazon and his main character Max McLean so steaks are high for a solid introductory novel.

Summary

When it comes to killing terrorists British intelligence has always had one man they could rely on, Max McLean. As an assassin, he’s never missed, but Max has made one miscalculation and now he has to pay the price.

His handlers send him to Sierra Leone on a seemingly one-way mission. What he finds is a horror from beyond his nightmares. Rebel forces are loose in the jungle and someone or something is slaughtering innocent villagers. It’s his job to root out the monster behind these abominations, but he soon discovers that London may consider him the most disposable piece in this operation (summary from Goodreads).

Review

This book was definitely on the gritty side. This spy, Max McLean is far from the martini drinking, debonaire James Bond. This main character is much darker and much more complex.

The author, James Brabazon, is a former war journalist and that absolutely shows in this book. This book has a lot of detail and it is clear he knows or has done a lot of research on British covert operations and intelligence like Mi5/Mi6. I had a great deal of fun reading about these agencies and their operations. One hang up I had though was some of the technical language. On one hand added authenticity, but on the other hand it was a little overwhelming to the casual reader such as myself.

When the book started out, it was a little on the slow side. I wasn’t completely invested until about 30% of the way through, then I was eager to keep reading and see how things panned out. I wouldn’t exactly say that the beginning was ‘boring’ but it wasn’t as engaging as the last half of the novel.

There is also quite a bit of gore in this book. As with any authentic thriller, there is a measure of violence and gore necessary to validate the realism in the story—and thus is the case with this book, however for me toward the end, it started to be a little bit of overkill (no pun intended).

Over all this was a good debut. I would recommend it to people who are fans of spy novels and government/military like thrillers and covert ops.

Book Info and Rating

Kindle Edition, 368 pages
Expected publication: January 29th 2019 by Berkley
ASIN B07CL8Y4SC
Free review copy provided by: Penguin Random House and Berkley Publishing in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Rating: 3 stars

Genre: Thriller, spy novel

James Brabazon introduces British intelligence operative, Max McLean in "The Break Line". An Irishman, he was trained by Commander Frank Knight to be a 'legally sane psychopath', and has spent two decades as an assassin.

After being sent on a black op in Sierra Leone, Max ends up fighting almost invincible monsters, in the grisly, action-packed end game . The Break Line is a mix of military thriller, espionage and horror - not a read for the fainthearted!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

That was one crazy ride! The last 40% was intense, fast-paced, and action-packed. The first 60%... not as much. There was some action, but it was a slow, slow burn.

I probably would have enjoyed this one a lot more if the book hadn't pitched to me because of my love of James Rollins' novels. It was very different from those, but the whole time I was expecting it to involve history, archaeology, techonology, science... but it really was just a spy/assassin thriller with some horror-sci-fi elements thrown in. Because of this preset expectation, I think I enjoyed this less than I would have had I just picked it up for what it was. Don't get me wrong, I still ended up on the positive side of the fence when it came to liking the book, but I can't give it as many stars because I only liked it instead of loving it.

I think fans of spy and assassin thrillers or action movies with sci-fi-esque twists will love this one. Jason Bourne fans will probably eat this one up! For me, though, it was just an okay read. 3.5 stars rounded to 4.

James Brabazon introduces Max McLean in this action packed novel. Max is a trained assassin working for British Intelligence. His job is to go anywhere he is sent by his employers, find the person or persons he is told to and end their lives as quickly as possible. No second thoughts about the murders, nor even first thoughts. The killing is part of his being, and he is very good at it.
This book has Max assigned to go to Sierra Leone in Africa quickly find his target, take said individual out and get himself out ASAP. Max goes there and with the help of someone hired by his employers begins the search for the target. He quickly finds out that he has become the target himself for his own group,and the circumstances are very far from his normal assignments. Rebel forces are all around him and would definitely kill him and his guide if they catch them. Many villagers living in the area his target is to be found have been killed with no apparent reason for doing so and are a secondary puzzle for Max.
Max finds something very far from what he expected and must contend with those circumstances while seeking his target. The discovery is something beyond the ordinary and when presented makes an interesting novel more engrossing than first blush might entail. The depiction of Max certainly provides the reader with the interest to see more books about him and that is,of course, the author's intention. A side light is the description of the Sierra Leone countryside and the jungle that comprises it. This surely means that Mr Brabazon intends to fully research the areas that Max is sent into on his future assignments making the novels revolve around the actual locales they are set in.
The series starts out with a fascinating background and well described protagonists which makes future Max McLean novels very appealing.

What a page turner! Plenty of plot twists and an intriguing protagonist. I found a few point a tiny bit clichéd, but overall I really enjoyed this book!

This is the tale of a black operations British sniper that is sent on a kill mission in Sierra Leone. Almost immediately, it becomes evident that the secret mission is not so secret. Also, it seems that his various contacts and handlers have divergent agendas. Once in the jungle, the story takes on shades of “Heart of Darkness “. It is easy to stay interested in this story as the protagonist struggles with his conscience over killing in cold blood. Plot twists abound as the story comes to a climax. This one is definitely a page turner. Thanks to James Brabazon, Penguin Random House and Net Galley for allowing me to read this advance copy of “ The Break Line”.

The Break Line is a wonderful debut by of a new action character, Max McLean that readers will want to see more of.