Courtesy of Netgalley I received the ARC of SAS-Red Notice by Andy McNab. This taut, suspenseful British SAS thriller had me glued to the story...a well written page turner!

Somewhat formulaic with the secret superagent, but a quick, entertaining read. The film was also entertaining!

Author Andy McNab (the pen name of Steven Billy Mitchell) published the novel “SAS: Red Notice” in 2021 (originally published in 2012). Mr. McNab has published nearly 4 dozen novels. This is the first of his “SAS (Tom Buckingham)” series.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains mature language and violence. The story is set in the contemporary UK. The primary character is SAS operative, Tom Buckingham.

The SAS and British Intelligence have been after Lazlo for war crimes. They thought they had him cornered in England but he escaped. SAS Sergeant Tom Buckingham was part of the effort to capture Lazlo. His commitment to duty and his country is weighing upon him. It is causing him to struggle in his relationship with the young French woman Delphine.

When Delphine gets fed up with Tom, she heads back home to France. Tom goes after her and finds himself on the Eurostar train. By coincidence, Lazlo is also on the Eurostar. Once they are under the Channel Lazlo and his team takes the train. Only Tom is in a position to thwart their plans and save the 400 passengers.

Tom uses every bit of his skill and training to confront the terrorists. Will it be enough to save the passengers? To save the Chunnel? To save Delphine?

I enjoyed the 8+ hours I spent reading this 344-page thriller. This was an excellent thriller. The main character Tom Buckingham is at the center of one conflict after another. Alone he confronts and outthinks the terrorists again and again. His valiant efforts do not leave him or Delphine unscathed. This novel is an action-packed start to a thriller series. I am looking forward to reading more! I like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a 4.4 (rounded down to a 4) out of 5.

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This book was an actionable oriented, gratuitously violent, thrill ride. It read like a blockbuster action flick- something I was absolutely here for. I didn’t feel especially connected to the characters, but that’s not unusual in a narrative like this as it’s more event vs character driven.

Thank you to Netgalley & Welbeck Publishing for this e-Arc

Talk about action and adventure, this book has it in spades. This is a “Mission Impossible” meets “Jason Bourne” with some “Die Hard thrown in on the side. It’s so full of everything, you just kind of hold onto your seat and watch the action happen as the pages keep turning. The first third of the book is really setting up the story. We meet our characters, understand to roles they play on their special forces team, as they attempt to apprehend a world-class bad guy the team has been pursuing for some time. We also see the building romance develop between Tom and Delphine, yet feel the pull the team continues to have over Tom as his “Mistress”. Delphine is leaving Tom to return permanently home to France, taking the Eurostar train, when Tom surprises her and tries to talk her out of leaving. This is where things get exciting, as Tom recognizes the bad guy is now on the train and feels duty bound to stop him. Enter the Jason Bourne/Bruce Willis etc like storyline. There are things blowing up and people getting shot and fights and explosions, all while trying to save the girl. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a great book that had me reading late into the night just see what new twist the author threw in to keep my heart racing. Again, non-stop action. Ok, take a breath. I received a complimentary copy of this book. This is my freely given, honest review.

Military thrillers are not my first go to genre, but this book kept my attention the whole time and was exciting. I felt like I was reading Die Hard on a train and I loved every second of it. The characters were all their own extreme versions of their type but it was fun even if it was a little cheesy. The story was full of adventure and a lot of violence that was fairly graphic and intense. I will say the main bad guy seemed a little inconsistent....he was willing to kill children and the elderly to get to his escape but he didn’t want to kill the brave people who were actively fighting against him? I did not buy that at all although I understand the series would have been poorer without that distinction. I’m excited that this is the first book of a new series because I liked the cast of characters and the book definitely doesn’t end with everything wrapped up cleanly so I’d love to know what happens next.

One might believe that this is another hostage thriller and indeed it is but it is so much more. Andy McNab, the author, lived the life in the SAS.
Often in novels of this genre, one gets to know the hostages and the people holding them but in this novel, the emphasis is on the SAS team. They are not anonymous soldiers but they become flesh and blood. The reader gets to know them intimately and because of that has a better understanding of the motivations behind what they do. We see them at play with their comrades. They are fully fleshed characters.
The perpetrators are a nasty bunch and they will stop at nothing and will kill without compunction.
The hostages are on a Eurostar train stuck in a tunnel between England and France and it is up to the SAS to neutralize the criminals and save the hostages.
There are many and various creative roadblocks put in their way and they must overcome them all. Add to that a love story between one of the hostages and one of the members of the SAS.
The characters come to life and seem very real to the reader. Their tension is our tension. Their fears our fears. Their plans our plans and when they attack, we are there with them.
It is a fascinating book both in the details of the operation and the writing.
Thanks to Wellbeck Publishing Company and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in return for an honest review.

Deep below the English channel a group of international terrorists has taken a trainload of passengers hostage. In the wrong place at the rights time SAS officer Tom Buckingham may be the only the chance the hostages have. Hidden deep in the tunnel he's doing his best to reduce the number of terrorists holding the train while collecting as much intel as he can for his squad, if he can just get it to them. When the shooting starts it will take all Tom's skills, ingenuity and more than a little bit of luck to get the hostages out alive.

This book is way outside my normal reading wheelhouse, but the description sounder intriguing and I decided to give it a try. Part political thriller, part military suspense and all action, this book grabbed me from page one and didn't let go. From the cold, calculating, heartlessness of the terrorists, to the frustration of the political wrangling and decision making by committee, to the heart stopping action of the Regiment's assault team, I simply couldn't put it down. Having devoured the book over the course of a weekend, I'm ready to jump into the next Tom Buckingham thriller.

Absolutely fantastic! The author made you feel like you were in the experience with Tom. He shows how Soldiers will carry out their jobs of saving lives despite what is happening politically. It is also about the dirty underside of politics and business. Those who serve in the SAS give up many things in their lives to serve the country. The love story between Tom and Delphine is just one very stark example of this. This is just a gripping, page turning story that is well written.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
My first reaction to the first few chapters was a horrified <i> what was I thinking!!</i> The story starts off with a group of evil terrorists randomly shooting up a village, then using flame throwers to kill an innocent child who managed to escape the burning building that they had deliberately set on fire (with all the remaining inhabitants of the hapless village trapped inside.) Yikes!

Tom Buckingham, an elite SAS soldier has his work cut out for him. The train he and his girlfriend are on has been targeted by the same ruthless terrorists we were introduced to in the first few chapters of this story.

I really, really do not like to read these types of "blood gushing from every orifice" action novels. I got carried away by the movie trailer for this one and rushed to request this ARC on NetGalley. Obviously, I won't be watching THAT movie when it comes out!

Apart from all the ruthless and senseless killing, the writing was fairly decent. Many a trope was rehashed in this pulse pounding action/thriller, but I suspect that those readers who live for descriptions of bullets flying everywhere, exploding heads, severed arteries, whole-scale massacres and general mayhem will thoroughly enjoy this book..(I had to skim over the really horrific, inhumane scenes, but sometimes my "one-eye-open/peaking between my fingers" reading failed me and I was subjected to countless ruthless blood baths!)
And for this reason, and because the author was able to maintain a certain element of dread and suspense throughout the last half of the novel, I am going to rate this one a 3.5 out of 5. (I'm still shuddering from all that violence - eeeeek!)

SAS: Red Notice is the first book I have read by Andy McNab. I was excited to read that Mr. McNab had a wealth of experience as a multi-time decorated British soldier and has advised the FBI and Delta Force hostage negotiations.

I normally do not read this genre but do watch movies from this genre. The reader is first given a look in the prologue (September 1996) at Laslow, the terrorist, who definitely has no compassion for children as he and his team murder a whole village. Chapter 1 moves forward to London, September, 2011, where an SAS team is on a mission in the midst of the Heath which is full of mansions. Here is where we are introduced to the protagonist “Posh Lad” Tom Buckingham. The chapters are short and laced with many characters. I like short chapters, but there were so many characters that I found myself having to reread to figure out who was who.............

We learn about Buckingham’s girlfriend, Daphne, of eighteen months who he loves but does not put her first. Daphne decides to go back to France when Tom does not show up on time. She leaves to get on the train that goes to France through the Chunnel Tunnel. Tom shows up and Daphne’s girlfriend told him that she left. Tom hurries and gets on the train of 400 passengers.

The stage is now set for the terrorists to take over the train and Tom needs to figure out what he can do to be the hero of this crisis and save the day. Once I was used to McNab’s writing style and who most of the people were, the book moved quickly. (Keep a character list at the beginning.) My thanks to Welbeck Publishing, BookishFirst, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of SAS: Red Notice, by Andy McNab.

I'll be honest, I went for this one because it's movie was being made starring Sam Heughan, and c'mon. I'll watch a movie about the invention of toast if Heughan is in it. However, the movie and book are quite different, so be prepared for that.

Tom Buckingham works for the SAS as a trained soldier. He has friends, a girlfriend, and the nickname of Posh Lad. He also holds a secret about himself. There isn't a huge amount of different between him and the villains that he fights hard to protect. He is also a psychopath, but on the right side of justice.

Whilst on a train, trying to talk his girlfriend out of running of to Paris, criminals hijack the train that stops in a tunnel. Buckingham uses his unique skills and personality to find his girlfriend, and save the train...

I always have to preface a book like this by saying, its really not my thing. I don't do great with a lot of military/battle speak. But, this story had a very interesting arc that is very worth reading about. The idea of a "good psychopath" is an interesting one, and makes for a different kind of adventure story.

FREE ARC from Net Galley

I have been with him since his first two books, and I am not a series fan. A good book but it seems AM is transitioning, especially since he "team wrote" with Kym not so long ago.

Still a great adventure as Tom, goes "off" while being off duty on the train to nowhere as a hijacking with hijinks ensues.

Not his best but still maintaining the standard even if the emphasis seems on "cleaning" up the character a bit.

Read on

I hadn't read Andy McNab before, but was highly intrigued by the concept. I love a good Special Forces / Good Guys beat the Bad Guys story as much as anyone so I thought I would give it a try. Unfortunately I just could not find my way into this one. The writing was fine, if long on descriptions that were rough on the stomach - like the dispassionately gleeful torching of a child in the opening prologue - but I just never felt pulled into the story in a way that let me connect with the characters or, ultimately, care about what was happening to them... This one just wasn't for me.

SAS: Red Notice by Andy McNab is a book that grabs your attention with the prologue and has you fully hooked in the first chapter. It is a crime action adventure mainly set in England and the English Channel that features a SAS soldier and his teammates who go up against terrorists. It’s also the first book in the Tom Buckingham series. The realism is given credibility by the author’s own experience as a member of the B Squadron of the 22 SAS Regiment working on both covert and overt operations worldwide.

Protagonist Sergeant Tom Buckingham is off-duty and winds up on the Eurostar to Paris when terrorists take its 400 passengers as hostage. What follows is lots of action along with some heartbreak, intrigue, and bravery. The reader gets a good sense of Tom’s character over the course of the book. He has depth, some faults that play into the story line, and makes for a great lead. We also get a good feel for the antagonist, Lazlo Antonov. What has shaped his personality and actions? A variety of secondary characters have varying degrees of depth that lent a genuineness to them.
The author brought a strong sense of place to the events in the book. The action somehow managed to seem plausible even though it was definitely extreme. Additionally, many questions came to my mind? What are people capable of doing? What pushes people to do the things they do? What impact does political maneuvering have during a crisis? What are people willing to do to conceal past actions or inactions? What happens when politicians are so focused on giving plausibility and conviction to potential future denials of knowledge?

The writing style kept me engaged throughout the novel. It does include some of the weapons, ammunition, and gear discussions that are typical of this type of book, but it is not overdone. For those that need to know, there is a great deal of violence in the book. My main quibble with the book was the abrupt transitions that occurred between scenes with no warning.

Overall, this book was an action-filled, heart-pounding thriller that also includes a love story that doesn’t detract from the story, but adds depth. This is the first book that I have read by Andy McNab but it won’t be the last. I highly recommend this novel to those that like thrillers, military thrillers, and other novels by this author. For movie enthusiasts, there is a motion picture based on this book that will be coming out soon.

Welbeck Publishing and Andy McNab provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

Tom is a member of the SAS. He has been dating Delphine but their relationship has been on strain since she feels like Tom picks his job over her. When he returns home after a failed attempt to capture Laszlo Antonov, a leader of a terrorists group, he is supposed to meat Delphine but when he stands her up again to do fight night with the other SAS members she decides she is done and is leaving home to France. Of course, once Tom shows up hours after he was supposed to meet her. Delphine’s roommate tells him she is gone, and Tom goes after her. This is how Tom and Delphine end up on a train with Laszlo and this of course starts a very action-packed thrilling book.

I really like how the book was set up. It is almost like this book was made to be a movie. It didn’t stay focused on one person for long but switch often between people on limited third person point of view. I really liked this as it gave every perspective of the situation. It also changed at the right time like how in a show or movie the screen changed between who is talking and goes between scenes of people. Well that is exactly how the book is organized. The chapters are pretty short but there are also different sections in each chapter. It is easy to tell when we are changing perspectives which kept is easy to not get confused when it is changing multiple times a chapter.

This book is definitely action packed and fast paced. Most of the book is them on the train trying to escape alive. I also like that everything doesn’t always go right, there is definitely a lot of setbacks and injuries. In the beginning we got to see a little about the history of the terrorists’ group and the beginning of Tom and Delphine’s relationship. Even though the beginning of the book was jaw dropping and sickening, I like that’s how the book started. It got me engaged right away. I like that you know from the very beginning why the bad guys are bad. Some books I have read takes a while for you to understand what is wrong with the opposing side but from the very beginning, I was filled with hatred toward the terrorist’s group. The author did so well of starting the book off strong and clearly showing what kind of people these terrorists are. It got me and I am sure it will for other involved and emotionally tied to the situation right away.

I also really liked the writing style. You can clearly tell the thinking of the people as they speak. Like you can almost hear the bitterness in the terrorist’s words. And the words used to describe the scene is perfect for the type of book and sets the mood and tone of the story.

There is a lot of SAS and military jargon, which half I understood and half I didn’t, but it made the book more realistic because as the SAS people were talking back and forth and as they were planning and executing their operations, you get a glimpse into that world. It was just very realistic and kept me entertained through the whole story.

I will warn there is a lot of horrible graphic violence that ensues with the hijacking of the train by the terrorists group because they will do what ever it takes to complete their secret addenda and make it out alive.

Snakes on a train, as SAS is going after key Georgian terrorist. Almost got him in London, but he escaped, now he’s on the Eurostar, along with our hero’s pregnant fiancée. Of course, she’s on it because she’s leaving him since he’s married to the SAS unit far more than he could ever be married to her, she thinks. Tom Buckingham, the SAS hero, has to stop the worst from happening as the train stops in the Chunnel, keep the girl alive, and save England. All the while, there is a mole leaking information. Very fast paced and hard hitting.

Laszlo is a terrorist. Delphine is a local girl. Tom is in the famed SAS...military swat team....Tom is very good at his job. so is Laszlo.
Tom falls in love with Delphine....But sadly, she becomes distraught about all the times Tom has to be late or not make it at all to their plan of the day, in order to accommodate his duties as an agent for SAS.
Meanwhile Laszlo is almost captured by the SAS...and begins his plan to make a mess of the underground train system,
Unfortunately, this is a train that Delphine has caught and now Tom is arriving at.
This is the really short description to get you started. It is a very good read. Lots of action. Love interest.

Very well developed characters and an extremely engaging story. Well thought out and very suspenseful story line that keeps the reader guessing until the final twist! This is the book to read this year! Highly recommended!

This was my first McNab book but I enjoyed the premise.This is a quick read, full of action.
I actually enjoyed the time it took to get into the book as you got to feel for the characters more. I would check out more of McNab's books based on this one.Minus one star for rough language at times that came out of nowhere. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.