Blood Brothers

Blood Brothers by Nick Pope.
A very good and entertaining book. I give it three and a half stars as it was better than the Amazon three star ‘okay’ but in truth it could easily have been four stars with some major rewriting.
It’s still worth a read and comes recommended.
The book read as non-fiction in many parts primarily because much of the background is almost contemporary. That was a downside at times as it seemed the author got too bogged down in the back story on too many occasions. That often got in the way of the plot and stalled the action. Not only was there too much back story but the same story was often repeated at various parts of the book. It was a pity because when the action finally got delivered, it was fine writing and had me turning the pages.
That is why I came to the view the book needed a guillotine edit rather than scissors. I was surprised there was so much extraneous backstory when I read that Lee Child is one of the authors Mr’ Pope is influenced by. It did not show in this book, I’m afraid.
***Spoiler Warning***
The remainder of my review may contain spoilers so don’t read on if you wish to avoid them.
The plot was for the most part sound. It was great material for a thriller. It did stretch credulity too much on occasions and that was a shame. Khan, the terrorist who only a short time earlier had shot down an RAF AWACS plane with a Stinger, suddenly turns himself in right in the middle of an assassination attempt on a British Army General. The reason for doing so remained unconvincing to this reader. As did Khan being used as an ally by the British government in order to take down Saladin. Sorry, Mr. Pope, that was implausible to the nth degree.
The use of acronyms was utterly baffling with hardly any explanation of what they stood for. The author even switched between MoDP and MDP when describing the same entity – the Ministry of Defence Police or MOD Plod as they are commonly known in British police circles.
I don’t wish to be too harsh on the author or this book. Most of it was excellent. I have already dealt with the parts that irritated me as a reader.
Do try it though. It’s still a good read.
I received a free ARC from the publisher Thistle Publishing and NetGalley. I was under no obligation to review the book and all opinions are my own.

Thank you Net Gallery, Thistle Publishing and David Haviland for a kindle copy of Blood Brothers by Nick Pope.

We start in the beginning as the author tells us about his career of 21 years as a civilian employee of the ministry of defense and the people that encouraged him to write this book. I feel this is important to the readers to know because it helps to put this book in prospective that the author knows the inner work told in this story.

It starts in Afghanistan on Sept 17th 2008 with Matt Quill as a spotter, SAS captain and leader of a 16 man troop. Quill and his team through communication intercepts are under surveillance to find a messenger named Ashraf Abdul Khan, who in turn may lead the troop to the read HVT's (high value targets).

Chapter one skips to present day and Khan living in London, but goes by a different name. He lives like all of us but the people around him don't know he's a terrorists, Unbeknownst to Khan, he's not the only terrorist and on the same day there are 2 terror attacks. Land and sky. Eventually no one is safe not Jews, not gays, etc.

Quill is also back and is now a Major and hasn't forgot about his Afghanistan days. Eventually Quill finds out the one of the first terrorists attacks are by Khan and can't believe it. SAS teams set out to captor Khan. There's a lot of killing in this book by terrorists and soon it is learned that it's coming from a higher power, a man name Saladin. I hope I didn't give too much away.

As much as I'm not into reading about terrorists, haters, and mass murders I took a chance on this book from David Haviland from Thistle Publishing (who is also mentioned at the beginning of book which I found cool) I'm glad he offered it to me. I really liked this book Blood Brothers it's story line, the wit. Even if there are very sad times in this book that left my jaw dropped there were a lot more fist pumping I was doing and saying yessss. I highly recommend this book to family and friends, specially male.
The fight between Quill and Khan made the book for me.
Cherie'

Author Nick Pope laid out a horrifying scenario that spilled out into the streets of London sending chills to the bone. In light of the current state of affairs, it just seemed all too real. The momentum of the storyline continued to build as the scenes ratcheted up at break-neck speed. The remarkable plot held me at the edge of my seat with a convincible cast of well-defined characters.

Jihad, a holy war issued from an Islamic militant group had been declared on the people of Britain. Specifically, the city of London is under attack. Unlike foreign invaders, these merciless strikes had come from terrorist cells residing within the welcoming borders of Britain. Putting an end to it or at very least, slowing it down fell mostly to the infamous operational skills of the Secret Intelligence Service - MI6.

Khan, a battle-hardened Afghani soldier from the war on terror had shot down a highly prized E-3D military aircraft with shoulder-held surface-to-air missiles - Stingers. A coordinated suicide bomb attack killing and wounding innocent bystanders accompanied the doomed aircraft within just minutes of each other. Like falling dominoes, shortly thereafter, twenty children were savagely slaughtered in their classroom, blood oozing from their slit throats. Great Britain had fallen into a state of shock.

When Khan, the aircraft bomber learned of the school massacre, he was beside himself. Harboring disgust toward his countrymen, he could stand no more. It had come time to end the senseless Jihad and offer his assistance to British intelligence officer Major Matt Quill.

Filled with hate for each other, the two opposing warriors discovered a common interest: they both suffered the loss of a loved one during the distasteful war on terror. Both felt it was time to stop the carnage that consumed the panic-stricken city. A common bond was shared; two of the most unlikely patriots joined forces. In a sense, they had become blood brothers.

A sensational act of terrorism had been initiated by terrorist leader Saladin that when completed would bring Britain to its knees. Potentially, millions could die. The plan called for a strike on a convoy that was shipping nuclear warheads. The Brits were highly trained to repel any such attacks made during the transit. Though, through a turn of events they were not trained for what was to happen this time when they were forced to defend their priceless cargo. It was a twist that no one saw coming. The fate of the United Kingdom, perhaps the world was at stake.

I send my thanks to NetGalley and Thistle Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

A enthralling book about a Jihadist plot to form a Islamic Caliphate in the UK. The plot is very believable and the some of the depicted events are extremely current, with similar attacks having taken place very recently.
I liked the complex characters of the various protagonists and antagonists. The US President's name was not specifically mentioned, but his devious personality and speaking style had an uncannily close similarity to Donald Trump!
The military & political terminology and background were impressively accurate and detailed. The action scenes were not unnecessarily gory. My only small niggle being that the aftermath of the terrorist attacks were too quickly glossed over by the author. An example being the shooting down of a RAF AWACs over London, with no further details provided of the fate of the aircraft and crew. This could have warranted some discussion amongst the key protagonists.
Overall, it is an exciting and well written novel. Nick Pope could be considered a thinking man's Andy McNab!

As a former Ministry of Defence employee, author Nick Pope is well placed to bring us this utterly relentless page turner. The plot involves Islamic fanatics bringing jihad to British shores by means of specific targeted attacks. In addition to his own specially chosen targets, terrorist leader Saladin has called on all believers in the UK to carry out their own atrocities in whatever manner they see fit!


Saladin has declared a caliphate on the United Kingdom, and together with his right hand man Ashraf Abdul Khan, he is determined to bring the UK to its knees. Their first target is a military aircraft taking part in a ceremonial fly-past in the heart of London. Khan cooly shoots down his target, while one of his ‘brothers‘ is simultaneously involved in a suicide bombing within the immediate area. These initial attacks are closely followed by sickening and distressing atrocities in Jewish schools.

I deliberately won’t go into further detail as this book really deserves to be read, but suffice to say that this was a heart pounding read right from the start. It not only takes us into the hearts and minds of those responsible for planning and carrying out these atrocities, but right into the heart of government. Take an imaginary seat on the committee with the Prime Minister, members of the Cabinet and prominent members of the Security Forces, in particular those responsible for Counter Terrorism, and witness the inner workings of a Cobra meeting (emergency crisis response meeting) and see just how tense these talks are, and how the drama plays out.

Relentless action, intense and clever plotting, meticulous detail, all too credible characters, and a scenario that, (even in today’s climate where the UK is constantly on the alert for such acts) make this one heck of a terrifying read! Will there be a follow up? I sincerely hope so. Simply Excellent!

* Thank you to Netgalley and Thistle Publishing for my ARC. I have given an honest unbiased review in exchange*

Blood Brothers by Nick Pope is a fast-paced novel set in the United Kingdom. It is very up-to-date with the current President of the US (Trump) playing a role in trying to overthrow the existing British government. The central theme is one of terrorism and also a focus on one man’s humanity (Kahn). Certain atrocities committed in the name of Islam against women and children causes Mr. Kahn concern. The British operative, Quill, works out a type of peaceful co-existence with Kahn. This story gives some idea of the inner workings of the anti-terrorism task force that exists in the UK. The novel started sort of slowly with the setting of the scene but rather quickly moved on to a high degree of action. As an American reader, the only issue I had was the heavy use of acronyms that did not at first seem to be clear. For an American, when reading a British work, one becomes used to the sometimes different spellings and word choices between British and American English. These spellings and word choices were not a real issue but a reader quickly understands that things like lorry rather than semi is used. I really enjoyed the book and there was a high degree of brotherhood that developed between two warriors who were on different sides of the apparent conflict between Islam and the West. Definitely I’d recommend this book for anyone interested in a struggle of ideas and ethics. A grudging understanding happens between Kahn and Quill…perhaps we could have more of this shared understanding.

100% here for all those fans of thrillers with story lines that may be JUST AROUND the corner. Frightening scenario of modern day England and what is all ready in place there. Explosions, bombings, all the earmarks of the soldiers of the "religion of peace". I LOVED THIS and so will you

The book starts in Afghanistan in 2008 and introduces us to Matt Quill, an SAS Captain and his team, who are looking for a terrorist called Ashraf Khan

With the next chapter we get to the present day, where Khan is living in the UK but under a different name, but he is not the only terrorist, and then there are two terrorist attacks.....

Highly recommended.

Thank you to Negalley and Thistle Publishing for giving me the chance to read this book.

Aircraft's going down, bombs exploding. Just another day of terrorism, in the UK. A multi agency team is being brought together to fight before the streets of London run red with blood. Add in an enemy who is willing to help, but can he be trusted? Will they be able to find and stop the threats? This book was fascinating and thrilling. Scary, because these things happen really happen. . I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes stories of military action. I received this book from Net Galley and Thistle Publishing for a honest review and no compensation otherwise. The opinions expressed are my own.

Blood Brothers was a relatively fast moving thriller which was topical and just the right side of believable/ realistic.

The only downside is that it felt a little rushed and would have benefited from maybe exploring the main characters and their relationships further

Overall an enjoyable read

A terrifying scenario that could be all too real. Nick Pope creates a gripping tale of good versus evil. Coordinated terrorist attacks across London have caused wide-spread panic. After a particularly gruesome attack, the number 2 bad guy decides to change sides. Can he truly help take down the leader? Can we trust him? Has he really flipped or is this part of the coordinated attacks?

This story reads like an action film. There are airplanes being shot down, guns being fired, blood everywhere. And yet, the attention to detail and the realism offered about the government response to such an event make this a compelling read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in exchange of my honest opinion.

complex and interesting lead and supporting characters that are very well drawn. Darn impressive in a story of this size.

It truly reads like a best selling novel and leaves you wanting more.