Just Finished Reading: Dead Headers by James H Jackson

After a mortar attack in Paris kills hundreds, Intelligence Agencies on both sides of the Atlantic go into high gear to find the perpetrators and stop any more attacks. One of those Agencies is a secret part of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service known as Executive Support. Ironically referred to as ‘Dead Headers’ the members of Executive Support have a mandate of terrorising the terrorists by any and all means, and this they do with ruthless efficiency.

An investigation of the Paris attack leads to retaliation against Iraq, Iran and Libya but as the death toll on both sides steadily increases it becomes apparent that there is more going on than random acts of terrorism. Behind the scenes a shadowy figure is manipulating events and people as part of a greater plan – a plan that will plunge the Middle East into a terrible war.

This was James Jackson’s first novel, though you would be forgiven for thinking that he was already an established author. Written with authority, knowledge (including a mention of a dangerous individual called Osama Bin Laden – this in 1997) and style this was a cracking techno-thriller/spy novel and a real page turner. The few faults I found with it were fairly trivial. I didn’t like the level of brutality which I thought was unnecessary, the ‘bad guys’ were unremittingly evil (or simply insane) without a great deal of depth to their characters whilst the ‘good guys’ were full of self doubt and subtly flawed and lastly, as you often find in first novels, the author simply tried too hard.

Saying all of that however, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the genre. Unfortunately his next two novels in a similar vein are out of print and his latest book takes place during the time of the Roman Empire. Maybe I’ll try that anyway as I’m definitely developing a taste for historical fiction.