The Silk Road by Mark Leggatt

I was so excited to have the chance to read and review The Silk Road, the latest book by Mark Leggatt. Big thanks to Kelly at Love Books Group Tours for inviting me to take part, and to Mark and Fledgling Press for my review copy.

The Blurb:

Third in the Connor Montrose series by Mark Leggatt, following on from the success of Names of the Dead and The London Cage.

Ex-CIA technician Connor Montrose tracks two suspected terrorists to a deserted mountain village in Tuscany, where he witnesses an attack on a US Air Force troop plane, using a ground-breaking portable Surface to Air (SAM) missile. Unaware that the CIA were also monitoring the suspects, Montrose is blamed for the attack and narrowly escapes. The CIA receive orders from Washington to shoot him on sight, and a shadowy organisation begins to track his every move.

Then a spate of terror attacks threatens the fabric of NATO and the entire Western alliance. Civilian airlines are the new target, and the overwhelming evidence points to a CIA false flag plan to bring down aircraft and blame it on Moscow-backed terrorists. Montrose’s investigations lead him to underground arms sales on The Silk Road, the secret marketplace of the internet, hidden deep in the Dark Web. Montrose must assimilate himself into the society of the European aristocracy and the ultra-rich fascists, assisted by Kirsty Rhys, to pose as a middleman for the purchase of arms on The Silk Road and find the remaining cache of missiles. Montrose uncovers the layers of duplicity between governments and arms dealers, leading first to the CIA in Rome, and eventually to the palaces of the last Russia Tsar and the new oligarchs. Montrose must discover the remaining cache of missiles before the CIA catch up with him, and before carnage is unleashed over the skies of Europe.

The Silk Road was published by Fledgling Press on 1st October 2018. You can buy it from Waterstones and Amazon UK and US.

My Review:

The Silk Road is the third in the Connor Montrose series, but my first. The other two, signed copies no less, are on my ever expanding TBR pile. Sorry Mark! Whilst there is clearly a back story of how Montrose came to be working with the mysterious Mr Pilgrim and why the CIA, and just about every other agency, really don't like him, I didn't feel too disadvantaged. That said, I will definitely be reading Names of the Dead and The London Cage.

We are thrust straight into the action and it doesn't let up. It's bullet ridden, explosive, razor sharp. We follow Connor, and Kirsty, across Europe, and all the places they visit are gloriously described. I could almost feel the dust in the opening scenes in Tuscany.

I love that there are a couple of strong women featured in a cast of mainly men. Kirsty is just fantastic - tough, ballsy, shameless, clever, fearless - basically she's a total kick ass. And she gives the best comebacks. Much of the humour in the book comes from her - I caught myself smiling more than once. I loved the references to James Bond and The Blues Brothers - a personal favourite. And I learned a new word in 'hochmagandy' - I will be dropping it into future conversations at every opportunity!

The plot is nicely complex - kept me turning page after page, desperate to know what happens, but it was never too confusing. The shadowy organisation, that we never learn much about, was well creepy, particularly it's  deeply unpleasant leader. But also unpleasant was Campbell, from the CIA at Langley. He really made me quite cross, and when Napier says '... and shove it straight up that shiny-faced bastard's ass!' (I won't tell you what he wants to shove...), I am right with him!

This is intelligent, exciting and taut - not a word is wasted. Full of flying bullets and explosions, it's action packed. And beautifully written. I loved it. Montrose is an engaging hero, but his team are just as interesting. I can't wait to see what they get up to next but, in the meantime, I'm going back to where it all started.

The Author:

Mark Leggatt was born in Lochee, Dundee and lives in Edinburgh. A former specialist in Disaster Recovery for oil companies and global banks, his career has taken him around Europe, especially Paris, where he lived for a number of years. History and modern global conspiracy lie at the heart of his work, and are the backdrop for the adventures of CIA technician Connor Montrose. Leggatt is a member of the Crime Writers Association in the UK, and the International Thriller Writers in the USA.