6 August 2020.
ISBN 978-1-83893767-6 (HB)
Nemesis is an extremely nasty, secret cabal whose
venomous tentacles extend from those in the highest of power bases to those who
are responsible for inflicting the most cruel and tortuous punishments on their
fellow human beings. Nobody, not the Russians, not the Americans, not the
Europeans knows who is in charge, or who is bankrolling the cabal’s neo-Nazi,
antisemitic, antidemocratic, and disinformation spreading activities.
Those who are actually involved in gathering and spreading misinformation know
who their immediate masters are, but the fanatics amongst them aren’t going to
tell anybody, and the others become dispensable if they try to share their
knowledge.
Evan Ryder
is an almost unbelievable super-woman field agent who works for an undercover
branch of the American DOD (Department of Defense). She is called back to
Washington by her boss, Ben Butler, who wants her to look into the ghastly
deaths of several security agents. Evan and fellow agent, Brenda, travel to a
high security hospital to interview a surviving agent but he dies whilst Evan
is talking to him. Then their armour-plated vehicle is blown up by a car bomb
in the hospital car park. Evan kills the girl who delivered the bomb and
discovers she has a chain with Ravens on round her neck. The Raven logo
keeps popping up and is clearly associated with members of Nemesis.
Whilst this
is going on the two Russian security chiefs- military and civilian – are at
loggerheads. Unbeknown to each other they have, or want to have, information
about Nemesis. Between them they want Evan killed - she has dispatched
too many Russian agents and Ben discredited a) because he’s a Jew and b)
because he’s too good at his job. Unfortunately, a highly placed Russian
stooge in the American administration ensures that the crusade to discredit Ben
leaves him with no friends in high places. His one remaining friend,
Isabel, is Ex-Mossad but it is difficult to know whom she works for now. She
has befriended two men, Roger Hollis and Peter Limas who run a high-tech cyber
security firm – just the ticket for data mining activities for whichever
nation’s security service, or services, wants information and is willing to
pay. Roger has a badge with two ravens on it.
The Nemesis
Manifesto is an incredibly convoluted and complicated
tale. Past histories, lost memories, and Evan’s personal nightmares along
with those of her friend, the former Russian spy Lyudmila Shokov and her family
are woven into the story. So much so that by the end of the tale, Lyudmila’s
family has taken centre stage. She remains absent until the last couple of
pages when Evan finds her in Sumatra and the stage is set for the second
thriller featuring Evan Ryder. If it is anything like the first book, it
will be full of uncertainty about who Evan can trust, which might explain why
she prefers to work alone. It will also be overflowing with violence – no need
to worry about Evan, she can cope with pagefuls of hectic action and death, and
very little in the line of happy endings. Those well versed in international
spy thrillers that whiz between countries: Russia, America, Germany and Austria
in this case, whilst lesser agents die and the invincible hero/heroine tries to
preserve a decent, democracy for the rest of us, will love this book.
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Reviewer
Angela Crowther
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