When a fiction writer concocts a plot in which the fate of the world is at stake, the reader becomes a confederate by suspending belief in the expectation that plenty of fun will result. The author has an obligation as well. He or she can’t go too far. As the hero or heroine saves the world, implausibility is acceptable; inanity isn’t.
Think of the plots of Alistair MacLean, for example. Improbable but entertaining, for the most part, as in Where Eagles Dare. In Ice Station Zebra, however, the clumsy, silly climax ruined everything. It was so bad, the movie version had Rock Hudson playing a steely submarine commander. And they said the man couldn’t act.
In Ultimate Weapon, Chris Ryan unleashes a tight, fast-moving and violent yarn worthy of MacLean at his best, only to have the whole thing skid to a thudding climax with some story twists that probably would have MacLean cringing in his grave. It doesn’t help that he occasionally employs clichés and his characters hiss rather too often.
Ryan’s strength is lean, muscular prose and the ability to keep the plot moving without stopping for breath. He also has an obvious grasp of, if not love of, the weaponry and techniques of the techno-thriller. That he was a member of the British Special Forces and got in to, and out of, Iraq during the Gulf War gives the story authenticity.
Iraq is the main setting here, which makes Saddam Hussein a realistic and sinister bad guy readers will have no trouble hating. Ryan’s two main characters are both Special Forces survivors. Nick is retired, aging and somewhat broken. Jed is young, tough, resourceful, and able to kill on a moment’s notice.
Nick’s daughter Sarah just happens to be an erratic but brilliant nuclear researcher who mysteriously vanishes. As her father sets out to find Sarah, Jed, her boyfriend, is involved in secret missions in Iraq that represent the best parts of the story and some of Ryan’s best writing.
It will give nothing away to say that everything will come to a head in and around Iraq. In, you might say, the Nick of time, the ultimate weapon will be snatched from Saddam’s hands quicker than any weapon of mass destruction.
The final plot twist arrives with one of the characters spending a lot of time explaining motivation. Ryan dispatches this baddie with a particularly gruesome goodbye. Call it a good example of a story ending with a bang.

by Dick Cady

copyright ForeWord Magazine, Volume 12, no. 1 ( )

Picked this up spontaneously at the bookshop, because the first few pages made me wanting to read more about the story. Of course this is an action thriller, so I expect lots of things going "boom" down the road, but the way the author introduces the characters and gets the story going intrigued me.
Will be back with the full review, when I am done with the book.
Update: Seems like a lot of action stories share a problem: Once the actions starts, the character development gets left behind. Here we have Nick, ex-SAS, who comes home from his month-long stint on an oil platform in Algeria only to find that his daughter Sarah (working on a doctorate in Physics) has gone missing. We also meet Jed, an SAS operative, long-time friend and sometimes lover of Sarah. The relationship Nick - Sarah is nicely developed, also the somewhat bumpy relationship between Nick and Jed. But all this is frozen the moment the real action starts, and never really gets picked up again. Not that I mind the action, but being a "girl", I also like to hear more about what's going on in people's brains ;-). I know it can be done, I've seen it in Baldacci's "Last Man Standing" for example (although that one has other problems). ( )