Greed - Chris Ryan

[AlienFTM]

I have had time on my hands the last couple of weeks. I lifted this from the shelf of books for a rainy day having just finished Dark Winter - Andy McNab (qv).

 

Sadly, on ARRSE, as I struggled to get into Greed, I discovered this book featuring on the "Worst Book Ever" thread.

 

I am not even sure Ryan even read the book himself: if I had been the author I'd have sacked the ghost writer for this travesty, asking, "Do you want the world to think I am a stupid, thick Geordie?"

 

Never mind the countless trivial errors regarding tactics, etc, get a load of this:

 

The ghost writer attributed the mission (to sink an Al-Qaeda boat laden with gold and diamonds to be laundered after 9/11 before the Americans twisted Swiss bankers' arms to impound terrorist cash) to MI5. Throughout the book there are countless references to MI5 and "Five."

 

If Ryan did see the book, he must have told the ghost writer, "You stupid <expletive deleted>, this mission would have been sanctioned by MI6." The ghost writer duly performed a global edit to change "MI5" to "MI6". Shame he did not change a single reference to "Five" to Six, so that we see "MI6" and "Five" throughout the book, often IN THE SAME SENTENCE.

 

The ghost also did not seem to know that rounds go into a magazine, which is fitted to a weapon during loading. He kept calling them magazine cartidges. WTF?!?!?

 

The twist in the storyline to tidy up the mess the latter had got into did impress me though.

 

I never throw away a book. This one will find its way onto the communal office bookshelf.

 

IT IS DIRE.

[Jack]

Many thanks Neil and you have a PM! :whistle:

[AlienFTM]

Many thanks Neil and you have a PM! :whistle:

 

Seen the PM, thanks, Jack.

Jack has asked me if I could write a full review - I thought I had!

 

The prologue finds a man walking his dog through a wood, which sniffs out a human arm along with millions of pounds'worth of money in numerous different currencies.

 

We then meet the hero, Matt, who, not in the least surprisingly, is an ex-SAS soldier trying to earn a living as a bar owner on the costas, and failing quite spectacularly. He owes a six-figure sum to an ex-KGB gangster who wants his money back. The time is the aftermath of 9/11 and the Americans are pulling weight to close down terrorist bank accounts around the world. Terrorists (Al-Qaeda in particular) are busy converting the cash in their bank accounts into gold and diamonds to be taken away and kept out of reach of the Americans.

 

He pulls a fit attractive blonde (it turns out she has pulled him). She is from MI6, or "Five" depending on the edit (see above). They have a job for him. They have got wind that Al-Qaeda are about to move 30 million pounds'worth of gold and diamonds across the Mediterranean in an inconspicuous small freighter. "Five" want the ship and crew sunk without trace. Matt is to assemble and lead a five-man team on the mission. "Five" do not want the money for themselves so long as Al-Qaeda don't have it. The team's payment will come from liberating the gold and diamonds, fencing them and splitting the money five ways. Because the op is black, they must fence the goods on the black market.

 

Matt chooses a pair of his former-SAS colleagues who could each also do with an instant couple of million quid, and signs them up. He also has a boyhood friend who is something of a big cheese in London gangland (whose sister just happens to be Matt's fiancee). He insists that his friend be a part of the team, against the wishes of "Five", who only agree to his participation if they appoint a turned renegade IRA man as the fifth team member.

 

The SBS train the team in assaults on ships at sea, the assault takes place, they get away with the gold, then one by one, the team members start to die at the hands of an Al-Qaeda assassin. Nobody knows who or where they are, so the assassin must be being tipped off by an insider. Which of them is getting the rest killed because of his greedy desire to increase his own share of the bounty?

[PeterMacD]

I agree - this book is rubbish. The basic military errors are so obvious you can tell that Chris Ryan doesn't write them. A shame really, as he was an excellent squaddie by all accounts.

 

I particularly like the fact that he was the only one of the fated Bravo Two Zero patrol that got away - and the only one that came from the TA!

[Snapper]

Sounds pretty risible. I am surprised that the editing would be so lax. This raises the questions whether these "name" authors do any writing at all. Ghost writing is not a phenomena, in fact if you look at the classic Enemy Coast Ahead by Guy Gibson, written in 1943-44, it is not entirely clear whether he wrote much of it. He was getting help from Roald Dahl, who was with him on his north American tour when the book was penned. I don't have a problem with ghostwriting as such - with exception of the annual Wayne Rooney biographies in the shop reflecting on another season of Bentleys and grizzled growlers in the young star's stratospheric ascent to divinity.

[Tony B]

Agreed Snapper. It's like getting a quote from a well know authority or authour on the front of the book. I wonder sometimes why the quoters ever let there names get attached to such a book.

 

[AlienFTM]

Agreed Snapper. It's like getting a quote from a well know authority or authour on the front of the book. I wonder sometimes why the quoters ever let there names get attached to such a book.

 

 

 

If you ever read a Dale Brown book (Megafortress series), EVERY single one AFAIK bears a quote from the New York Times (IIRC): "Clancy's got company!"

 

Having written this series over a decade or two, one would have thought they could have found another quote to use.

[Snapper]

Very amusing. I would imagine the Clancy they're talking about is Peter Crouch's squeeze Abbey Clancy. Another night at China White for the WAGs. yawn zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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