Max McLean kills people for the government for a living, but when a mission throws everything he knows into question he is given the chance to redeem himself with one last job in Sierra Leone. However this last job may not be all it appears…

The Break Line for me was a book of two halves; I enjoyed the beginning of the story which is a gritty introduction to our main character Max McLean - a governmental contract killer. I enjoyed the brief exposition to explain what got him where he was today, his mission wobble where he challenges his career up to this point, the mission briefing and the beginning of the mission itself in Sierra Leone and his meeting with Roberts and Juliet. The story then becomes incredibly unrealistic very fast which made me unable to suspend my disbelief after a credible first half. The change was very at odds with both the blurb and the set up and so was a bit too jarring for me. There’s also a large character driven plot twist but this feels like it would have hit harder if this was the middle of a series and we had gotten to know Max and his past a lot more beforehand.

The action sequences are well written and very well detailed, if gruesome in places. I enjoyed the other characters, they all felt well developed and interesting and Max himself was a great narrator to take us through the story. It all felt quite well researched and the descriptions of Sierra Leone made me feel like I was there.

Overall I enjoyed certain aspects of this book but felt it veered off to something far too removed from it’s blurb and first half to be believable. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK – Michael Joseph for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Very violent tale of assassins and spies based in Sierra Leone with Ebola in the complicated mix. A damaged hero sent on a killing mission survives lots of close calls to discover the shocking truth. Wildly implausible but entertaining!

I didn't get past the first couple of chapters of this after picking it because of a Lee Child recommendation, but it was a bit too 'Bravo Two Zero' for my liking. The writing seemed pretty tight and the plot had potential but I always know very early on if something is out of my genre comfort zone, so while this wasn't for me, fans of male-dominated thrillers featuring battle-scarred, flawed-hero maverick sex-pests with weapons may love this :)

The book started off with so much promise but then it got quite gruesome and somehow a little too twisted for my liking. I found it hard to see the connections but maybe it was just me.

Interesting main character in a story of spies,plots,defections and monster fighters..I liked the character and his story but wasn't so keen on the actual story.

This book gets off to a cracking start before you've even realised who's-who.

It's James Bond on speed - there are evil Russians, some mad science, a crazed professor, a beautiful (possibly evil) woman, an interrogation room where our hero is kept, changing identities, an impossible conclusion and many near-misses. The ending for me was reminiscent of the 1999 action fantasy film The Mummy. The story veered off in a very different direction to what I felt was set up in the first half of the book, which was more spy thriller than sci-fi horror. I don't mind a bit of sci-fi but was surprised by it here - it's just not what I expected the book to be. Ultimately, my view was that the genres tripped over each other, rather than blending seamlessly.

As with Bond, there appears to be an awareness of the silliness of the premise and that is combined with Brabazon's very clear and real understanding of armies and the front line.

The novel is filmic and I suspect that comes from Brabazon's background as a filmmaker. I can see a future film in store for this one...

Many thanks to NetGalley, Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and James Brabazon for a copy of the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh yes, this ticks every box listed by lovers of spy thriller novels!

Romping along at a great pace, we're taken on a tour of the world as we follow Government assassin on his last mission - well, it will be if his bosses have anything to do with it.

Luckily Max has brains, not simply an eagle eye for the kill shot, and decides to go off book, as it were, in an effort to discover what's really going on behind the mission he's been sent on, that looks like it can end on only one way. His adventures are fast and furious, in the best traditions of Bond, Bourne and indeed Reacher and, as you might expect, lead to a very satisfactory ending.

This was a tricky book to categorise and read. I almost didn't complete it,but I think I am glad that in the end,curiosity got the better of me.
I found that the beginning was overly complicated,there was so much detail,names and ranks,various theatres of war,it was a little confusing and wearing. Armed forces slang is okay,for those involved in this employment,my boys are in the Navy and Airforce and quite happily natter using such talk,and the rest of us,just let them get on with it. I feel that if you have to use acronyms,you have to know what they mean,to constantly use and then explain ,is counter productive to the flow of the story. At the start of this book,the writing felt stilted and didn't flow and wasn't holding my interest. I actually put the book down for a day,and then decided to try again.
The book improves after the first 25%, measured on my Kindle,it did become more exciting and more coherent,better phrasing and plot execution. Told in the first person,it is violent and gory,a strong sense of blood lust is portrayed throughout the book.
Max McLean is a British State sanctioned assassin,who doesn't exist,more brutal than James Bond.
On a previous mission,he refused to kill a female,due to a sense of something being wrong with his agenda,something didn't feel right. He is given a second chance and sent to Sierra Leone,to kill a Russian,who may be in charge of a group of absolute killers. The story then roams into the realms of genetically modified soldiers,that are terrorising that country,and Max has to destroy the lead scientist.
I have to admit that the technicalities of the story reduced my opportunity to imagine,due to a surplus of detail again. The use of genetically modified troops has been used before,and I don't want a future like that. I would prefer to believe that soldiers are better trained and more responsible than those portrayed in this book. I did enjoy the wealth of medical detail in this story,I could believe that Max had been trained as a medic in the army.
To conclude, the first 25% could do with a rewrite. When the action gets going,it is a real page turner,it is so exciting. The gruesome medical details are fine with me,as an ex- Trama nurse,I can cope with these. I just felt that the book relied too much on shock detail,and there was far too much explainations at times that stopped the flow of words. There are a few surprises in the story and all is neatly tied up. I liked the book,but it didn't inspire me.
I have posted a copy of this review to Goodreads today. This is my honest review and I hope it isn't too destroying.

Not quite what I was expecting. Started off well and I was really enjoying it and then it became very violent with too much gruesome detail. The stile was not particularly to my liking. rather stilted in parts. I do not mind action stories, but I found this lacking and in the end I didn't really care about the characters. Not good when I am reading a book

I could not get into this book as I found the main character difficult to like. Sorry it was not for me.

Thank you for the opportunity to review it.

A fast-paced thriller with much gory detail - you'll need a strong stomach for some of it!

It's difficult to review this book without giving away the plot. Suffice it to say that the hero - Max McClean (or is that really his name?) - is an army medic turned assassin. Which side is he working for? Even he can't be sure...

The prose could do with some tidying up (it doesn't always flow and I spotted a few mistakes, but am reading an ARC so they could be fixed by now!) - but this would be a good page turner to take on holiday - a kindof Jack Reacher character but with an Irish twist - not intellectually demanding.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for my honest review.

The break line was a good twist on the spy/thriller genre. Without giving anything away there are a couple of good twists that give it the edge over similar books in this category. The pace was good and most of the characters were beleivable, including the lead Max.

Set for the most part in Africa the book touches on some topical issues and makes use of political and real life backdrops as a setting. However, historical or present day accuracies is not what it sets out to do and then here is plenty of escapism and intrigue. This is a very readable page turner.

This is a military thriller that has all of the ingredients for those who enjoy spies, scientists, Russian special forces, etc. It's not really my thing and I found the writing quite stilted and slow. Once it gets going, it's quite a ride, but, do be prepared for many violent descriptions.
For those readers who enjoy this 'action man' type of book, I reckon you'll enjoy. However, overall, it wasn't for me.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

Not often I have read a book with such intensity or as intensely. The outer shell has a familiar "ex service, black ops, multi faceted, deniable etc" character Max McLean. My sort of genre. This however had a storyline that pulled you in and didn't let go. To be in unknown territory in West Africa is probably scary enough but to be a man on a mission, finding the truth and dealing with it whilst....... well you would need more than training, as Max finds out. Action through out is good but sharing the fear.... that's what grabs you. Tá súil agam go bhfuil sé ar ais!

Send a black ops UK sniper to Sierra Leone with lots of violence and you have here a long, complcated military thriller. Well written - yes but sometimes less is more with far too much thrown in. I believe the author has veritably lobbed in the kitchen sink, the fridge and washing machine. I would have preferred a more subtle approach.

So much blood and gore!! An extremely long winded far fetched tale which was full of military jargon. I continued reading in order to confirm my quickly held suspicion about the main character's target which eventually was realised.

Really enjoyed this thriller which was definitely not my usual genre and sometimes out of my comfort zone (the violence and gore) but in spite of this, I couldn't put it down and would recommend it.

Max McLean – the killer sniper sent into highly dangerous and volatile situations without back up and without official government support.
His last job before retirement is to find the cause of terror in Sierra Leone.
This is a mixture of James Bond and Jack Reacher but with more blood and violence. So maybe a little brutish for my taste but an original storyline made the book a good read.

A state sponsored killer, Max McLean, sent on a final mission to Sierra Leone to kill a ‘professor’ who appears to be working with the Russians. Max is a UKN, an Unknown, his very existence denied by those who use his services. Has he been sold out? Is he expected to return after his mission?

I cannot reveal the true identity of the ‘professor’ without revealing too much of the plot. But he has created an army of berserkers with the use of a precursor to the Ebola virus, made them immune, devolved into an original state, men without fear or regret or judgement, unrestrained by their own humanity - true prelapsarian. It all sounds like a preposterous theory.

I struggled to complete this book. It is so full of the most horrific violence I have ever encountered in the written word. Much of it truly sickening. The Break Line came close on several occasions to becoming a DNF but I felt obliged to finish as this is an ARC and I owed it to the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read. The ending does have redeeming features as it provided answers to what really happened ‘out there’.

It just wasn’t for me.

With thanks to Penguin UK-Michael Joseph and NetGalley.

The well-known business rule, KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) is one which I think should be heeded by debut authors. Unfortunately, James Brabazon appears to have introduced every single idea that was floating around in his head, into his first novel, and then thrown in the kitchen sink and much more besides. Thus what starts off as a quite intriguing take on a black ops squad within the secret service, morphs into a sort of horror tale involving super-humans, mad scientists and a group of sinister Russian characters who seem to have surfaced from an old James Bond novel.

The other thing I think that Mr. Brabazon needs to understand is that violence is much more frightening when it is sudden and unexpected. When it becomes a continuous gore-fest, it tends to lose its effectiveness and there are definite limits to the number of ways you can describe the human body being blown to pieces.
All this is rather unfortunate because there are clear indications that James Brabazon knows how to write, knows how to flesh out characters and knows how to build tension and there were sections of this book which were genuinely exciting.

However, overall for me, this was about what might have been (and what might be in the future). I’ll certainly give this author another go but for now I’ll stick with Charles Cumming and Mick Herron.

As always, many thanks for the opportunity to review this book.