A career in killing is all Leo Black has known. Finally forging a different life an old colleague dies and he finds out he was murdered. Is this the catalyst to draw him back to his old life. Matthew Hall let Black wrestle with the problem for a while until he is ultimately back in action trying to save the world from crackpot tycoons trying to utilise far reaching scientific breakthroughs. It will become clear early on that Black is a man of no compromise when it comes to combat. An exciting and thrilling novel full of action.

I’ve been a fan of Hall since discovering The Coroner, so was excited to read this new thriller. Here we meet Dr Leo Black retired after 20 years service in the SAS and now lecturing in History at Worcester College, Oxford. When the wife of a former colleague calls to say her husband has been killed whilst on protection duty in Paris, Black finds himself drawn back into the world he left behind, determined to find the sinister truth behind his friends murder. But just who can he trust? This a such a cleverly plotted thriller, taking the reader across Europe and South America as Black realises violence is justified when faced with true evil.

This a brilliant adventure story with really good descriptive writing. The places come alive and the scenes of extreme violence are necessary to the story line. There is plenty of food for thought within a gripping narrative. A thoroughly enjoyable read

This is a violent action / adventure thriller.
The characters are certainly believeable.
Although some of the action is far fetched if you like Rambo then this would certainly be one for you.

Leo Black was in the SAS for twenty years his friend was killed in Paris and Leo goes to find who did it and why. Fast moving tense thriller.

Anyone who has read the author's previous work, The Coroner series, will know exactly just how good of an author this author is.

This book is a standalone novel

The writing is good and it is a very good storyline. For me, I prefer more crime thriller books and trying to solve who did it, rather than have a tough guy save the day. I didn't find I was on the edge of my seat and racing to read it. It did lack the author's usual grabbing writing style, but overall I enjoyed it and would Read more by the same author.

An action thriller that I found difficult to get into and I struggled with the narrative. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the arc.

Leo Black is ex Army, but now an academic, tutoring at a famous University, a world he doesn't really fit into. When one of his closest ex colleagues is killed in Paris while protecting a young Scientist he is contacted by his ex boss and finds himself drawn into a lifestyle he thought he had left behind forever.
I'm sure this book will appeal to many people, sadly I'm not one of them. It's not really the sort of book I enjoy reading - there's a lot of action and violence and it'll probably make a good film.

The first book I have read by this author and it is a fast based, breathless thriller featuring an ex SAS hero turned academic who is lured back into his previous violent life.

The writing is taut and the excitement nonstop.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and it is a new series to look out for.

Leo Black is a special services soldier, has served in many wars and has seen the worst of everything there is to see.

At the age of 50 and after his last mission he decides to leave the services and reinvent himself as an Academic at Oxford University, not easy in these very PC days.

He settles for a life of research and learning how to 'press the flesh' to try an become a tenured Professor (I worked at a University over 30 years ago and sadly nothing has changed)

One of his old colleagues and best friend in SAS has started a new career as a bodyguard, unfortunately his assignment in Paris goes badly wrong and he is killed and Leo is asked by his wife to look into what happened.

Their are some good characters, including Leo himself, I thought Freddie was almost a parody, but still interesting.

I thought the first 15/20% was quite slow going, but once the book got started, I actually got goosebumps at one stage as I can totally see someone attempting the experiment (if it hasn't already happened).

Enjoyable read for the most part, but be warned it is quite brutal in parts and there is animal abuse which I skipped over

WOW!! What a brilliant book! It is not very often that you find a book full of action that belongs in the literary fiction section. Very intelligent writing and a fascinating story.

Major Leo Black has decided to call its quits after 20 years in the SAS. He did his PhD in military history and is now working as a professor at Oxford University. Then his ex-partner is killed in France, a few scientists are kidnapped and he is faced with a terrible choice.....stay out of it and continue with the new life he carved out for himself or get drawn back into a world where the only option is to kill or get killed.

"We cannot persuade hostile nations, cultures and individuals to our way of thinking overnight but we can offer the security and resources within which change can occur."
Well said, Mr Hall!

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin UK -Michael Joseph for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

A story of inner conflict

Leo Black has served his country through his membership of The Regiment for two decades. He was the guy who performed his duties without question and had seen service in many of the world’s trouble spots. His sudden departure to lecture at Oxford angered his bosses and raised questions amongst his peers. It seemed a strange decision to make at the time and even Black could not give anyone an answer as to why he took that particular direction except he knew he had to discover what kind of man he really was and he could not do this whilst remaining a killing machine.

The plot starts slowly with Black working at Oxford towards becoming a fellow. There’s a love interest too in the form of a female colleague but he is older than many of the other new teaching staff and therefore has few other friends. His background also counts against him so he needs to impress the fellows as the opportunities to progress are very limited. At the same time his old colonel (Towers) is trying to convince him to return to work for him on a special project.

“The Black Art of Killing” is a thriller with a difference and I loved it. There is nothing wrong with a well-written SAS/MI5/MI6 type thriller and I have enjoyed many, but to find a story where the principal character agonises over whether he can justify his life of violence to himself is novel. The book is therefore as much about one man’s inner conflict as it is a fast paced, well-written, all-action thriller.

As the plot progressed so did the pace and it culminated in a twist which was both credible and shocking.

mr zorg

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of the book to review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3285871176?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

I enjoyed this. I received a copy from netgalley for an honest review. It was a good 'lose yourself for a few hours' kind of book. I personally enjoy something a bit more high octane technothriller whereas this was more solo bloke without the backing of a country saves the day.

Leo Black is a former special services soldiers, who is trying to reinvent himself as an academic at Oxford University. He is a popular tutor and is hoping for a fellowship after presenting a paper in America.
When one of his former comrades disappears in Paris, he is drawn back onto the secretive world, but having solved the mystery of Finn’s disappearance, he hopes to return to academic life.
However, his old boss Towers is keen for him to investigate the disappearance of various scientists, and, despite his best efforts to return to academic life, Leo finds himself forced to return to a career that he wanted to leave behind.
Once he is in SAS mode, he quickly organises a team to find the scientists, and almost single-handedly rescues them, with a lot of fighting, and details of armaments which I skip-read.
Along the way he discovers betrayal and conspiracy at the highest level, reminding why he wanted to quit this life. He also finds some peace of mind and hope for a different future.

This book is trying to be two things, there is the all-action soldier part, then there is the academic writing treatises and leading discussions on the morality of war, and they don’t sit easily together.
Each is good in its own right, but it makes the flow of the story very erratic.
In all an OK read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin (UK) – Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read this book.

This is a tense and suspenseful thriller in a similar vein to the Jack Reacher novels. Leo Black is ex-SAS and when his comrade of many years is murdered in Paris, he sets out to investigate the killing which appears to be linked to the disappearance of a number of scientists working on cutting edge nanotechnology.

There is more to this book than just the usual violence and gun battles. Leo is now an academic and he is researching the effectiveness of Western military interventions in other parts of the world. This provides the author with the opportunity to consider the quandaries and ethicality of such interference. Leo is rapidly concluding, despite his military background, that they do more harm than good.

This is a high action, fast paced read but I did baulk rather at some of the animal experimentation and abuse.

Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Found this book hard to get into and then when the action did start it was a bit like Rambo taking on the world alone. Hardly realistic but decent enough

Just the thing for some switch-off entertaining nonsense! The villains are Bond-esque with one of those dastardly plans to rule the world via nano-biotech... and only one man can stop them single-handedly. Sadly, the best character in my view gets killed early on... Faced paced page-turner.

Non-stop violent conspiracy action thriller. University Dr Leo Black is called back into action by his former commander to investigate the killing of his comrade and friend. A breath-taking page-turner.

Matthew Hall is one of the most vastly underrated writers working today and this new standalone thriller really packs a punch. It follows the exploits of Dr Leo Black, a former member of the SAS who decides to change direction and become a lecturer at Worcester College at Oxford University. When the wife of a friend, Sergeant Ryan Finn, from Leo’s days in the military comes forward to inform him that Ryan was killed whilst working as a bodyguard in Paris to an up and coming Oxford scientist Dr Sarah Bellman, who is now missing and thought to have been abducted from her hotel suite, he agrees to travel to Paris to identify his friend's body. When he returns to the UK his former Commanding Officer Colonel Freddie Towers informs him that this is not the first time a promising young scientist has been kidnapped and hopes Leo will investigate the disappearances to find out who is behind them and what their motives are. He is reticent but wants justice for Finn and so a daring and dangerous game of cat and mouse begins.

Although this is somewhat of a departure from his superb Jenny Cooper series it is every bit as compulsive and absorbing with danger lurking around every corner as Leo races across continents to discover the fate of those missing. The searing heat of South America is no match for Leo who investigates intensively putting himself in grave danger in the process. It is clear that Hall has carried out extensive research into modern warfare and issues surrounding military service. It's completely gripping and thought-provoking from the beginning and is packed with non-stop action; there is never a dull moment and the intelligent plotting means you never quite know where the story is heading. Leo is conflicted about whether he should still be the Special Forces soldier that is in his blood or discard that identity and take on a more sedentary role as an Oxford lecturer and I really enjoyed this about his character. He is a flawed and complex hero who has bags of personality meaning he comes alive on the page.

Overall, this is an exciting, intense, tension-filled page-turner that I found difficult to put down and one of the most vicious and violent books I've picked up of late. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Michael Joseph for an ARC.

Sorry not my type of book. I could not get into it at all. It is not the type of thriller that I normally read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.