Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Thank you to netgalllsy and the publisher for approving me for this noon so I could review if

This book is different to what I normally read but it did not let me down therefore it shows that it is good to step out of your comfort reading zone and I think more people should look this uo

Had been looking forward to reading this book. Sadly it wasn’t for me. It just lacked a good plot to get you excited and wanting more. It was very slow paced and never picked up

This was a brilliant MI16 based spy thriller with plenty of twists and turns and interest throughout.
Great pacing to keep you on the edge of your toes and engaging characters.

A difficult book to read as it resembled close to what happened in the pandemic, and having lost people I knew, I took a long time to finish this. Overall a good thriller.

A good follow up to the previous Luke Carlton novels. This time Luke is tasked with stopping an outbreak of a virus that could become an issue worldwide. Set after the Coronavirus pandemic, this ties into the reaction of the government and relevant public health departments ongoing nightmare. There are some references to how a virus can cause difficulties in how to contain it, and deal with it, but without being overly critical of how the real life situation was dealt with.

The author has crafted a great thriller that takes you from one country to the next with detail to provide a visualisation in your head for the scenes. My only criticism is how the story seemed to build to a big act finisher but seemed to be slightly rushed and dispel any anticipation me as a reader had for the big finale.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good thriller in the modern-day vein of a James Bond or Jason Bourne style character. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

I was provided a free ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in return for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed the book on the whole but I had expected more focus on the outbreak itself, which presumably would still be circulating in the population even by the end of the book. It was a good premise but I think that would have added more to the plot. It;s incredibly action packed and would likely make a great film.

Deep within the Arctic Circle, three scientists from the UK’s Arctic Research Station trudge through a blizzard in search of shelter. They see a cabin ahead. It appears abandoned. No lights. No snowmobile outside. But as they push open the door, the smell hits them. Rank and foetid: there’s something bad inside.

Then movement. A man lies slumped, his face disfigured by livid pustules. Blood runs from his nostrils; his chest glistens blackly. The team’s medic, Dr Sheila Mackenzie, pushes forward to examine him when the convulsions start. Blood, bile and mucus spray into the air. The doctor knows it’s too late – she’s been contaminated . . .

Within hours, a full-scale operation to contain this contagion is underway. Samples are rushed to the laboratories at Porton Down on high alert. What they discover changes everything. Supported by phone and data intercepts, British Intelligence reaches a terrifying conclusion: that Russia has been developing a new generation of bio-weapons.

Dispatched to investigate, MI6 operative Luke Carlton finds himself on a serpentine trail of lies and deception. From a mysterious factory in Lithuania, via arrest and imprisonment, and ultimately back to Britain, he discovers that they’ve been looking in the wrong place all along . . .

After last week’s powerful and emotive survivor’s tale, Anna, I needed a distinct change of genre and pace. Enter action thriller Outbreak by Frank Gardner. It promises plenty of action, a suitably fraught race against time, and some tense nail-biting moments.

Our hero, MI6 agent Luke Carlton, is still a bit wet around the ears when it comes to working as an operative. He has experience in warzones around the world in the armed forces, but the delicate business of intelligence gathering and acting upon it is a steep learning curve. One of the things I liked about the character is we get to hear his innermost thoughts. You come to appreciate the stresses and strains of existing in a constant state of readiness. Luke doesn’t get much opportunity to think when he is in the field. He has to make decisions based on information that evolves minute by minute. The best thing is that his decisions aren’t always the right ones. At times you see flashes of uncertainty in Luke and I love that. A character that succeeds in everything they do does have a tendency to become stale rather quickly.

The last thriller I read earlier in the year was The Two Lost Mountains by Matthew Reilly, and Outbreak couldn’t be more different. Events certainly aren’t anywhere near as over the top as Reilly’s Hollywood blockbuster-esque explosion-fests which makes for a pleasant change. Don’t get me wrong, I like a death-defying last-minute escape as much as the next person, but Gardner’s writing replaces that with gritty realism and adds a growing tension in a subtler manner. Gardner’s protagonist is far more grounded, more human.

This is the first thriller that I’ve read that exists in a post-pandemic version of our world and it’s interesting to note how the author has incorporated events into the narrative. Just casual nods here and there but you can definitely feel its presence. This makes Outbreak feel more than a little topical and all too familiar. I kept thinking I could easily be hearing elements of this story on the news.

There were moments in that plot where I was also reminded of The Tiptoe Boys by Ken Follett, which in turn reminded me of the eighties classic action movie Who Dares Wins*. Outbreak treads similar ground which I admit I was entirely happy about as The Tiptoe Boys has long been a personal favourite.

I’ve not read any of the other Luke Carlton novels, but based on my enjoyment of Outbreak I need to remedy this oversight immediately. Crisis and Ultimatum need to be added to my ever-expanding list of thrillers I really do need to catch up on. This novel is the sort of superior thriller escapism I love to get caught up in.

Outbreak is published by Transworld and is available now.

My musical recommendation to accompany Outbreak is the soundtrack to SAS: Red Notice by Benji Merrison. It has a classical vibe that manages to be both stirring and tense in all the right places. You know the drill by now – read one, listen to the other and enjoy both.

*Lewis Collins finest hour in my opinion.

When a British team enter a cabin in Svalbard they find themselves contaminated by a new and deadly biological weapon - a genetically engineered virus with 100% fatality. Luke Carlton is despatched by the SIS to investigate and all points towards Moscow. However the Russians are just as much in the dark as the British, perhaps there is a greater conspiracy out there?
This is the first Luke Carlton book I have read and I have to say that it's definitely not my normal genre! Having said that I can really see the appeal to a popular thriller market. The action is fast-paced, the technical issues are always explained in layman's terms and there is enough violence without excessively cringey sex scenes.

This is the third Luke Carlton spy thriller and it continues the success of the two previous books in the series.

it simply does what it says on the tin. It is a fast paced adventure story packed with action and some political machinations that is written well by someone who really knows his tradecraft.

The plot is topical and timely and resonated with me and I read this quickly and with relish.

it will not win any literary awards and Carlton himself can be a bit wooden and predictable in his characterisations but it is an exciting and satisfying read.

I loved the synopsis of this book, right up my street!
Unfortunately I just couldn't get along with it, I persevered but I found the endless meetings and trying to remember which cabinet minister was which, and the many many acronyms, gave me a headache!
I totally get that these are needed but it became so incredibly detailed that I found it quite hard to
become absorbed in the story as I kept re reading paragraphs to remember who was who.
I found Luke sadly quite irritating as he was forever bemoaning how 'old' he felt in various settings, hes only in his 30s!
The premise of the book is very good, as is the writing, it is just incredibly detailed and intense and I found my attention wondering.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Three scientists from the UK's Arctic Research Station search for shelter in a blizzard and find a bain which appears to be abandoned. When they go in, there is an occupant: a man dying of some sort of dreadful disease. One of the scientists is infected straight away when she is covered in the blood and mucus which the dying man coughs into the air. Whilst she waits with one colleague for rescue and hopefully treatment, they eventually realise that their third colleague has made a run for it. And he could be infected with a deadly disease.

I didn't realise that this was third in a series of books about the main character, Luke Carlton, when I started reading it, but I think it works pretty well as a stand-alone book. I did think it was going to focus on the outbreak itself, but it was more about the investigation and the machinations of the different groups and countries which could have been behind it. Carlton is a bit of a action hero template character, you know the type I'm talking about, can always get himself out of an impossible situation. It works for the most, but the female characters are all very one-note. Overall, it was a so-so read, and it wasn't quite what I was expecting.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Random House UK/Transworld Publishing/Bantam Press, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Really enjoyable read utilising Gardner's extensive knowledge of military operations, logistics and planning. Definitely a fiction with the movement of people in such record time but his extensive research of areas and painting a picture effectively is well done. The twist of the money behind the would be provocateurs is a bit on the nose and predictable but it is done with such relish and the utilisation of Luke Carlton is very effective.
A great read for fans old and new

My thanks to Random House U.K./Transworld Publishers for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Outbreak’ by Frank Gardner in exchange for an honest review.

Before reading I wasn’t aware that this is the third in Gardner’s thrillers featuring MI6 operative Luke Carlton. However, Gardner provided enough background on Carlton so I didn’t feel at all lost.

The novel is set in the spring of 2022 and opens with three scientists from the UK's Arctic Research Station caught in a blizzard. Seeking shelter they come across a seemingly abandoned cabin, though inside they find a dying man with horrific symptoms. Given the novel’s title it isn’t a spoiler to disclose that pretty quickly an outbreak of a very nasty disease begins to spread, which leads to a full-scale operation to both contain it and discover its origins.

British Intelligence becomes involved and Luke is despatched to Lithuania where intercepted messages suggest answers to the contagion may lie. A twisty trail is uncovered. No further details to avoid spoilers.

Overall, I found ‘Outbreak’ a fast paced espionage thriller with the timely subject of humanity’s vulnerability to a virulent disease. It’s oddly comforting to read this a thriller about an even worse disease threatening humanity than our current pandemic.

It held my attention throughout and I plan to read the two earlier Luke Carlton books as well as any future ones.

Outbreak sees the return of Luke Carlton in the latest novel by Frank Gardner

This time Carlton and his colleagues face the threat of a mysterious virus which has the potential to kill thousands of people but who is behind the creation and use of this killer virus?

The story moves along at a decent pace although for such a “star” operative he does make some basic mistakes. Also I found the ending disappointing as it felt rushed and a letdown after the build up etc.

Overall it was an ok read

I’m afraid I was a little disappointed with this one. Saw the title, loved the cover, description sounded right up my street even during the covid pandemic. Opening chapters were good but afraid from then it lost my attention somewhat.

This was good. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had read the other ones, so might get them off Amazon and then read this one again

As usual a well written knowledgeable story of MI6 staff and how they work to not only save UK but the World at the same time from terrorist germ warfare bombs. Just about believable storyline but hero isn’t James Bond more like Graham Bond quite clever but not the sharpest tool in the tool box!

I enjoyed this one, for me the right blend of “tip of the spear” action and the background stuff that enables it, just the way Tom Clancy balanced his books.
Written after Covid, this relates to a bioweapon that could be even more deadly. An infected body in the Arctic leads to a race against time. MI6 agent Luke Carlton is brought in for the initial investigation and continues to be the lead guy as the action moves around the world. Who is responsible and why? Are the Russians helping or hindering, the answers might determine if Carlton lives or dies.
As I said, I enjoyed this. I enjoyed that it wasn’t just an agent plane hopping from one gun fight to another and that we got more under the skin of the intelligence services. Possibly my favourite of the books so far, not just because it was topical but because it all clicked together rather well. The author has the experience and knows his stuff and it all clearly shows.

Outbreak is the 3rd book from Frank Gardner featuring Luke Carlton; MI6 and formerly SBS. Outbreak is a high octane superior thriller.

The world has made it to the other side of Covid-19. However, in the Norwegian Artic Circle 3 British scientists come across a man who is in the last throes of life. Not only does he die from an apparently unknown pathogen but he infects all those around him. Thereafter Luke becomes embroiled in hunting down the source and the purpose of this deadly man-made virus. Sometimes a little outlandish, Outbreak is great fun and a welcome distraction.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC for an honest review.