Having enjoyed DL Marshall’s debut novel, Anthrax Island, I did not hesitate to try Black Run and was not disappointed. Barely recovered from his previous adventure, John Tyler is back, and this time his mission is to capture a heavily protected target and bring him back to the UK. The story alternates between the present, and the previous two weeks in the Alps where Tyler and his team were observing the target. This means the full story is only slowly revealed, but the short chapters keep the action moving along at a breakneck pace.
The book opens with a dramatic car chase as Tyler is pursued all the way to the French port of La Rochelle where he has arranged to board the Tiburon, a rusty freighter crewed by smugglers and mercenaries. The graphic descriptions of the conditions on board the ship, and the stormy seas as they sail through the night, make the isolation and danger all too vivid. The fact that Tyler doesn’t know who he can trust just adds to the tension. He is a skilled and resourceful operative, despite his flaws, and I look forward to reading the next book in this series. There is a cinematic quality to the narrative that would make for a great action movie. Thanks to Canelo and NetGalley for a digital copy to review.

Great book, by an author I will read more of! Thrilling plot, great writing and brilliant characters. Highly recommend to others.

Fast paced, lots of action, a bit over the top -- a normal thriller. Marshall writes well, so fans of thriller will eat this one up.

Thanks very much for the free review copy!!

Black run by D.L. Marshall.
The John Tyler series Book 2.
John Tyler has a new mission: capture a heavily protected target from the Alps and smuggle him back into the UK in time for Christmas.
A very good read. I liked John's character. Lot of action. Even though I haven't read book 1 yet I will be checking it out. I'm looking forward to the next book. 5*.

After reading Anthrax Island, I was expecting another balls out, action-packed thriller from this author, and that is precisely what I got!

This time, we find Tyler shortly after the end of the last book and are thrown almost instantly into a high-octane car chase through a small French village!

The remainder of the story uses a 'then and now' narrative to explain the mission and events that have already taken place in the mountains, leading to Tyler ending up on the frankly unsafe-sounding 'Tiburon' freighter, attempting to get back to the UK in one piece. I generally enjoy this way of slowly revealing the events leading up to the present, and this one was done very well!

The locked room element of being stuck on the ship was also done very well and added an excellent air of mystery. Chuck in a few twists, turns, a no-nonsense hero and a whole load of action, you are in for a great read!

Anthrax Island was a bit of a surprise read for me this year, but I utterly loved it. So as soon as I got a chance to read Black Run, I dropped everything else and tore through it.

What a read. Its relentless. Genuinely like a cinematic experience, a mix of the best Bourne and Bond can throw at you.

The cast is eclectic and fascinating, with a lot that twists and turns like a twisty turney thingy. I was kept guessing throughout, and loved every reveal we were slowly fed. Somehow Marshall has managed to write a fast paced action thriller, that is also a locked room murder mystery. Bonkers but brilliant.

A brilliant read, I want more, so many more. I could read these books for a long long time.

This is one for action-junkies as that is practically all it seems to be. How many car/boat chases, shootings, bodies can a reader take., especially with a hero bleeding all over the place and on a lot of who knows what pills. It starts with an 80 mph car chase through a small Medieval French town with our hero, plus body (alive) in the boot, evading the bad guys or at least boot-man's bodyguards who are a rough bunch. The rest of the book switches between the present time when said hero, Tyler, makes it to a rust bucket, the Tiburon, to get back to Britain and the prequel to the story set essentially in the Alps. This switching back and forth does keep the reader engaged and the sort of excitement going. Life on the Tiburon gets interesting across the Bay of Biscay and especially when boot-man turns up dead in a locked hold under Tyler's bed and hence inaccessible. Well-written and with plenty of technical details that seem reasonable to a non-car, non-gun diva. A non-stop Action Man story with not a lot of meat although plenty of blood. Thanks to NetGalley and Canelo for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Black Run is author DL Marshall’s follow up to his 2020 debut Anthrax Island. It might not have the attention grabbing title of his first book, but it does firmly cement John Tyler as a hero who can carry a series and Marshall as more than just a flash in the pan.
Like the first book, Black Run mixes full throttled action, mystery and claustrophobic tension into a very satisfying thriller that harks back to the glory days of the 50s, 60s and 70s when British authors like Alistair Maclean and Desmond Bagley were global bestsellers. Marshall infuses that classic page turner vibe with modern sensibilities. Tyler is a very 21st century hero – cynical but principled and far more concerned about doing the right thing by individuals than protecting governments.
This time around, he’s bringing back right wing extremist to face justice in the UK. The action switching between the mission to capture the terrorist, and Tyler’s passage back to England with his captive on board a dilapidated freighter. The seaborne setting for that second strand works brilliantly, stranding Tyler in an environment where he’s reliant on the ship’s crew but not totally sure he can trust them. There are twists galore, as well as a mounting body count and a palpable level of suspense as the elements conspire against Tyler as much as his human enemies. The other strand is just as fun, more action-packed and filled with tactical detail as Tyler works to outsmart his target’s body guards at an Alpine ski resort.
What makes these books is Tyler himself. As narrator as well as protagonist he does a brilliant job of keeping things entertaining as well as resolutely British. Tyler’s gruff humour is consistently amusing and provides a good balance for the sometimes brutal action. It all comes together into a very enjoyable read which moves at the pace of Tyler’s turbo-charged Audi. It’s exciting, packed with every kind of action scene you could thing of and written with the kind of energy and humour that tells you the author is having as much fun as you are.

High octane thrills from page one!

Well, John Tyler is back, and with a bang. In the follow up to "Anthrax Island", Danny Marshall has delivered a book which moves everything up a gear. Not long after the events of "Anthrax", we start off with a car chase through the tight alleys of an Alpine town, and end up on a ship on the high seas. So much is going on, you regularly feel the need to stop for breath.

Tyler, along with a crew of hand-picked mercenaries, has captured a target and plans to deliver him back to the UK. Who is he? Why is he so important? Time will tell. As the team make their way across France to the coast, where a ship awaits, they are pursued by allies of the captive. When they arrive, a storm is brewing, literally and metaphorically, as the ship's captain fears for the crossing and taking Tyler's beloved Audi aboard.

A stormy crossing of the Bay of Biscay involves a boat chase, more than one murder, and a potential spy in the camp. Tyler's problems just keep on mounting, as the odds stack up and he swiftly runs out of options. We even get a locked-room mystery.

This book is a non-stop rollercoaster, plus all those other expressions people use to describe a manic chase movie. It's so different from the claustrophobic feel of "Anthrax Island", and yet perfectly captures the frenzy of a mission on the edge of blowing up. Along the way we learn a bit more about Tyler's background, and the fate of his brother, only hinted at previously. Fans will love the close-up details about the tactics, weapons and cars Tyler uses along the way.

I was grateful to NetGalley and Canelo for the chance to read an ARC, but you better believe I can't wait to get my hands on a real copy! Thoroughly recommended for thriller fans everywhere.