This book is unstoppable and Nathan Pike is one hacker I want on my team. With tension so taught it is unbelievable.

The first novel in a new series by Andy McNab, about a brilliant cryptography and cyberweapons specialist for hire.
This is sharp, beautifully written and incredibly powerful. I have been completely pulled in from very early on in this one. It has definitely been a book that is bound to be a success.

A highly respected and prolific author, this latest thriller from the author is a great read! I loved the stoyline, and such a clever read. I can’t wait for the next one!

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Well a brilliant author, but a whacky crazy read. and a brilliant, intelligent thriller.

If like me you've read some previous Andy McNab and think this will be more of the same then think again. Admittedly my previous reads were some time ago so he may have changed tack from the formula of tough hero prior to this novel but this is my first experience of something different from him.

We have a main character who appears to be someone who doesn't mind some casual breaking of laws with flashbacks throughout the tale providing the background to how he came to be the way he is. The main storyline takes us around the globe with some supporting characters who each, bar one person of mystery, have their own story. That all characters stories become linked shouldn't be a surprise however there are many twists and turns throughout to keep the reader engaged. I thoroughly enjoyed this new style from the author and will certainly consider reading further if this is likely to continue.
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy.

Nathan Pike is a top-notch hacker. He's worked for just about everyone at one time or another, even GCHQ for a time. But when a benevolent "fairy godmother" gets him out of a pickle (ie Jail in Cambodia) she offers him a very lucrative gig - one where he can stretch his hacking muscles.

Melody Jones is a bit of a grey character. You're never really sure which side she's on. Nathan isn't exactly an angel but he does at least have some lines he won't cross. The action ricochets across the globe and my head spun trying to keep up with banking and cryptocurrency! The pace does not let up but nothing feels rushed.

The settings are exceptionally depicted and you do feel that you are right there with Nathan. I really enjoyed the San Salvador strand of the story. You really expect taut storytelling in a McNab book and I wasn't let down. Highly enjoyable and I'd definitely read more from this world.

My first book of the year and what an awesome start!

This is the start of a new series with Nathan Pike as the main character. a Hacker, code breaker, and expert lock picker but he likes to call himself a cryptographer because that just sounds better!

Nathan finds himself in a prison in Sihanoukville in Cambodia. Then a mysterious woman calling herself Melody Jones(an obvious pseudonym) comes to his rescue but in exchange, he must steal something for her. From here we go on a whirlwind ride to El Salvador, Athens, and Dubai.
We also meet Lucian Gasana who is the baddie in the story and the person behind everything.

We get to know Nathan better through flashbacks to his past and we find out what drives him.

It is a cleverly written story about hacking and ultimately revenge.
With a sleight-of-hand here and a sleight-of-hand there you can get away with almost everything!

Highly recommended!

Thank you to Netgalley and Welbeck Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion

Having read Andy McNab before, I had particular expectations about the story I was to read.

To a degree, these slightly soiled my enjoyment with this book, as I kept expecting certain types of action, whereas the interactions were more celebral. I can’t detract from the story for this, I should have been more open to Mr McNab expanding his story type.

As a story, it was intelligent, well played out and full of surprises, with the main characters and their actions being guided by plans laid well in advance. The plot rolled along at a good pace, I was never left thinking hurry up this is a bit of filler.

I think McNab has created a solid new character with potential for further adventures and look forward to more works featuring him.

I would recommend this book but just add the rider that if you come to it, as I did, expecting military style gung ho adventure, you will be slightly disappointed.

Apparently I’ve been living under a rock because this was my first book by the author.

Being an ex SAS , the author has many aces under his sleeves and I always find these type of stories thrilling and immersive.
The main character is Nathan Pike, a self made hacker that has found himself in a bit of trouble when fighting for his life in a prison on the southern coast of Cambodia. A “fairy godmother “ comes to the rescue but at a price that he is not sure he wants to pay for.
The story is full of intriguing characters, including the main one. He’s not your usual easy going guy, he has so many layers to unveil throughout the story, just like a camellón that changes with the moment. And I must admit that I liked that. He’s definitely not easy to read , not his actions of his trait of thoughts. But that’s what made his so intriguing to me.
The story takes us in around the world from Cambodia to El Salvador and around Europe and Dubai. Jones is there to balance him in my opinion and I love how well they fit into the story.
It’s a fast paced story that kept me intrigued throughout the scenes and made me guess what’s the reasons of it all and where everything goes.
The ending left me wanting more from these characters and I’m looking forward to see where the author will take him.


📖Very grateful to the publisher @ for my review copy, this hardback copy is so beautiful

Shadow State is the first book with Nathan Pike as the lead character. Pike is a cryptography and cyber weapons specialist for hire, balancing the fine line between what's right and wrong. I have alway enjoyed McNab's books so when this one popped up in the lists on Netgalley, I immediately downloaded it.

McNab brings the modern world of crypto currencies and computer experts to the war between good and bad; and to wars without military weapons between countries and financial corporations. In a world where governments are no longer in full control, crypto is king. Also, to win, you no longer need muscles or traditional weapons, but instead a brain and a PADD (I'd love one of those!).

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and especially the long term game played by Pike; bring on the next one!

A step in a new direction for Andy McNab, away from his normal thrillers and into something less action packed and more of a “caper”.
Nathan Pike is an enigmatic lead character, he is a top hacker with a self-built padd that seems ahead of most modern technology.
Pike is brought into a scheme to steal immensely valuable crypto currency keys belonging to El Salvador but there is a side plot relating to mining in Rwanda.
The Crypto stuff and the economic impact of it on global economics remains a bit of a confusion to most, and I’m not sure this will help educate.
So, to balance that out this needed a strong pacy plot and a lead character you can emphasise with. And that’s a problem, because the plot lacks needed pace and tension and Pike is hard to relate to and understand his agendas.
It’s set up for a series about a shadow state and the way money controls the world, but to be honest I’ve seen it done better and am not sure I’ll be sticking with this series.

As a former member of 22 SAS Regiment, author Andy McNab is well qualified to write exciting thrillers, and he does so with aplomb in his latest offering - Shadow State.

We are introduced to phenomenal hacker Nathan Pike when he is on the receiving end of a thorough beating from his cell mate in Sihanoukville Police Station in Cambodia. Things aren’t looking good at all for Pike until out of the blue steps one Melody Jones who is here to secure his release, but Pike has no idea who this elegant lady is or what she’ll require in return. However, he’s under no illusion that there will be a high price to be paid - the price actually involves a heist of massive and intelligent proportions surrounding cryptocurrency.

Shadow State takes us around the world from Rwanda to El Salvador, Athens to Dubai, on a highly entertaining, action packed thrill a minute ride. This is a complex storyline but it’s well worth the attention required, as the reader will be richly rewarded with a real page turner. Excellent start to a new series.

Andy McNab branches out into a new division of modern espionage thrillers with Shadow State.

Nathan Pike is a witty and brilliant cryptography and cyberweapons specialist with a background in espionage who, after landing himself in a Cambodian prison, is approached by an enigmatic woman on behalf of a secretive benefactor with an offer that promises to challenge Pike’s skills like nothing before. Andy McNab keeps readers in the dark as the characters stumble across the globe from El Salvador to Athens and all the way to Dubai in an exotic story radiating a mirage of twists and turns to capitalize on the mystery of the bigger picture. Only, Nathan Pike isn’t one to be underestimated.

Shadow State is a hard-boiled caper thriller that packs and seals in the flavor of crime and danger in the modern age of cyberspace where anything and everything can be controlled using zeroes and ones, by those who know how to wield the unlimited power. While there’s still a healthy amount of old school subterfuge and thievery in the narrative that invokes a nostalgia of classics like Ocean’s Eleven, Andy McNab brilliantly injects the new threat of realistic cyberweapons such as Zero Day exploits all of which are explained in layman’s terms so that no reader feels out of sync with what’s going on in Nathan Pike’s head. If you’re a cyberspace geek, then it’s even more of a treat for you.

At the same time, the narrative never gets too convoluted for its own good and is very much driven by the protagonist, Nathan Pike. Andy McNab phenomenally sets up his new protagonist with emphatic insights into his foundations that help cement Pike as a full fledged character in our heads without compromising the velocity of the fast-paced storytelling. Pike is not an action-man. He can throw a punch and take one but his expertise lies in infiltrating technical systems, giving the narrative an extra touch of realism as Pike and his minders sneak into high security locations in sequences of intense nail-biting fervor.

Shadow State marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Andy McNab as he dabbles in the world of cryptography and cyberspace with the best attributes of a heat-seeking missile-paced thriller.


Full review posted on https://www.besthrillerbooks.com

A highly entertaining and twisty techno thriller. I found it gripping and surprising. The characters are well developed and the mystery solid.
A bit slow at the beginning and some very technical parts.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

This book took me a while to get through. It's a bit slow and not that exciting, just an average novel. I received it from Welbeck Publishing UK via Netgalley and it will be out on 5 January.

We follow Nathan Pike who gets in trouble in Cambodia but gets freed from prison by Melody Jones who has a plan with him. It has all to do with cryptocurrency... A lot of it!

The subject itself is quite interesting - cryptography, cyber weapons and cryptocurrency and the like. The characters are not that completely worked out, in my opinion. You don't really get to know them that well. At least not well enough to like or enjoy the characters. The story itself could have been a bit shorter for it to remain uptempo as well. Sometimes it just took too long for it to stay interesting. Too many details didn't help it either.

2,5/5⭐

A fast paced action-packed thriller featuring Nathan Pike, a talented hacker who finds himself drawn into a complicated heist involving cryptocurrency. This is the first book I have read by Andy McNab and I really enjoyed it. This is a well-plotted story with plenty of twists and surprises. The technical details of the cyber crimes were easy to follow, if not totally understood. The characters were engaging, especially Nathan, whose background is slowly revealed as the story progresses. A very entertaining read.

Shadow State is something a little different from Andy McNab with the main protagonist, Nathan Pike not being any kind of hero in the normal sense of the word. From a prison cell in Cambodia ,where a mysterious elegant woman rescues him, to being dragged into intrigue that could destabilise the wealth of an entire nation it's a story of hacking,crypto-currencies and political intrigue .With a rather wimpy hacker taking centre stage rather than the usual muscled hero with supreme fighting skills.it's far more entertaining than most would expect. It's a story that often reads like a plot from the old Mission Impossible TV series as Pike uses his panoply of technical skills to get into safes,supposedly secure buildings and computer systems.
Along with the tale of Pike's task is the story of how he picked up his skillset and the tragic events of his young life.

I'm not sure that all regular Andy McNab fans will enjoy this but I found it very entertaining and also an interesting look into the new era of crime when vast amounts of money can be stolen by scrawny young men with a mouse and keyboard rather than dynamite and a crew of hefty mates in Balaclavas.
Some of the subjects might appear to be daunting to non-techy readers but the basics of things like cryptocurrencies and various clever systems are explained concisely and clearly for us laymen to be able to follow the plot.

A quick and easy read,something different from Andy McNab and most importantly very entertaining.

I must confess that I haven't read anything by Andy McNab since Bravo Two Zero was published! He's been rather busy since then (as have I). I came into this with no preconceived idea of what to expect other than the description provided by the publisher so was very pleasantly surprised. Nathan Pike is a hacker with a conscience. He is jailed at the start of the book and rescued by a mysterious stranger calling herself Melody Jones. Things bump along quite nicely as 'Melody' offers Pike an intriguing job in payback for springing him from jail. The story progresses through South America, Asia and Africa at a good pace. The tech stuff is easy enough to keep up with and there are some extremely nice touches along the way. Enough before I get into spoiler territory. I would recommend this book unreservedly and would like to thank @NetGalley for the opportunity of reading this book and the publisher @welbeckpublish for making the book available.

I have read Andy McNab books before and really enjoyed them. However, this one lost me in its complexity around crypto currency and cyber crime. I had a couple of tries to restart the book but unfortunately I could not get into it.

Geordie Nathan Pike is very much a loner and currently he’s in Sihanoukville Police Station on the south coast of Cambodia getting a beating from his cell mate. It’s not looking good for him until his fairy godmother American Melody Jones turns up. Nathan is a genius hacker though he prefers the term cyber security specialist and so needless to say Melody wants something in return for springing him from jail. Meanwhile, in Rwanda, titan of industry wealthy, Lucius Gasana surveys his operation extracting tantalum used in electronic devices. What’s the connection between Melody’s actions and Lucius Gasana? This action packed thriller takes you on a bit of a world tour including Rwanda, El Salvador, Athens and Dubai with these settings being well described, adding an extra layer to the storytelling. The storyline in San Salvador I find especially fascinating.

I’ve been wanting to read an Andy McNab for a while so it’s great to get in at the start of a new series especially as he writes the kind of thrillers I really enjoy. The plot is complex, it needs focus which is a plus for me and there’s quite a bit of technology so I just go with the flow. The novel is lively, the pace is fast, there really isn’t a dull moment in this audacious plot. There’s a bit of everything from crypto currency to mineral extraction to ruthless/benevolent leaders to various bold thefts. Along the route to the end there is a hefty dose of betrayal and treachery with various righting of wrongs. The several strands in the storytelling connect well and it keeps you invested until the end.

The character of Nathan is so interesting and you really get a good insight into his personality via his growing up years in Newcastle which enables you to understand his motivations.

Overall, this is a good read, it’s intelligent but most importantly it’s very entertaining. If you like political/conspiracy thrillers, then you may enjoy this.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Welbeck Publishing U.K. for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.