Secrets and lies a plenty. Action packed and an unusual read. It felt quite different reading this, not in a bad way. I enjoyed the book. The plot was good and the story was interesting. its been on my to read list for some time and it was about time it got read.
it felt a little muddled in parts but overall an enjoyable read.

Thank you to Bloodhound books and Netgalley for the release of this book for review.

Okay - take a moment and look at this cover art!! I know people say don't judge a book by its cover but a good cover never hurt a book.

This is an action packed spy/conspiracy thriller. Set in various parts of the world, the reader is taken on a journey filled with suspicion, lies, secrets, loss, conspiracy, terrorism, drugs and a search for the truth. Grave Island is, in its own right, a well written and exciting thriller.

Philip Hennessy is an army intelligence officer. He returns from Afghanistan to a desk job in London – is framed for removing Top Secret files from the office and is drummed out of the service. Now these are not normally my style of books or novels but I really enjoyed the story plot to this book and the world building and character driven novel.

I do recommend this as a read.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Bloodhound Books and Andrew Smyth for the opportunity to read and review a copy of Grave Island.
I found the storyline was well thought out and moves along at a good pace. I thought the book was a good read, perfect for a cold winters night.
If you enjoy espionage, I don't think you will regret reading Grave Island.

THE UNHOLY TRINITY:
- bad writing
- boring plot
- under-developed characters

and yep, this book had them all.

the writing was mediocre, with a lot of tell-not-showing, and redundant descriptions, e.g. "I was really cold and shivering uncontrollably" (should have skipped "really cold"), "she said, rather unkindly" after a sentence that could not be construed in anyway but unkind, making that adjective redundant, and then does the exact same thing a few pages later with "she said, not exactly unflatteringly". there were also a lot of run-on sentences that absolutely did my head in, one of the worst of which was:

"They say that when a limb is cut off you can still feel it and the army still felt a part of me and on balance they'd looked after me well."

oh dear.

the plot had the potential to be good, but it just ended up being boring. SO boring. it basically kicks off with the subplot, weirdly, which is the protag getting discharged from the army because someone plants a file in his apartment (not a spoiler, it happens in the first chapter). the main plot comes in shortly after, with his ex-wife's friend asking him to look into the death of his father, who unexpectedly died of a heart attack after routine surgery.

now, after reading the blurb, it is patently obvious what happened to her father, which meant that all of the inquiries and theories were - and i'm using this word again! - redundant, because it literally says, right there in the blurb, what's going on. and we finally find out What's Going On at around, ooh, 35% or 40%, meaning that everything before that was just... pointless? (dare i say redundant again?)

and then after that it was just endless inquiries and info-dumps about how the pharmaceutical company works, and at some point we discover who planted the file in phillip's apartment and surprise surprise, it was obvious. everything was obvious. OBVIOUS. there was hardly any suspense because everything was so OBVIOUS.

sorry that this has been a harsh review, but i can't think of anything i really liked about this. like, at all.

needless to say, not recommended.

What a superb action packed thriller! I loved it. Very thought provoking with contemporary issues including counterfeit prescription drugs and radicalisation. It would be good to read more about Phillip Hennessy in future novels. Highly recommended.

An unusual thought-provoking modern thriller!

This was my first novel by Andrew Smyth, and I wasn’t disappointed, as it turned out to be an unusual thought-provoking modern thriller!

It features Phillip Hennessy, and the tale is woven in the first person. It starts in Afghanistan whereby Phillip has to make several life and death decisions, all part of his position as an army intelligence officer. Later when he returns home he finds that someone has set him up, so Phillip is discredited, meaning an abrupt end to his career.

What next? Quite unexpectedly Phillip is approached by his ex-wife’s best friend, Greta, and his investigative skills are certainly tested. He finds himself on a quest starting in London with rather sudden death, and then travelling around the world, only to discover a network of utterly useless, illegal, counterfeit drugs, which become infiltrated in authentic pharmaceuticals!

Phillip has to decide who of his allies can be trusted. There are so many twists and turns, certainly making ‘Grave Island’ a real page-turner. Can you imagine the impact and repercussions this would have on thousands of people? Wow...who is behind this? Also, will there be a love interest in any future novels? I look forward to Andrew Smyth’s next offering.

Galadriel.

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of this book to review.

Philip Hennessey, a British Intelligence Officer is set up by someone who he thought was a friend. His place is raided by Military Police, who find files in his possession that say, “Top Secret – Not to be Taken Out”. He knew that he had some files, but no Top-Secret files in his possession. Who could have planted them, and why? He knows he has a tendency to be too rough when he gets angry, but that would not be a reason for someone to plant files and contact the Military Police. James takes his punishment for the files, even though they were not put there by him. He knows they were planted and asks a friend, Ali to see if he can figure out who put them there, by seeing who the last person was to have the files.

Greta Satchwell, a woman who needs someone to help her figure out why her father died. She believes he was murdered and needs someone who can investigate his death and find out why he died. He went to the hospital for a routine surgery and ended up dead. He was a wealthy man who worked with some questionable people in Greta’s eyes. She believed they had him killed because he had some trouble with a project they were working on together, he had lost some money on it. Greta was given James’ name by Sally, his ex-wife. Greta and Sally had gone to school together and Sally felt that since James is no longer in the military, he would have some time on his hands and be able to help Greta.

The death of Mr. Satchwell will lead Philip into a world of trouble with his investigation. He will travel to Africa, Malaysia, and South Africa to chase down the real culprit for Mr. Satchwell’s death. He will be pulled into a world of counterfeit prescriptions and the underworld of drugs and drug cartels. The path to find the drugs is a scary path and his intelligence training will come in handy while he is investigating where the drugs came from.

I liked this book, but it was not a favorite of mine. There were a lot of twists and turns in the book which kept my interest, but the book did not draw me in all the way. I give this book a 3.5 star rating.

Now when this story begins a lot seems to happen all at once with three very different story lines shooting out of the chapters in very quick succession. Then before you know it things begin to click together and a very powerful, intriguing and jaw dropping story begins to emerge.
Oh boy I think that it is the first time that I actually went to my meds and read the info about them! Thing is I think most people are like me. We just trust certain people in society without question. We don’t have a choice most of the time because we simply don’t have the knowledge.
What begins as a promise made in Afghanistan to a distraught mother tangles up with a promise made to a daughter, to look into her father’s untimely death in a UK hospital. All made possible because Philip Hennessey had been set up and discharged from his role as an army intelligence officer.
Oh my this is such a gripping story line and as I am reading I am thinking bloody hell could this happen? Does this happen, may be not here but else where? It got me where I didn’t know who were the good guys and who were scum bags. This book was definitely audio because I never shut up, talking to Hennessey, cursing at decisions and hopelessly giving useless advice. Damn national health cut backs!
A super thriller with a pretty unique story line, set in some unusual globe-trotting locations with a tense and very satisfying ending. Hope to see Hennessey back in future novels.

I found this book very slow going at the start while Philip was in the Army. There was suspicious circumstances surrounding his discharge from the army but then he was approached by a friend of his ex-wife's who wanted him to look into the death of her husband.

This was the start of a roller coaster ride that didn't let up, it was full of twists and turns but so intriguing, it had you hooked. Phillip got hooked as well and didn't want to give up although the trail took him overseas and endangered his life but little did he realise there was danger close to home as well.

There must have been a lot of research for this book as the plot was very involved and well written , my only downside was the start, once he started investigating was when it got interesting for me.If we could give half stars, I would give 4.5, will keep an eye on this author

Grave Island Andrew Smyth

Have you ever wondered where your prescription drugs and medicine come from. No? Neither had I until I read this book.

Army investigator Philip Hennessey finds himself discharged from the service when evidence is planted on him to suggest he has broken military protocol. Out on civvy street he is asked to use his investigative skills to look into the death of a friend-of-a-friend.

This leads to him digging into the private hospitals of London and where they get their drugs from.

What a can of worms that opens. The illicit trade in drugs is massive. Drugs brought cheap in 3rd world countries and repackaged for the UK market, and sold at UK prices, are making people a semi-legitimate profit. But people who are prepared to do that are one step away from buying out of date drugs, which are worse than useless. People who are prepared to do that are one step away from buying completely illegal counterfeit drugs to supply to hospitals.

It’s not long before Hennessey is embroiled in an investigation which takes him around the world, putting him in danger from more than one quarter.

This is a really good story from a modern day Hammond Innes. Believable and realistic it leads the reader on a race around the globe to stop the trade in illegal drugs.

I loved this story. It took me right back to the thrillers I used to read back in the 70’s and 80’s, but with all the modern twists.

I enjoy books that get me reaching for google to research places and crimes, and this book had me doing that a lot.

Pages: File Size 1899KB
Publisher: Bloodhound Books
Available now

Philip Hennessey has been working for army intelligence ever since he became an adult. However, when he is mysteriously set up with false evidence brought against him, he finds himself with an honorary discharge. When a friend of his ex wife comes looking for help, he will lend his services as an investigator.

A powerful man in industry has died after a routine medical procedure, and his daughter suspects foul play. As Philip investigates, he will discover a very disturbing secret: there is a problem in the drug industry, and it is resulting in people's deaths. Can Philip uncover this tremendous secret, or is his own life in danger?

Grave Island had a very interesting concept. It definitely kept a fast pace, and a lot of characters were involved. However, I found that the writing style wasn't very appealing. It felt like everything happened a little too fast. Moreover, the descriptive parts of the plot were too many in comparison to the dialogue parts, which made the story flow less naturally. It definitely wasn't a bad read, but there was a lot of room for improvement as far as the writing style is concerned.

Happy Publication Day!This is the very first book I have read by Andrew and I must say I am very impressed! I must admit it took me a few chapters to get into the story but then it had me hooked… Grave Island is different from those everyday thrillers we read, unique… BUT a brilliant story I enjoyed.

You can tell Andrew has put a lot of time and effort into researching this story and I learnt some new information myself from this book about medicine and drug companies. Once I got into the story I didn’t want to put it down. Grave Island is a fast paced, easy to read mystery thriller.

I would highly recommend to you all! A well deserved four stars. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future. Will Philip solve what happened? He is one determined man.

I loved this book, it was a completely different type of crime thriller. It moved along at a good pace, and to some exotic locations, although some seem more exotic than they are in reality.

I really wouldn’t be surprised if this sort of thing happened, and it did remind me of the film The Constant Gardener.

I must say, I did like Phil, and felt sorry for him, that after his stint in the army he was forced to leave without really giving his side. Typical government departments they believe what they want.

I would like this character to continue as I think he has the making of a spook.

Grave Island is what I would class as a pharmaceutical thriller. It's still drugs but not quite the same as you would find available on most streets. Through Phillips investigation, it gives us a glimpse of what this dark and scary world is like.

The story takes us to some great locations. Not sure how safe some of the places would actually be for tourists but they are countries I would love to actually see for myself. It certainly showed a darker side to the areas in question and like visiting anywhere new for the first time, you certainly have to keep your wits about you.

The author weaves a tangled web of lies and deceit with some horrifying consequences. The book itself will certainly appeal to those who enjoy a good conspiracy story. There isn't many thrillers that have the same story line making this authors book stand out in it's genre. A compelling and intriguing read.

The sypnosis of this book sounded really good however unfortunately it didn't quite deliver on its promise.

The book didn't seem to flow and I couldn't really engage with the main character. I felt that at times there was just too much going on.

Parts of the book were good it is just a shame that the promise wasn't delivered on

This book follows the story of Philip Hennessey, an intelligence officer with the army. One day he is caught with some secret files which he did not take, but instead appeared out of nowhere. Hennessey states that he did not take them and has no idea how they got there, but is unable to prove that. As a result, he is discharged from the army. How can he prove his innocence? Why would someone leave the files there and set him up?

Hennessey is approached by his ex-wife’s friend, who thinks that her father’s death was a murder, and asks Hennessey for his help in trying to figure out what exactly happened to her father.

This book was a good thriller, that had you guessing what was going to happen next. If you like thriller books that keep you guessing what will happen next then this is a good book for you.

This book captured me from the first page. This is a real page Turner and the subject matter is very frightening. Counterfeit drugs which ears deadly, ISIS and a sacked military intelligence agent. This book is a rare rollercoaster travelling half way round the world chasing counterfeit drugs and trying to stop them. The premise for this book makes you think and scares you at the same time. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a fast paced thriller.
I would like to thank the author Andrew Smyth,Bloodhound books and Net.galley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for giving an honest review.