The pace of the first third of this book was so high that I ended up with friction burns and breathless from trying to keep up with the story. Then it slowed down just enough for me to get my breath back whilst the "hero" sorted out that which needed sorting. As you might guess, the final third was again at breakneck speed and it rocked to a halt over a very nice bottle of wine - as all great adventures should.

If, like me, you like stories that give you a heart-pounding storyline and that once it gets its teeth into you will not let go until the very last page, this is most certainly a book for you.

With comparisons to Lee Child and David Baldacci straight away I knew I was going to be in for a good read, Arkhangel doesn’t disappoint.

Our protagonist is Max McLean a man who doesn’t exist and a man who has so many bumps and scrapes throughout this book I am surprised he gets past the first couple of chapters alive! But that is what he is trained to do, he is an assassin, one that operates with his own agenda.

We meet Max during a botched assassination where his target is already dead, he retrieves from the body an $100 bill - it hides a cryptic message that takes him from Ireland to Paris then Jerusalem then finally the snowy wastes of Russia.

Things I liked about this book -

The settings, especially Paris and Jerusalem. In Paris some of the action takes place in the catacombs below the city, a highly spooky place full of bones and explorers - if you’ve not heard about it check it out here. Jerusalem sounds vibrant, full of colour and delicious food and lots of history.
Baaz, he joins Max in Paris, he helps Max circumnavigate the catacombs, he is the angel to Max’s devil.
The motorbike scene - it takes place in Paris, Max is on the run from the cops, the Russian’s, probably MI6, the Israelis, name a team of assassins, you can bet they are on his tail. His tail is perched upon a motorbike which proceeds to career through the streets of Paris, the writing around these chapters really conveys the urgency of it.

Things I didn’t like about this book -

It did take a little while to get going, the first couple of chapters though full of action didn’t fully hit the mark for me, the book really got going about a third of the way in.
His luck, he is shot at, near drowned, more times than anyone could survive - I know poetic license and all that, Max must have bones made of the same stuff as Wolverine.

All in all though it is what it says on the tin, a thrilling journey to get to the bottom of the cryptic message, Max never gives up despite the numerous hurdles he faces. I can see a film of this in the future. Hopefully without Tome Cruise in the leading role.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Clear your schedule and sit down and read the best thriller I have read this year. Takes off like a rocket from the first page and never lets up until you have turned the last page. I have travelled the world with Mc Clean, car chases, a motor bike ride which seems impossible. Every agency you think of either try I g to catch him or kill him. A high octane page turner which had me holding g my breath, ducking, shouting at the characters. I am exhausted and a very happy reader. A new author for me and I am already searching out more of his work. LOVED IT!!!!!!!
Thanks to Penguin UK and Michael Joseph and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

Max Mclean is an expert at clandestine activities, he’s an assassin with a dedicated approach to his craft. But when a mission goes south, he becomes the target and his resources & options are evaporating fast as multiple governments join the hunt, and he doesn’t know who to trust.

This novel didn’t quite have the same impact on me as it’s clearly had on others readers. I didn’t really connect to Mclean and I found some action sequences to be lacking in thrills or actual tension. However, I wasn’t aware that this was the second novel to feature this character when I requested it, so I probably would’ve enjoyed it more if I had read the previous book and therefore had more invested in the character and his environment.

Max is back! And this time it's very personal...

Another Max McLean mission, another breath-taking ride through the darker side of life that most of us rarely come into contact with.

While The Break Line was seemingly (and hopefully) fantastical, Arkhangel is far more personal for Max and more real for us - especially with current affairs in the state that they are with Russia and warnings of technological breaches of secure systems hitting the headlines every five minutes.

The scrapes (an understatement if ever there was) this man gets himself into and the luck he has getting out of them are nothing short of miraculous yet you still believe in him and them. It helps that the narrative ensures his injuries stay current and affecting, not disappearing overnight, although your belief in the strength and longevity of a one hundred dollar bill may be tested at times!

I loved this tale even more than the last. It seemed James Brabazon had relaxed into his writing from the outset this time, no bamboozling acronyms. When a phrase is thrown into the mix in another language, it's not always explained which I like - you can choose to either assume its meaning or look it up, it all adds to the maelstrom, although the precise descriptions of fight scenes both take your breath away and necessitate some re-reading on occasion, unless very familiar with combat yourself.

The short, sharp sentences that are peppered throughout give a nice bit of 'Max personality' and the prose is so easy to read (fight scenes allowing) the story races by.

It's all very plausible and all quite mind-blowingly depressing if you actually thought about it hard enough. The way of life we have invented could all be gone in an instant, or more chillingly, held to impossible ransom.

I suppose one could say the current pandemic has done this to a certain extent and whether a freak of nature or made in a lab, it's all down to us and our proclivities. Damn those homo sapiens.

Bring on the next one, I cannot wait to see how long McLean can last!

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

max mclean a man that no longer exists, a ghost
his mission is to take out a man at a location that he is hiding at

but it all goes wrong and now max is on the run but his one clue is the hundred dollar bill with the word archangel

to some it means nothing but to max it means everything and with special forces after him he has to go deep undercover

a fast paced thriller that fans of reacher will love..

I found this book quite a slow read. In places it was excellent but then lost it's 'spark' towards the end, The main character was good but some of the action he was involved in was a bit unbelievable. I like a bit more realism,

A roller coaster of a read with non-stop action of an assassin caught in evets, unforeseen and out of control. Seemingly abandoned and bewildered needing all his wits to extricate himself. With friends killed at every turn and a loss of an old love, it involves a lot of soul searching and philosophising on his part as well as struggling to understand Quantum Physics, so as to decide what to do and to carry on to do what needs to be done to bring matters to a conclusion. A most engrossing and exciting read.

A fast paced spy type thriller set in Ireland and Russia. Sometimes the action seemed a bit far fetched, but it's fiction so it doesn't matter. I would be interested to read other books based on this character.

Normally I would love this type of story but this seemed to drag a bit. The authors style is okay and easy to read however this one was missing some real oomph. It had all the ingredients of a great story of an assassin traveling the world trying to understand what and why he was given a certain job. As a billy no mates he also finds a friend but never makes it work. Maybe because the weather is great outside at the moment and I was distracted is why for me it just did not hit the mark.

James Brabazon has conjured up a high energy, fast paced and complex thriller that will appeal to readers who like action that comes thick and fast. On the plus side, it is to the author’s credit that the writing is always fluent and captures the action and dialogue very effectively. Some readers may feel that the central character has rather more lives than the proverbial cat, but this really is par for the course in books that follow the path already trodden in the adventures of characters like James Bond and Jason Bourne. The plot is complex and may occasionally leave the reader scratching his head, but - for the most part - it is coherent and provides a loose framework on which to hang an adventure that will engage most readers and provide plenty of sound reasons to suspend disbelief for the few hours it will take most readers to finish; it certainly passes the hard-to-put-down test.

If I had to sum up this book in one word it would be “frantic”. It sort of defines the saying non-stop action. I did find it a bit credulous as the main character Max McLean appears to be almost indestructible in his off the books assassins role that takes him from Ireland to Russia via Israel…. oh! and a major firefight in Paris, whilst never being sure who is friend or foe.
You can’t help but be absorbed as the mission unfolds and the double dealing becomes apparent. Reading this book burns calories !

A very fast pace novel, which had me hooked from the very beginning and I did not want to put it down until I got to the end. The main character, Max, an assassin for the British Secret Service, is caught up in a mission that goes wrong and finds himself fleeing and being chased from Ireland to France, Israel and Russia. A real cliff hanger of a story which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The book will appeal to the lovers of Jason Bourne, Jack Reacher, or even Dan Brown.
The protagonist Max, is a complex, cold-blooded assassin working for the British secret services, who gets'set-up' by cunning ruthless villains. He cannot trust anybody, every person in his life is a potential threat. The plot takes the reader on quite a tortuous route via Ireland, France, Israel, Russia, and the UK. A fast-moving novel, regularly interspersed with unbelievable violence, gory depictions of slayings and weird characters. Some scenes of violence may seem a bit too gratuitous to some readers.
I wasn't too sure at first whether I would like the book. However, it just got better and better, with the plot sucking you into the strange world that the main character, Max, inhabited.
This would be a good book to read on your holiday beach if you are lucky enough to have one close at hand!

James Brabazon does it again in this hard boiled and razor edged military thriller. Main character is really well written. Excellent plot that will have you hanging off the edge of your seat. Brilliant and gruesome set pieces which fit the story perfectly. Fans of Clancy and Matt Reilly ( Scarecrow) will love this. An author that all mil-action fans should be following.

An enigma caught on the horns of a dilemma best describes the position Max McLean finds himself in when tasked with a 'kill' in Donegal, but a corpse can't be killed. In a frenetic chase, and be chased, across France, Israel and Russia, Max tries his best to uncover who is manipulating his fate.
This novel starts with a very fast paced mission which goes badly wrong, fleeing the UK to Paris, Max gets bogged down in the city's catacombs after a protracted firefight, the pace slows. Max subjects himself to periods of introspection which never seems to alter his direction of travel or understanding of events. The slower pace continues when Max bowls up in Israel. However, the book finishes how it started, at a blistering pace, as Max makes his exit from a snowy Russia.
I must confess to a feeling of déjà vu when I predicted, then read, exactly what happened in the Russian church. Weird. Other than that, a cracking read and a name to look out for in the future.

Arkhangel is a thrilling high octane read which does not let up it's furious pace. Drawing the reader in from the first page, it's a novel you feel compelled to read in what sitting. So clear your diary and get comfortable as this book is impossible to put down.