77 North is the third book by DL Marshall to feature John Tyler, and though you could read it as a standalone the plot would make more sense if you started at the beginning with Anthrax Island. With everyone now thinking he is dead, Tyler is pursuing those responsible for his brother’s death when he is ‘persuaded’ to go on one last mission. Sent to an abandoned Soviet-era hotel in the far reaches of Siberia, to obtain information and rescue a scientist, he faces some of the most inhospitable conditions on the planet. Has he walked into a trap? Who, if anyone, can he trust?
In the present day, the story is told from Tyler’s perspective, but he keeps some things close to his chest that we only discover as the mystery is unravelled, slowly, layer by layer. There are flashbacks to French Equatorial Africa in 1999, where we meet a young John Tyler but don’t know if the two strands of the plot are connected or not.
There are lots of action sequences and car chases where your heart will be in your mouth. The characters are fully rounded with several strong females, and the settings are vividly brought to life, especially the perpetual darkness and sub-zero temperatures in Siberia. Every time you think you have worked out what is going on, the author pulls the rug out from under you and makes you second guess what you think you know – everyone is under suspicion at some point in the narrative. The artwork on the cover is eye-catching, and is different from the usual generic covers of thrillers like this. I don’t know if this is the final John Tyler book or not, but I hope he comes back and look forward to reading his next adventure. Thanks to Canelo and NetGalley for a digital copy to review.

77 North is the final book in DL Marshall’s incredible John Tyler trilogy. Following on from books 1 & 2, this is yet again such a pure adventure book. It reads like watching Bond or Bourne at their very best on screen.

The action is non stop, the pages turn so effortlessly. Every location adds to the story, with shady characters and motivations that kept me up for hours.

I cant wait to see what the author writes next, as it will definitely go straight to the top of my TBR.

I was drawn in by the comparison with Alistair MacLean novels of the 60s which I thoroughly enjoyed and still re-read on occasions. I suppose 60 years on and I've changed and the sense of danger and violence have changed. Not to the better as far as I'm concerned, there can be too much action, car chases, helicopter crashes, jumping back and forth from 1989 or 1998 and the present. It's also the third in a series and I'm sure that I have missed something by not reading them first. Sorry, but I'm not inclined to buy them and try. Full on, non-stop action with little let-up. I'm just getting old!! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

This is the third and final(?) instalment in the John Tyler series and if you haven't read the first two, get on that sharpish!

In 77 North we follow on from events in the previous book and find Tyler on a revenge mission. Unfortunately before he can complete his mission, he has to pay back a pretty hefty debt and soon finds himself in the depths of Siberia. Cue action, mystery, fighting and, of course, cars!

This isn't one of those times when you can say 'it can be read as a standalone', it can't. We'll it could, but there is a lot of things wrapped up that started in books 1 & 2 so, why would you do that to yourself!

Recomended for when you are in the mood for some action with a side of mystery!

John Tyler is dead. Which is awfully convenient for someone who wants to take revenge on the people who killed his brother. But it seems that some people know what he’s up to, and when his final act of vengeance turns out to be a trap, Tyler finds himself with no choice but to do one final job for the CIA.
For someone like Tyler, it should be a straightforward job – go to an isolated former hotel on an island in Siberia, get information from a Russian scientist about a double agent and get out again. But things are never straightforward for Tyler. The hotel is haunted by its past – KGB experiments into psychic phenomena such as spontaneous human combustion for example – and by the time Tyler arrives, at least one man is already dead, burned to death.
With enemies old and new surrounding him and a killer who can walk through walls, this could indeed be Tyler’s final job.
Sorry for the blog being quiet – been busy with school exam results and reading some pretty crappy books – so I thought I’d better get down to a few upcoming new releases in case school started getting in the way as term kicks off. And what better way to start than with reading the book equivalent of a rollercoaster…
To recap, this is the third of a trilogy which started with Anthrax Island and continued into Black Run. Anthrax Island is a wonderful book – my 2021 Book Of The Year, in fact, and that’s from a year when The Appeal came out! It’s the love-child of Alistair Maclean and John Dickson Carr and definitely needs reading, especially if you want to read this one as well, as there are necessary spoilers for the earlier book, as some plot threads continue here. Black Run was just as exciting but dialled back on the locked room aspect – there is one, but it’s a bit of an old chestnut – in some ways, the room is a little too locked…
So, on to the third book, and for those interested, yes, there is a locked room, as a murder occurs when Tyler is sealed inside a nuclear bunker with three other people. It’s not treated as such, really, because Tyler is locked in the bunker with two people he can’t really trust, so there’s every chance that the murderer was one of them, rather than a psychic phantom who can walk through walls and incinerate people with a thought. The solution is a tad more complicated that “Tyler didn’t notice one of them committing a murder with a flamethrower”, just in case you are worried about it.
It's far more of a thriller than a mystery, with the action in Siberia, and, later, London, interspersed with a flashback to Tyler’s introduction to his espionage career in Africa with his brother, and it’s a thriller that never stops moving, often in a direction that you’re not expecting. It follows Tyler throughout so you know what he knows – mostly, he does keep some bits to himself for dramatic effect. It’s really hard, I think, to write a sympathetic lead character when they are the sort of person who can kill when necessary without really thinking about it, but Marshall does an excellent job with Tyler. The support characters, in particular the one returning from Anthrax Island, are well represented too.
All in all, this is a first-rate thriller. If you enjoyed M W Craven’s Fearless, then this book – this trilogy – should be right up your street.

When I finished Black Run, the second book in the John Tyler series in early 2022, I was a bit depressed. For one, the book ended in a cliffhanger. For another, neither Danny Marshall nor Canelo had announced Book 3. The year passed without Tyler 3. I thought Danny had moved on to other projects. All I was left with was a wistful sigh.


I needn't have been worried. Because Danny took the time of over a year to craft a truly special send-off to Tyler. 77 North is a globe-spanning, head-busting, ice-cold, lean, mean machine of a book that inserts its hooks into the reader in Page One and doesn't retract it till long after the reader finishes it.


Every author has pet themes that recur in their books. Robert Ludlum's were powerful people up to no good. Eric van Lustbader's are martial arts and corporate skullduggery. Alistair MacLean's is a small group of men defying impossible odds. Danny Marshall's are isolation and geography. And for Tyler's swansong, he's come up with the granddaddy of isolated geographies - a hotel in Novaya Zemlaya, a Siberian island north of the Arctic Circle. Bad things happened there once. And bad things are happening again. And Tyler is smack-dab in the middle of it.

That's the inadequate summary premise of the book. Marshall has arranged the mystery like an onion that Tyler has to peel away There is also Tyler's origin story set in the fictional African country of Nyambe.

(Incidentally, two of my favorite movies - Commando and Predator - both feature the same fictional South American country, Val Verde. DC Comics has several such places - Santa Prisca, Corto Maltese, Kahndaq. So, for me, Nyambe was a delightful homage.)


Over the course of 50-odd chapters, Marshall has Tyler peel away the mystery layer by layer while fighting for his life against the merciless Arctic cold and an assassin who can seemingly walk through walls. It's a unique blend of action, adventure, and mystery, equal parts Poker Face and Die Hard. The scenes in which Tyler has to stay alive out in the open reminded me of the Alistair MacLean thriller Bear Island.

;
Marshall has mastered the art of being influenced by the greats but not aping them - not an easy thing to do. 77 North is superbly-plotted, with great characters and relentless pacing. And it's got a great mystery at its core. Really, it's futile to compare it to any other book because it's in a genre all by itself.


Lastly, a word about the cover. Most publishers today aren't willing to spend much on covers. Which is why, 99% of thrillers have Man on the Stairs or Standing Man Staring at a Cityscape as covers. Canelo is one of the few publishers who are bucking this trend. 77 North's cover is illustrated, with actual characters from the book, cars and explosions. It harkens back to the glory days of sixties' and seventies' paperbacks whose covers also helped tell the story.


I'm not sure how Marshall will top 77 North. But I am sure he will, and I will be there for the ride.

This was a great finale to the John Tyler series, it had everything that I was hoping for from the series and description. I enjoyed the characters and how well they worked in this universe. D L Marshall has a great writing style and I can’t wait to read more from him.

Hopefully, you've read the previous two novels in this trilogy - if not, what are you waiting for?! If you have, you'll know to expect car chases and shootouts with a sprinkling of the paranormal alongside well-drawn, interesting characters. '77 North' is no exception.

'77 North' is utterly captivating, combining a current-day mystery with Tyler's backstory. The reader is taken from America to Central Africa, Siberia and Europe with excellent descriptions. Marshall conjures the heat and oppression of Central Africa brilliantly.

Although I don't tend to read action thrillers, I make an exception for DL Marshall because his mysteries are so bloody clever. I found myself holding my breath during the tense set pieces.

'77 North' is engaging and features characters that are fleshed out in a way you don't often see in action-led novels. Another win for DL Marshall.

77 Vorth is a very thrilling story with captivating, intriguing characters and fantastic writing! Definitely a book worth reading.

A full-blown old-school vibey action adventure with a premium on unexpected twists and enthralling cinematic action with a pinch of murder mystery bordering on paranormal horror at times. John Tyler is one of the most engaging action icons I have read, coupling charisma with deadly skills to take down enemies while freezing in the cold hell that is Siberia. Not only are the descriptions vivid, but the situations feel so lifelike that you forget to catch your breath in the midst of the shocking revelations and bolstering action.

Full review to be posted on https://www.bestthrillerbooks.com/kashif-hussain

This series just gets better and better.

There are two pieces of good news for fans of the previous John Tyler books. First, he's not dead. Second, this third entry in the series is more of the same - a non-stop rollercoaster of car chases, shoot-outs and narrow escapes.

Following the events of "Black Run" Tyler has recovered and is now pursuing those responsible for killing his brother. But his return to life has come at a cost - he's beholden to those who saved him, and when they ask him nicely to do a job, he's honour-bound to comply, with the promise to wipe the slate clean.

Before we have time to take a breath, Tyler is helicopter-bound for a 60s hotel deep in Siberia, to obtain information from a Russian scientist about a double agent within NATO. Even the trip there isn't without excitement but upon arrival our hero learns of the hotel’s grisly past and the KGB’s Cold war experiments into psychic phenomena. Throw in some international weapons dealers and a serial killer and we're off.

And for hard-core Tyler-ites, there's a fabulous back story of a young Tyler, just setting out on his adventures, green, inexperienced, but ready for anything.

There's new faces, old-faces, fast cars (lots of fast cars), guns and gear. Oh, and biscuits. The cold Siberian tundra, the beige and green of the old Russian hotel, and all the other locations are completely real, as is Tyler's anger, fear and frustration. By book three the man is almost fully formed and we love him. Events begun in book one are revealed and there's a satisfying feeling when Tyler gets the big picture.

If ever there was a successor to Alastair MacLean or Jack Higgins, it's Danny Marshall. The Tyler series has been what fans of those 60s and 70s thrillers have been missing all these years, and he's delivered nicely. These are lean, clean. no-nonsense thrillers in the best tradition. Hopefully younger fans will discover what they've been missing too.

I was lucky to receive a Netgalley ARC of "77 North" but you can bet I'll be first in the queue for a proper copy. The bad news is that this book comes with *the most fabulous* cover EVER, and since books one and two are to be republished with their own new covers, this could turn out to be an expensive time.

Highly recommended.