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celtic67's review against another edition
4.0
Good thriller. First read by this author. Fans of Jack Reacher and Mitch Rapp will enjoy.
beastreader's review against another edition
4.0
Samuel Carver gets paid to make accidents happen. He can be classified as a hit man. His jobs usually involve him eliminating bad people like terrorists and human traffickers. Sam’s boss, Max gives Sam his latest orders to take out Ramzi Hakim Narwaz a terrorist. This mission just may be his last as it will have him running for his life. Sam accomplishes his mission. He makes Ramzi’s car crash into a cement wall at the Alma Tunnel. The date is August 31, 1997. What Sam doesn’t know is that the crash has actually took out America’s princess, Princess Diana. While Sam is trying to survive he meets Alexandra “Alix” Petrova. Alix is hired to take eradicate Sam. Sam and Alix come up with a plan to join forces instead in order to learn what is going on. Buckle up your set belts and get ready for the ride of your life!
From the first moment I read this book summary I have been wanting to read The Accident Man. Just the concept of the plot caught my attention. Well I can tell you I was not disappointed. For me this book hooked me right away. I found myself reaching for The Accident Man every chance I got. It might because The Accident Man really made me think of The Bourne movies with Matt Damon or maybe it was all the action as well as adventure on every page. Well whatever the case I am glad this book was not a let down. The Accident Man is Tom Cain’s first novel and I am sure we will be hearing more from him. Also this book is being made into a movie, which you can see why when you read The Accident Man.
From the first moment I read this book summary I have been wanting to read The Accident Man. Just the concept of the plot caught my attention. Well I can tell you I was not disappointed. For me this book hooked me right away. I found myself reaching for The Accident Man every chance I got. It might because The Accident Man really made me think of The Bourne movies with Matt Damon or maybe it was all the action as well as adventure on every page. Well whatever the case I am glad this book was not a let down. The Accident Man is Tom Cain’s first novel and I am sure we will be hearing more from him. Also this book is being made into a movie, which you can see why when you read The Accident Man.
simonrtaylor's review against another edition
4.0
The debut thriller of an accomplished writer. A fiction based on a real death. Already the book is unique before you even open the cover.
Samuel Carver is the an assassin for hire, but only kills bad guys. He’s duped into causing the death of Princess Diana and is subsequently hunted by both his bosses as a lose end, and MI6 as a murderer. Joined with a glamorous Russian girl, he zips round the globe trying to stay alive.
Although riddled with cliché, Cain made a serious effort to keep the plot as fresh and dynamic as he could. There were a whole plethora of characters involved in multiple agencies, caught up in complex web of rivalries and hierarchies. On the whole, this added to the book and gave the story much more depth than a two-dimensional cat and mouse chase. Enemies of enemies became friends as well as foes. Having said that, I did at times struggle to remember everybody’s associations and there were characters who could have been missed out completely at no loss to the tale.
Cain has quickly become a master with structuring a story. Admittedly, the beginning was shaky. He didn’t seem sure of his writing style and it took a while for the book to find its feet and slide into a natural rhythm. Once the flow of the story began, Cain skilfully kept the pace going straight through to the end. He knew when to speed things up and when to slow them down, when to build tension and when to explode with action, when to chart the slow seconds and when to skim long days. The chapters also vary in length and it adds to the deliberate, carefully controlled pace that never runs away from Cain or shudders along the way.
The characters themselves were unremarkable. A little effort was made to make Carver a more rounded individual with a flat tailored to suit him, but on the whole he was just another bland hero. The Russian villains in particular were as clichéd as a shaken, not stirred martini would have been. Even Alix, in the main, was flat and underdeveloped, but her real allegiance was well written. In this respect, Cain actually played up to the cliché, knowing his reader would expect some double-crossing. Playing this in the cleverest way, there genuinely is no guessing where her loyalties are concerned.
Particular criticism has been made of Carver’s laborious details, for example the much-maligned identification of the Windows 95 operating system on Carver’s laptop. This is quite unfair. Had this been set today in 2011 with Carver loading Windows Vista, I would have agreed. But this is a story set in 1997, published in 2007 and so these minor details are carefully selected reminders to the reader that they are in the previous century. Though Carver has the very latest of everything, the very latest was a very long time ago and Cain considerately provides authenticity when he can. There were carefully selected details about the Diana’s death and the immediate aftermath, however as part of the book’s selling point I would have liked to have seen a great deal more. We were a bit short changed on the Diana front. The more excessive details in my view are perhaps with the explicitness of the violence – brain matter flies about a lot – and he seems to enjoy the cruder descriptions and sexual dialogue when it occasionally crops up with aplomb.
I was intrigued with how the book would end, requiring a moral conclusion which at the same time did not involve any exposure or capture inconsistent with what could theoretically happened, remembering to this day the Princess’s death is considered accidental. Cain pulled it off. The final chapters of the book plunge suddenly and unexpectedly into an incredibly dark tone. The content was so harrowing it made me uncomfortable, which I imagine was precisely the point. The ending itself was very unexpected and rather atypical of the genre. And yet, on reflection, it was completely appropriate and it feels there is almost no other way it could have ended. Haunting but fitting. As Cain continues to develop his craft, his future catalogue looks extremely promising indeed.
Samuel Carver is the an assassin for hire, but only kills bad guys. He’s duped into causing the death of Princess Diana and is subsequently hunted by both his bosses as a lose end, and MI6 as a murderer. Joined with a glamorous Russian girl, he zips round the globe trying to stay alive.
Although riddled with cliché, Cain made a serious effort to keep the plot as fresh and dynamic as he could. There were a whole plethora of characters involved in multiple agencies, caught up in complex web of rivalries and hierarchies. On the whole, this added to the book and gave the story much more depth than a two-dimensional cat and mouse chase. Enemies of enemies became friends as well as foes. Having said that, I did at times struggle to remember everybody’s associations and there were characters who could have been missed out completely at no loss to the tale.
Cain has quickly become a master with structuring a story. Admittedly, the beginning was shaky. He didn’t seem sure of his writing style and it took a while for the book to find its feet and slide into a natural rhythm. Once the flow of the story began, Cain skilfully kept the pace going straight through to the end. He knew when to speed things up and when to slow them down, when to build tension and when to explode with action, when to chart the slow seconds and when to skim long days. The chapters also vary in length and it adds to the deliberate, carefully controlled pace that never runs away from Cain or shudders along the way.
The characters themselves were unremarkable. A little effort was made to make Carver a more rounded individual with a flat tailored to suit him, but on the whole he was just another bland hero. The Russian villains in particular were as clichéd as a shaken, not stirred martini would have been. Even Alix, in the main, was flat and underdeveloped, but her real allegiance was well written. In this respect, Cain actually played up to the cliché, knowing his reader would expect some double-crossing. Playing this in the cleverest way, there genuinely is no guessing where her loyalties are concerned.
Particular criticism has been made of Carver’s laborious details, for example the much-maligned identification of the Windows 95 operating system on Carver’s laptop. This is quite unfair. Had this been set today in 2011 with Carver loading Windows Vista, I would have agreed. But this is a story set in 1997, published in 2007 and so these minor details are carefully selected reminders to the reader that they are in the previous century. Though Carver has the very latest of everything, the very latest was a very long time ago and Cain considerately provides authenticity when he can. There were carefully selected details about the Diana’s death and the immediate aftermath, however as part of the book’s selling point I would have liked to have seen a great deal more. We were a bit short changed on the Diana front. The more excessive details in my view are perhaps with the explicitness of the violence – brain matter flies about a lot – and he seems to enjoy the cruder descriptions and sexual dialogue when it occasionally crops up with aplomb.
I was intrigued with how the book would end, requiring a moral conclusion which at the same time did not involve any exposure or capture inconsistent with what could theoretically happened, remembering to this day the Princess’s death is considered accidental. Cain pulled it off. The final chapters of the book plunge suddenly and unexpectedly into an incredibly dark tone. The content was so harrowing it made me uncomfortable, which I imagine was precisely the point. The ending itself was very unexpected and rather atypical of the genre. And yet, on reflection, it was completely appropriate and it feels there is almost no other way it could have ended. Haunting but fitting. As Cain continues to develop his craft, his future catalogue looks extremely promising indeed.
mojoshivers's review against another edition
5.0
A great introduction to hopefully a good series. I liked the fact that it took chances with its hero and allowed him to suffer and be defeated rather than making him an impossible man to beat or kill. It's in stark contrast to characters like Bourne and Reacher.
shahrun's review against another edition
4.0
I realy enjoyed this book. I found the pace good and I just had to keep turning the pages to find out what occured next. One thing baffeled me and that was the teaser for the sequel "House of War" which I appear to be reading now and is called "The Survivor".
labalkana's review against another edition
3.0
Ein Action geladener Thriller, rund um eine komplexe Verschwörungstheorie, dazu auf dem Buchrücken der Hinweis "Dieses Buch spielt in einer Liga mit den größten Thrillern aller Zeiten".
Meine Erwartungen waren dementsprechend hoch.
Samuel Carver ist ein guter Typ, relativ sympathisch für einen professionellen Killer.
Aber nach dem schnellen und spannenden Start musste ich mich ziemlich durchquälen. Es passiert ständig was, es gibt viele kleine Details, immer wieder unerwartete Wendungen und trotzdem lässt die Spannung extrem nach.
Erst gegen Schluss nimmt es wieder Fahrt auf. Der Showdown war super und das Ende macht dann doch Lust auf den nächsten Teil.
Meine Erwartungen waren dementsprechend hoch.
Samuel Carver ist ein guter Typ, relativ sympathisch für einen professionellen Killer.
Aber nach dem schnellen und spannenden Start musste ich mich ziemlich durchquälen. Es passiert ständig was, es gibt viele kleine Details, immer wieder unerwartete Wendungen und trotzdem lässt die Spannung extrem nach.
Erst gegen Schluss nimmt es wieder Fahrt auf. Der Showdown war super und das Ende macht dann doch Lust auf den nächsten Teil.
zach_ryder's review against another edition
2.0
The beginning of the novel is very good, the characters introduced are memorable and compelling. However at almost exactly halfway into this novel, the fast-paced action and twists grind to a halt. A whole new batch of characters are introduced, only for almost all of them to end up being inconsequential and ultimately useless. With their only purpose being setting up of sequels to this novel, which I'll never consider reading. Almost every action scene, while fast paced, is excruciatingly detailed and needlessly dedicates whole paragraphs to describing the setting which takes away from the actual events actually happening in said settings. Also every single back-stabbing made to the title character is contrived and the agendas explaining why they occurred are given fewer words than the amount given to describing the location the back-stabbing took place in.
Disappointing, long, doesn't live up to the incredibly interesting synopsis, won't continue this book series.
Disappointing, long, doesn't live up to the incredibly interesting synopsis, won't continue this book series.
the_graylien's review against another edition
3.0
A tagline of this book was seemingly asking, "Was there more to Princess Diana's death?" What I would find to be more appropriate would be, "If there were more to Princess Diana's death, what would take place behind the scenes?"
This novel explores just that in letting us follow protagonist Samuel Carver, who is unwittingly involved in that historic, tragic event.
The novel, for me, started slow. But I would urge potential readers to stay along for the ride because by the end of this, all the action, deceit, secret dealings, and revelations get to you. I read almost the entire back half of this one in one day.
I'd recommend this one to fans of mystery, conspiracy thrillers, and good action jaunts.
*-This was the Just for Fun Book Group selection for July 2011, nominated by Jeff
This novel explores just that in letting us follow protagonist Samuel Carver, who is unwittingly involved in that historic, tragic event.
The novel, for me, started slow. But I would urge potential readers to stay along for the ride because by the end of this, all the action, deceit, secret dealings, and revelations get to you. I read almost the entire back half of this one in one day.
I'd recommend this one to fans of mystery, conspiracy thrillers, and good action jaunts.
*-This was the Just for Fun Book Group selection for July 2011, nominated by Jeff
arathi's review against another edition
2.0
this was a very difficult read as I felt that too much was tried to get covered in one book. Took more than a month to finish it and the end pages were too rushed!