Product Description

Afghanistan. Every year, an assignment for thousands of British personnel. Some of them bring back more than memories.

TV producer Dan Simmons wants to film it all. He finds a regiment about to be deployed to the Afghan war on a radical anti-heroin operation. He gets himself embedded. He shoots some film. Then he shoots himself.

The Ministry of Defence puts Military Police captain Stef Maguire under pressure to file it all away. But Maguire has heard the TV man’s dying words and they lead her to someone called Tom Fletcher. Ex-cop, ex-PI, now Fletcher is living the perfect life in a house in the country. A very isolated house.

Fletcher doesn’t know why the TV man shot himself. But some very dangerous people think otherwise. And when they begin to threaten Fletcher’s family, it’s time for him to act. (20080314)

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #288966 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
'Lennon's latest offering has it all... There are more than enough twists and turns to keep any hardened thriller aficionado interested.' (News of the World on CUT OUT 20070131)

'A brutal examination of betrayal by an author who knows how to show exactly what his characters are putting in jeopardy' (Natasha Cooper, author and book critic 20070731)

'Richly imaginative...could just possibly turn Tom Fletcher into another Morse' (The Times on STEEL WITCHES 20060519)

'A terrific climax...A breadth to the story that is captivating, as well as some finely drawn characters and lovely language, but the star must be the fantastic landscape' (Tangled Web on STEEL WITCHES 20080222)

'Intelligent and well-written examination of prejudice and paranoia, misogyny, jealousy and fear'

(Times Literary Supplement on STEEL WITCHES )

'The undoubted strengths of this book are Lennon's storytelling and his ability to ramp up the atmosphere...a truly tense ending...If you're a fan of Jim Kelly, you should give Lennon's books a try...an unusual and exciting slant' (Reviewingtheevidence.com on STEEL WITCHES )

'Multi-layered and deeply satisfying...an engaging series character with a genuine emotional life' (Shotsmag on CORN DOLLS )

'A writer to watch' (Mark Billingham )

'The reader ends up in a rather emotional state...becoming increasingly agitated...a delightfully unexpected twist...an extremely enjoyable book' (eurocrime.co.uk on STEEL WITCHES )

'A great read that mixes politics, historical pageantry, resentment and revenge in a seemingly quiet Cambridge village. Highly recommended' (Sarah Broadhurst on CORN DOLLS )

'A strong series debut . . . evocative . . . a sharp plot which canters towards an explosive finish' (Tangled Web on CORN DOLLS )

'More than an echo of The Wicker Man...entirely believable – this strange village in the middle of one of the UK's bleakest regions...A thoroughly gripping page-turner. Lennon marries the unusual Russian angle very slickly with the remote village and its odd traditions...If you're a fan of Jim Kelly's Fenland series, you shouldn't miss CORN DOLLS. It's a fabulous first novel.' (reviewingtheevidence.com on CORN DOLLS )

'A new author and a new character . . . both have great promise . . . well worth following' (Publishing News on CORN DOLLS )

'PI Tom Fletcher of the highly atmospheric CORN DOLLS returns in another Cambridgeshire tale...a great character'

(Bookseller )

About the Author
Patrick Lennon grew up in Cambridge and has lived in Thailand, Italy, France and Mexico. His first book CORN DOLLS was shortlisted for the 2008 Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Award and was a bestseller in Italy and Germany. (20080430)

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Customer Reviews

Fast, clever, sexy
Tom Fletcher was formerly a police detective (in 'Corn Dolls') and then a private eye (in 'Steel Witches'). In this, the third and apparently final book in the trilogy, he is living a self-sufficient lifestyle on a small farm in Cambridgeshire, complete with apple orchard and beehives. His life, with his wife and two little children, seems almost perfect. This is the world of Patrick Lennon, though, and this peace is shattered when a TV film maker is found shot dead at a nearby army barracks. The TV man was making a documentary about anti-heroin operations in Afghanistan, and so the Ministry of Defence media team are keen to write his death off as suicide.

The Military Police - in the form of Captain Stef Maguire - believe there is a link between the film maker's research and Tom Fletcher himself. Not only the MPs, but also a number of vicious men from the heroin-dealing crime underworld. Although he tries to resist being drawn in, Fletcher has to fight back to protect his family and his new life. The book builds up to a rapid series of violent confrontations, with each one seeming to be the last barrier to be crossed, until a phenomenal last battle between Fletcher and his allies - Captain Maguire among them - and the criminals they have uncovered.

This is the kind of book that keeps you turning pages, partly through the excitement of the story, but also out of fear for the characters you like and want to survive. Fletcher is at his most charismatic yet (and very fit, my girlfriend points out) and it is fascinating to see him having finally settled down with Cathleen, his long-term lover and muse. Cathleen herself is more fully presented than in the previous books, and the way the unfolding crisis hits her is very tenderly drawn. For me, Stef Maguire is a haunting character too - slightly unstable (like all of Lennon's other major female leads) but so likeable (and fit, by the way).

The action in Cut Out is split between Afghanistan, where the army are gearing up for the big anti-heroin push, and scenes in England including the Fens, London and a yacht on the east coast owned by a heroin gangster. I really liked the way Lennon winds up the tension in each scene and the very fast pace, it really charges along like a bullet train (after some slightly drawn out scenes in the first quarter which raise the paranoid atmosphere).

This is a very far-sighted book. It portrays the MOD as cynically using spin and media subterfuge to present their version of events, something we read increasingly about in the press. Without giving anything away, at the heart of the book there is an idea about the war in Afghanistan which is simple but incredibly controversial.

So a very up to date, very fast, imaginative and sexy thriller.

Cut out
This is a thriller that's not only a page turner but long after I'd finished reading I was left thinking....about the army...about murders I read about in the papers...about relationships. Patrick Lennon manages to keep the atmosphere of menace going throughout the book and I never felt that I could see the ending coming. Best of all is the writing itself. He effortlessly conjures up images without relying on cliche. He has a style all of his own.

Cut Out
I'm a recent convert to Patrick Lennon's books. I think Cut Out is the best thriller I've read this year (maybe for a few years, though I am a big fan of Peter Temple as well). The story starts at great pace, when a TV film producer is found shot dead at an army barracks which has a history of bullying. The Military Police find that he was investigating the importing of heroin, and so the plot unfolds to include organised crime, corruption in the armed forces and the personal quest by one of the MPs to salvage her own reputation.

I loved the Tom Fletcher character in this book, as much as in the previous two. He is a tough guy, but is still a little vulnerable, desperate to keep his family safe. The way the army is presented is controversial, but I agree that many readers will recognise the "MOD spin machine" that we read about in the press. As with the other Lennon books, the big attractions are the pace, the very clever development of the plot, and the pervading atmosphere of menace which this writer does so very well. Any thriller lover will pick this book up and run with it.