- Title:
- Decoy
- By:
- Simon Mockler
- Pages:
- None
- Rating:
- 3
A research lab on the outskirts of Cambridge, England is under attack. The target? A synthetic biological weapon that’s been harvested inside the bodies of ten clinical trial patients. One of those patients, Jack Hartman, runs for his life as the others are brutally butchered and left for dead. Inside of him is the one remaining device, a cell-based supercomputer that could kill him, or might just save his life.
Flung into a world of international arms dealing, high-tech security companies, and government corruption, Jack begins an epic battle for survival that takes him from the war-torn jungles of the Congo to the backstreets of Paris. On his trail is a rogue MI6 officer intent on silencing him for good, and his estranged father, a troubled former SAS officer once known as the Reaper.
More grammatical nonsense, which always irritates but more so when it’s not self-published: “source” (the foodstuff), onion “bharji” (yes, with the r), a “draw” (where you put things), “knifes” (that’s when there’s more than one, of course), “puss” (that’s the yellow liquid you get with infections, buy one s, get one free!), “arrondisement” (French is tricky, all the more reason to be careful), and a “last will and testimony”, just to finish off the set.
Still, apart from a complete proofread, the story was fun. Fitting into the category of teen crack-troop stories (although at university he’s getting on a little for the mold), the only glaring plot-hole that bothered me was when a computer’s hard drive was downloaded and searched, we’re told the keyword the searcher used, but we previously read in full the result they found (which, you guessed it, didn’t contain the keyword). Clearly, the message had to be discovered for the plot to advance, but readers aren’t usually so blind.
To conclude, a fun, fast-paced, grammatically woeful story. Mr Mockler evidently has a keen interest in the SAS and the various political and militaristic machinations of their ilk. More work needed on the editing front, alas.