Book Review: Decisive Measures

Reviewed By: Luke Croll - RAM

Decisive Measures     Amazon UK HC
John Nichol
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Military   Thriller
Hodder & Stoughton; 2000; £16.99; pp 310

Classification: Adult fiction (War thriller)

Helicopter pilot Jack Griffiths leaves the RAF to work for a private company, hoping to put the horrors of Bosnia and Kosovo behind him. However, in Sierra Leone, he meets Layla, only to have their friendship torn apart with the outbreak of civil war. Jack has to go back into combat and confront the ghosts of his past.

I found the last couple of Nichol novels to be slightly lack-lustre and they also seemed to concentrate around one thing - the main character trying to escape war and stuff from his past. Here, that is a similar plot, even down to the romance that takes place. Nevertheless, Nichol has a good writing style and the book captures the reader's attention.

It is quite interesting and Nichol deals with a contemporary conflict, bringing war to life with his considerable experience in this field. However, I found the ending slightly too bizarre to believe. It may well be plausible but I could not credit it. Overall, if you like war thrillers, you could do worse than this, but it is rather an average novel.

Luke Croll - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Luke Croll - RAM

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