Trojan by Alan Mc Dermott is an unputdownable thriller that had me gasping for breath at times. It’s a page turner for sure.

“Trojan” eBook was published in 2017 and was written by Alan McDermott. He has published ten novels. This is the first in his new "Andrew Harvey" series.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in contemporary Europe, mostly in England. The primary character is MI5 agent Andrew Harvey.

MI5 hears of the threat of attack by terrorists using a powerful nerve gas. Harvey and his fellow agents must find out who is going to carry out the attack. They must sift through many leads to track down those who are involved in the pending attack.

While there is some action, this is mostly a story of intrigue and misdirection. I enjoyed the 4.5 hours I spent reading this 302 page thriller. I liked the characters in the novel as well as the plot. The plot in this novel was not as predictable as many of this genre that I have read. The cover art is OK. I give this novel a 4.4 (rounded down to a 4) out of 5.

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Having like half of this author's Gray Justice series and not liked the other half so much, the one character I did like was Andrew Harvey. I was therefore pleased to see that this character now has his own book. This story was very much "Spooks" in my mind's eye and was an enjoyable yarn.
Hopefully, this is the start of another great series of stories

This is the sixth of the Alan McDermott thrillers which I have read and none of them have been a disappointment. This one does not have Tom Gray as its central character, but two others who we have met in previous books. The plot is fast and, to my knowledge, the detail is good and accurate. This story is very up to date with the threat coming from Islamic terrorists and the services in london trying to get to the solution before it can be triggered.
Sarah and Andrew the two central characters work for MI5 and their interactions are a good contrast in pace to the exciting events which they are investigating.
This is a standalone to the previous series and hopefully the first of a new group of books. I woudl recommend it to anybody who likes a good read which is well researched and fast moving.
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I got it thinking it was by a different author .i was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was by a author is read before.

Excellent read with a topical storyline. A little slow at first but picks up tremendous speed and then you just hang on for the ride.
I received this from NetGalley and the publisher for a review.

Trojan

Alan's Tom Gray series was recommended to me for a friend and I ended up reading it too. I absolutely loved it and so was eager to read his new series.

Trojan is the first in his new Andrew Harvey series and wow, what a series debut! Trojan is a fast paced story of terrorism that scarily could become all too real in today's climate.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book, with thanks to Netgalley and the publisher. 5*

I’ve read several of this author’s previous works, all of which featured Tom Gray, an ex-SAS soldier, as their protagonist. I’ve reviewed them all positively, as they’re without exception, excellent titles. Trojan is the author’s first standalone title, featuring characters which appeared in the earlier novels, but with Tom Gray absent. Instead, Andrew Harvey and Sarah Thompson of MI5 take centre stage.

As with Alan’s previous novels, the plot of Trojan is very topical, dealing with an ISIS inspired terror plot aimed at mass casualties in the UK. It also addresses the European Union’s refugee crisis and the risk therein of terrorists infiltrating our borders by hiding amongst genuine asylum seekers. It is important to note here, that Alan makes clear in an author’s note at the start of the book that the novel is not intended as an anti-immigrant rant. But the fact is that there is a potential security threat in such large numbers of people crossing international borders, while criminals and terrorists will try to take advantage of any perceived vulnerabilities.

The earlier novels, which featured Tom Gray at the fore, were by nature a little more action packed than Trojan. That is to expected, seeing as Gray is former special forces. Harvey and Thompson are more cerebral, investigators rather than fighters, and this novel reflects that. There is still action in Trojan, but the novel is more of a procedural, following their efforts to unearth the nature of the terrorist threat, locate the perpetrators, track them down and effect their arrests.

Trojan works on its own terms and the fact that it is less action packed than Alan’s previous titles is not a criticism. Indeed, in some ways I preferred this to his earlier titles. That doesn’t mean that I don’t look forward to the return of Tom Gray; I will snap up the next title in that series as soon as it hits the shelves, but I would also like to see Alan write more in this vein

Trojan didn't quite do it for ma as a thriller. I enjoyed reading it, I finished it, but I wasn't captivated or blown away. Some of the writing rises above the others, so if it can become more consistent, then I thmik we have a winner

A fast paced story of terrorism which is frighteningly plausible. MI5 race against time to foil a terrorist attempt in London , set in July 2017 . This book kept me reading to a nail biting end . Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my arc copy which I have chosen to review

Published by Thomas & Mercer on January 12, 2017

Trojan reads like a police procedural, although the police are a mix of British intelligence agents, anti-terrorist military specialists, and occasional freelance assistants. Torture, for instance, is subcontracted so that Her Majesty’s government can pretend its hands are clean.

An asset with the code name Hannibal has infiltrated Saif al-Islam in Syria. He learns that Saif al-Islam has a chemical toxin that it plans to unleash on the British but, despite Hannibal’s best efforts, the Brits don’t know what it is or where it will be deployed.

The primary good guys are Andrew Harvey and his lover and co-worker, Sarah Thompson. They play a limited role in the opening chapters, as Alan McDermott develops the plot with a primary focus on the terrorist plan and the desperate efforts of British intelligence to get a handle on it. The plot involves several women and their babies who, posing as refugees, transport the toxin. The only one of those who benefits from any character development is Malika Ali.

About a third of the novel has gone by before Andrew and Sarah, as well as their colleagues, play a more active role in the plot. They are thinkers rather than action heroes. Trojan offers a pleasant alternative to all the thrillers a follow a team of former Special Forces heroes as they chase down terrorists, taking occasional breaks to give the reader loving descriptions of their weapons. It’s refreshing to read a novel about a terrorist threat in which the heroes are driven by intelligent thought rather than testosterone. It’s also refreshing to read a thriller that recognizes a distinction between Muslim terrorists and Muslims who condemn terrorism.

Andrew and Sarah engage in the tedious task of winnowing intelligence from cameras and records, but McDermott describes their efforts without subjecting the reader to the same tedium. Trojan contains an occasional action scene, but most of the story involves a battle of wits as terrorists use various schemes in an effort to evade police surveillance.

McDermott also describes the political infighting that inevitably arises when people charged with protecting a nation’s security care more about career advancement than working together to stifle a threat. That theme is often used to give the reader a chance to cheer for the selfless good guys as they battle the self-serving bureaucrats, but McDermott recognizes that even selfless good guys want credit (and career advancement) for doing a good job.

A bit of melodrama in the relationship between Andrew and Sarah is too obvious to add anything interesting to the story. Fortunately, the story maintains interest in other ways. Tension elevates steadily as the good guys chase down leads, exhausting possibilities and themselves while laboring to find the deadly toxin before it’s released. The plot isn’t innovative and the ending is predictable — perhaps even a bit anticlimactic — but the story is grounded in realistic scenes as intelligence agents move step by step toward a solution to the crisis. Trojan is a good fit for readers who like thrillers about real people doing believable work, rather than superheroes who perform impossible feats.

RECOMMENDED

well written page turner! I'm new to McDermott so thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this entertaining if at times confusing thriller. You will like this if you enjoy the sort of good guys versus bad guys ensemble novels where you'll be kept guessing. Thumbs up!

I have to say this was a great read for me. I hadn't read his previous books so I didn't know what to expect, but Trojan is a great spy thriller. Andrew Harvey and his team is called in to investigate as a horrific biological weapon is being smuggled into England by a sect of Muslim extremists, and set to be released within days.

Andrew Harvey, his girlfriend Sara (also an MI5 operative) and the rest of his team are in a race against time to track the weapon's route and origin to prevent its payload from being released. But they find that it isn't easy to track something coming from the untamed land and wild roads of war-torn Syria, borne and sent by enemies who are driven without conscience to bring destruction to their enemies, and with the money and resources to see it done. If that weren't enough to overcome, Harvey's team at MI5 are hamstrung by their boss, who has it out for them and undercuts them at every opportunity.

Where this novel shines is as a true-to-life spy thriller that sounds like it could happen today. The tight writing and pacing gives a sense of place and urgency as well. The MI5 team are believable and well-written as well. As Harvey and MI5 try to sift through deception at every turn, they find that their enemy is just as crafty, and it becomes a thrilling chess match to see who can see one move ahead and win out. It makes one wonder is such scenarios are in fact taking place in different parts of the world right under our noses, and we are unaware. In lesser hands, waiting for Harvey to smoke out the enemy could be tedious, but I found myself intrigued by every development along the way. Well done! I will be going back and reading more from this author.

I received my copy through NetGalley for a true and honest opinion.

When I first got this book I was intrigued as to what the Trojan would be that gets MI5 involved etc. This soon became apparent to be a Trojan Horse in a way for smuggling.

This book is quite fast paced and set in a very current threat index. Set in the no too distant future it is highlighting the real risks of terrorism and what could be perceived as very scary real threat. What I really liked is the way that it detracts from the usual "bomb" threats of blowing things up we see and brings in the chemical warfare aspects. So much different from many other terrorist aimed books.

The characters are very cleverly construed in the books and you get hooked into who they are and what they can do. The "gung ho" male and the considering female aspect.

I have never read any of the authors previous books, but this seems to interlink with these in some way and so makes me now want to get those also to read.... this I think is a good thing from a book.

Very clever, very topical and very nervy that this could indeed happen. A good read and look ready for the next one.

This book is a very nicely done thriller focusing heavily on terrorism, the people that become terrorist as well as those that try to prevent and fight terrorist as best as possible.

Lets start right away with what bothered me about this book and then move on from there!
- The beginning was really slow, and it took me almost half the book to really get involved and actually interested in the story and the book. Which honestly? That is a bit long for me to get invested into a thriller to actually be able to say i enjoyed it greatly. So sadly because of that really long and slow start of this book where a lot of characters and backstory and plot lines were introduced and laid out.
- the huge amount of characters. Its not the biggest cast of characters i ever had in a book, but for a thriller? This book as a HUGE cast and sometimes i honestly had a bit of a problem finding out what character we where currently following along and for a good while i also just tried to figure out what the heck each of those characters even brought to the overall story! So in my option? A bit too many characters for this type of book. BUT that is a very personal preference but since it is my own review i can say what bothered me personally!


Other then those two things the book was good.

I enjoyed how the topic was handled, how the action build up until it finally really got speed and carried the story nicely to the end of the book.
I also really enjoyed how the author let all the pieces fall into place throughout the book and how everything worked together. It was a very well thought out plot!

The author also has to a real talent in find a balance of showing the readers that he did his work, research wise, without flooding the readers with technical jargon or unnecessary information. So that was really nicely done!


All in all this book was pretty good, and if the first half of the book could have kept up with the second half to his book it would have been fantastic!

But i am certainly interested in reading more from this author and see if the slow start of this book is just because it is the first in a series or if the author simply needs a good amount of pages to get really moving with the story.

I enjoyed reading this book, it was the first I have read by this author and found it highly enjoyable.

Had this on Kindle and audiobook to review. I mostly read along while listening.
I enjoyed the narration it saved me stumbling over foreign names.
This was my first book from this author but it won't be my last.
The story is so believable which is what makes it such a scary thriller to read a great start to what will hopefully be another new series

Excellent read. Very engaging. Well worth reading. Wont dissapoint