Mark Sennen http://marksennen.net/ is the author of ten novels. Rogue Target was published in 2020 and is the second of his Holm & da Silva thrillers. It is the 66th book I completed reading in 2023.

Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own! Due to scenes of violence and mature language, I categorize this novel as R.

A 787 passenger jet is shot down shortly after takeoff from Heathrow Airport outside of London. MI5 senior analyst Stephen Holm is charged with finding Taher, the man behind the attack. Time is running out as Taher claims to have more shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles. Holm is not new to Taher. He has been pursuing the terrorist for years.

On the other side of the world, former British Army sniper Rebecca da Silva is carrying out what she thought would be a routine security assignment. After her court marshal, she has drifted from job to job, though staying away from becoming a mercenary. The security job spins out of control, and da Silva soon finds herself facing Taher.

Taher has made demands upon the British government. Holm seeks to catch Taher or at least find a way to delay him from any more immediate actions. But this is far more easily said than done. Taher has a long history of outthinking both MI-5 and MI-6.

Holm and de Silva are forced to work together to find and bring down Taher.

I enjoyed the 8.5+ hours I spent reading this 363-page thriller. This was an excellent novel. I do like the chosen cover art. I give this novel a rating of 4.5 (rounded to 5) out of 5.

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People who like fast paced thrillers with strong characters and loads of action will love this. At times the action defied credibility and I must admit I prefer a bit more realism in my thrillers, but that is a minor criticism in the scheme of a terrific book.

Rogue Target
By Mark Sennen

4 stars.

An enthralling action thriller, that sucks in the reader to the ultimate climax.

An easy title to read, that just flows. It means that it is easy to sit in the armchair on a Sunday afternoon, relax and just read a quality story.

Along with the action, of which there is plenty, there is some political manoeuvring to build the drama.

The story follows senior analyst Stephen Holm in his search for terrorist Taher, who brings down an international aircraft. At the other end of the world is Rebecca da Silva, who accepts a seemingly routine job in the Philippines for a wealthy businessman. Little does she know that this will set a course in motion that she is unable to stop, a course that leads, inevitably, to Taher.

As the tension builds, a country realises the terrorist has the ability to crash any plane, and a climax to the story appears.

The book has enough twists and turns to keep a reader hooked for hours.

This title has been reviewed by www.books-reviewed.weebly.com

This title was provided by Netgalley and the publisher in return for an open and honest review.

#RogueTarget #NetGalley

4.5 stars
This book is a rogue ride, no question asked. I haven’t read the previous book but that didn’t deter me to enjoy this full on blast fast speed story with characters that I loved to discover and all the settings where the actions are taking place.
From the first chapter, i was gripped in this novel and wanted to see what happened next and why that plane had a late departure.
All the suspenseful moments are well crafted and I must admit I was fearing for them, especially when they realised there’s someone else on their trail and that ‘ most likely related to their number one most wanted person.
I liked both Stephen and Rebecca, they're a great mix of main characters and their interactions were quite on pint at all times. It's suspenseful and gripping with many twists and turns, some predictable some not so but a must for the flow of the story.
It was like watching one of my favourite crime series on tv and i am recommending this book to all the genre lovers.

A rollercoaster of a thriller with a sniper and her side-kick and a 60-something Secret Service agent as an unlikely team brought together to destroy a Saudi terrorist. No shortage of action, betrayal, subterfuge, chases, murder and mayhem not to mention politicians and senior officers covering their backs at all costs. Engaging read and it all comes out well in the end but with the potential for another in the series. Thanks to NetGalley and Canelo for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rogue Target is the sophomore instalment in the MI5 Senior Intelligence Analyst Stephen Holm and Ex-Special Forces sniper Rebecca da Silva series, set in the South of the UK. When the 8.25 flight from London Heathrow to New York Newark Liberty International Airport takes off 15 minutes late, all 205 passengers and 10 crew are eventually relieved when the Boeing 787-9 is finally on her way. Captain Brian Hammond is at the helm ably assisted by Senior Flight Officer Jermain Phillips and with all going to plan the plane should arrive at Newark approximately 8-hours later. But soon after takeoff, they feel the aircraft rock violently; a shoulder-launched man-portable air-defence system has just been fired from the garden of a dilapidated bungalow below. It's a blessing that Hammond has 15 years experience of commercial flying and was a pilot in the RAF as he manages to manoeuvre the plane to land in the Queen Mary Reservoir. Holm works out that it is the handiwork of Saudi terrorist Taher who they have been chasing for months. Rebecca da Silva is willing to help locate Taher as she has a personal reason for wanting to see him captured; he murdered her mother in Tunisia.

They set up various missions to neutralise the elusive Taher, but with one failure after another, of this slippery customer, morale is at an all-time low. Can Holm, his tech expert Farakh Javed and da Silva and her spotter Richard Smith collectively stop another missile being fired? This is a compulsive and exciting cat and mouse game between the Intelligence services and a terrorist hellbent on getting revenge on the West, partly due to a Tomahawk cruise missile fired from a British ship accidentally wiping out his family. It is an action-packed, high-stakes espionage thriller, and I loved the fact that the prologue lands you right in the middle of the drama; it begins with a bang and there's no filler to contend with. Nothing is as it seems here and shifting allegiances make it difficult for Holm and da Silva to know who they can trust. Talking of the two main protagonists, they work efficiently together and have an engaging dynamic. It moves at rapid-fire pace and has twists and turns aplenty, and Sennen's liberal use of misdirection and obfuscation makes the story impossible to put down. A real page-turner. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Canelo for an ARC.

Ok, so there is no denying this is my kind of book anyway but to a certain extent, that qualifies me to know a bit about the genre.
Rogue Target is up there with the best of them. Thoroughly enjoyed every page, loved the characters and really absorbed the suspense throughout.
Decided to take the weekend off for once and settled down with this novel, half suspecting it would be a good one. Kept me company into the small hours and I finally put it down feeling it was time well spent.
Many thanks for the escapism.

Thank you to Net Galley, the publishers and the author for an ARC copy of this great book.

Well, my first book by this author, but not my last, I loved this book.

Although this is the second in the series, the author gives enough information here to keep you well informed.

Speedbird 117, a Boeing 787 flight to New York, takes off like any other flight from Heathrow. Except this plane will never reach its destination. The cause? Taher, an utterly ruthless terrorist with a score to settle.

With the country’s Secret Service on red alert, senior analyst Stephen Holm is given an ultimatum: find Taher, confiscate his devastating surface-to-air missiles and bring him to justice, or witness his nation’s descent into disaster.

Rebecca da Silva, meanwhile, accepts a seemingly routine job in the Philippines for a wealthy businessman. Little does she know that this will set a course in motion that she is unable to stop, a course that leads, inevitably, to Taher.

And of course Itchy !

Great set of characters, a plot full of twists, action, great pace, a story that you know is building up to a great exciting fast paced, heart pounding conclusion.

The main characters are all so good, the villains are nasty, the chase is great.

I was addicted to this book, the well paced action is especially good. When a story builds to a great conclusion but still keeps you guessing, you know it is good.

Highly recommended, out November 19th 2020.

Rogue Target sees the return of Stephen Holm and Rebecca da Silva as they realise that their enemy Taher has got hold of some surface-to-air missiles and is looking to use them on British soil but not everything is what it seems

Mark Sennen has written a good race against time story with numerous twists and turns along the way that keeps a reader entertained throughout what is a very enjoyable book.

Recommended

This was an excellent read. It leaves room for a book to follow which will be fun. A plane of passengers leaving Heathrow is suddenly hit by a ground to air missile. The pilot does an excellent job of bringing what is left of the plane down safely. Who is behind it? Taher who is a terrifying terrorist is responsible.
Stephen Holm of Secret Service has been looking for him for months with no results. Rebecca da Silva would also like to find Taher, He killed her mother in Tunisia. da Silva is good with a long range rifle which she would not like to make her living at but after missing Taher in the Philippines is willing to help. It will not be an easy task and there are people who are not always dependable. Holm is one she can depend on no matter what.
The story will take us through the government trying to get Taher and da Silva after him.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Canelo for the ARC.
This is Book#2 following on from The Sanction - and what a cracking story it is!

The cast of excellent characters is once again embroiled in the hunt for the ruthless terrorist Taher, who had managed previously to escape MI5's clutches along with several surface-to-air missiles. He's intent on manipulating a Holy War on British soil in retaliation for the killing of his family. -

Starting with the destruction of a passenger airliner taking off from Heathrow.

MI5 Senior Analyst, Stephen Holm, together with tech wizard Javed had been given endless resources to track down the terrorist but, despite Holm's conviction that Taher is behind the aircraft attack his bosses decide to disband the task force, which leaves him wondering why? Once again Holm and Javed have just themselves to rely on.

Ex-special forces sniper Rebecca da Silver and her spotter Richard Smith accept an almost too-good-to-be-true assignment for Mr Tan on his Philippine island, purportedly to shoot down any drones launched by media outlets to get pictures of his private party. When Simeon Weiss from the Special Accounts Department (black ops) turns up the truth of their presence there is revealed, and it involves Taher again, and Rebecca's death.

Rebecca and Holm's paths cross once again as part of Taher's evil plan to wreak havoc. From the jungle to the headquarters of neo-nazis in Kent Taher and his men leave a trail of bodies in their wake. Can Holm prevent another missile being launched?

The plot is complex and cleverly planned; this book is well-written and moves at some pace with twists and turns along the way .which you can't see coming.
A really good read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this ARC.

I thought this was a brilliant read and a great follow on from The Sanction. I really like the main characters and was rooting for them all the way through the book. If the author wanted to create a bang with the first chapter he certainly did that - what a thrilling start to this book and I was immediately hooked. I love the authors writing style and was drawn in from beginning to the end. The story is told through the two main characters which I particularly like and moves along at a fast, relentless pace. The cliff hanger chapter endings made me just want to carry on reading as I was desperate to see what happened next. This book had everything I love - a great well thought out and believable plot, so many twists, good/bad guys, counter terrorism and espionage. Overall a fab read and I eagerly await the next book.

I picked this book because I really enjoyed the author’s Charlotte Savage crime thriller series. I didn’t know this was book 2 of a new series until after I had finished it but it was not necessary to have read the first book. In this new series Sennen turns his hand to the shadow world of spies and international intrigue and does a great job with it. The book came across as very realistic and plausible, particularly the desire to cover up any dirty secrets.

The book opens with a surface-to-air missile being fired at an aircraft taking off from Heathrow by a terrorist. It was only the hasty targeting and the skill of the pilot that saved most of the passengers from certain death. The Security Service, MI5, is certain that a man known only as Taher is behind it, the have been chasing him for a long time but he has proved to be extremely elusive. And so the powers that be set about putting in motion a series of increasingly risky operations to try and neutralise the man. Former special forces sniper Rebecca da Silva and her spotter Richard Smith are drawn into the web under false pretences and when things go pear shaped, through no fault of theirs, they are to be thrown under a bus, scapegoated.

But a dedicated MI5 operator, Stephen Holm and his sidekick Javed are still committed to neutralising Taher and thereby taking the heat of Silva and Smith. Of course things don’t go according to plan - again, and as desperate times call for desperate measures another hasty plan is put together. Will this be any more successful or will the protagonists fall to the ultimate betrayal?

As I said, I found the book to be quite plausible and the moral dilemmas to be quite real. I liked that things weren’t portrayed as being just black and white and that sometimes good people did bad things for the right reasons. But they also did bad things for the wrong reasons at times. It was an interesting and contemporary look at the modern world of espionage and counter terrorism. I think the book will have a wide appeal to readers of action, drama, thriller and even spy genres. Thanks to Netgalley, Canelo publishing and Mark Sennen for the opportunity to read this advance copy. My opinions are my own.

Rogue Target by Mark Sennen is the second book in the series. I do not feel I missed too much in not reading the first book.

The book started with a flight that is hit by a surface-to-air missile. This part of the book was quite interesting and exciting. While the rest of the book was okay, I had a hard time believing some of the things that occurred. I know this is fiction and that readers are looking to be transported into imaginary and creative storylines. But readers also want to be able to "believe" the events that are happening. I did like the Rebecca character, and there were some good and tense scenes weaved into the story.

Overall, a satisfying read and a series I may return to in the future.

#RogueTarget #NetGalley