Nicki`s Life of Crime : BLOGTOUR, BOOK REVIEW - Turkish Delight (Ben Nevis and The Gold Digger #1) by Barry Faulkner

BOOK SYNOPSIS

London private eye Ben Nevis, ex SAS/OCS/N14 gets a peculiar request from a new lady client, 'kill my husband'.

A few days later the husband appears in Ben's London office with the request 'kill my wife'.

Ben has his partner the Gold Digger, take a good look into the pair, and some illegal international arms dealing is exposed with missiles going from the UK through Cyprus and Turkey to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and on to terrorist cells in the Middle East.

After a surprise visit from Ben's old boss at MI6 Ben finds himself enrolled in a mission to stop the trade with help of the British SBS based in Cyprus who are to get him into Turkey to blow up the arms and then get him out again.

But things don't go to plan.

It is a full action novel set in the present day with twists and turns bringing it to the final explosive conclusion.

This action packed tale of daring do opens with the closing stages of a court case where we learn that our main character Ben Nevis was a bit of a delinquent during his younger years. When we are first introduced to his character,he is sixteen years old and being addressed by the judge who is responsible for deciding which path young Ben's life is destined to journey down next, prison or freedom. Then,the story moves forwards in time to the present day where we discover that after careers in the SAS and MI6, Ben is now a private investigator who works from a two room office in London. In a plot twist that was reminiscent of a good old classic detective noir, the visitation to said office by a beautiful woman is the catalyst for a case that will find Ben and his associate the Gold Digger travelling from damp and dreary London to the enemy infested wilds of Turkey. In a explosive story that has more twists and turns than a isolated road winding its way through the mountains, Ben finds himself caught up in a deadly power struggle involving international arms smugglers,deception,lies and betrayal as the story works its way towards its explosive conclusion.

Ben,from whose perspective the story is predominantly written was a fantastic character, a really likeable individual who had a wicked sense of humour. I really liked how, although this is the first book in the series, the author hadn't bogged or slowed down his story by including pages of information about how Ben met the various characters in his life. We were given enough background information to ensure that the characters didn't come across as one dimensional. I thought that the Gold Digger was also a fantastic character, a highly intelligent, kick ass individual who Ben knew he could rely on to watch his back and get him out of trouble whenever the brown stuff hit the fan which it inevitably did in their line of work.I loved Gold's brusk, no nonsense attitude and how she was the yang to Ben's ying, they were a very good team who worked well together. I loved the Mission Impossible vibe to Ben's interactions with his old MI6 boss Woodword, I kept expecting to come across the classic statement 'this message will self destruct in five seconds' whenever I read one of the various interactions between the two characters that were scattered throughout the book.

Turkish Delight is a intelligently written, action packed thriller that is a cleverly written blend of fiction and reality and has a cast of characters who are vivid, realistic and believable. It's a top roaring,thrilling read that had me hooked in,held captive and frantically turning the pages from the first word to the last, I was so captivated by the story that I read the whole book in one sitting. I love a good action movie and would love to watch a film or tv adaptation of Ben and Gold's adventures. A enthralling, gripping read and very very highly recommended by little old me.

AUTHOR BIO

Faulkner was born into a family of petty criminals in Herne Hill, South London , his father, uncle and elder brothers running with the notorious Richardson gang in the 60s-80s, and at this point we must point out that he did not follow in that family tradition although the characters he met and their escapades he witnessed have added a certain authenticity to his books. He attended the first ever comprehensive school in the UK, William Penn in Peckham and East Dulwich, where he attained no academic qualifications other than GCE ‘O’ level in Art and English and a Prefect’s badge (though some say he stole all three!)

His mother was a fashion model and had great theatrical aspirations for young Faulkner and pushed him into auditioning for the Morley Academy of Dramatic Art at the Elephant and Castle, where he was accepted but only lasted three months before being asked to leave as no visible talent had surfaced. Mind you, during his time at the Academy he was called to audition for the National Youth Theatre by Trevor Nunn – fifty years later, he’s still waiting for the call back!

His early writing career was as a copywriter with the major US advertising agency Erwin Wasey Ruthrauff & Ryan in Paddington during which time he got lucky with some light entertainment scripts sent to the BBC and Independent Television and became a script editor and writer on a freelance basis. He worked on most of the LE shows of the 1980-90s and as personal writer to Bob Monkhouse, Tom O’Connor and others. During that period, while living out of a suitcase in UK hotels for a lot of the time, he filled many notebooks with DCS Palmer case plots and in 2016 he finally found time to start putting them in order and into book form. Eight are finished and published so far, with number 9 at the editors.

Faulkner is a popular speaker and often to be found on Crime Panels at Literary Festivals which he embraces and supports wholeheartedly.

He has recently been seen on screen in the Channel 5 Narcos UK series, Episode 2 The London Gangs and his Palmer book ‘I’m With The Band’ has just been serialised in 16 parts by BBC Radio Bristol. He has been a subject of Corinium Radio’s Writer’s Room programme, Manchester FM’s Hannah Kate Book show, Hawkesbury Upton Lit. Festival ‘Best of British’ panel chairman, Evesham Festival of Words Crime Panel and Bristol Crime Fest Indie Author Panel amongst others

Faulkner is a member of ALLI (Alliance of Independent Authors) and publishes a blog about the ‘geezers’ of his youth, the criminals and their heists. It goes in depth about the Krays, Brinks Mat, Hatton Garden ‘Nipper’ Read and all the other major heists and who ‘dun‘em’. Take a look at geezers2016. wordpress.com

He also speaks about that era in illustrated talks for social clubs, WI and others. As a crime writer Faulkner is quite particular about ‘getting it right’ and as well as his own Facebook page he publishes a page called ‘UK Crime Readers and Writers Page’ which has lots of information about the forensic crime detection methods, police procedurals and other facts of use to both reader and writer of crime and detective books.

Faulkner now lives in the glorious Forest of Dean with his wife and three dogs.

CONTACT DETAILS

By email (preferred option as immediate response)

barryfaulkner1@ btopenworld.com

By Facebook (use message option)

Barry Faulkner

By twitter (only checked occasionally)

@crimewriter1

By Skype

Barryfaulkner1@ btopenworld.com