Book info

• Title Gray Justice
• Author Alan McDermott
• Year 2011
• Genre Thriller

When ex-soldier Tom Gray loses his wife and child to a career criminal, it seems life can’t get much worse. But when the killer is let off with time served on remand, Gray knows there is something fundamentally wrong with the justice system. Engaging the help of his ex-SAS buddies, he kidnaps five repeat offenders and asks the public to vote on their fate: Should they be allowed to continue their criminal ways with inadequate punishment, or has Britain had enough? His website attracts a worldwide audience and, although the authorities know where he is, they are powerless to stop him. Can Gray carry out his audacious plan? Will Andrew Harvey and his fellow MI5 operatives find a way to stop him?

Thoughts

An interesting one this. I picked it up in a “start a new series” sale and was interested to see how it would differentiate itself from other action and adventure books. It certainly did that! It stands up well in terms of the writing, the characters and the way the action unfolds, but it didn’t quite hold together for me.

The premise didn’t quite make sense, because whilst the guy was understandably upset and clearly [spoiler alert] not a terrorist, his actions were not those of a man who is thinking clearly. How could you possibly get a bill passed doing that? How would it ever stick? Surely the more sensible route would be to actually enter politics?

The ending was good, though, setting up for a new series with a new set of characters, or perhaps old familiars. I was a bit disappointed not to hear more about how the situation ended for other people - Sally, for instance - but it was a cliffhanger, and you can’t tie up loose ends with one of those!

Rating: 3 / 5