LoveReading Says
A breathless and perfectly-paced thriller of a particularly explosive nature, introducing Royalty Protection Team cop Robert Finlay whose own SAS past returns to the surface after a series of colleagues are murdered. The author's own previous real-life experience in the military and then the police provides the book with a thick veneer of realism which it wears lightly but keeps the plot on the right side of credibility, unlike so many SAS action adventure-type thrillers publishers have been deluging the market with. Finlay is a fascinating character with a deceptively normal home life and quickly attracts the reader's sympathy. Anchored in the uncertainties of the present and recent past (terrorism, political turmoil, Ireland, Iran) but with a strong moral compass, this could be the beginning of a great series and a likeable British action character. Maxim Jakobowski
One of our Books of the Year 2016.
Longlisted for the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award 2016.
The LoveReading view...
Fall headlong into a gripping and absolutely cracking story, featuring an ex-SAS, turned Met Police Officer, battling for his life. This is the first in the ‘Robert Finlay series’ and the debut novel by Matt Johnson, who has experienced one hell of a career himself. In fact, when you read the information about the author at the beginning of the book, it immediately puts a whole new spin on what you're about to read. The whammy of a prologue sets the story in 2001, you are then introduced to Bob Finlay, who is settling down into family life and a new role within the police when events take an unexpected and horrifying turn. Johnson turns his knowledge into the most fabulous and readable story that just zings along with authenticity and exhilarating attitude. I’m excited to be in at the start of what promises to be a fabulous new series, and honestly can’t wait for the next! ~ Liz Robinson
April 2016 Debut of the Month.
A 'Piece of Passion' from the publisher...
'Wicked Game was written by ex-Met Police Officer Matt Johnson as therapy for the PTSD he suffered after witnessing several horrific London bombings, and being present at the murder of his colleague Yvonne Fletcher. He subsequently self-published this book, and achieved extraordinary sales and reviews. We’ve worked with Matt to rewrite and polish this thriller for the trade, and the results are staggering. Not only is this a compelling, revealing and action-packed thriller, but the authentic dialogue and the inside knowledge that Matt invests in the highly orchestrated plot and well-drawn characters are simply spine-tingling. Telling the story of an ex-SAS man whose carefully concealed past comes back to haunt him, putting his family, his colleagues and his new life in jeopardy, this is a vividly written novel that has bestseller written all over it.' ~ Karen Sullivan, Publisher, Orenda Books
Books in the Robert Finlay Trilogy:
1. Wicked Game
2. Deadly Game
3. End Game
Serial Reader? Check out our 'Fall in Love With a Book Series' collection to find amazing book series to dive in to.
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Wicked Game Synopsis
Royalty Protection Team officer Robert Finlay is looking forward to a quieter life, when two police officers are killed and their links to his own past becomes clear ... putting everyone's lives in danger. A startlingly authentic debut ... first in a page-turning, searing new series. **NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER****Shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger****LoveReading Debut of the Month**'Terse, tense and vivid writing. Matt Johnson is a brilliant new name in the world of thrillers. And he's going to be a big name' Peter James'From the first page to the last, an authentic, magnetic and completely absorbing read' Sir Ranulph Fiennes____________________2001. Age is catching up with Robert Finlay, a police officer on the Royalty Protection team based in London. He's looking forward to returning to uniform policing and a less stressful life with his new family. But fate has other plans. Finlay's deeply traumatic, carefully concealed past is about to return to haunt him. A policeman is killed by a bomb blast, and a second is gunned down in his own driveway. Both of the murdered men were former Army colleagues from Finlay's own SAS regiment, and in a series of explosive events, it becomes clear that he is not the ordinary man that his colleagues, friends and new family think he is. And so begins a game of cat and mouse - a wicked game, in which Finlay is the target, forced to test his long-buried skills in a fight against a determined and unidentified enemy. Wicked Game is a taut, action-packed, emotive thriller about a man who might be your neighbour, a man who is forced to confront his past in order to face a threat that may wipe out his future, a man who is willing to do anything to protect the people he loves. But is it too late?____________________'Utterly compelling and dripping with authenticity. This summer's must-read thriller' J S Law'Out of terrible personal circumstances, Matt Johnson has written a barnstormer of a thriller. Nothing is clear-cut in a gripping labyrinthine plot, which - despite thrills and spills aplenty - never falls short of believable' David Young'Wicked Game has the authenticity I look for in a thriller. While the plot kept me turning pages, the characters made me care. Matt writes like a man who has lived it' Kevin Maurer'Johnson litters his tale with the plotting equivalent of incendiaries: cops we don't quite trust, a career that came abruptly to an end, a secret needing to be kept Gripping stuff' New Welsh Review
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781910633427 |
| Publication date: |
24th December 2015 |
| Author: |
Matt Johnson |
| Publisher: |
Orenda Books |
| Format: |
Ebook (Epub) |
| Primary Genre |
Espionage and spy thriller
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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About Matt Johnson
Matt Johnson served as a soldier and Metropolitan Police officer for 25 years. Blown off his feet at the London Baltic Exchange bombing in 1993, and one of the first police officers on the scene of the 1982 Regent’s Park bombing, Matt was also at the Libyan People’s Bureau shooting in 1984 where he escorted his mortally wounded friend and colleague, Yvonne Fletcher, to hospital. Hidden wounds took their toll. In 1999, Matt was discharged from the police with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. While undergoing treatment, he was encouraged by his counsellor to write about his career and his experience of murders, shootings and terrorism. One evening, Matt sat at his computer and started to weave these notes into a work of fiction that he described as having a tremendously cathartic effect on his own condition. His bestselling thriller, Wicked Game, which was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Dagger, was the result. Deadly Game once again draws on Matt’s experiences and drips with the same raw authenticity of its predecessor.
Author photo © Biophilic Photography
Click here to read a Q&A with the author about his new book, Deadly Game.
More About Matt Johnson
