Book Review – Firefight by Chris Ryan

Everyone must know the Chris Ryan story by now, don’t they? Chris was a member of the SAS and during the first Gulf War was part of a team dropped behind enemy lines who were to pass intelligence back and disrupt the Iraq supply lines. The mission went wrong pretty much from the start. Chris was separated from the rest of the survivors and then managed to escape himself in one of the most incredible stories of survival every reported. Since writing that factual (although Andy McNab and others in the troop have disputed some of Mr Ryan’s claims) account Chris has written numerous thrillers, all of which have an SAS basis (well all the ones I’ve read do).

Firefight is no different and if you know the standard Chris Ryan format this one doesn’t flex outside that model very much, er in fact you could have read it before. The hero is ex-SAS who is now lost in a spiral of decline following personal tragedy and a shadow of his former self. He is asked to help out on a final mission and finds himself again whilst being the moral arbiter against “the system” that has turned for the worst in his view.

So, if you’ve read a Chris Ryan book before and enjoyed it, you’ll enjoy this but don’t expect anything new at all. If you’ve read one of his and yearn for him to stretch his writing and or plots don’t bother you’ll be disappointed. Half a thumbs up from me then. I think if his next one has a similar synopsis I might not bother, I only bought this one as a present for my son initially as I know he likes Ryan’s books but he said this one felt like he’d read it all before.