Matt McAvoy Book Review

Being the 14^th in the series, and having not read the first 13, I could have been somewhat on the back foot reading Chasm of Exiles, but I actually felt that I pretty much hit the ground running with it.  Much of it is deeply cerebral, as the very satisfyingly layered, traumatized and guilt-damaged main character, Jacob Stearne, faces his demons and talks to his god (quite literally) frequently; you genuinely feel this black ops/wet work veteran’s struggle with his self-imposed reckoning, for the lives he has taken in the line of his duty – most guilty, but not all; the lines between “goody” and baddie” ambiguously blurred. 

Seeley James is a real business-end author, who takes his craft very seriously.  He writes well and conveys the emotional self-brutalizing by his characters rawly yet sympathetically, and realistically, I suspect, despite the far-fetched, glossy action of the genre.  This is pretty standard globetrotting espionage action, with clandestine agencies from all over doing the shady work of their governments, on this occasion to get their hands on a trillion-dollar study which could end the entire fossil fuel industry – so, naturally, there are some very powerful adversaries all trying to beat each other to it.  If I’m really being mean, I would think that for a monetary value and corporate implications of that magnitude, opponents would be sending rather more than a few skilled agents; with such high global stakes, knowing the world we live in, it seems to me that countries would be at war with each other, at any cost.  But I don’t want to put too sober a point on it; it’s all just good actioner fun, which you’ll enjoy if you’re into the Jack Reacher-style narratives.

What I did struggle with a touch, if I’m honest, is the book’s length; I felt it was very drawn out, at 125k words, many of which it was something of an effort to stay with.  This is a book which requires intensive and prolonged concentration to get the best from, and if you’re not a big fan of such books you might lose traction.  There are several storylines going on, which are directly connected, but because of the length of the book and its respective sequences, you may find yourself drifting at times across the horizon and trying to claw your way back.  But, other than this, it is a worthy example of its kind, and I think you could do a lot worse than taking a chance on James.  It’s the first of his I have read, and he is clearly a hugely prolific author, so I suspect there is a great deal more to be found from him.  This probably isn’t his best, but even if it were his worst it’s a pretty decent book, well recommended for action fans.