Review: ‘White Gold’, by David Barker

Blurb

VENGEANCE ALWAYS HAS A PRICE

Sim Atkins, Overseas Division agent, returns to Earth, having saved the Moon base from a deadly terrorist plot (see Rose Gold). All Sim can think about is finding the criminals responsible.

But his fury and lust for revenge are put on hold when a nuclear warhead is stolen by Terra Former leader Matthias Larsson. Can Sim and his colleagues track down the terrorist cell and disarm the device in time?

White Gold is the gripping finale in the compellingly original Gaia Trilogy, page-turning thrillers that provoke as well as excite.

My Review

Thanks to Kelly for organising the tour, the author and Urbane for providing me with a copy of the book.

This isn’t my usual genre, but the blurb for the book sounded like fun, so I gave it a go and now I want to go back and read the first two books, Blue Gold and Red Gold. I read this book in approximately three 100-page spurts, galloping through those pages a couple of hours at a time. it’s certainly compelling reading, with a fast pace and twists that kept me reading.

I enjoyed the characterisation of the agents, Sim, Freda, Gopal and Rabtan; they were very filmic characters – not precisely rounded but with enough depth that it really doesn’t matter. There’s definitely a spy thriller film in this book; it has that ‘James Bond-esque blowing up the enemy base as the clock ticks down to international disaster’ feel too it.

I enjoyed the banter between the characters, even the mercenaries. It suggests long histories with each other and complex pasts. The landscapes the characters travel through was vivid, described enough to give you the feeling but not enough to slow the plot. The plot was tense and tightly-written, although the geologist in me questioned whether a nuclear bomb would cause an eruption. I told my inner-geologist to shut up and enjoy the story.

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Author Bio

David was born in Cheshire but now lives in Berkshire. His working life has been spent in the City, first for the Bank of England and now as Chief Economist for an international fund. So his job entails trying to predict the future all the time. David attended the Faber Academy course and he still meets up with his inspirational fellow students. 

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