Dark Winter

Most shadow-fiction (my catch-all term for fiction that features spies, assassins, special forces, terrorists and criminals) is penned by professional writers whose real-life experience with the world of shadow warfare is limited or non-existent. Andy McNab (pen name of Billy Mitchell) is a different story; he actually lived the life of a covert operator as a member of the SAS (elite British Special Forces) in the 1980s and early 90s. His most famous operation is recounted in his book Bravo Two Zero, which tells the story of a daring mission behind enemy lines in Iraq during the first Gulf War to gather intel about Saddam's Scud missile launchers.

In 1998, McNab published the first novel in his popular series about everyman commando Nick Stone. Like McNab, Stone served in the SAS in the 1980s and 90s, before becoming a deniable operator for MI6, known as a "K". Stone's missions range from personal protection and kidnapping to black bag jobs, sabotage and assassination. The level of authentic covert ops knowledge incorporated into the stories and the realism of the action were something exciting and new in the shadow-fiction world, and made them immediate bestsellers. I read the first five books many years ago and remember enjoying them quite a bit; I recently decided to read the next installment and see if I still felt the same.

Dark Winter is the 6^th book in the series, published in 2003, during the early days of the "War on Terror". As the story opens, Stone is in Malaysia with his fellow K operative, Suzy, and they're on the trail of a suspected al Qaeda scientist. The Firm (British Intelligence) has learned of a plot to unleash a bio-terror attack in the West, and Nick and Suzy are tasked with taking out the terrorist. This was an exciting start to the story; in typical McNab style, the first-person narrative is almost real-time, photographically detailed, and puts you right in the shoes of the shadow operator. However, the hit doesn't end the plot, and we soon learn that some bottles of a bio-terror pathogen have arrived in London, and given the code name Dark Winter. Stone, who had recently been working for the CIA and is now a US citizen, is called back into emergency service in the UK by his old boss, a very nasty piece of work he calls "Yes-Man". Stone is given an al Qaeda informant to meet, then an address to investigate where the bottles may be located. These operations are described in excruciating detail, as Stone takes every precaution to prevent being followed, noticed, attacked or infected by the pathogen.

Between the set pieces of Stone and Suzy carefully infiltrating enemy hideouts and taking out members of the  opposition, there are chapters devoted to the ongoing saga of Kelly, a girl Stone adopted after her family was brutally killed in the first book of the series, Remote Control. It seems that Kelly has developed a prescription drug habit and may be bulemic, and she still hasn't gotten over the trauma of her family's deaths. She is further traumatized by Nick always having to leave unexpectantly to go on missions, and this causes Nick a great deal of guilt, especially now as he is called away just when she was making good progress with a new therapist. 

Anyway, just when it seems that Stone and Suzy have delivered a fatal blow to the terrorist cell, the story takes a dark twist and Nick is forced to go to Berlin to deal with another cell. The full extent of the terrorist plot is revealed, and events race to a dramatic climax, which I won't spoil, except to say that it is rather shocking and very gripping reading. While there were several sections in the first few hundred pages that were slow going, the last 100 pages or so were classic Nick Stone action, and the ending was up there with a notorious early scene of Remote Control for it's brutal, realistic violence. McNab, more than any other author I can think of, never sugar coats the nature of real shadow warfare or feels obligated to provide a happy outcome.

As I was reading this book, I had two main criticisms: 1) the excessive level of detail about things that didn't seem very interesting or relevant to the story, and 2) the excessive attention to the personal drama between Nick and Kelly, which seemed like a distraction from the main terrorism thriller story line. But now that I've finished the book, I'm not so critical.

On point 1), the attention to Stone's mundane experiences—buying fast food, the trash on the street, couples shouting at each other in the next flat, etc.—might be dull at times, but the brilliant thing about it is that when Stone does go into action—infiltrating a building, tracking down a terrorist, killing enemy operatives, or what have you—it is much more believable and hard-hitting than the exploits of someone like Mack Bolan, who goes from battle to battle with few real-life details in between. With Stone, you always feel like you're looking through the eyes of a real shadow operator at work, not reading a men's comic book. On point 2), the drama with Kelly gives Stone some personality and something besides himself to care about. Without that, he would be a rather cynical, emotionless, self-centered robot who would be hard to sympathize with. The relationship with Kelly also turns out to be critical to the way this story plays out.

I should also mention that Suzy was a great partner for Nick, and in some ways was the star of the book. She's a special ops veteran with a background similar to Nick's, and her fearless, ultra-confident, adrenaline-junky personality saves his bacon on more than one occasion.

All in all, despite some slow parts in the middle, this is an exciting and intense thriller, highly recommended for fans of realistic shadow-fiction. Get a copy of Dark Winter here.