Gray Salvation by Alan McDermott

Gray Salvation is the sixth book in Alan McDermott's Tom Gray series. I discovered Alan through Netgalley from whom I borrowed the fifth in the series, Gray Vengeance. Book number five blew me away and I immediately bought all four previous tomes from Amazon, vowing to read the serious from the beginning. I'm still to make time to read the first four novels, due to my prolific reviewing of new titles, but I jumped at the chance to review the next instalment when offered the chance. 

This book is a step down in stakes from the previous, which is hardly a surprise. Gray Vengeance had as it's centre a plot of near apocalyptic proportions and if our protagonist, Tom Gray, were to face such peril in every outing the author might well exhaust himself. This is not to say that Gray Salvation is without thrills, a brutal Russian Mafia don, a Russian invasion of a Caucasus nation clearly inspired by Putin's adventurism in the Ukraine, would all add up to a very bad day for most people, but for Tom Gray it's all in a day's work.

Like Gray Vengeance this is a well-plotted and well-paced thriller set in a contemporary setting. It bristling with geo-political tension. It's a fun read that keeps you turning the page. Tom Gray is a likeable Jason Bourne type figure and both his allies and enemies are all well-drawn. Alan McDermott is on to a winner with this series and I will definitely be reading more, both making time to read the previous instalments, and waiting for future episodes with baited breath.

4 out of 5 stars