Pearl A, The Chair Man, Thriller, (Fizgig Press:2019)
Link: Amazon, Goodreads. £9.99
Corporate Lawyer Michael, severely injured in the 7/7 terrorist attacks, left wheelchair bound and thirsty for revenge, is on a quest to track down British jihadists that will drag his friends and family into mortal danger.
I am a disabled veteran, with some counter-terrorism training and experience, who was forced to use a wheelchair for 6 years during which time I retrained as a corporate lawyer. Oh boy.
What I like most about The Chair Man is how it shows the way one mind-blowingly, head-slapping stupid choice spirals out of control, dragging more people into its mess, who in turn demonstrate the sort of awful decision-making that is actually very realistic in the world of espionage. It is hypnotic and you cannot look away; you will root for the most unexpected, hopeless characters. I loved the moments when I found myself sort of cheering for the terrorists.
I had a hard time empathising with Michael. This is an upper middle-class white male with massive wealth, extraordinary medical support, friends and family who love him without question or awkwardness, and back him one hundred per cent. Michael is so badass that he is giving piano lessons within a similar amount of time that I was still struggling to bathe myself. Let us say our experiences of injury were basically opposites.
Eventually I accepted that this was my problem, and the author had made the right choice: this is a book about revenge spiralling out of control, not the grim and rather desperate nature of becoming disabled. You cannot have too much “another day of shitting yourself” get in the way of a good thriller. And this is a good, fun thriller. I particularly enjoyed the attention to period detail – I remember back in the day when we all started to get excited about tracking mobile phones – and Pearl’s research and pacing give this the feel of a more cerebral Bourne novel. If you are looking for suspense in slightly unusual packaging, this is a good choice.
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