No Mercy by Colin Forbes

No Mercy by Colin Forbes a truly embarrassing novel from the end of a decent career. Several people have been ritually murdered conveniently the head of the Secret Intelligence Service just happens to be in the neighborhood investigating an amnesia case [I'm not making this up]. What follows is 300 pages of atrocious dialogue, wooden characters and a whole lot of telling not showing. Apparently this is set in the present day but it often seems like they're dealing with approximately 1970s level of technology. There's no forensics team just one guy yelling at some hapless police officials. They're inexplicably using paper printouts of accounting ledgers. There is a tacked on plot involving a missile shipment but it really doesn't add anything. Supposedly if you pull a lever you can change the output of a factory from artillery shells to guided missiles. Maybe they should call GM they won't have to shut down that truck plant in Ontario after all.

I had enjoyed one of the authors earlier novels [The Stone Leopard]. Actually this was back in high school so perhaps what I enjoyed is the memory of the novel as opposed to the reality. Now I'm a little scared to go back and reread it. I thought it was terrific at the time. Maybe I'll discover just how lousy my taste was..

Avoid!

Is available through Abebooks.