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by: Andy McNab
Binding: Audio Cassette
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780007108121
Format: Audiobook
ISBN: 0007108125
Label: HarperCollins Audio
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Audio
Number Of Items: 2
Publication Date: October 16, 2000
Publisher: HarperCollins Audio
Sales Rank: 5902616
Studio: HarperCollins Audio
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
The incendiary new thriller from the bestselling author of Remote Control and Crisis Four. Helsinki, December 1999, Nick Stone is on the run after 'lifting' one of the heads of what the intelligence services call ROC (Russian Organized Crime). A group of City investors is unhappy wih the way the warlord's activities have manipulated the markets, and they want him taken to St Petersburg for disposal. Back in London, Stone is given the chance to earn enough money never to have to do this sort of work again. Officials believe that Russia has embarked upon a concerted espionage offensive and has stolen some of the West's most sensitive military secrets. When Stone goes back to Finland, however, and from there into the former Soviet republic of Estonia, he finds himself caught between implacable opposing forces -- to whom he is nothing more than a pawn in a much bigger game.
Amazon.com Review:
In his third outing (following Remote Control and Crisis Four), Nick Stone, Andy McNab's series SAS agent, is off the Firm's regular payroll owing to a major screwup in his last assignment that left his best friend's family slaughtered--except for the one child who survived. Little Kelly needs expensive treatment for the post-traumatic stress that's turned her nearly catatonic, so Nick takes on a freelance assignment that gets him mixed up with Russian organized crime--in particular, with an enigmatic mob boss who has designs on some Finnish cybertechnology. When Nick realizes it's not industrial espionage that he's involved with but military secrets, he's caught between warring factions of the Russian Mafia and the Anglo-American alliance of intelligence agencies. The Westerners will do anything to keep the Echelon program out of the hands of Valentin Lebed--the Chechnyan Mafioso who makes Nick an offer he can't refuse--and the Maliskia, a gang of rival Russian criminals who want to derail Lebed's plans and take over Echelon themselves.
The action ranges from Helsinki to St. Petersburg to London, the weaponry is fully detailed, and the techniques of infiltration and retrieval carefully outlined; McNab, a former SAS commando who, according to the author's note 'is still wanted by a number of terrorist organizations and is therefore forbidden to reveal his face or current location,' obviously remembers every ache, pain, bruise, and injury he suffered in his life of derring-do, since they're all completely and graphically described here, too. --Jane Adams
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - What's the Point?
Lots of detailed action goes on in this book, but what's the point? The main character, Nick, is the first-person narrator.
His viewpoint, and we must assume that of the author, can only be inferred by what goes on in the story, and how Nick reacts to these things.
Nick has no joy in his life. His daughter Kelly is a traumatized mental patient, but Nick doesn't even seem to "love" her. His thoughts of her are all based on the guilt he feels about her, not on his love ... Read More
Rating: - Firewall in the cold
My only previous read of a McNabb novel was one with the same central character but later in his career and set in the heat of the Congo. This one is in Finland and Estonia and will get no prizes from the Estonian Tourist Board. Their country is grimly portrayed as dirty and corrupt. The story is of a British ex-S.A.S man, officially disgraced so prepared to freelance overseas, no questions asked. Kidnap, murder and demolition are all in his repertoire but underneath, a heart of gold. He needs money ... Read More
Rating: - Pretty decent suspense read
This book was a gift to me and I thought that I wouldn't get into it. I was wrong. A fun yarn with suspense and computer geekdom thrown into the mix.
Perhaps I liked this book more since I'm a geek by trade. Perhaps not. It's well written and a decent story.
Rating: - Highly Descriptive
This was my 6th book by McNab and I must say I had high expectations for Firewall even before reading other reviews on Amazon. Once again Nick gets involved in a mission that is similar to someone trying to hit the jackpot in the lottery with their last bit of money. Book reads about the same as his other fiction novels with most of the time being spent describing the intricate details of a plot that ends up disasterous. I do like the way McNab explains the way things work, but it gets a bit tedious. ... Read More
Rating: - this book's storyline is so miserable and pathetic
i just couldn't believe this nick stone would survive another day in the field of action. andy mcnab may have thought that making nick stone such a pathetic character would make the hero of this series look and read more realistic, but in my humble opinion, he's deadly wrong. such anti-hero pathetic character would gradually wring out the reading incentive not too far in the near future. all in all, nick stone seems to become more and more a trademark of constant failure, a die-cast mess-up, a pathetic ... Read More
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