He had felt the evil of the place from the moment they had arrived. Something palpable, something he could sense in the very air.

And now it had manifested itself in the body of the young man at his feet. Young man? Little more than a boy, really. One of the college students that had followed him to this godforsaken land, chasing the opportunity of a lifetime. Opportunity…

The Israeli straightened, rising to his feet, looking around at the few that were left. “He’s dead,” he announced flatly, stating the obvious.

“What–I mean, what happened?”

He looked up into the light green eyes of the young woman in front of him, eyes now filled with tears. She was on the verge of breaking. As were they all. Somehow he had to keep them together. Somehow…

“I have no idea, Rachel,” he replied, his voice little more than a whisper.

When I was younger I read little outside of fantasy and science fiction, but my mother turned me on to The Hunt For Red October by Tom Clancy and it ended up adding another genre to my repertoire of reading: the military espionage thriller.

Stephen England’s Pandora’s Grave is an excellent thriller in the same tradition of Clancy, with plenty of action, twists and turns and a glimpse into the world of espionage where trust is a commodity none can afford and lies are the currency of the trade.

When the members of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service are sent in to rescue a group of archaeologists who had discovered something that should have been lost to the annals of history, everything goes wrong and the only obvious answer is that there is a traitor in their midst. Finding a spy hidden amongst spies proves difficult, but when the world is heading towards war there isn’t enough time to play it safe.

Harry Nichols, the head of the National Clandestine Service’s Alpha Team is the main focus of the story, but the author weaves in all of the other characters with a deft touch that makes them all stand out as individuals and makes each of them believable. The characters compliment and reinforce the story itself which is embellished with technical details and action sequences that draw you into the book completely.

I would definitely recommend picking up a copy of this book in print or in electronic format.

Please visit the author’s website at http://www.stephenwrites.com/.

Buy in print HERE.

Or electronically through AMAZON or SMASHWORDS.

• Book Review: One Right Tricky Bastard
• Book Review: Excelsior
• Book Review: Pandora’s Grave
• Book Review: Gabriel’s Redemption
• Book Review: Sebastian and the Afterlife