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NO MAN'S LAND
by G. M. Ford
Macmillan, February 2007
320 pages
12.99 GBP
ISBN: 1405055405


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Frank Corso's a happy man. He's out fishing on his boat in Washington State and all's well with the world. Or at least it is until the coastguards show up and make him an offer he'd really rather like to refuse.

Some years back Frank, a journalist, wrote a book about murderer Timothy Driver, a former Navy submarine captain who killed his wife and her lover. Driver is banged up in Meza Azul Correctional Facility in Arizona, but has made an audacious takeover of the seemingly secure prison. And the only person he'll talk to is Frank.

Driver and his seriously unbalanced sidekick Cutter Kehoe are holding 163 prison staff hostage – and are threatening to shoot one every six hours until Frank arrives.

The two scenes where Frank enters and exits the riot-torn prison are explosive, and the action doesn't let up from there. For Driver and Kehoe want Frank along for the ride, so they embark on a twisted road movie. The tension never flags as people's paths cross and re-cross as the characters hurtle across America at breakneck speed.

Ford's one of those writers who can tell a story from several points of view, but never befuddles the reader. The pacing is impeccable, and the characterisation sharp. Ford is a natural storyteller and his books are peopled by the most vivid creations you can imagine – Cutter, the TV reporter Melanie Harris whose private life is at odds with her polished professional persona and her seedy producer Martin Wells are all characters who stay in your mind.

There are also a number of memorable minor characters – Ford can paint in unforgettable cameos such as the tall lad in the gas station and the bloke in the garbage truck.

There's a moment of pure black humour to resolve the book, which brings in an unlikely source from earlier on. In the wrong hands it could have ruined the book. In the hands of a writer like Ford, it's an absolute masterstroke. NO MAN'S LAND is a fine book by a writer at the top of his game and would be perfect for the big screen.

Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, February 2007

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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