CRASH, BANG, FRACK!
He’s handsome, clever, funny, and sharp with a cool as a cucumber demeanour and a memory that never forgets. Oh, and he also has a few scores to settle! Meet James Stack, the new golden boy of action literature and the creation of former Radio Luxembourg DJ Mark Wesley. Stack is a thirty something year old ex Special Forces Captain with a “set of skills very useful in the mountains of Afghanistan” that dig him out of an almighty hole when he goes head to head with some of the nastiest people in crime. In Bangk, Stack is out to right a major wrong. Having done jail time for his part in a multi-million pound financial scam, he decides to get even with the man who double-crossed him out of his share of the money. How does he plan to do it? By robbing the Bank of England of course!
What follows is a brilliantly structured and at times hilarious adventure that crackles with energy, superb writing, and some excellent plot twists. Wesley knows how to tell a story and the prologue is the bait for hooking the reader’s attention. His prologues are written in such a visually realistic and interesting way that we feel completely enmeshed in the action. There’s raw, knife edge drama and an atmosphere heavy with danger. Our emotions are left dangling on the edge of uncertainty in much the same way that Stack’s fate hangs on the thread of a villain’s whim. Does he find a way around his problems? Eventually, although nothing in his life is ever straightforward which is where Frack! comes in.
When his Cayman Island bank account is mysteriously emptied, Stack’s only hope of recovering his money is in protecting a gas drilling operation in Derbyshire, England. Unfortunately, he’s up against anti fracking protesters and – more worryingly – a saboteur intent on causing financial and geological chaos by sending the drill head in another direction. Can Stack prevent a disaster, or is this too tall an order even for him to handle? Wesley is a writer of tremendous flair and imagination. Not only does he have a wry sense of humour, but he’s also a keen observer for whom no detail is too small to escape comment. The nose and tongue piercings of an environment protester are “the deliberate vandalism of her femininity”, while governing Britain is thirsty work for the nation’s law-makers judging by the number of bars dotted around the Houses of Parliament.
Wesley not only researches his material but he also avoids overburdening the narrative with excessive detail, in much the same way that he refuses to over-egg Stack’s strengths. He may be infuriatingly dashing and more than capable of working his way out of tight situations, but James Stack is no James Bond although with his military training he could almost certainly give 007 a run for his money! Bangk and Frack! are crime caper novels that are genuinely difficult to put down and which (in my opinion) easily lend themselves to film or television adaptations. Stack may be dodgy but he’s also extremely likeable, in much the same way as the Charlie Croker character in the 1969 British heist movie The Italian Job. Don’t be surprised if James Stack assaults the senses with another crash, bang, wallop adventure in the not too distant future.
Reviewed by Juliette Foster
© Archant Community Media Limited used under limited licence
Why not also add Frack and Dead City Exit, books 2 and 3 in the James Stack series, to your Mark Wesley collection?
