His second standalone thriller (after the also-excellent Airside), Dark Horizon sees James Swallow tap into his love of aviation and tell a gripping, pacy tale from the perspective of a civilian pilot caught between shady government officials and deadly criminals. I’m going to break all my own rules with this review and include the publisher’s description here rather than writing my own summary, because I really don’t think I can write anything better than this to give you the gist of what Dark Horizon is about. So good work, Welbeck publicity team – over to you!
***
A fatal crash on a rain-slick road and a brutal murder in a small town set off a deadly chain of events, leading from the dark skies over the Atlantic to an explosive confrontation on a remote desert airstrip…
Only a handful of people know the truth of why Kate Hood left the military in disgrace; now a contract pilot for a private jet company, she’s looking for a second chance… And to keep her secrets she must take a last-minute assignment to fly a covert cargo to a non-extradition country.
The cargo is a prisoner who may be the key to a violent international conspiracy – but he swears he is an innocent man, wrongly accused of crimes he played no part in. And as Kate races through the night, on the ground a pair of ruthless assassins are hunting her family, threatening their lives to force the pilot to divert the aircraft – but do they intend to liberate the captive, or kill him?
Trapped at the centre of an escalating crisis, Kate and her passenger must navigate the conflicting agendas of enemies and allies, on a flight into danger that neither of them may survive…
***
Ever since Nomad blasted onto bookshelves in 2016 it’s been clear that Swallow knows how to deliver a modern, pacy, action-packed thriller, but standalone novels like Dark Horizon are ably demonstrating that his range extends far beyond the Marc Dane series (which, to be fair, is fantastic). An impactful, two-part cold open – first on a British Army base and then on a dark country road – provides context for what’s to come, with the rest of the book delivering a brilliant mix of action adventure, tense police drama, and tangled spy thriller. There are lots of moving parts (and viewpoint characters), both in the air and on the ground, but while the bad guys threatening Kate’s family arguably provide the darkest, heaviest moments, it’s Kate’s perspective that forms the central drive of the narrative. Her scenes at the controls of the plane are particularly compelling – it feels like you’re right there in the cockpit with her.
The paperback cover for Dark Horizon
This has a similar sort of feel to Swallow’s other work in the way he nails every thriller beat, and weaves contemporary geopolitics into the story to add depth and believability to the antagonists, but in Kate he has a civilian protagonist who gives a very different perspective to this sort of story. She’s no action hero, and despite her military training she’s utterly out of her depth, infuriated to even be in this situation. She’s there because she has specific skills the others need, and everyone else seems to have the leverage they need to ensure she cooperates, whether that’s events from her past or the safety of her family. It’s the classic ‘regular person caught in the crossfire’ story, with no easy way out, the only option to forge ahead and confront each terrible thing – moral quandaries, threats, personal danger – in order to keep her family safe, and maybe – just maybe – survive herself.
It’s the perfect sort of breathless, read-in-one-sitting thriller that absolutely hits the spot for this sort of book. You might be able to see what’s coming with some of the plot strands, but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining – from tense, exciting action to bitter ideological discussions, it’s all remarkably believable and utterly gripping. Across the multiple viewpoints Swallow smartly covers every angle on the story, maintaining a snappy pace while also providing both personal and broader, geopolitical motivations and context for what’s going on. If you’re in the market for a standalone thriller to completely lose yourself in, especially if you enjoy the thrill of mid-air danger, then I’d definitely recommend you pick up Dark Horizon.
Review copy provided by the author
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