John M.F.X. Knight’s first novel starts so fast, it’s like being strapped to a rocket as the story takes off from the very start. Buy the book, but bring your own g-suit. This bloke knows it all. Ballistics, spycraft, bushcraft, long range recognisance. All the things that if you get them wrong, they’ll kill you!
Sam Stephens
John M.F.X. Knight’s debut novel is an epic page turner that sizzles with action and adventure. His heroine is a one woman fighting-machine, able to confront any danger with intelligence and the ability to battle any enemy whatever the circumstances. A real rollicking escapade!
Helen Boland.
Move aside Jack Reacher, there’s a new force in town!
Roy Varder, author of Matter of Risk.
John Knight’s debut novel, is a wild, page-turning ride that that follows the high stakes actions of a young Dutch soldier and global citizen, Adriaan van Breukleen, who trains and fights her way from Jamaica, to India, Nepal, Australia and Tibet – set in the context of the 1960s’ Cold War. Our multi-lingual heroine excels in all the arts of war – everything from unarmed and armed combat to behind the lines intelligence gathering and demolition.
The fast-paced narrative is intensely visual – sometimes frighteningly so. The reader sees and feels the seemingly impossible challenges that van Breukleen faces and overcomes – including the military male egos that struggle to accept such a competent female in their ranks. Amidst the ever-present drama and danger, the author digresses to explain the technical details of the military actions and threats, such as the range and trajectory of silenced sniper bullets, or the capacity of artillery barrages to flush out dug-in enemy infantry. Far from being a distraction to the story telling, these instructional digressions, intensify the tension by adding layers of complexity and reality.
Soldier Girl Gurkha is not just an entertaining jaunt into a ferocious world that few of us could imagine or would want to experience. It is also a reminder of the hidden, ugly, deadly work of our armed forces, all armed forces, that are central to the workings of the world, for better or worse. And at the end of the novel, the reader is left with the intriguing question – “What does van Breukleen do next?”
Dermot Smith