3.5. Pretty good, overly detailed in some parts - his repeated shopping trips for clean clothes gets old. Couldn't he just wash some out in the wash basin, or stop at the washateria? And the end wraps up awfully quick.

Spoiler

What happens to Kelly? Does she stay with him? How does he get her home? They just drive off into the sunset.

The thing to remember about this book is it was written in the 90s. Nowadays there are tons of films and books about ex-special forces/spys getting lumbered with a kid and having to protect them from people trying to kill them, and at the same time learning to care about them. It's a trite idea, but this was one of the first to do it. And unlike all the other, Andy McNab is former SAS, he's the best of the best, so everything in this book is as real as it gets!

Loved this book from start to finish, can't wait to read the next!

Hmm my audiobook seemed to end so abruptly, it didn't feel like the complete story... It was only about 3 hours long. Is the end actually that abrupt or was it's missing some hours?

Nick Stone is part of deniable ops for the British government. This means that if caught, the government will deny any knowledge of Stone and he's on his own. The risk is high but the individuals run very important missions. This story starts in Gibraltar where they are trying to stop the Irish Army from setting off a bomb. The mission is accomplished but despite that, Stone feels like something wasn't right.

Years later, Stone is asked to fly to the USA and follow some PIRA members around to see what they're doing. Stone sets off but once he's in Washington, he's called off and told to return right away. The earliest plane he can get back to the UK is later that night so he decides to visit a friend for dinner. As he arrives, he finds the whole family murdered with the exception of one of the young girls, Kelly. Nick takes Kelly and tries to figure out who did this, knowing that he is probably now a suspect himself.

I started the Nick Stone series a few books in and really liked the character. This is the first book in the series so it was good to know how Kelly came to be with him. These series are so realistic because Stone takes a lot of caution with what he does. Clothes are bought and changed frequently, characters are followed before they meet. In other books this would be monotonous but with this book it adds to the build up and makes it feel real.

In addition to this, Stone is a great character. He gets frustrated with Kelly and isn't always the proper adult he should be, which you know probably would happen in a situation like this.

Meet Nick Stone - cool, calm and collected with plenty of finesse and a level head in every situation. Stone really is a 'too good to be true' kind of character. And I love him!

I read this book a long time ago on a plane but I know that it was one of my favourites. The techniques that McNab outlines evidently come from experience and the action never lies dormant for long. I can remember this one being a little more complicated to read than the likes of Chris Ryan and Lee Child but it is very much character-focused (just how I like them) and Nick Stone was one of my all time favourites.

With unmatched verisimilitude, Remote Control pulls from the real world and builds a very believable plotline, but it repeatedly loses itself in minutiae. It isn't a long book but could easily be much shorter with some judicious editing. It took me far too long to finish a book with so little substance.

What carries the book is Nick's relationship to the little girl. It's endearing, humanizing, heartbreaking. It's almost enough to encourage me to keep going. Almost.