The Cobra by Frederick Forsyth Bantam Press HK$204
From one of literature's most reliable assembly lines rolls the sleek new-model Forsyth. Economical, stylish, powerful, the quality control is impressive as ever.
Frederick Forsyth knows what he's doing, and his readers, after more than a dozen novels, will know what they are getting. He doesn't disappoint. The Cobra is an expertly paced thriller, crammed with convincing detail. It's a densely populated novel with plenty of exciting action, but don't worry about getting lost. Forsyth provides you with a list of characters, and another of acronyms and abbreviations, for those of us who don't know our BAMS (Broad Area Maritime Surveillance) from our UDYCO (Anti-Drug Unit, Madrid).
Whether it's covert banking accounts, a fearsome array of weapons, or the electricity supply in Guinea-Bissau, you can be confident in Forsyth's research. The only thing that is made up is the story.
The Cobra's subject is cocaine. The book opens a window on the globalisation of organised crime, one of the largest industries in the post-cold war world, as described in Misha Glenny's brilliant McMafia. The Cobra is a work of fiction but Forsyth has done his homework and you can learn a lot from this book about the multibillion-dollar cocaine trade and its seemingly unstoppable expansion. Forsyth asks: what would it take to stop it?
It is the summer of 2011. The president of the United States - he's unnamed, but his wife is called Michelle - decides to put unlimited power and resources in the hands of a team who will bring down the cocaine barons of Colombia. Who is the man for the job?
