A wealthy young lady needs to arrive safely at a named bank in Brussels, from her flat in London, for her 21st birthday, when, under the terms of the will of her deceased parents, she will inherit an armament company that is worth a billion pounds. Al-Qaeda have put out a contract on her. "Mister Jacks" is the name of the man who has been hired by Jacob, the head of a secret anti-terrorist organisation to protect her life for the journey.

Mr Jacks is an assassin and also a psychopath and is consequently very used to killing people who get in his way and as Al-Qaeda send lots of killers to stop the girl, the bodies soon start to pile up. Mr Jacks and the girl stop at "safe houses" along the route to the continent and get quite attracted to each other but they have very little time together before Mr Jacks has to start firing his gun, yet again, as yet more Al-Qaeda killers attack them.

The plot proceeds in an easy if mechanical style, there is a lot of discussion of the various routes to the continent and the pros and cons of each from the point of view of discovery by Al-Qaeda, and the Channel Tunnel is chosen for speed.

The story is very simple, pleasant, short and predictable but also very entertaining nonetheless. I recommend it very highly for travellers, as it's the kind of book that one can read very easily during a journey, as, if interrupted and one loses one’s place, the story can be quickly picked up again.

Terry Halligan, England
October 2007