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Rik Stone worked in shipyards on the River Tyne in the North East of England before going into the Merchant Navy. Later ashore, he studied lower level science stuff before working his way to gaining a BSc. degree in Mathematics and Computing. But he loved reading fiction and had always harbored an ambition to write it. In his younger days such aspirations weren’t realistic, but an early retirement at the age of fifty provided the opening he yearned for and he began pursuing his dream seriously.
Reviewed by Sarah Stuart for Readers' Favorite
The Man in the Blue Fez: A Birth of an Assassin Novel by Rik Stone is set in the 1970s during the Cold War. Pavel Rostislav, battling hypothermia in the sub-zero winter of the Russian mountains, spots his quarry and aims his sniper rifle. Jez Kord leaves his wife, Anna, at the married quarters where he is based, ordered to prove his fitness by undertaking a manufactured task. He expects to be back to join her on a mission to destroy a drug cartel in Turkey, but when a bullet flies to capture not to kill, he and Rostislav join forces, only to find themselves caught up in an attack: napalm bombs launched from helicopter gunships. They live, but not for long if the Spetsnaz task force catches them. Meanwhile, Anna needs Jez’s help to survive when a supposed friend betrays her.
There is a large cast of characters in The Man in the Blue Fez: A Birth of an Assassin Novel by Rik Stone, all well drawn and providing a picture of events from every angle. The good, the bad and the sexy: they are all here, and so are the places to which they travel. Fast-paced and gripping action has not prevented Mr Stone from transporting his readers in vivid Technicolor across the Siberian tundra into mind-numbing captivity, and to an Istanbul tourists would never suspect existed. Put aside time to read this outstanding thriller. It takes you on a journey where the drama varies, but still intensifies with the turn of every page from beginning to end.
