Invisible Armies by Jon Evans

Published by Harper Collins Publishers

Invisible Armies is a thriller which is set in various locations around the world. India, Paris, and London make great backgrounds for this exciting and attention grabbing tale.

Danielle is asked to do a favour for a friend which involves the delivery of a passport. While on her journey, she runs into the authorities who promptly confiscate her belongings and throw her in a cell from which it looks like she will have no escape. She is soon joined in there by Laurent, a French Canadian and so begins what seems to be a great partnership. When they escape to a nearby village, Danielle is stunned to see a great amount of deformity and illness in the people who live there, caused by toxins from a nearby mine.

What follows is fast paced action as Danielle, Laurent, and Danielle's hacker friend, known as Keiran Kell, become part of a battle between the mining company and the anti-corporate protestors who want the poisoning of the local villages to end. The more our heroes learn, the more they realise that things aren't as they seem. Things are about to get much, much worse.

I don't often read thrillers but the trailer for this one caught my attention and piqued my curiosity. I am so glad that I decided to check it out. It is one of those novels which literally sweeps you off your feet from the start and keeps you unbalanced throughout the pages. One of the reasons I had stopped reading thrillers was that I could often see what was coming ahead of time. That doesn't happen with this novel. I loved the various surprises and twists within the story and especially liked that the author managed to write the characters in such a way that they are equally as surprising.

The author's ability to set a scene is outstanding. I loved that the novel takes place in various settings around the world which added an edge. The writing style is great, the characters are colourful and easy to become involved with, and the story? Well that's just a non-stop wild ride.

I loved this book. I wouldn't have thought that mixing third world backgrounds and hackers could have worked that well. This novel is many things, but disappointing is not one of them. A great - but addictive - read.

Author's website: http://www.jonevans.ca/