Probably the best Malko Linge book I've read so far. As with all the M.L. books, they are a fast read, action packed, coitus packed and absent of any extraneous fluff. I found this more interesting than usual because it contained a lot of Afghani intrigue. Not being an expert, I don't know how much of the Afghani political commentary is accurate but it sure made for interesting reading. I learned about the different factions, the security forces operating there and day to day living on the streets in and out about town. It really did make me feel I'd spent a few weeks there.

Summary: The CIA tasks M.L. with offing President Karzai. As usual not a lot of things go right and we're along a ride dealing with mullahs, mercenaries and spies.

I really should deduct a star as there is at least 1 curious loose end and the story ends somewhat abruptly but I really enjoyed the novel and had a great time reading it. I highly recommend this series and it seems that you don't have to read it in order.

It seems that the author has written over a hundred Malko Linge books. Some were published in the 1970's and this current series of 6 has been recently translated. I definitely hope that the publishers will continue to publish the rest of the series because they are very good.

Edit: After I finished this review I took a look at the other reviews and have to agree with some of them. The sex scenes are gratuitous and a bit childish but I believe these books were written in a different time and different culture (French books translated into English) where things might be a bit different from today. I fast read through those as they seemed a bit monotonous and repetitive.

Some people compared these series to James Bond but I somewhat disagree. This series is better. The books are much faster reading and don't aim to be canonical works. They are just a great way to pass some time.

Stereotyped characters: Most of the characters did seem stereotypical but they are stereotypes for a reason. For example the mercenary Nelson Berry. I'm sure that mercs of that type do commonly exist but pretty much however you wrote him, the stereotype would exist as well. For example: the no nonsense merc, the loud mouth merc, the secretly penitent merc, the psycho merc, etc. I'm sure all of them would be considered "stereotypical" and "paper thin".

A lot of people seemed to give low ratings because of the way they felt about the plot, the way it was written or the portrayals which is all very fair, because I happened to give it a high rating for the same reasons.