Breakout

Author: Oliver Jacks (aka Kenneth Royce)
Publisher: Grafton Books

Date: 1986

Pages: 254

Not currently available in eBook format

In one of those happy coincidences, I was attracted to a previously unknown author's book by its cover artwork, only to find out out it was actually a pen name used by an established and well-known writer.

Breakout is a thriller published in 1986 in the UK by Grafton Books. The author is Oliver Jacks, who I'd not had any previous experience of reading. Some light internet research didn't surface much of a backlog. A few other thriller/action adventure tales in the 70's and 80's but nothing outstanding or particularly well-known. It seemed that Mr Jacks penned another four books (Man on a Short Leash, Assassination Day and Autumn Heroes) but had disappeared by the nineties. Jacks doesn't have much of a presence on the internet and doesn't even have a page dedicated to him on Fantastic Fiction.

However, after finishing the story, I persevered in my studies and started to notice something. Along with Jacks name I noticed a listing that coupled one of his books with the name Kenneth Royce. This rang a bell and a quick reference back to the Appendix of Mike Ripley's excellent Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang confirmed that indeed Oliver Jacks was a name used by thriller writer Kenneth Royce. It seemed I had inadvertently landed the final Jacks book in his quartet of standalone tales.

Royce was born in 1920 in Croydon, UK. He served in the British Armed Forces during the Second World War, raising to the rank of Captain. After the war he became involved in running a travel agency which afforded him the perfect position to conduct research on the background to his many books. It was with the Spider Scott series that he rose to fame. Spider is an ex-burglar who can't quite give up the temptations of crime and who is recruited to work for the secret services. Scott became known as the XYY Man due to his extra 'Y' chromosome giving him a pre-disposition towards criminality.

XYY Man was taken up as a 1970's television series in the UK, becoming quite successful. Rather surprisingly it was a minor character in the series that the public took to, and he became the basis for continuing a couple of spin-off series (Strangers and Bullman). This turn in events led Royce to building the character a larger role in his novels until Scott and Bullman almost became a double-act. He even began to write books solely starring Bullman.

Royce died at the age of 77 in 1997. He was still publishing novels at the time of his death.

   

As you can see - the cover to Breakout, depicting three SAS-type submachine-wielding  gunmen set against the background of a hovering helicopter, promises a men's adventure style thriller along the lines of a Jack Higgins or Alistair MacLean novel. I'm glad to report that Royce (Jacks) delivers a lot of action and thrills - even if the actual scene on the cover isn't present in the book itself.

The book is set just after the end of the Falklands War between Britain and  Argentina. It's still a very tense time. Britain is occupying the Falklands Isles with battalions left over from the conflict helping to shore up the community and recover and dismantle the spoils of war left by the Argentinians. Meanwhile there is still a huge amount of fervor in the South American country, who will never believe that the 'Malvinas' belongs to anyone but themselves.

Into this situation comes Laurie Shaw, ex-pilot in the Royal Air Force now retired but still a troublemaker and trouble-shooter for the British Government when required. He is called to London to meet his sometime handler, Henning, who asks Shaw to assist in the rescue of nine SAS soldiers who are being held captive and tortured by Major Francisco Munez in his prison at Santa Rosa. Although their undercover mission to the Argentinian mainland was successful, they were captured - and Munez has a habit of taking them one by one up in his personal helicopter and dropping them, bound and helpless, into the South Atlantic. 

Shaw sets off to the Falklands, with a plan in mind and a bagful of money and a bankers draft. He is set up with a contact in the Air Force stationed at Port Stanley, and together they begin to scout suitable planes still left on the island. It soon becomes clear that Royce's hero is going to attempt a Flight of the Phoenix type of rescue. But in order to do this - he first needs to get across the Atlantic to Argentina without going through official channels.

Royce is a great writer. The plot is neat and tidy, and the characters just garnished with enough spice to make everyone standout. Shaw is a good central character, he starts out very determined and confident, but Royce introduces enough complexities in the story to give the pilot cause for doubt and by the end of the book you feel he has changed.

There are also some great baddies for Shaw and the SAS guys to face up to. Munez is a perfect Bond villain with his unique way of dispatching the prisoners, but ultimately isn't given enough time in the book to really make an impression. There is also a band of guerillas who Shaw gets tangled up with. One of them, Justo, stands out from the pack of trigger-happy bandits.

Royce livens up the proceedings with some good action scenes; races across rooftops, raids on prison camps, night-time burglary and lots of action set in planes and helicopters as you'd expect from the description above. It has to be said that there is not a lot of battle-action. Royce doesn't let the plot descend into mass gunfire exchanges, and I felt that was a nice change. He prefers to let the thrills come out of the tension that his characters are performing.

The only fault I could level at Breakout was that sometimes the author does a lot of describing of his characters actions. Preparation of planes, gathering of equipment and resources, and descriptions of how people are tied up might be your thing, but not mine. For other writers, these can seem flawless,  Desmond Bagley for instance, but I'm not sure Royce quite pulls it off in the same fashion.

Despite that minor quibble, I enjoyed Breakout quite a bit, and will be on the lookout for more Jacks/Royce books. Although this particular Oliver Jacks book is not available in eBook format, there are a few Royce books in the market. Top Notch Thrillers released some a few years back. I think Royce and his Oliver Jacks books deserve more electronic conversions before his books dissapear.

Recommended.