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In Switzerland, a pharmaceutical company is conducting experiments on human guinea-pigs who are terminally ill. One escapes to tell the world of the Swiss militarys best kept secret and soon enough, British secret agents Tweed and Bob Newman are on the case, cheating death, escaping from their enemies on Swiss trains and staying in the best hotels and drinking liters of champagne and coffee! Ah, but Forbes's books are fun in this respect. What is the secret project of the Swiss army, or rather a renegade battalion who is guarding the Berne Clinic? When Tweed finds out, the results could change the stability of western Europe for good.

317 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

108 people are currently reading
349 people want to read

About the author

Colin Forbes

154 books115 followers
Raymond Harold Sawkins was a British novelist, who mainly published under the pseudonym Colin Forbes, but also as Richard Raine, Jay Bernard and Harold English. He only published three of his first books under his own name.Sawkins wrote over 40 books, mostly as Colin Forbes. He was most famous for his long-running series of thriller novels in which the principal character is Tweed, Deputy Director of the Secret Intelligence Service.

Sawkins attended The Lower School of John Lyon in Harrow, London. At the age of 16 he started work as a sub-editor with a magazine and book publishing company. He served with the British Army in North Africa and the Middle East during World War II. Before his demobilization he was attached to the Army Newspaper Unit in Rome. On his return to civilian life he joined a publishing and printing company, commuting to London for 20 years, until he became successful enough to be a full-time novelist.

Sawkins was married to a Scots-Canadian, Jane Robertson (born 31 March 1925, died 1993). Together they had one daughter, Janet.Sawkins died of a heart attack on August 23, 2006.

Sawkins was often quoted as personally visiting every location he features in his books to aid the authenticity of the writing. As a result, there is detailed description of the places where the action in his books takes place.

Fury (1995) was inspired by the courage of his wife before she died, and he set it apart from his other novels “because of the strong emotion and sense of loss that runs through it”.

Just one of Forbes' novels was made into a film: Avalanche Express, directed by Mark Robson and starring Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw, which was released in 1979 to generally poor reviews.




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5 stars
199 (26%)
4 stars
257 (34%)
3 stars
222 (29%)
2 stars
49 (6%)
1 star
14 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
Profile Image for Maria.
352 reviews
January 26, 2016
A good read, I am currently reading the series but not in order. I found terminal is less exciting than the janus man and Double jeopardy. In this part, Tweed has a secondary role, and Bob Newman took the lead . The book is about experiments from medical world.
Profile Image for Stephen Hoffman.
564 reviews3 followers
February 20, 2022
(4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars)

This is an exciting, tension filled thriller with the nerves building right through the book until the end.

The ending based on the two characters whose love affair always seems to be lacking in genuine warmth is shown to be that in the way they used each other for their own ends and in a way that is central to the thrilling story that unfolds in the book. I also liked how we didn't have a fairytale ending, but quite a dark one, which for me was more fitting, realistic and based on human nature.

I was a fan of the setting of Switzerland and the backdrop of the Cold War. The way both were drawn was realistic and added atmosphere, as well as interest to the story.

Its just a bit off perfect for me, which is why I gave 4.5 not 5 stars. Some of the characters, particularly the women were not the best drawn, but this was saved by the writing and story itself.

This is a thriller that I would definitely recommend reading and I look forward to reading other books by Colin Forbes.
2 reviews
May 6, 2020
Typical Colin Forbes in so far as the story is good and fast paced. However the writing style is appalling with ridiculous dialogue and holes in the story. What ultimately lets this novel down is the very abrupt ending. It seems like he had to rush off and just ended it without tying things up properly. My Kindle said I was at 100% read whilst the story was still at 97%. Very odd but not suprising in a Forbes.
Profile Image for Abhishek Prakash.
164 reviews1 follower
April 20, 2020
While the book is a Tweed & Company, Tweed plays a secondary role..
Reason for 2 stars, totally abrupt ending, with so many loose ends, so many unresolved issues.
It was no ending at all. As if the writer just got bored and didnt complete it.
318 reviews2 followers
May 12, 2024
Top Drawer!

This is good, old fashioned espionage at it’s best. Think the 70’s & 80’s when Forsyth, Higgins and those masters of the craft were writing the very best spy thrillers with very decent plots, twists & cleverness!
Profile Image for Kas.
415 reviews5 followers
January 11, 2021
Once again Forbes has written a gripping and interesting read full of twists and turns right to the end of the book.
147 reviews1 follower
October 18, 2021
As we move into the Tweed series we start progressively to see the mainstay characters. Second in the series and again excellent.
9 reviews
October 4, 2022
Very old fashion writing (1984) in Europe and hard to follow at times. But I still wanted to finish it.
59 reviews2 followers
February 11, 2024
Gem of author!

How did I not know of Colin Forbes?? What excellent novels of the world of spies and all things espionage. Great characters excellent well researched locations.
480 reviews1 follower
May 17, 2024
Fast-paced, but an abrupt ending. Some more detailing towards the finish would've been nice.
This is not a Tweed's novel, it is more of Bob Newman's show.
9 reviews
June 4, 2024
Outstanding

This is an excellent read, impossible to put down. The characters are very realistic and you are kept guessing until the final chapter. I highly recommend this book.
943 reviews6 followers
December 7, 2023
Really good

This was the first book I read involving Tweed and from them on I was hooked! Now that I can read the first six on Kindle Unlimited,I have the pleasure of reading them again. I hope all the Tweed books will be available soon.
Profile Image for Gillis.
206 reviews7 followers
August 13, 2022
Iets te vaak net te ongeloofwaardig. Vooral het personage Nancy kon mij niet overtuigen.
Daarnaast een complex en verwarrend plot waarbij je als lezer constant achter de feiten aanholt aangezien de auteur heel bewust heel wat informatie achterhoudt. Werkt frustrerend.
228 reviews
December 11, 2020
In my opinion, this book was not up to the standard set by the "Bahamas Crisis." While a lot was going on, it would be as frustrating to be one of the protagonist's assisting characters as it was to read the book. Every character was told exactly what they were to do or what to get, and exactly when to do it or get it. Nobody was given any part of the plan except their specific part. This was not a spy novel but this isolation of each role was treated as a positive, however it was very frustrating for the reader.

As a reader of a certain type of action thriller, I am used to knowing at least some parts of the plan. The author then uses the plot to determine the outcome of the action. In this book, Forbes unleashes virtually all his action in the last 20 or so page. Of course it all succeeds brilliantly except maybe the part of a minor player or mercenary who accomplishes his major role then gets killed off. Great book if you like that style; otherwise average.
Three stars.
Profile Image for Jack Sakalauskas.
Author 3 books23 followers
May 26, 2015
A good read. Very enjoyable. It may be titled "Tweed and Co." and you would expect Tweed to play a major role. In reality, he has a secondary part. It is a stand alone book using other characters. I think the idea works well. I was disappointed by the end. It seemed to have come to an abrupt stop without some issues resolved.
Profile Image for Nigel.
1,004 reviews6 followers
February 2, 2021
A good Tweed thriller. I am currently reading the series in order and this is book 2 of the Tweed & Co Series. There is the usual Colin Forbes mix of characters (some of whom are not what they appear), a good mix of action and intrigue as the story builds to a good climax
Profile Image for Dewi Pramita.
29 reviews2 followers
July 6, 2009
wow...bob newman is awesome..makes me wanna learn french and german..
Profile Image for Bookbear.
285 reviews1 follower
Read
July 29, 2018
I read that as an eBook from the interwebs, and I am not sure if it included the last pages or not. The end was very abrupt, with plenty of questions unanswered, things not followed up. If that really was the end (and I have problems believing that), then I would give that book 1 star.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews

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