‘Operation Motherland’ - Scott Andrews (Abaddon Books)

It’s been one of those weeks where not only am I being woken up by the sun (blazing through the curtains and right into my eyes...) incredibly early in the morning but all the sparrows in the street are conspiring to do their level best to make sure that I don’t get back to sleep. I mean seriously though, what kind of sadistic little creature makes it his business to sit on my window sill, at half four in the morning, and start singing his little heart out? Sorry, I’m digressing before I’ve even had a chance to get started!
Being all bleary eyed in the morning isn’t the best condition to be in if you want to be reading something complex and involved. I got round this by making my latest read something that isn’t complex in the slightest and one that totally woke me up with a full on concoction of car chases and explosions. It worked for me... :o)

In the aftermath of the events of ‘School’s Out’, sixteen year old Lee Keegan travels to Iraq on the trail of his missing father. He finds his father but also a lot of other things he never bargained for as even ‘The Cull’ (an extremely virulent disease that has decimated the human population, if you haven’t read the first book...) could not stop the war that has engulfed Basra. The least of Lee’s worries is death by electric chair...
Back in England, Jane Crowther (former matron of St. Mark’s school for boys, if you haven’t read the first book...) is fighting to protect her young charges from post apocalyptic threats as well as each other. However; Lee’s actions in Iraq, a president’s plans for global domination and mention of the mysterious ‘Operation Motherland’ will bring the war to her doorstep once again. If anyone does survive, what shape will they be left in afterwards...?

The best to read any Abaddon book is to leave your sense of disbelief at the door and just dive straight into the plot. It’s generally very fast moving and will carry you past awkward moments such as ‘Can people survive being in a tank that has just fallen out of an aeroplane?’ and ‘How did they manage to stow away in said tank in the first place?’ (You can tell where I had issues with the plot can’t you?) Despite these moments, amongst others, ‘Operation Motherland’ does exactly what it sets out to and that is to be a rollercoaster ride of post apocalyptic gunfights and explosions. A steady dose of impossible odds, evil villains, square jawed heroes and in your face combat kept me turning the pages. I didn’t have a lot of choice really as everything happens so quickly that you have to turn the pages just to keep up.

It was good to catch up with Lee Keegan and Jane Crowther and find out what they had been up to since the last book. The demands of ‘Post-Cull’ Earth weigh heavily on these two characters and Andrews spares no expenses in showing us exactly what this means. Things do get quite graphic in places (scenes of torture) but the plot is moving so fast that you won’t get a chance to be too unsettled by this. This has the perhaps unwanted effect of lessening the impact of these scenes...

I’ve been a big fan of the post apocalyptic landscape shown in ‘The Afterblight Chronicles’ and ‘Operation Motherland’ continues to show this to good affect. Things are slowly starting to pick up but this is still a very dangerous world to live in and the appearance of factions like the ‘Cleaners’ make this only too apparent! I also enjoyed the little nod to Paul Kane’s ‘Arrowhead’ which strengthens the continuity in what is essentially a shared world.

That’s not to say that the book isn’t without its faults though... I’ve already mentioned that ‘Operation Motherland’ is a book that will have you thinking ‘hang on, that couldn’t have just happened...’ While it is a book that achieves it’s set aim, ‘Operation Motherland’ is also a book that requires you to not think too hard about what you’re reading and just go along for the ride. This is ok if you know what you’re letting yourself in for but, if not, be warned...
‘Operation Motherland’ is also a book that relies on it’s pace to cover holes in the plot that a slower read would expose, not going to say too much here as it would give away what happens in the book...

‘Operation Motherland’ is a book that succeeds in being an adrenalin and mayhem fuelled ride but it may come up short if you ask any more of it. It’s still a fun read though, I’ll be back for more.

Seven and a Half out of Ten