The Golden Spanner

Ian Hill-Smith
Nightengale Press (2005)
ISBN 193344925X
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (5/06)

Because their families were close, Bryan and Julie grew up knowing each other. After they get married their lives begin to move in different directions. While Bryan is in the Air Force he is unfaithful. Even though Julie doesn’t know about it, it still has a negative effect on their relationship. Resentment begins to develop for both. Her family consumes a lot of her time. He is away too much with his career. She feels he is never there for her when she needs him.

After Bryan’s career in the Air Force ends, he starts his own business with a partner, Mario. Mario is also engaged in immoral and illegal activities. As his business begins to fail, Bryan gets involved with some of Mario’s shady dealings. Initially Bryan thinks that his illegal mission is to transport stolen gold out of the country, however, he learns that it is actually to smuggle heroin. Bryan lost a daughter to heroin and has no desire to help with this. Bryan turns the information about his activities in to his friend Bill Brady who is in charge of an intelligence operation. This is where the story really takes off because Bryan has to fake his own death and assume another identity. As he goes through this adventure, Julie is trying to find him and gets kidnapped along with him.

Author Hill-Smith uses his military experience and knowledge to write a very realistic account about Bryan’s military experience and the espionage activities. He is able to keep the story real without getting too mired in technical details. He also does a great job writing about the relationship between Bryan and Julie, the issues that develop among them including a loss of a child and his infidelity. This is an all around great book because the author takes the time to develop the characters and their relationships and still leaves room for a fun, suspenseful story.

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