Random Things Through My Letterbox: The Catalyst by Boyd Morrison ** GUEST REVIEW **

Wednesday, 16 March 2016

The Catalyst by Boyd Morrison GUEST REVIEW

'Kevin, the same men who killed Stein are after me ...'

When Doctor Michael Ward dies in a suspicious fire, his student Kevin Hamilton is convinced it was no accident. The young Ph.D student received a cryptic email from Ward just before the fatal blaze, warning him that their recent and supposedly failed experiment had actually brought about one of the most important discoveries of the century: a chemical process worth billions, with the potential to destroy lucrative global industries.

Along with his girlfriend, Kevin faces an urgent race to escape some extremely dangerous assassins. He must use all of his wits to protect his top-secret discovery and to prevent a conspiracy that will silence him for ever. And time is running out.

** This book was originally published as The Adamas Blueprint **

The Catalyst by Boyd Morrison was published in paperback by Sphere on 5 February 2015.

I'm delighted to welcome Liz Montague here to Random Things today. I 'met' Liz in the Crime Book Club on Facebook. The Crime Book Club is a made up of avid crime fiction readers and lots of crime fiction authors are members there too. The group hosts Q&A sessions with authors, and members post reviews, recommendations and generally share their love of crime fiction.

Liz is a 42 year old single mum to a 14 year old daughter, and a 4 year old chihuahua! Liz lives in Cornwall and is a secondary school teacher. Despite a hectic lifestyle, she always finds time for reading, accompanied by a good cup of tea and a biscuit. Perfect!
Liz adores reading, particularly crime fiction, but she can't choose one favourite all-time author, as she loves far too many! Liz enjoys discovering new authors and welcomes recommendations.

Here's Liz's review of The Catalyst

The blurb sounded very exciting and action packed, so I was hopeful that it would deliver! Boyd Morrison is the author of Noah's Ark Quest which also has excellent reviews, so my fingers were crossed that this was on the same wavelength, and just as good.

I was looking for a thrilling roller-coaster ride with believable and relatable characters, with a good twist and plenty of red herrings too, and boy did this deliver on all fronts.

There was no messing around or long, overly descriptive passages as it was fast paced and easy to follow. I found it an easy to read, stress free novel. Kevin, the main hero of the story, who was plunged into the adventure of his life, was a genuinely nice guy and the reader roots for him all the way. Nothing was too over the top though, or too fantastical. The novel is meant to be fun and pure escapism - nothing is meant to be over analysed or debated, this would ruin the magic of the story I think. You have to go with it!

Both the reader and Kevin are in the dark over the secret in his thesis, so we are on his journey too, discovering what Kevin knows and what the bad guys are after. I loved the car chase, this was just one of the heart racing and palm sweating moments in the book. I won't spoil them, you need to grab a copy and get started.

There were some scientific parts as the main plot does hinge on the newest technological advances. I had no idea what it all meant, but to be fair, it did not spoil the book at all and I just took it all on board and the aim of the new scientific development becomes clear very quickly, and that's all you need to know!

Greed, ambition, money, power - it's all there - as well as a spattering of family issues, loyalty, trust and determination. You just root for the good guys! I'm not sure what more I could ask for ...

I liked the way the chapters focus on either Kevin and his girlfriend Erica, or the main bad guy, this keeps the plot moving along nicely.

The Catalyst was a quick read, and no unnecessary facts or details - it was never boring and I read it in two days. I can't wait to read more from Boyd Harrison, I loved it!