Hetman Paperback – 17 July 2009

Hetman is very good from start to finish. Aidan Snow is the main character and you learn lots about the situation in the Ukraine as you travel along the storyline. Try Cold Black by the same author which is the follow up book, another good read. Enjoyed it very much indeed.

Good fast entertaining story. Action, race, charge to find out more and to come to the climax of the adventure.

excellent book

The book seems fast paced as it constantly swaps between various locations and characters- sometimes only a few paragraphs with a character/location before going somewhere else. But, the first half of the book is all about what the bad guys are doing, and what the government powers are doing, while following Snow and his mates while he teaches at a school. Very little action, and we just seem to be following the good guys as they basically do nothing other than chat about girls and drink. Surely we can have character development AND action together?Maybe its just me, maybe I'm used to Chris Ryan's short stories and their fast paced action. To be honest, some of those need more character development. But this book seemed to be on the opposite end of the scale rather than being a perfect balance. Maybe there is more action and thrilling aspects towards the end, but I gave up halfway through. And thats not good.Some silly spelling mistakes too, such as loose instead of lose (and this was repeated twice, so someone really needs to read a dictionary and find out the difference between the two)

Not in the same class as McNab or Ryan, to much jumping from place to place. Really should employ a good proof reader. Certainly won't buy again

Being a fan of novels by Matt Lynn,Andy Mcnab,Chris Ryan etc i thought this would be worth a read but how wrong i was! At times it felt more like an A to Z of Kiev and the spelling mistakes may seem trivial but i found them downright annoying.

With a Kindle for Christmas I thought I would strike out and try a mixed bag of novels. This is the first of two SAS thrillers that look to be the start of an ongoing series. From the start, I'll state that I bought the second book directly after finishing this one!As other reviewers have mentioned, the book is well researched and the author clearly knows the region - much of the action is set in the Ukrainian capitol Kiev. Though, having said that, some key events take place in my home county of West Sussex, so it was fun to spot the places I know.The central character is a former SAS soldier, now living in Kiev who is drawn into events after recognising a man who was part of an armed robbery that nearly left him dead. There is a broad cast of varied characters in a well crafted plot built on a keen understanding of the fall of communism and the crime that followed it. The story moves along at a good pace that kept me reading to the end.An enjoyable read!

Readers enjoying adventure novels will like what it turning out to be a series. Set in modern day Ukraine, it stars ex-SAS (Brit Special Forces) Aidan Snow, now retired from service and working as an English and phys ed teacher in an "international" school. Through an accidental sighting of a man who almost murdered him years before during the commission of a bank robbery in Poland, he is drawn into a situation both powerful and full of some of the most credible "nasties" one could imagiine. Shaw peoples his story with a wide range of characters, drawing them believably and building convincing relationships. He has done excellent research, not only on the area of Ukraine, but drawing out the many convoluted political relationships between various ex-USSR countries and the very long memories, often brutal, which exist and inner workings of current day corruption. Bravo for a terrific first novel. I'm already into the second and discovered, just today, that he's now published a third! (Write faster, Mr. Shaw!!! <g>)