Frederick Forsyth has been in danger recently of becoming better known for his splenetic political tirades than for his superlative thrillers, and it"s to be hoped that he"ll spend more time turning out books as gripping as The Veteran than cultivating his image as a radio pundit. After all, this is what he does best. Forsyth changed the face of the modern thriller with The Day of the Jackal, and the marriage of brilliantly realised detail and tight-as-a-drum narrative has become the industry standard ever since. This collection of five tales shows he has not lost his skill, and each reads like a perfectly turned mini-novel, rich in sharply drawn protagonists and wasting nary a word in delivering the goods. In the title tale, a canny lawyer finds himself acting for guilty men after a savage inner-city killing; in The Art of the Matter, destructive double-dealing is dispensed within the plush board rooms of a prestigious auction house; and in The Miracle a traveller en route to the brutal experience of the Palio horse race in Siena has his life changed by a supernatural incident. The range of these pieces is wide (even including a tale about a survivor of the massacre of Custer"s troops at Little Bighorn), but all are brought off with the effortless skill that has always been the author"s trademark: From even closer range a Sioux warrior rose from the long grass, pointed an ancient flintlock musket at Craig and fired. He had clearly used too much black powder in an effort to achieve the increased range. Worse, he had forgotten to remove the ramrod. The breech exploded with a roar and a sheet of flame, shattering the man"s right hand to pulp. If he had been firing from the shoulder he would have lost most of his head... --Barry Forshaw