I’ll be honest, I decided to pick up Nomad from my bookshelf because I was watching Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime at the time and fancied picking up an action-thriller with one hero who has to save the day using military means. I’d heard some great things about Nomad and so decided to give it a try.
Please note that this article contains affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase any products via the links below, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the products.
Nomad is your typical military action thriller with a lone hero whose physical skills and intelligence end up helping him to solve a problem. In this instance, the problem is that he was on a mission that went incredibly wrong and he’s convinced that it was an inside job. However, he is quickly thought to be the traitor and so ends up going on the run whilst still trying to find out who the real problem is.
Nomad plot – 4/5
The plot for Nomad isn’t anything mind-blowing. But then when it comes to these sorts of action-thriller hero novels, there often isn’t a lot you can do. However, there is a bit of a plot twist towards the later half of the novel though, as stated earlier, the whole of the story is focused around the idea that there is a mole in the operation and that eventually, you’ll find out who this is.
Nomad’s pace for me never felt like it ever really sped up. The book is a surprisingly long read for a book in this genre and I feel like a lot of that is because it’s filled with quite a lot of unnecessary dialogue and exposition when things could be better moved along with plot points.
Saying all of this, I did enjoy the story of Nomad and felt like it was a satisfying spy thriller. It had enough intrigue and revealing moments to keep me reading and I was very impressed with Swallow’s research into the weapons and, even if not true, the logistics behind a lot of the British and American secret services. These helped build my immersion and, as I said, even if it’s not true, make me feel like I was reading something very believable.
Nomad characters – 4/5
I say this quite often, but when you get an action-thriller like Nomad where the focus is around making sure the spy elements are believable, the political intrigue is there and the plot keeps moving at an enjoyable pace, the characters involved often lack much depth and that’s, unfortunately, the case here.
Our main protagonist, Marc Dane is someone who starts off as a fairly quiet and reserved intelligence agent and grows throughout into someone far more than he started off as due to the challenges he’s faced with. Along the way, Dane meets some really interesting characters who end up switching your opinion as to whose side they’re on at different times.
However, as I mentioned, I often rely on one of two main sorts of character types to decide that I really like the characters in a book: the funny and witty one or the character who we learn to love because there’s much more to them as a person that makes us relate to them. Neither of those is in this book so that’s why it’s so far from a five.
Nomad final rating – 4
Nomad is a great action spy thriller featuring a main character who you can vouch for. The plot isn’t the quickest and can sometimes suffer from a little bit too much exposition but it’s gripping and features some fantastic knowledge and depth that makes you really feel like you’re reading about a true spy story.
Nomad has a fairly monotonous protagonist but some great supporting characters who will keep you guessing as to their loyalties which adds to the engaging story. Nomad doesn’t break ground in the genre but it certainly offers up a really interesting military thriller which makes me want t continue the series at some point.
Pick up a copy of Nomad from Amazon.
