jacey | Book Log 76/2016 - Gareth L Powell: Ack-Ack Macaque

Ack-Ack Macaque is a cynical, one-eyed, cigar-chomping monkey, who is a Second World War flying ace... or is he?

France and Great Britain merged in the 1950s and the nuclear-zeppelin-filled present day is a definite alternative. We start off with two separate stories that eventually merge. Victoria Valois is on the run from the terrifying thug who killed her ex husband, took his brain and who wants to kill her and steal her soul catcher - an intimate record of her mind which can be used to make a duplicate. Meanwhile in France the heir to the British throne illegally breaks in to his mother's research facility with his girlfriend and then goes on the run.. with a monkey. Yes THAT monkey.

There's an international plot going on which looks all set to start a nuclear war with China unless our intrepid heroes can stop it.

It's a great page-turner and an original story. I'd read all the good reviews and they were right.