Fiction Review: Riders of the Pale Horse

Photo courtesy of Apolonia, Free Digital Photos

Riders of the Pale Horse by T. Davis Bunn is interesting once the reader figures out what’s going on. Frankly, it took me a little while to get into it. But, once I understood, I enjoyed the story.

The plot begins in Russia and travels all over the world. Alexis is a Russian nuclear scientist. Judith is an intelligence agent for Great Britain, and Cyril Price is her boss. The task: to interrupt uranium shipments from Russia to other parts of the world. They believe the route goes through Belorussia and Ukraine. One of the ending points is Aqaba, Jordan. The CIA is working together with the British to try to get an agent in a strategic place. They believe they have just the person—a lure. It’s a risk, but the task is so important that the risk is worth it.

“Rogue” Robards is a tough mercenary who’s hired to successfully get the uranium from one place to another. Pair him with a medical missionary, and you have an adventure in the making.

As always, the author provides action and intrigue, and there’s a surprise near the end. The writing is excellent. Some sentences are pure poetry.

The Epilogue proved as interesting as the rest of the book. It is a collection of newspaper quotations from 1992 to the present that very much give a background to this book—the smuggling of weapons-grade uranium in Russia and other countries of Europe.

Mr. Bunn’s Riders of the Pale Horse will especially be enjoyable for those who love history in the making, current events, intrigue, and a little bit of Christian romance.