When I reviewed Blood of Honour, the third in James Holland's Jack Tanner series, about a year ago, I bemoaned how the author seemed to be repeating himself, unwilling to change his formula. Happily, Holland shows in Hellfire, the fourth instalment, that he is willing to tweak this formula. This is commendable even if it does have mixed results in practice.

The book is, I should state, largely the same as the previous books. It follows, for the most part, the same pattern and so, in a way, the book doesn't really need commenting on further. If you've enjoyed the series so far, you'll probably enjoy this one too. Tanner is roaming around North Africa this time in the run-up to the pivotal battle of El Alamein and, of course, his sidekick Sykes is along for when things need a little dab of TNT.

However, there are some changes in Hellfire that are worth mentioning. Alongside this conventional 'desert war' plotline, there is a 'secret war' plotline which is hit-and-miss (though mostly 'hit'). Perhaps it was just the novelty of having Tanner doing something new, but this deviation into espionage is quite fun. Vaughan, Tanner's friend in the spy world, is a character worth investing in (and more likable than Tanner, damningly) and cloak-and-dagger stuff always lends a bit of élan to any writing. It doesn't provide any real plot twists that you'd expect from an espionage story, and the reveal of the traitor at the end felt a bit undercooked, but the conflicted femme fatale was, like Vaughan, a compelling character – perhaps even the best Holland has created in this series.

The strength of the espionage bits make me more inclined to be favourable to the book and appreciative of Holland's attempts at mixing it up, but the Jack Tanner formula still shows some signs of wear and tear. There is – again – an upper-class officer who feels superior to Jack's common-man approach to leadership. And again, for the second time in two books, this is resolved with a simple apology. Again, there are a large number of coincidental meetings: of course the upper-class officer mentioned above will keep popping up; of course the secret service guy was the guy Tanner served with on Crete; of course when Tanner pops out to the Cairo market he happens to bump into the Axis spy and catch them red-handed. (Thankfully, Holland has dropped his trick of having a single German antagonist whose personal rivalry with Tanner develops through some contrived coincidences. These were becoming increasingly unbelievable.)

The biggest problem for me remains Tanner's know-it-all attitude. After four books – or about 2,000 pages – of Jack Tanner I really should like this guy more than I do. As written by Holland, he knows more about military tactics and strategy than captains and colonels and generals. So how come he's only a sergeant (well, promoted to lieutenant in this book)? These scenes really ram it home that Tanner is an obvious author avatar; it's Holland with his military historian cap on shoehorning the history lessons in. I wouldn't mind this as much if it was done with a bit more finesse, but Tanner is practically Napoleon reborn and Holland isn't afraid to let the reader know it. Note Tanner's self-satisfaction oozing out of the following abridged passage, as he witnesses the preparation for the battle of El Alamein:

Tanner felt uneasy to see so many vehicles and troops jammed into one area... At least they were well prepared, he thought... He was not sure what to make of [General] Montgomery... Rommel had been dismissed as unimaginative, a man with an unenterprising and repetitive battle strategy. Eighth Army's old habits were to be consigned to the dustbin: no more defended boxes as there had been at Gazala and when they'd first reached the Alamein Line; they had been defensive in concept, which had inhibited flexibility and balance. Well, Tanner had agreed with that, all right. He'd always thought defensive boxes were a hopeless tactic. Neither would there be any more operating in penny packets. From now on, Montgomery had told them, they would make the most of their superior strength in arms and armour and operate in force. Again, Tanner agreed wholeheartedly." (pp491-2, my emphasis)

For all Holland's commendable attempts at rejigging his series in other areas, in this one – Tanner's hyper-competency – he has become further entrenched. Not only is he a military genius, but his skills have now blossomed into other areas. Not only does he know more about how to treat horses than cavalry officers do (pg. 349), but he's also schooling seasoned spymasters on the best way to disrupt an enemy spy circuit (pg. 125). Perhaps it's just the indiscreet way he's written in these scenarios, but Tanner's still not grown on me.

Hellfire was a strange reading experience for me. I expected another formulaic Jack Tanner experience and whilst I largely got that, I also got a genuine attempt from the author to freshen it up a bit. The espionage plot was interesting – even if its addition made Hellfire the longest of the Tanner novels at a daunting 571 pages – and the decision to make the obligatory romance subplot focus on Vaughan rather than Tanner was a good move. There might be less action – the real fighting doesn't kick off until about 250 pages in – but the earnest attempts at refreshment make me much more confident going into the next Jack Tanner book, The Devil's Pact." ( )