Last Bastion by Alan Carter is the second Sam Willard and DS Jill Wilke crime, mystery, fiction novel. This book does not disappoint; it is full of tension, danger, loyalty, and betrayal. Set in Tasmania and exposing extremist groups and violence, you are hooked from the beginning to the very unexpected ending.
Sam Willard, a whistleblower on Afghan war crimes, is in prison. War crime charges have been dropped against the principal accused, but somehow Sam is the only one still facing criminal proceedings. Sam is visited by Pauline, a national intelligence officer from Canberra. Pauline offers him a way out.
Tasmanian local member of parliament, Malcolm Ross, has risen quickly to become the leader of the opposition and is poised to be the Prime Minister after the next election. Unfortunately, his wayward son is embroiled with a group of fascists, hardcore extremists planning acts of terror.
All Sam has to do is infiltrate this extremist group and safely remove the politician’s son from the group without alerting the press.
Sam, against his better judgement, signs the contract. He successfully infiltrates the group, but not everything goes to plan.
Hobart is in the grip of a series of savage, racially motivated attacks, which Detective Sergeant Jill Wilkie is investigating. The attacks have led her to question local neo-nazis and she realises the violence is part of something bigger and darker, fast approaching.
Jill is alerted to the fact that special ops agents from Canberra are running a mission in Hobart. She wonders if they could all be working on the same case.
It is easy to be invested in the characters, especially Sam and Jill, as the fast-paced action with twists and turns and plenty of danger keeps you guessing as to who will survive and just who should they both trust.
The storyline keeps you engaged, searching for answers as to who the leader of the extremist group is and whether they will be brought to justice. Will Sam really get his fresh start, as promised by Pauline? Will Jill’s work ever allow her time for romance? There are just so many reasons for you to keep reading.
Thoroughly recommend Last Bastion. It is one of those books that is hard to put down. Five stars.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace members are reading Last Bastion by Alan Carter. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
I love to read, any book on any topic. I now love ebooks as they are easier to store, I was running out of bookshelves! My other interests are family, gardening and our beautiful King Charles spaniel dog who is my reading companion.
I really enjoy stories set in Australia and this one is set in Tasmania or at least a Tasmanian Prison to start with.
This is the second book in this series but it is fine as a standalone. I have not read the first book and didnt feel that I was missing anything.
There are many twists and turns and just when you feel that there is someone that can be trusted you suddenly start to question their actions and find that perhaps they are not the one that should be trusted.
I wondered more than once if Sam would survive all the negative situations he was thrown into.
There is so much going on in this book that its one that I will certainly re-read as im sure there were things I missed the first time around.
Great for those that love suspense and a bit of mystery.
This is a crime novel story, and it also has a bit of fun humour to keep me entertained. I have never read a book by Alan Carter and I see that it a second book of the characters but it can still be read as a standalone read, trust me.
The story centers around Sam Willard, a disgraced SAS soldier and whistleblower who is locked away from his family in a Tasmanian prison.
His freedom is guaranteed if he goes undercover to bring out an extremist group and rescue a politician’s son.
Detective Sergeant Jill Wilkie we read about and follow throughout the book is great at her job investigating attacks that are happening in Hobart.
This whole storyline really captures your attention from start to finish. I enjoyed it and even the front cover I found interesting.
If you love crime thriller books, then this book is for you definitely.
Thank you to Beauty and Lace and Freemantle press for sending me this book to read. A thoroughly enjoyable read kept me on my toes.
Last Bastion, by Alan Carter, is a thrilling police/crime drama set in Tasmania. Local Hobart features are described and the reader gets a glimpse of regional Tasmania in the process.
Sam Willard is going undercover using his previous SAS and prison experiences to rescue the wayward son of a prominent politician. There are numerous relatable characters both in the police force and on the fringes, which adds greatly to the story.
I particularly liked the relevance to many similar situations that have happened in the wider Australian community over the past few years. It really made me wonder about how much of the actual events told to the public are reliable and accurate in their authenticity. Do we really understand the motives/reasons behind these often tragic events? Are we in fact ever truly knowledgeable about details that lead to a particular newsworthy outcome?
If you enjoy Australian crime novels and thrillers then Last Bastion is definitely for you. Highly recommend it!