John Reid Young’s first full-length novel demonstrates his masterful ability to spellbind the reader. His shorter stories about authentic characters among the “English” community in Tenerife have already earned him a following of charmed and loyal readers. With “The Journalist” he introduces a more fictional but attractively swashbuckling character with robust ties to Tenerife and, the author hints, a proclivity for uncovering the seamier side of the island in the late 1980s as land development for time-shares and tourism rears its head. After resigning in 1988 from his regiment as an officer and trained combatant, young Jamie Ryder finds himself at a crossroads. He is the casualty of multiple circumstances: firstly, his deeply regretted decision to leave the British military and return to his home in Tenerife; secondly, the unexpected infidelity of his Spanish fiancée; and thirdly the menace of shady land development dealings that his ex-fiancé’s father may have become involved in. Uncertain what to do, Jamie leaves Tenerife first for London, then for Cornwall and then for the Isles of Scilly after a fortuitous meeting with a bright young woman at the annual reunion of his old boarding school. In Scilly, he impulsively agrees to crew a yacht to Northern Spain and unwittingly becomes embroiled in an IRA operation to purchase arms from Basque terrorists and smuggle them back to Ireland on a yacht stolen – unbeknownst to Jamie -- from a retired British brigadier who served in Northern Ireland. When Jamie discovers the true purpose of the voyage, his natural acumen and his military training take over. The resulting clashes between terrorist organizations, national governments, named politicians of the day like Margaret Thatcher and Sir Geoffrey Howe, the special services, the armed services, MI6, and the police are packed with suspense and action in which Jamie plays the lead role. As well as telling a spellbinding story in “The Journalist”, John Reid Young subtly prepares the stage for a series of novels featuring this daring young ex-British Army officer who is as comfortable in Spanish society as in English, as handy with a pistol as he is with the tiller of a yacht, and becomes involved in the underworld of espionage and political devilry. John Reid Young’s dashing new hero, Jamie Ryder, promises to become a special agent so outstanding that this, and future novels in the series, will give James Bond, Jason Bourne, Quiller, and even Modesty Blaise serious competition among devoted readers of undercover operations with a firm bond to true life.