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Bannerman #1
The Bannerman Solution (Bannerman Novels) by John R. Maxim
Excellent Book
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
21 people are currently reading
312 people want to read
About the author
John R. Maxim
21 books43 followersJohn R. Maxim was born in Greenwich Village, NYC, educated at NY Jesuit Schools (Xavier and Fordham) played all the street sports and most team sports.
Comes from a family of cops and a few Feds. After school, took up flying, skydiving and dirt-track stock car racing until the Military decided it could do without him. Then went into marketing and advertising. Several awards. Rose to Senior VP at major New York Advertising agencies. Work involved a great deal of international travel. Major hobby back then was sailing.
Always wanted to write, however, and, one night on the bar car, decided to give it a year, succeed or fail. Sold first novel at age 41. Wrote 12 more plus one non-fiction, averaging a year and a half each. Translated into ten languages. Several were optioned for film or TV. Still waiting.
Took up skiing. Many trips to Switzerland and Colorado. With the kids gone, sold our Connecticut house and moved to Hilton Head Island with his beautiful wife, Christine, herself a champion sailor.
Comes from a family of cops and a few Feds. After school, took up flying, skydiving and dirt-track stock car racing until the Military decided it could do without him. Then went into marketing and advertising. Several awards. Rose to Senior VP at major New York Advertising agencies. Work involved a great deal of international travel. Major hobby back then was sailing.
Always wanted to write, however, and, one night on the bar car, decided to give it a year, succeed or fail. Sold first novel at age 41. Wrote 12 more plus one non-fiction, averaging a year and a half each. Translated into ten languages. Several were optioned for film or TV. Still waiting.
Took up skiing. Many trips to Switzerland and Colorado. With the kids gone, sold our Connecticut house and moved to Hilton Head Island with his beautiful wife, Christine, herself a champion sailor.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
August 31, 2010
John Maxim's Bannerman novels are some of my all-time favorite novels. After reading the first one, I read every one I could get my hands on, then I proceeded to read ever Maxim novel I could find. That's kind of my modus operandi. He never disappointed me. Well, he kinda did - he just disappeared into thin air and didn't write nearly as many Bannerman novels as I would like to have seen.
April 10, 2022
I typically despise the term 'unputdownable' when it comes to books. It, like 'tour de force' and so many other marketing terms, has been deployed so frequently and so irresponsibly as to deprive the word of any real power. Seeing something described as 'unputdownable' guarantees my disinterest -- I have bookmarks, and I know how to use them, thank you very much. That said, The Bannerman Solution was a novel I hated setting down every time I had to stop reading it: because I had to get to work, or my lunch break was over, or whatever other excuse life dropped in my lap.
Maxim's novel dispenses with much of the James Bond or Jason Bourne style trappings of power fantasy and instead gives us a group of talented and efficient contract agents who are looking to enjoy some semblance of an ordinary life after spending the last fifteen to twenty years carrying out covert assassinations, bugging telephones, torturing bad guys, and setting up chains of dominos so someone else in the US government can knock them all down with plausible deniability. This team of sociopaths, snipers, seductresses, and spies is headed by Paul Bannerman, who inherited the espionage genes from his mother, herself a wildly successful operative in the great game of spycraft.
I can't really write much about the plot of The Bannerman Solution, because part of the fun of this book is enjoying the experience of Maxim peeling it away, layer by layer, to expose the mistaken assumptions and Cold War-era paranoia which has brought the entire thing to a head. Virtually every problem faced by Bannerman and his associates is the product of someone or another, as one character in the book says, "adding two plus two and getting six". Problems compound upon problems, and because people keep making assumptions, the snowball effect worsens and drags more people into the eventual avalanche. How the hell Maxim kept all this stuff juggled in his head I'll never know, but I've never read any thriller quite like this one, and I enjoyed the way he kept the ball rolling. This is a 400-page novel which reads like a 300-page one, an impressive feat given Maxim is doing the opposite of James "one cliffhanger every two pages" Patterson's formula.
I wanted so badly to award this book five stars, because it really did grab hold of me and didn't let go. The reason I can't is, perhaps, the same reason the book is so effective at keeping the reader turning pages, so its odd to think of this strength as a weakness, but such is life. At the end of the day, while Maxim delivered a spellbinding story of twists, turns, betrayals, and vengeance, he was so busy showing us what his characters were doing that he was unable to devote enough time to who his characters were, except in the most broad-stroke sense. Most authors want readers to close the book feeling like they and the protagonists are old friends, but Paul Bannerman, Billy McHugh, Carla Benedict, Anton Zivic, Molly Farrell, John Waldo, Gary Russo, and the others remain little more than distant associates when the story's over. I get a sneaking suspicion this was deliberate on Maxim's part, and if it was then good on him for sticking to it. While Bannerman and his crew are the "good guys" of the novel for whom we root, they are, at best, anti-heroes, who employ heinous acts of violence simply because it's all they know, because it pleases them to do so, because it's something they're exceptionally good at, or a combination of some or all of the above. These are not white knights, crusading in the business of lawful morality -- they are men and women who commit extra-judicial atrocities both at home and abroad so the rest of us can sleep more soundly at night.
We may want to know them, but we do not want to know them.
The sole exception to this is Raymond Lesko, a retired NYPD detective who gets caught up in the plot for peripheral reasons: nothing happening in the story deliberately involves him, but it is his actions two years earlier which inadvertently set everything off and lead to him getting swept up into the mess. And I have to say, I gawddamn love everything about Lesko. He first appeared in an earlier book of Maxim's called Time Out of Memory, and I'm dying to get hold of that one and see him in action prior to his involvement in the Bannerman books. Lesko is imperfect and corrupt, haunted by a past in which he too has done terrible things to equally terrible people and borne witness to the same, struggling to hold on to an ever-straining relationship with his only daughter. He is the one we know best by the novel's end, a man straddling the line between being an angel with a crooked and dented halo, and a devil with sharpened horns and a forked tail. Like everyone but his daughter Susan, he's irredeemable. Unlike everyone else though, he is at least making an effort. Whether he's deserving of it or not is up to the reader. Lesko is a fantastic fictional creation.
This is my first John R. Maxim novel, but definitely not my last. I've already got The Bannerman Effect started. We'll see if it can match the pace and intensity of its predecessor.
Maxim's novel dispenses with much of the James Bond or Jason Bourne style trappings of power fantasy and instead gives us a group of talented and efficient contract agents who are looking to enjoy some semblance of an ordinary life after spending the last fifteen to twenty years carrying out covert assassinations, bugging telephones, torturing bad guys, and setting up chains of dominos so someone else in the US government can knock them all down with plausible deniability. This team of sociopaths, snipers, seductresses, and spies is headed by Paul Bannerman, who inherited the espionage genes from his mother, herself a wildly successful operative in the great game of spycraft.
I can't really write much about the plot of The Bannerman Solution, because part of the fun of this book is enjoying the experience of Maxim peeling it away, layer by layer, to expose the mistaken assumptions and Cold War-era paranoia which has brought the entire thing to a head. Virtually every problem faced by Bannerman and his associates is the product of someone or another, as one character in the book says, "adding two plus two and getting six". Problems compound upon problems, and because people keep making assumptions, the snowball effect worsens and drags more people into the eventual avalanche. How the hell Maxim kept all this stuff juggled in his head I'll never know, but I've never read any thriller quite like this one, and I enjoyed the way he kept the ball rolling. This is a 400-page novel which reads like a 300-page one, an impressive feat given Maxim is doing the opposite of James "one cliffhanger every two pages" Patterson's formula.
I wanted so badly to award this book five stars, because it really did grab hold of me and didn't let go. The reason I can't is, perhaps, the same reason the book is so effective at keeping the reader turning pages, so its odd to think of this strength as a weakness, but such is life. At the end of the day, while Maxim delivered a spellbinding story of twists, turns, betrayals, and vengeance, he was so busy showing us what his characters were doing that he was unable to devote enough time to who his characters were, except in the most broad-stroke sense. Most authors want readers to close the book feeling like they and the protagonists are old friends, but Paul Bannerman, Billy McHugh, Carla Benedict, Anton Zivic, Molly Farrell, John Waldo, Gary Russo, and the others remain little more than distant associates when the story's over. I get a sneaking suspicion this was deliberate on Maxim's part, and if it was then good on him for sticking to it. While Bannerman and his crew are the "good guys" of the novel for whom we root, they are, at best, anti-heroes, who employ heinous acts of violence simply because it's all they know, because it pleases them to do so, because it's something they're exceptionally good at, or a combination of some or all of the above. These are not white knights, crusading in the business of lawful morality -- they are men and women who commit extra-judicial atrocities both at home and abroad so the rest of us can sleep more soundly at night.
We may want to know them, but we do not want to know them.
The sole exception to this is Raymond Lesko, a retired NYPD detective who gets caught up in the plot for peripheral reasons: nothing happening in the story deliberately involves him, but it is his actions two years earlier which inadvertently set everything off and lead to him getting swept up into the mess. And I have to say, I gawddamn love everything about Lesko. He first appeared in an earlier book of Maxim's called Time Out of Memory, and I'm dying to get hold of that one and see him in action prior to his involvement in the Bannerman books. Lesko is imperfect and corrupt, haunted by a past in which he too has done terrible things to equally terrible people and borne witness to the same, struggling to hold on to an ever-straining relationship with his only daughter. He is the one we know best by the novel's end, a man straddling the line between being an angel with a crooked and dented halo, and a devil with sharpened horns and a forked tail. Like everyone but his daughter Susan, he's irredeemable. Unlike everyone else though, he is at least making an effort. Whether he's deserving of it or not is up to the reader. Lesko is a fantastic fictional creation.
This is my first John R. Maxim novel, but definitely not my last. I've already got The Bannerman Effect started. We'll see if it can match the pace and intensity of its predecessor.
December 9, 2009
The beginning of one of the best series I have ever read.
December 20, 2022
Pretty solid for a cheesy suspense. A bit like Red. (I've only seen the film). There's enough action and the personalities are likable--both the good guys and bad guys are well-drawn. I could see this making a good star-studded cast film.
August 16, 2010
I really enjoyed this 5 book series, but it was very difficult to find. It's an older series, I had to haunt the used bookstores to find all 5 books. I really wish the author had continued the series. I understand there are Kindle editions now but reading the reviews, the books are very poorly formatted. Too bad, I'd love to have them as eBooks to read again.
May 1, 2018
I suppose this is a good book for those who think the Charles Manson family should have been exonerated instead of tried and convicted. Yes, this is fiction, but almost every character with a name is a serial murderer. GR ratings can be very misleading.
November 18, 2021
Ex-NYPD cop Ray Lesko is a very dangerous man and possibly somewhat unhinged.
He'll protect his family by whatever means it takes.
His daughter Susan has a new boyfriend, Paul Bannerman, and he's not all that he seems on first impression. Of course Lesko gets an identity check done.
Susan, a reporter, is trying to find a story that will stand her out from the crowd and she thinks she's found it in nearby Westport where the death rates have suddenly spiked, but she's run into a dead end.
"The Bannerman Solution" is an old-fashioned book (first published in 1989) that may, at the time, have seemed to bring something new to the table but, to me, some crucial elements were telegraphed from the start.
Lesko didn't kill Elena so it is a fair bet that she'll resurface, and, given the way it is written, Lesko and Bannerman will eventually reach an agreement, though that would mean the fair Susan is in danger.
It's not necessarily a criticism, just that I've read so many books over the decades that it takes a very clever hand to play a fair game and pull the wool over my eyes at the same time.
That said it eventually become a great read - with the possible exception of Lesko's dreams/imagination which struck me as just odd. You've got to stick with it and try to remember all the twists and turns - it will be worth your while.
The plot is almost impossible to describe, I'd leave it at saying that double dealing and treachery are the norm, almost every one is paranoid with good reason, death really is around every corner and it's always Palmer Reid!!!
It's a 2 to 3 Star read for a long time, but it is a 4 Star read by the end. Great fun!
He'll protect his family by whatever means it takes.
His daughter Susan has a new boyfriend, Paul Bannerman, and he's not all that he seems on first impression. Of course Lesko gets an identity check done.
Susan, a reporter, is trying to find a story that will stand her out from the crowd and she thinks she's found it in nearby Westport where the death rates have suddenly spiked, but she's run into a dead end.
"The Bannerman Solution" is an old-fashioned book (first published in 1989) that may, at the time, have seemed to bring something new to the table but, to me, some crucial elements were telegraphed from the start.
Lesko didn't kill Elena so it is a fair bet that she'll resurface, and, given the way it is written, Lesko and Bannerman will eventually reach an agreement, though that would mean the fair Susan is in danger.
It's not necessarily a criticism, just that I've read so many books over the decades that it takes a very clever hand to play a fair game and pull the wool over my eyes at the same time.
That said it eventually become a great read - with the possible exception of Lesko's dreams/imagination which struck me as just odd. You've got to stick with it and try to remember all the twists and turns - it will be worth your while.
The plot is almost impossible to describe, I'd leave it at saying that double dealing and treachery are the norm, almost every one is paranoid with good reason, death really is around every corner and it's always Palmer Reid!!!
It's a 2 to 3 Star read for a long time, but it is a 4 Star read by the end. Great fun!
November 1, 2022
Kindle. As part of my clear out shelves of books, I am rereading the first in many series. And then (quite admirably, I thought, getting rid of the series. This one, I found only the second in paper, so I got the first on Kindle.
Well, for the most part they have held up to the test of time although some better than others. This is one that has made the top of the list. Notwithstanding the violence (and there's a good amount of it, at least for me these days) it moves, it has a lot of sub-plots, decent character development so far (more in the series to flesh things out, as I remember)... Happy I'm revisiting this series!
Well, for the most part they have held up to the test of time although some better than others. This is one that has made the top of the list. Notwithstanding the violence (and there's a good amount of it, at least for me these days) it moves, it has a lot of sub-plots, decent character development so far (more in the series to flesh things out, as I remember)... Happy I'm revisiting this series!
December 26, 2020
Maybe it’s all the holiday food (and, yes, chocolate), but I kept getting confused with several sets of characters, sub-stories, and conflicting objectives. Plus, I found a number of these characters unappealing or downright obnoxious. Might need a second read to get all of the complexities ironed out. Or maybe go straight to book 2 if it’s a series...?
April 5, 2023
I don’t subscribe to the concept of a book being “unputdownable”, but rather how long details stay with me, I briefly worked for the London publisher, over 30 years ago, saw hundreds of books and when I say that only two stayed with me and Lesko’s Ghost was one of them, you might a sense of how good this actually is.
January 25, 2024
I found this book in Spybrary's top 125 authors (https://spybrary.com/top120spyauthors/). John Maxim came in at number 70. I had to get this book through Interlibrary loan (thank you Oklahoma Department of Libraries for still having it available).
Excellent book. The interplay between Paul Bannerman, the evil CIA chief and Lesko were excellent.
Excellent book. The interplay between Paul Bannerman, the evil CIA chief and Lesko were excellent.
April 19, 2020
A good read with interesting characters. The book merges several points of view/acts nicely but fails in the end. The ending is lazy and disappointing. Highly capable characters turn into a Tom & Jerry cartoon where everything miraculously happens to be right there exactly when you need it.
October 5, 2023
In addition to my previous review, this is a very slow read and too outdated for today’s world.
The first 300 out of the 400 pages you could almost just peruse through and it’s only the last 100 pages that it gets good.
Sadly, would not recommend.
The first 300 out of the 400 pages you could almost just peruse through and it’s only the last 100 pages that it gets good.
Sadly, would not recommend.
September 23, 2017
Fun book. A bit all over the place in the beginning, but in the second half it all comes nicely together in a satisfying climax.
July 20, 2018
Interesting, a much better read than Haven, which I had read previously. It had its flaws, but the action and suspense was good enough to cover for them and make me want to continue with the series.
September 10, 2018
i enjoyed it a lot when i read it the first time.
January 1, 2021
Well-written, fun and engaging. There were quite a few characters to keep up with, but they were all worth getting to know. It was definitely written as the beginning of a series.
June 23, 2021
Love
I’ve re-read all of John R. maxim’s book. Every time I read it, I found things in the narrative that I missed before. I really like the characters
I’ve re-read all of John R. maxim’s book. Every time I read it, I found things in the narrative that I missed before. I really like the characters
March 18, 2022
One of my all time favorite novels. The Bannerman series is great and this book starts it off. Every two or three years I read it again. It's that good.
January 12, 2024
Started out promising- like an 80s action movie. Plot ended up overly muddled though. Too many bit parts to keep straight, and the end result was a little drawn out.
March 20, 2025
A very enjoyable read. A little dated and probably not very PC for the modern era but good characters, good plot and good progression. Recommend
May 18, 2025
This is a fun series! Good character development, great story and a complex antagonist. A little dated but not overly so. I will continue reading this series.
October 25, 2022
Could have been better. I was dismayed at the casual use of racist and anti-gay slurs, which was unnecessary and took away my from overall enjoyment of the book.
Read
March 14, 2017I believe this one is out of print, but oh boy, what a book! This is one of my all-time favorites. Some books read as though the characters are puppets, but John R. Maxim did a masterful job with characterization. All of the characters’ actions, and therefore the plot, flow from the characters themselves. Paul Bannerman is a mild-mannered, slightly sly man who also happens to be the head of a group of elite assassins. Where does the romance come in? He falls in love with Susan, a reporter and the daughter of a detective. Their relationship is sweet and sexy, and their connection sends shock waves through certain dark segments of the population. —Linda Howard (https://www.bookish.com/articles/lind...)
June 26, 2019
The Bannerman Solution is a fast-paced, exciting book. Westport, Connecticut is one of a number of half-way towns. These are places where the most dangerous government agents are placed to acclimate them back into normal society. Homes and jobs are provided to those deemed worthy of redemption but not everyone makes the cut. Paul Bannerman decides that he won't be a pawn in this game. Along with his crew of assassins, thieves and explosive experts, he turns the tables on the government organization that wants to control or eliminate them. Several attempts are made to dislodge this group but no one who tries returns alive. Westport becomes a very low-crime place to live, although there have been a suspicious numbers of accidents and suicides. Bad neighbors have a way of dying. A newspaper reporter decides to investigate this trend and comes to the attention of Bannerman. Against all odds, a romance blooms between this odd couple. But falling in love with Paul Bannerman (aka Mama's Boy) is more dangerous than Susan Lesko realizes. The Bannerman Solution reminded me of the Bourne (Robert Ludlum even lives in Westport), Equalizer and Reds movies. Exciting and violent and very hard to forget. And there are more books in the series! On to the next one.
April 6, 2014
This was a reread for me. I first read this book back in the late 80's. While the technology has changed, the plot is still timely. Rogue, paranoid, senior CIA employee and a band of former CIA contract killers.
The second time through I paid more attention to Lesko and his conversations with his dead partner. Dreams or a ghost?
If one goes to used book stores on a regular basis, take a moment to look for this. It's worth the read. There are other books in the series, but as I recall they weren't as engrossing as this one.
The second time through I paid more attention to Lesko and his conversations with his dead partner. Dreams or a ghost?
If one goes to used book stores on a regular basis, take a moment to look for this. It's worth the read. There are other books in the series, but as I recall they weren't as engrossing as this one.
July 10, 2012
Halfway through. Struggling. Sunk cost fallacy rejected. Writing not good enough. Not invested enough in story and characters. Additional volumes ahead that I am not going to want to read above other choices, so finishing isn't really finishing anyway. Done. Returned. A rare "give-up" this far into a book.
September 20, 2013
I recently ran across an old list of books I loved and hated in the late 80's and early 90's. Though I have no memory of this novel, it
is
rated therein at 5-stars for me. Seeing as how I have no memory of it, I must downgrade to 4-stars until I've had a chance to hunt down a copy and have another go at it.
April 16, 2009
This was the first spy thriller I've read since Lange or Trevanian that really sucked me in. I have since bought the others in this series. I haven't read them yet, but they're on the list. If you like this type of novel you should read this book.
October 9, 2015
One of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. Mr. Maxim has just the right touch .... a good story with an interesting premise, characters one wants to like, enough action to move things along and some sly humor to keep the pages turning.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews