THIS is the return to form Andy McNab needed after a couple of indifferent novels in the life and times of Nick Stone.

The sixth instalment in the Stone saga is arguably the most gripping so far, and returns to the seat-of-pants formula we were first introduced to in "Remote Control" and "Crisis Four''. There's also a genuinely unexpected and interesting twist in the tale.

However, I think this will be the last we see of Stone because it's hard to see where McNab can take the character from here.

Comparisons with Frederick Forsyth are inevitable for McNab and he certainly does himself justice here, keeping the reader thinking and slowly unravelling the characters.

Dark Winter by Andy McNab (Bantam Press, £17.99)