Review: Recall Zero

Recall Zero by Jack Mars
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: Sons of Valor

Sons of Valor by Brian Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An absolute perfect spin-off!

I'm a huge fan of the Dempsey/Tier One series by Andrews & Wilson. Often citing them Best in Class to a stacked division with guys like Rapp, Logan and Harvath. Tier One novels always feel so authentic, skirting the lines between Spy and Door Kicker via a converted Tier One operator. Often times worlds converge as "Spy" John Dempsey teams up with a tobacco chewing Texan Bad-Ass Navy SEAL, Keith "Chunk" Redman. I was ecstatic to hear Chunk was getting his own series and the Andrews/Wilson duo hit a total grand slam!

A catastrophic event had previously wiped out the Tier One aka DEVGRU/team 6 operation. Sons of Valor is about it's rebirth, "Chunk" is tapped to both join and lead the new operation and with a few familiar faces. I was smiling ear-to-ear just a few pages in, authenticity felt spot-on and the characters instantly felt familiar. Told in 3 parts, 1 being selection/assessment and training, 2 and 3 getting down range and instantly into the suck! No need for a lengthy review, the plot is fantastic, action unparalleled and although I'm no Frogman it just feels real. Intriguing sub-plots like the recruiting and training of support staff, who also land in the suck, just make it a total package. I'm thankful to Blackstone Publishing for the ARC but absolutely HATE how long I'll be waiting for #2.

A must read for any fans of special operations fiction and non fiction stories.

And an OMG call out sick from work to read this for fans of Andrews/Wilson Tier One!

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Review: American Traitor

American Traitor by Brad Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pike #15, I always miss this crew between novels.

I think it's only fair I preface this review by admitting my normal read through time/process was wildly interrupted for American Traitor. Thanks to the crew at Harper Collins I received an advanced copy for review. However, I do most of my reading at work during downtime. My work, adult mechanical ventilation and ECMO in what is now an overflowing Covid-19 ICU. My apologies to Harper Collins and Brad Taylor for the delay, but as you might expect, down time is close to non-existent.

For the first time in a Pike novel I had trouble following the plot. More so, who each character was, what side they were on and their specific roll. I'm sure some of this was related to my gaps in read time, but not all of it. Quite a few code names, double agents and false flag operations. At times I'd just give in and accept "I don't know if he's good or bad." Even being confused at the main story progression, I still enjoyed every page. A bit disappointed we didn't see Aaron and Shoshana, those two really grew on me, must be in quarantine.

Pike and Jennifer are headed to Australia, leaving Amena behind to start her new live-in style school. The resulting coincidental turn of events, wrong place wrong time, wrong person, wrong job. I'll admit, how Pike and the taskforce get intertwined with this worldwide disaster, was a bit of stretch. But not impossible and certainly not enough to hinder reader immersion. Long standing tension between China and Taiwan sprinkled with organized crime, tech genius's and wargaming form the basis to our story. Uncle Sam is torn between protecting Taiwan and avoiding war with China, so the Taskforce is asked to expand their charter. Of course any Alpha authority given to Pike will ultimately turn violent, and American Traitor is no disappointment there! Plenty of shots fired, fists thrown, cars flipped and a few interesting hangnails...

I hope by the time #16 comes out my reading situation will have improved. Both for my benefit and yours as well. The Pike Logan series has become one of my favorites. I'm grateful to have had American Traitor in my hands these last couple months. The mental escape it gave me was sorely needed. Even in small doses, the familiarity of these characters and the distraction of a good shootout has helped me more than many will ever know. Cheers!

Be safe, mask up, isolate and vaccinate.
I quite literally was reading this during both my first and second vaccine dose... :)

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Review: The Final Hour

The Final Hour by Tom Wood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Loved it, not surprisingly. My only gripe is that the Victor series doesn't come out fast enough!!!

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Review: Consent to Kill

Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Emotional addition to the Rapp series. Some good twists on the political front that I did not see coming but enjoyed. I can only imagine a very enraged Mitch Rapp is coming in the next addition.

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Review: The Heist

The Heist by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great story and loved all the characters. This was my first experience with Evanovich and prompted me to read through the whole Fox and O'hare series back to back over the last couple months. Fast and enjoyable read.

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Review: Memorial Day

Memorial Day by Vince Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great as always. I think one of my favorite parts of any Mitch Rapp book is when he really lays into some DC politician who thinks they're untouchable and "tries" to come at Mitch. This particular story has a GREAT one!

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Review: NYPD Red

NYPD Red by James Patterson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My first book by James Patterson. A nice change from my usual political/assassin thrillers. I liked all the characters and it seemed to have just the right amount of "cop grit" not overloaded like some TV shows. I've already started the 2nd stallment to the series.

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Review: The Pursuit

The Pursuit by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Pretty good, I like the Fox O'Hare series but they seem to be getting repetitive. With the way the last book in the series ended I hoped this one was going change things up a little. Always enjoyable stories tho, I'll certainly read the next installment and hope there IS one.

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Review: The Innocent

The Innocent by David Baldacci
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the introduction of Will Robie, the action was fun to read but the plot seemed to rap up quickly in a manner where I found myself having to rethink much of the story to make sense of it. I wouldn't say I'm overly eager to read Robie #2 nor would I dismiss it.

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Review: The Killer

The Killer by Tom Wood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book and the resulting series is fantastic! Victors intensity and attention to detail of his surroundings makes the story very immersive. Victor comes across to me as a mix of Rambo and 007. After The Killer I promptly blew through the whole series and had legitimate sadness when I ran out of Victor stories to read haha.

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Review: Separation of Power

Separation of Power by Vince Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not surprisingly, a great story in the Mitch Rapp line. Flynn does a great job at getting me to actually dislike the politicians and their sneaky ways which i'm sure is not a stretch from the truth. If I were watching this story on a screen there would have been multiple times I would have litterally scorned and cheered. And absolute must read for Rapp fans!

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Review: A Time To Die

A Time To Die by Tom Wood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fantastic and up to par with what Tom Wood has set as a very high bar with Victor and his fight for self preservation... and a hefty paycheck. Victor is tasked with infiltrating the small inner circle of his next target, met with no shortage of questioning eyes and combatants from both expected and unexpected sources. By all means a must read for fans of the Victor series

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Review: Running Blind

Running Blind by Lee Child
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This story follows the classic Jack Reacher plotline, entertaining with enough action and mystery while letting a few questions hang for the reader. My only gripe was that the biggest "clue" about the unsolved crimes was a bit predictable, abnormal come from Lee Child. I was pleased with both the amount and depth of backstory dealing with Reacher's home life or chance there of.

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Review: Running Blind

Running Blind by Lee Child
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This story follows the classic Jack Reacher plotline, entertaining with enough action and mystery while letting a few questions hang for the reader. My only gripe was that the biggest "clue" about the unsolved crimes was a bit predictable, abnormal come from Lee Child. I was pleased with both the amount and depth of backstory dealing with Reacher's home life or chance there of.

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Review: Nothing to Lose

Nothing to Lose by Lee Child
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A taste of a curveball as far as Lee Childs antagonist goes in this one. I think that was probably the biggest pull to keep reading in this one. The Reacher line comes out so fast and they're generally short reads, so I feel like each one has a specific angle that holds your interest. In this case, it seemed to be the hardcore hate Jack seems to be receiving from a town he has no history with.

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Review: Nothing to Lose

Nothing to Lose by Lee Child
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A taste of a curveball as far as Lee Childs antagonist goes in this one. I think that was probably the biggest pull to keep reading in this one. The Reacher line comes out so fast and they're generally short reads, so I feel like each one has a specific angle that holds your interest. In this case, it seemed to be the hardcore hate Jack seems to be receiving from a town he has no history with.

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Review: Long Shot

Long Shot by Jack Coughlin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm a big enough fan of Kyle Swanson that I would enjoy any story with him in lead. However, while this was a great plot and well written, for me there wasn't quite enough combat for Kyle. (Pseudo spoiler alert) I don't think he fired the Excalibur throughout the whole book, nor did he take any classic Gunny Swanson long range shots. Still a good book, my 3 star is only due to wanting him kicking more A$$.

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Review: Ghostman

Ghostman by Roger Hobbs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Roger Hobbs did a great job telling this story from the point of a "professional heister." I found myself researching a lot of the language thinking it was legitimate underground thief talk. I'm still not sure if he made it all up or has some skeletons in his closet! I hope he keeps the series going, I liked how while establishing the main character throughtout the book you sort of get the story of two seperate and equally entertaining heist jobs.

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Review: The Breach

The Breach by Patrick Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I stumbled across this introduction novel to Travis Chase while searching for a new series in the likes of Mitch Rapp, Kyle Swanson etc... The story had a refreshing technology/futuristic twist that I was not expecting. At times, the tech seemed a bit too far stretched and Sci-Fi for me but author Patrick Lee did a phenomenal job explaining the aspects that at first seemed too wild. Surprisingly it had a shockingly realistic feel by the end. I will most definitely continue the series.

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