October 29, 2013
In light of other books I've been reading lately, and the shift in my personal thinking about book ratings, I'm bumping this up from 3.5 to 4 or maybe 4.5 stars. I'm not sure if it's in the "elite" catagory, but it's clearly better writing than I've found in books that I've liked and rated similarly. I think it deserves to be seen in a better class of books than first pubs and good but...s
Well written interesting story, kept my attention which is hard...SQUIRREL!" and in hindsight, which is ultimately 20/20, it deserves a higher star rating than I initially gave it. The review below is otherwise unchanged.
Slot this one higher than Icarus Rising below Ice-Hunt and on par Jeramy Robinson's Pulse, mybe a quarter star below "Event." If you follow me. ... on with the review!
For those who like a good crime story, this is a good read. For those of you who like a good Spec-ops action adventure, this is a good read.
So, it's a good read.
It seemed to start in the middle of the story, like there was another novel somewhere connected to this one. That was easy to get over. The story moved quickly, lots of suspense.
Synopsis - When good guys go bad.
What happens when the people trained in specialized "Black Ops" missions turn on us? People that are just not safe to have loose in the world? We call on specialists to hunt them down and neutralize them.
The duaghter of a high minded military type gets abducted and it's likely one cog in an act of terrorism that seeks the very heart of the inteligence and anti-terrorism agencies in the US. Called in are a special group of individuals who work for an agency that nobody has ever heard of, save at the highest levels in the government, and even then, most only know if it by reputation.
The odd, and fatally ill head of the organization, in the middle of training his own relief, puts together an improbable team of a profiler, not just any profiler, and two special operations killers. They take up the trail as the body count builds. BY the end, they shake the pillars of the government to see what corrupted snakes fall out of the tree.
Characters
Very interesting characters, but a little bit too much on the 2 dimensional side. Again, with the characters, it seemed that they were all caught up in a plot that started before this book, that we never got to read. Jack, Golden and the smokin'-hot assasin babe all work well. Generaly 2 dimensional characters tend to come with this type of action adventure. Each of these had some very intersesting back stories and, they did seem to fit together in a broader tapestry by the end of the story.
Generally, I'd say that the roles for female characters allowed for strong women and was not demeaning, generally, even allowing for different strengths and weaknesses. I'm not sure I'd give an A+ for female roles, but likely a B-. Which is better than many books.
Supporting cast and villains could have used some support. Whee the main characters were two dimensional with stories that did not fit in the frame, the villains were interesting, but under nourished. THey could have used a little more development. Again, this had the feel of a 2nd book in a series. Written as if we should already know something about the characters.
Word Building -
For a modern action adventure with dual themes, this was interesting. I liked the "Super Secret" agency. Though those are often "Cliche" this one had a unique feel for things that may not actually be unique (I call that good writing). Again, there seemed to be a lot missing that se should have been able to read about how they formed and chose the members of their teams, but what we got was interesting and fun.
The military aspects, though over dramatized to build drive the plot, were generally realistic enough, as were the support agencies that the characters had to deal with. The Spec-Ops world was fun to unravel, though, not likely realistic.
Make no mistake, this was action adventure, espionage and crime fighting rolled into one book. That in itself was very well done and interesting. Cops that worked like para-military spec ops types... or para-military spec ops types who worked like cops.
Villains- You'll get the idea that there is a conspiracy somewhere early on, but the webb was fairly written, well concealed and, though they were not particularly unique, the story read like these were fresh ideas and they fit well with the plot.
Plot
Swift paced, exciting, tense, with lots of action (though it was mostly at the end of the story). I found the crime - story side well done, and well folded with the para-military interests. For me, it wasn't so much the plot that made the story work as the skilled sense of pace, timing and a complex problem that made the read memorably enjoyable.
The authors style and skill made up for thin villainry and the sense of jumping into the middle of the story. The story was well concieved and executed, and complex.
Warnings -
1) Plenty of violence - killing bad men talking and doing bad things, tough good guys doing bad things, and innocent victims falling pray to well oiled preditory killing machines. The scenes were not gratuitus, but wll managed, and, necessary relative to the plot. The violence was about what you might see in a movie on television, and should easily be managed by most normal adults.
2) Sensitive victims. The victims here are women and children (well, initially anyway). Generally we are not exposed to "live" violence against them, but there is discussion of, hints about, and plenty of back story to let us know what happend to them. Nothing outrageous or unmanagable.
3) there is a sense of waking up in the middle of a series rather than diving into the first book. Hang with it. By the end, you'll at least understand how the past motivates the characters, even if you never get to know what really happened. If you give up in the begining because you can't connect with the characters, you'll miss out on better chances later in the story.
4) The author appears to blame serial killers on their poor mothers. I'm sure there is some research available that supports this but I had trouble swallowing it as it was presented. On one hand, it was allowing a female to have an equally important supporting role as a villain, on the other, it cast blame for bad behavior on a group that may not be responsible for everything.
5) This is about a vigilante' organizatin. I'm not big on, and don't espouse to the idea that some people are above the law or some how so different from normal criminals that they need special handling. That is one of the premises of the book, that "it's okay" to kill these people without a fair trial. I just think that even serial killers need a fair trial.
bottom line-
Good story, tight, complex and well executed plot. Though perhaps not a "new idea" the story is presented in a "Fresh" way and reads like new ideas. A good story, told by a skilled author. The characters sometimes seem either too much from a can, or too thin to look real, but those moments are temporary and the overal complexity and timing make up for those problems. The author allows for strong female roles, though I worried in the begining about the possibility that they may not be.
Well written interesting story, kept my attention which is hard...SQUIRREL!" and in hindsight, which is ultimately 20/20, it deserves a higher star rating than I initially gave it. The review below is otherwise unchanged.
Slot this one higher than Icarus Rising below Ice-Hunt and on par Jeramy Robinson's Pulse, mybe a quarter star below "Event." If you follow me. ... on with the review!
For those who like a good crime story, this is a good read. For those of you who like a good Spec-ops action adventure, this is a good read.
So, it's a good read.
It seemed to start in the middle of the story, like there was another novel somewhere connected to this one. That was easy to get over. The story moved quickly, lots of suspense.
Synopsis - When good guys go bad.
What happens when the people trained in specialized "Black Ops" missions turn on us? People that are just not safe to have loose in the world? We call on specialists to hunt them down and neutralize them.
The duaghter of a high minded military type gets abducted and it's likely one cog in an act of terrorism that seeks the very heart of the inteligence and anti-terrorism agencies in the US. Called in are a special group of individuals who work for an agency that nobody has ever heard of, save at the highest levels in the government, and even then, most only know if it by reputation.
The odd, and fatally ill head of the organization, in the middle of training his own relief, puts together an improbable team of a profiler, not just any profiler, and two special operations killers. They take up the trail as the body count builds. BY the end, they shake the pillars of the government to see what corrupted snakes fall out of the tree.
Characters
Very interesting characters, but a little bit too much on the 2 dimensional side. Again, with the characters, it seemed that they were all caught up in a plot that started before this book, that we never got to read. Jack, Golden and the smokin'-hot assasin babe all work well. Generaly 2 dimensional characters tend to come with this type of action adventure. Each of these had some very intersesting back stories and, they did seem to fit together in a broader tapestry by the end of the story.
Generally, I'd say that the roles for female characters allowed for strong women and was not demeaning, generally, even allowing for different strengths and weaknesses. I'm not sure I'd give an A+ for female roles, but likely a B-. Which is better than many books.
Supporting cast and villains could have used some support. Whee the main characters were two dimensional with stories that did not fit in the frame, the villains were interesting, but under nourished. THey could have used a little more development. Again, this had the feel of a 2nd book in a series. Written as if we should already know something about the characters.
Word Building -
For a modern action adventure with dual themes, this was interesting. I liked the "Super Secret" agency. Though those are often "Cliche" this one had a unique feel for things that may not actually be unique (I call that good writing). Again, there seemed to be a lot missing that se should have been able to read about how they formed and chose the members of their teams, but what we got was interesting and fun.
The military aspects, though over dramatized to build drive the plot, were generally realistic enough, as were the support agencies that the characters had to deal with. The Spec-Ops world was fun to unravel, though, not likely realistic.
Make no mistake, this was action adventure, espionage and crime fighting rolled into one book. That in itself was very well done and interesting. Cops that worked like para-military spec ops types... or para-military spec ops types who worked like cops.
Villains- You'll get the idea that there is a conspiracy somewhere early on, but the webb was fairly written, well concealed and, though they were not particularly unique, the story read like these were fresh ideas and they fit well with the plot.
Plot
Swift paced, exciting, tense, with lots of action (though it was mostly at the end of the story). I found the crime - story side well done, and well folded with the para-military interests. For me, it wasn't so much the plot that made the story work as the skilled sense of pace, timing and a complex problem that made the read memorably enjoyable.
The authors style and skill made up for thin villainry and the sense of jumping into the middle of the story. The story was well concieved and executed, and complex.
Warnings -
1) Plenty of violence - killing bad men talking and doing bad things, tough good guys doing bad things, and innocent victims falling pray to well oiled preditory killing machines. The scenes were not gratuitus, but wll managed, and, necessary relative to the plot. The violence was about what you might see in a movie on television, and should easily be managed by most normal adults.
2) Sensitive victims. The victims here are women and children (well, initially anyway). Generally we are not exposed to "live" violence against them, but there is discussion of, hints about, and plenty of back story to let us know what happend to them. Nothing outrageous or unmanagable.
3) there is a sense of waking up in the middle of a series rather than diving into the first book. Hang with it. By the end, you'll at least understand how the past motivates the characters, even if you never get to know what really happened. If you give up in the begining because you can't connect with the characters, you'll miss out on better chances later in the story.
4) The author appears to blame serial killers on their poor mothers. I'm sure there is some research available that supports this but I had trouble swallowing it as it was presented. On one hand, it was allowing a female to have an equally important supporting role as a villain, on the other, it cast blame for bad behavior on a group that may not be responsible for everything.
5) This is about a vigilante' organizatin. I'm not big on, and don't espouse to the idea that some people are above the law or some how so different from normal criminals that they need special handling. That is one of the premises of the book, that "it's okay" to kill these people without a fair trial. I just think that even serial killers need a fair trial.
bottom line-
Good story, tight, complex and well executed plot. Though perhaps not a "new idea" the story is presented in a "Fresh" way and reads like new ideas. A good story, told by a skilled author. The characters sometimes seem either too much from a can, or too thin to look real, but those moments are temporary and the overal complexity and timing make up for those problems. The author allows for strong female roles, though I worried in the begining about the possibility that they may not be.