A male Had-I-But-Known melodrama in which every road taken is the scariest. Kilgore (Who Is Shayla Hacker, 2007) probably...
More than a decade after a boy goes missing, his brother also vanishes.
When Riley disappears, his mother Ann takes to drink and his dad Sam concentrates on putting one foot in front of the other at his middle-management job at CW Medical rather than parenting young Daniel. Years pass. The marriage dissolves, Ann sobers up, but Sam is barely holding on to his job. Then a mysterious intruder tries to snatch Daniel, injects him with radiation poisoning and a new nightmare begins. Who wants Daniel, and where has he been taken? Two of Sam’s coworkers step into the nightmare, which picks up speed and chaos with the smash-mouth ferocity of a Bruce Willis epic. Ann is concussed. Sam is tailed. Only one cop is on the family’s side. The only glimmer of hope is the intervention of CW Medical honcho Clayton Wesley. But if Wesley’s really a good guy, why does he whisk Daniel off to Africa and imprison him? Cue more car chases, grenade launchers and buzzing red lights as the plot writhes its way to a crash-bang finale.
A male Had-I-But-Known melodrama in which every road taken is the scariest. Kilgore (Who Is Shayla Hacker, 2007) probably has a decent career ahead of him writing action films. Nuke the popcorn and wait for the movie.Pub Date: July 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-932557-88-6
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Bleak House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
A page-turner with the kind of small details that lend unquestionable authenticity.
A spy dealing with personal trauma is called back into action to stop the use of a dangerous chemical weapon.
A former Army helicopter pilot and FBI special agent, Bentley delivers his debut novel with the introduction of Defense Intelligence Agent Matt Drake. After an op in Syria went sideways and his best friend was maimed, Drake walked away carrying heavy emotional baggage. Haunted by those he couldn’t save and in self-imposed exile from his wife in order to protect her, Matt wants nothing to do with his old life at the Defense Intelligence Agency. But when he's brought back under duress to help stop terrorists from using an untraceable chemical weapon against Americans, Drake feels a lurking sense of obligation, and before he knows it he's back on duty. The seeming purity of Drake’s call to serve is contrasted with the petty political infighting within the highest reaches of government. A chief of staff for the president is angling to jam a CIA director who has political ambitions of her own, and Drake’s mission falls right in the middle of this elaborate political scheme. While the flow of the story seems most natural during the shoot'em-up action scenes, this is a novel with an emotional core, and that may be what makes it stand out from other thrillers of a similar ilk.
A page-turner with the kind of small details that lend unquestionable authenticity.Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0511-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
Complex, epic, and rich in historical detail—an uplifting story of finding friendship behind enemy lines.
During World War II, five Americans head to Nazi-occupied France on a secret mission for the OSS, but only four return.
Twenty years later, OSS case officer Alistair Renault finds a clue in a history book that the missing member of their group might have survived after all. He flashes back to the beginning of the operation, when he first assembled the team he dubbed “Dragonfly”—three men and two women who were chosen for their special skills and secret connection to the war. The five recruits bond in training, but once on their mission, they split up to avoid being caught by the enemy and communicate by making marks on a mural painted on the courtyard wall of a convent. Their cover stories offer surprising glimpses of daily life for the French and their German occupiers. (And a character list at the beginning of the book helps keep their real names and aliases straight.) Christoph Brandt, a track-and-field coach who couldn’t be drafted to the American military due to his missing thumb, learns firsthand how the Hitler Youth are taught to bully. He ingratiates himself with the Nazis by tutoring the son of the head of the Abwehr German intelligence agency in France. But the Nazis won’t be fooled for long. Civil engineer Samuel “Bucky” Barton risks being discovered by Christoph’s old friend from his hometown who betrayed his country to join the Third Reich. Working side by side with the enemy, the Americans are surprised to learn that some of the Nazis are not what they seem. Tired, disillusioned, and looking for redemption, they blur the line between friend and foe, giving Dragonfly both a way into the organization and a way out of the war.
Complex, epic, and rich in historical detail—an uplifting story of finding friendship behind enemy lines.Pub Date: July 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-53873222-9
Page Count: 576
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
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