No limits. No rules. No mercy. Can one man take down an entire drug cartel?
Former Army Ranger Pierce Hunt is second-guessing his decision to join a CIA hunter-killer team that will take him far away from his daughter. But when a new performance-enhancing drug kills four football players—including his daughter’s boyfriend—settling down becomes the last thing on Hunt’s mind.
When Anna Garcia, … mind.
When Anna Garcia, Hunt’s lover and head of the largest drug cartel in Miami, becomes the prime suspect in the investigation, the stakes become even more personal. Not convinced that Anna is capable of such extremes, Hunt looks far and wide for evidence to exonerate her and stop a vicious enemy who plans to flood the US market with an addictive new drug. Outgunned, outmanned, and out of time, Hunt is the country’s last hope to stop a deadly new drug from making countless new victims.
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A thriller that echoes with the voice of experience given Simon Gervais’ military and law enforcement background. Great tension as the protagonist must deal with his personal feelings versus his professional instincts.
Highly recommended.
Trained to Hunt is the second book in Simon Gervais’ Pierce Hunt series. While I think Gervais’ includes enough details that you could listen to this on on it’s own, I would recommend listening to Hunt Them Down first. There’s a lot of relevant background info and continuation of some plots and storylines in the first book that would make this more enjoyable.
At first, things seem to have settled down for Hunt – he’s finding solid ground in his relationship with his daughter and things seem to be going well with Anna. Alas, while Hunt is on assignment in Afghanistan all hell breaks loose in the United States and Venezuela. Anna is trying to go legit and not everyone is happy about it, creating danger not just for her – but her family and friends as well. Gervais kept my attention by adeptly weaving multiple missions, offensives, and coups into a one grand plot that culminates in a final engagement.
While Hunt and his team are successful, Gervais again uses the epilogue to tease a new objective and I’ve already started listening to the newly released, Time to Hunt.
Bon Shaw’s narration continues to be fantastic. His voices are consistent from the first book and he handles an expanding cast of characters spanning various ages, genders, & accents. He helps make this series binge worthy.
That Was Awesome
Sometimes you get lucky when you pick up a book to review much after its release date. I picked up Hunt Them Down just a week ago and loved it only to find out that book two in the series was coming out a mere few days later. I felt like I hit the jackpot.
Within a few minute of diving into Trained to Hunt I’m already nervous for Anna. I know things are about to get awful for her and I know that Hunt will move the heavens and the earth to protect her but Gervais sets this anxiety up so early that I knew I was in for a non-stop action-packed thriller from the get go. The irony is that the specific scene I was worried about wasn’t even the bad part. Gervais sets up a really nice bait and switch here and threw me for a complete loop.
Trained to Hunt was a tour-de-force and kept me on the edge of my seat so much I might need to replace it. The action was fast-paced and relentless and the non-action set up scenes had me falling even more for certain characters. Gervais has quickly become one of my favorite Thriller writers.
There are little things that can make a cover jump out at you. One of them is the little details in the scenery around the titling of a book. If you look closely at this one you’ll see that some of the trees are “over” the letters in Trained to Hunt. It’s a subtle touch but one that jumps out at readers like me. I love that they took the time and energy to do it and I think it paid off. This cover is gorgeous.
Obviously, including Bon Shaw (I won’t out the pseudonym here, but google it or for god’s sake just listen and you should be able to figure it out) as the narrator for this was a fantastic idea. He is able to take any story and make it great. Obvious great writing allows for him to perform, and Gervais is not short on that at all.
Overall, this was a fun book from beginning to end that ramps up the anxiety to 11 and rides it like a rollercoaster throughout. A definite for any thriller lovers out there.
Trained to Hunt by Simon Gervais
Pierce Hunt Series #2
Hard-hitting, action-packed thrill ride from beginning to end. This author holds nothing back allowing the reader insight in how things work under cover, chasing down bad guys, being on missions, the thinking of both good and bad guys and also gives us a taste of what it takes to get the job done and the sacrifices that must be made.
In book one of this series Hunt’s daughter is kidnapped and he spends most of the book doing what has to be done to bring her home. He meets a woman he loved and lost and much of his backstory is shared. In this book he is sent out to bring in a man that might have information relevant to the Black Tosca Cartel’s higher value targets that might have had something to do with his daughter’s kidnapping.
After that first hair raising beginning he is sent on a mission related to information sussed out from the captured man. One thing leads to another and Hunt ends up moving around the globe from South America to the Middle East and back to the USA with some visits to these countries made more than once. The story is told from multiple perspectives and includes a number of people but I never had trouble following the story.
What I liked:
* The realness of the story
* The plotting
* The action sequences
* Hunt’s relationship with those he worked with and cared about
* Really liked it from beginning to end
* Finding out who “Queen Bee” really was
What I didn’t like:
* What I was not supposed to like – the bad guys, of course.
This book ended well and the story was complete but left me wanting to read book three because I want to find out how Hunt will save his friend and who will go along with him to do so.
Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC – This is my honest review
5 Stars