When you are undercover, many want to kill you. Sicilian Mafia, Thai Mafia, even the CIA, they all want you dead. Join undercover cop Regan in this emotion-packed roller coaster of a thriller. Steve Regan is back and this time he’s alone and undercover in a seedy area of Thailand on the trail of a Texan expatriate, Les Watkins, the biggest drug smuggler in South East Asia.Using himself as the … of a Texan expatriate, Les Watkins, the biggest drug smuggler in South East Asia.
Using himself as the bait, Regan attempts to score a $50,000 deal with the Thai mafia in an effort to get closer to his target.
As he finds himself embroiled deeper into the operation, Regan suspects Watkins may be connected to Regan’s nemesis, ruthless Mafia boss Carlo Vitale, who has fled the United States following a triple bombing and assassination of three crime family heads.
Besides staying alive, Regan has other problems when he suddenly finds himself facing the worst dilemma an undercover cop can face.
Dilemma is an edgy, suspenseful tale with twists and turns plus a sprinkle of romance.
Though Book 3 in the Steve Regan Undercover Cop series, it can be read as a standalone book.
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Dilemma-action packed!
This fast-paced sequel follows my now favorite cop Steve Ryan to Thailand. The scene-setting places you right in the middle of the action! Recommended for all crime novel fans! Raving about this book! Stephen Bentley
This second book in the Steve Regan Undercover Cop series by Stephen Bentley was a most entertaining action adventure and also included a budding romance story as well. The reader quickly finds themselves dealing with very cold blooded and very deadly characters in the story with hitmen, mobsters and of course officers of various law entities. Other than the few times I found myself struggling a few times to completely understand the Brit/Thai language phrasing I read the book without stopping from the first page to the last, except for the normal meals and potty breaks that is. This is a voluntary review of an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Hidden Gems Books.
Dilemma (Steve Regan Undercover Cop #2), my sixth read from author Stephen Bentley. Surprisingly enjoyable read, the story flowed better than the first book. Alan R. Gron’s narration again adds greatly to a good book’s enjoyment. “I received a free Audiobooks.com copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.” The gifting of this book did not affect my opinion of it. I own 12 other books by this author and look forward to reading more from him. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 – July 24, 2018).
As an aside, I am NOT a fan of Audiobooks.com. You can’t adjust the playback speed, it held my place as I read the book over a couple of days.
Looking for a book that takes you away from everything and sucks you into it’s story completely? Then look no further! With a hard core, calculated undercover cop and a steamy female sidekick, the author reveals the world of mobsters, drug dealers, and Thailand prisons.
Although this is the second book in a series, the author does a great job of setting the scene to bring the reader fully into the story. At the end it will leave you wanting more. Thank goodness the next book is already out. I’m off to download it now.
Dilemma by Stephen Bentley is Book Two in a series: Steve Regan Undercover Cop. I was attracted to this book because of its geographical setting, Thailand, where I have spent fifteen of the last thirty years. “Undercover Cop” is a bit misleading as protagonist Steve mixes elements of police and intelligence functions. One hundred forty pages make for a comparatively short novel that tries to explore three things: police work, intelligence work, and (most interesting of all) cross-cultural understanding as British Steve builds a relationship with Thai Fon. Although an interesting story, in trying to include too much this novel loses a lot of its appeal. It barely provides a surface look at three complex issues.
Police work and intelligence operations have different end goals. When they are mixed up in the real world, investigations result. Not investigations of bad actors but investigations of governmental agencies. The objective of an intelligence function is information gathering. When intelligence agencies go further by taking action, they risk breaking laws. This happens frequently, much to the delight of investigative journalism. The same problem is mirrored on the police side. When police attempt to gather information through surveillance, electronic and otherwise, they risk breaking some laws while attempting to uphold others. More glee for journalists. Therefore, any kind of blended operation requires a very complex set of interactions at a leadership level, not at a street level. This is where the novel falls short.
We have heads of Mafia families competing for control in the USA using a time trusted way of selecting leaders, murdering the opposition. One relatively successful leader, Carlo Vitale, needs to flee the US and selects Thailand as a place to hide. From there, he can still actively control a drug operation. Unfortunately for him, our protagonist Steve, who will appear with the last name Regan or Ryan, has been establishing his undercover identity as a bar owner in Thailand. Steve is an undercover cop trying to infiltrate drug organizations. Carlo and Steve will meet in the last half of the novel. Carlo will immediately recognize Steve because years previously Carlo had seen Steve once briefly when Steve had visited the US. For the first part of the novel, we have a series of intermediate meetings leading up to the meeting with Carlo while Steve develops his relationship with Fon. As far as the criminal and intelligence part of the novel, we have a Mafia leader (Italian) killing people in the US, fleeing to Thailand where he will eventually encounter Steve (British) in an operation that will eventually involve Australians. OK, but administratively and jurisdictionally a nightmare. Suspend belief here.
The more interesting cross-cultural part was, for me, extremely shallow. For those who have spent more than a few months in Thailand, this appears to have been written by a tourist. Few clichés were missed. The idea of a foreigner (Steve) managing or owning a bar in Thailand which, like many bars in Thailand, are a combination bar and brothel will interest many readers. Steve is a benevolent owner who never accepts the many benefits offered by his employees. Right. Steve will eventually hook up with Fon, who is his manager (mama-san) of the bar and girls. Fon is an ex-bargirl (prostitute) herself but no longer does that work. Now she manages the girls as they meet customers in the bar and occasionally entertain them in one of the twelve rooms adjacent to the bar. Fon’s room in the bar is adjacent to Steve’s but over a period of four months, neither of them has entered the other’s room. Right.
The plot is straightforward. We know from the outset that Steve is going to prevail in all things. The story is the process by which we get from point A to the conclusion. There are action scenes I find extremely improbable. Depictions of the incompetence of Thai police are accurate but the ease of escaping from jail is exaggerated. Stephen Bentley might want to check on sales of his novel in Thailand before vacationing there. The public opinion of Thai police is justifiably low. Corruption is as rampant as described in this novel. But the police don’t like to be reminded of it. They have long memories for slights once they are made aware of them.
Surprisingly, there is little sexually inappropriate language used in a novel about drugs, human trafficking, and prostitution. The lack of any depth to the story leads me to make a sound like “meh” and give the novel three stars. I downloaded it from Kindle Unlimited (KU). The Amazon price is USD 2.99.
Very quick read in just over 2 hours!
Haven’t read the 1st in the series but this book is perfectly fine to read as a standalone.
Gritty, crime, romance, murder, undercover, all in a day’s work for our main character. Seeking certain mafia connections leads him to a mafia boss responsible for killing 3 mafia heads in 3 bombings.
Exciting fast paced read .
I chose to read this book as a member of Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team.
This novella has a gripping opening as it starts with three bombs simultaneously exploding in three Italian restaurants in three different cities. The deaths caused and the fallout from these explosions resonate throughout the story.
Bentley is a former undercover cop and therefore writes his main character, Steve Regan, with great insight. It is also clear that he has lived in, and is very familiar with, Thailand although I felt at times there was a little too much telling rather than showing me this knowledge.
It may be the name of the main character that instigated this thought but as I read the book I was reminded of cop shows of the 70’s. The writing was stark and brutal with little emotion and as the state-of-the-art comms room towards the end is described as having typewriters I guess I could be about right with when it was set.
I did finish the read but felt it would have benefitted from tighter editing and possibly a proofread as well to help avoid some distracting typos. This is the second part of a planned trilogy which might interest those readers who like crime fiction but this author has also written a very well received memoir of his part in Operation Julie which I think they would also find fascinating.