Scarred by war, former Navy Seabee Tom Sexton vows to leave his violent past behind, only to be drawn back into that life when a deadly conspiracy forces him to face an agonizing choice no man should ever have to make.Five years after his life was saved in Afghanistan by Marine Force Recon Leader Charlie Cahill, Tom lives a bleak, nomadic existence, haunted by the debt he can never repay. … repay. Salvation appears in Stella—a woman as damaged, and resourceful, as he. But when a coded distress call from his former CO leads him to a shadowy NSA operative, Tom is recruited for a “black op” to bring back the now-rogue man who saved his life.
As he searches for Cahill, Tom quickly uncovers a much larger web of treason and betrayal that calls his entire world into question—and forces him into the ultimate no-win scenario.
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I bought this book when it was on sale, so, besides a little pocket change, all I lost was the time it took to read this book. I won’t say it’s a bad book, because it’s not. Not really. The plot is okay, if a bit contrived. The writing style put me off as it’s very old school, pulpy like a detective novel from the 1950s, but with way too much passive voice, which I heard in my head like a really bad movie trailer voiceover.
The action scenes were supposed to be fast-moving, full of flying punches or bullets, exploding bombs, or crashing cars and explosions, but every single action and thought was written out in very lengthy sentences, so instead of something seeming to take a split second, it took several minutes to read. That slowed what should’ve been quick way, way down.
My biggest complaint pertains to the info dumps, mostly backstory, to let the reader in on what the heck is going on because it got a little confusing for the main character. And it, too, was all passive, page after page of multiple characters trying to explain to the main character what so-and-so was up to when he did this-that-and-the-other-thing all those months or years ago. When that happened again on a massive scale around 60%, I wanted to chuck my Kindle against the wall. It was so frustrating, let alone overwhelming. These details need to come out more naturally in an organic way that’s more easily digested. Not all at once by one or more characters telling another what happened long ago.
Another irritation, though minor, was the MC’s girlfriend, who came off entirely too forced and affected. Nearly everything about her seemed unnatural, but especially how she so easily figured out so much early on when all the intelligence agency folks could not, not to mention how every cop, deputy, and sheriff in her county knew, lusted after, and protected her. Just too much to swallow. I won’t even get into the sex.
My feeling is that this book likely became a bestseller because Thomas & Mercer, Amazon’s mystery/suspense imprint, marked the price down then ran a blitz of Kindle and email ads. It was interesting enough to pick it up at the low price offered. But knowing what I know now, anything more than that $1.99 is too much. You’d think their editor would make a better effort at fixing all the telling over showing, backstory info dumps, and passive voice. That’s their job as publisher. Had they done their job, this book likely could’ve been much better.
Dan Judson did a creditable job on this work. I found the plot slightly contrived and overly complicated. However, he did do a nice job in crafting his characters and making us readers care about what happened to them. In this respect Judson was truly an expert. That’s what really kept me reading thru to the end. –Chris Malburg, author.
Great read!