Steve Manke
The Gray Man wages a one-man war on the drug cartels south of the border. It's non-stop action, as one comes to expect from the series, but this book shows just how smart Gentry is. He has to stay in front of many, many forces out to kill him. At the start of the book he's just trying to stay alive. But once he's motivated to take more practice action, it's not long before the bad guys are running for cover. This makes for a frenetic level of action and a crazy fun read.
McBride faces a more of his past in this novel. Snipers he was tasked with training years ago. One of them has gone rogue and is supporting the cartels. He and Harv are sent to deal with this problem. It's a compelling story that's not exactly a mystery, but it's nowhere near predictable. An enjoyable read overall.
The Gray Man is already hunted by the CIA. The reason for this wasn't clear. It's a mystery that only deepens with this book as he tries to come to terms with his past and a member of his old team. Needless to say, the effort doesn't go as well as the Gray Man hopes and he's left to do what he does best: take out the bad guys, and a few bad guys posing as good guys.
It's a great second book for the series and I'm already hooked on the Gray Man novels.
This book is interesting and engaging from page one. Just a fantastic launch to the story. McBride receives a text message from a strange who knows his classified callsign. The message claims the sender has been kidnapped. It's enough to cause McBride to take immediate action. And where things go from there? It's clever, and it will have repercussions throughout the rest of the series. Great character development, well-developed suspense, and outstanding action.
In short, another outstanding Nathan McBride book.
Clever and fun, this book explores the mystery that is Manuscript 512 while tackling the Last City of Z at the same time. More ancient wonders are covered as well, but mentioning those would border on spoiler territory. It's enough to say this book covers an clever and well-written adventure that keeps the pages flying by. Just be prepared for spiders...lots of spiders...many, many, shapes and sizes. Shiver...
This series is proving to be one of my new favorites. McBride's comes back with a vengeance when it has to face off against the man who mutilated him years earlier. It's a great opportunity to explore the character's motivations and better frame the series. I suspected this might happen when I was reading the first book in the series. I thought the faceoff would take place further in the series. I'm glad Peterson decided to tackle the subject early on. It's an opportunity to help readers better understand the protagonist, and this is done to great effect.
A very clever concept for a book/series and well executed. Loads of action built upon a mystery that will likely play out over the course of several books. Characters that are extremely compelling. Readers will either love them or hate them, depending on their role in the story. And as it should be, readers are left wanting more.
Part 1 & 2 felt like they should have been a single book. The separation of volumes felt like an artificial break rather than one dictated by the narrative. That continues to confuse me.
The book was on par with my expectations for the series so I was satisfied with the story overall. The serial killer was a little two-dimensional in that his motivations always seemed synthetic. Still, and entertaining listen.
If you liked the show, you'll like the book. It takes place shortly after the events of the Veronica Mars movie, which was a cool piece of continuity. And all of your favorite characters are represented. The audiobook is even narrated by Kristen Bell. On top of the everything, the underlying mystery was well staged and consistently paced. It could have driven an entire season of the show or another movie. No matter how you look at it, it was entertaining and fun.
You always get what you expect from a Reacher book. In an almost textbook manner, Reacher knocks around town while things slowly heat up. This time around, events are on more of a slow boil. Events unfold for a pair of characters in one location for an unusually long time. The reader is left to wonder how that series of events will eventually intersect with what's taking place for Reacher in the meantime. Rest assured, the cast of characters eventually cross paths and to great effect. It just takes a long time to reach the inevitable intersection. The entire time, if you can put up with all of the point of view characters pedantically dissecting the world around them and the motivations of those they encounter the exact same way Reacher is famous—perhaps infamous—for, you're in for another satisfying Reacher novel.
I sound disheartened, yet I have rated this 4-stars? I can almost hear you thinking these words. Like I said at the start: You get what you expect from a Reacher book. It's worth reading, but the book could have been 50-75 pages shorter and nothing would have been missed. The story was good, but I don't think an author lacking Child's name could get away with this so easily and still sell so well.
Another fantastic Numa Files adventure. This time, the battle between fossil fuels and alternative energy drives the plot. Kurt and Joe headline, of course. Sandecker makes an appearance and several of Cussler's tried and true supporting cast bring critical support. Fans of the series will find everything they are looking for, all of it wrapped in a compelling tale of adventure and suspense.
A 5-star adventure, and enough to keep me content while I wait for the next release in one of my favorite series.
Part 1 & 2 felt like they should have been a single book. The separation of volumes felt like an artificial break rather than one dictated by the narrative. That continues to confuse me.
The book was on par with my expectations for the series so I was satisfied with the story overall. The serial killer was a little two-dimensional in that his motivations always seemed synthetic. Still, and entertaining listen.
Having the actors from the show, pretty much all of them from what I could tell, made this a very unique audiobook experience. It was a lot of fun. If anything, a little hampered only by my recollection of the long-running TV series and its many twisting plot points. But that's certainly not the fault of the authors or the voice actors. Fans of the series should listen to this book. It was a fascinating trip down memory lane.
The book was on par with the rest of the series for the most part. Sitting through a literal sermon in a church service was a little too much for me. I might have been able to tolerate that if that part of the story had any impact at all on the plot... but it didn't. I openly admit to not having patience for that sort of thing in real life so I don't appreciate being ambushed with it in a novel. Admitting that I deducted a star for this, I hope you will adjust my rating based on your own tolerances.
Action, sci-fi, and a galactic butt-load of laughs. These are the characters you would want to hang out with, go drinking with, and might already be playing online games with. This book has all of the action readers have come to expect from a Robinson adventure, but there's a double helping of something special. Jeremy lets his inner comic shine and the book delivers on new levels. You just can't help smiling while reading. Seriously—your face will hurt.
Tough to dig into the plot of this one without giving anything important away. I can say these things without fear of spoilers:
The characters were well developed, which is a must for me. The mystery was compelling, and the character/reader understanding of the situation continued to take interesting turns. Just as important for this kind of book, the McGuffin at the heart of the adventure holds up to expectations as the novel's final payoff is revealed. The book is fast-paced, interesting, thought-provoking, and leaves you wondering, what if...
The great multi-layered plot starts with a plane crash and ends with a fantastic character-driven twist. The audiobook has a cool interview with Brett Battles at the end. In it, Brett talks about part of his real-life inspiration for the book. An event from his childhood that knocked around in his imagination for years until he was ready to put pen to paper. It's a great insight into a compelling plot and glimpse into the motivation for this great book.
I listened to the audio version of the book. Since the plot involves a detective investigating the disappearance of a band's lead singer, it's no shock that there are references to the music played by the band. It's a little unconventional to actually have the songs appear in the audiobook. Given the audio is geared for voice rather than music, the quality of the music isn't all that amazing. But credit to the audio production team for their unconventional approach when it came to including what I can only guess to be original tunes in the book. I was a little surprised when there was no postscript explaining the source of the music.
