Cold Barrel Zero, By Matthew Quirk

When a Special Forces Black Team becomes expendable it becomes quite a problem to eliminate them, especially since they are very good at what they do.

The other issue is that they should not have had a “kill order” placed on them in the first place. They did nothing wrong, although one particular military officer has convinced the Pentagon and the White House that they have gone rogue.

The novel is fast paced, good on details about how a Special Forces Team would work together and gives you a thrill of a ride as you join them and two “outsiders” who are thrown together to try and clear the names of the operators as well as stop major terrorist threats inside the United States.

You will find that you are unsure of which side to cheer for at first, but then as things become a bit more clear you find that you are wanting the truth to come out and for corrupt individuals to eventually pay for their crimes.

But trust me, just when you think you have things figured out another twist comes into play and the most evil characters will surprise you.

Enjoy!

Playing the Part, by Jen Turano

When her stepfather loses at poker his marker that he tries to cash in is his lovely stepdaughter. Lucretta Plum is an actress, but not just any actress, she is one of the most gifted actresses of her time. Many a man would love to have her on his arm and build a relationship with her. The only problem is that she doesn't want to have a relationship with any man.

Not only that but the man her Stepfather has lost her to in poker is the worse of the worse and she wants nothing to do with him. So, what does any good self respecting young woman do? She runs away.

But that's what makes the story interesting. Lucretia runs away with her Landlord and her body guard. Where do they run to? Well, of all things a castle! But not just any castle, this one is owned by the grandson of her Landlady.

It's the late 1800's in New York and Lucetta is just trying to get far away and out of sight. But what she doesn't expect is to run into Bram, the grandson, who has an infatuation with Miss Plum. Not to mention the fact that he is handsome beyond belief. But still, she wants nothing to do with any man.

In a very Pride and Prejudice way of writing (only the roles of Darcy and Elizabeth are reversed) we find that Bram and Lucetta have a love/hate relationship or at best a love/tolerating relationship.

The writing style is very good and the story line is well conceived and developed. There are enough charcacters to make any reader happy and they are all developed well.

Enjoy this fun frolick through a Castle that has everything from a moat to a cannon to a knight in shining armor.

Noble Man, by William Miller

I first of all want to thank William Miller for contacting me directly and asking me to review his new book. I was very impressed with his writing and very interested in the real world issue of "Sex Slave" trade that he wrote about. Following is my review of the book.

This was truly a good read provided by a new author. It takes the work of a CIA clandestine operator and gives us an insight into a not so new world problem but one that has been lost in the mix of terrorism and drugs and crime syndicates. The problem is the "sex slave" trade. We all know that slavery was done away with in most countries, including the United States, but the sex slave trade is growing and is not just on other continents but it is also in the United States.

William Miller weaves a story around the thriller aspect of a clandestine operator who has the task of breaking down the sex slave trade. The problem, Jacob Noble does too good a job and when someone dies in one of his operations that embarrasses our government they look for a fall guy and it's Noble.

But then when another diplomat we work with has his daughter kidnapped because she operates a rescue center for women caught in the sex slave business, where does the CIA turn? Well, they come to Noble because they want her rescued, but they don't want it tied back to them or to our government if things go wrong.

The rest of the story weaves through the underbelly of society and those who kidnap and sell young women and children into the sex slave business. To complicate matters Bati Ramos is a diabetic and they only took one insulin syringe when they kidnapped her. That sets the clock ticking and Noble has just a couple of days to travel the world, search out where she is being held and then rescue her.

To Complicate things there are others out there looking for her as well and they don't particularly want Noble to find her. So, they are doing their best to eliminate him while looking for the girl.

William Miller gives us much to think about as we read. He highlights the real problems of this issue and points out how many young women and children disappear every year into this business and are forgotten.

Once you read the novel (which is fantastic) you need to go to the web site he suggests and learn more about this political / moral / society problem and see what you can do to bring it to light and help fight against it.

Thanks William for giving us a great look at a terrible problem.

Undaunted Hope, by Jody Hedlund

First of all I want to thank Net Galley and the Publisher for making an advance review copy of this book available to me for review. You may pre-order the book on Amazon or at your favorite book distributor. It will be released in a month or so.

In this third book of the series we have Tessa moving to a new location to be a school teacher. She has left behind her sister and brother-in-law and the lighthouse where she grew up. She hates lighthouses and wants nothing to do with them since they were the cause of her mother's death, her father's death and where her younger sister died from illness. She is done with lighthouse work and light keepers.

She has come to Eagle Harbor as the new school teacher. It is a copper mining town that is cut off from the rest of the world during the winter because Lake Superior freezes over.

When she arrives she is accosted by a deck hand from her boat who tries to seduce her. She resists and falls off the pier and into the water. A man who had been fishing comes to her rescue.

He is handsome, strong, rugged, etc. the only problem is, he is the assistant Light Keeper for the local Lighthouse. So, Tessa wants nothing to do with him. Alex Bjorklund though might have other ideas, because frankly, Tessa Taylor is beautiful.

To complicate things the town was expecting a male teacher. Mr. Updegraff the town boss doesn't want a female teacher, he wants a male teacher. He will make Tessa's life harsh all winter.

So the scene is set and the novel that follows is well developed, has several themes running through it from grief and loss to judgmental and prejudicial people to sexual misconduct, etc.

The story is going to keep your interest and give me much to think about. How will Tessa fare? How will the children do under her teaching spell? How will Mr. Updegraff handle the situation? And finally how will Alex be able to win Tessa's heart, or will he?

I'm sure you will enjoy the story.

Tough Justice Exposed, Part 1 of 8, by Carla Cassidy

In this short first part of the eight part series of Tough Justice we find our heroine, an FBI agent, Lara Grant, embroiled in a plot that is intended to draw her out of her year long stay in protective custody so that the crime family that she put in prison from her undercover sting can bring pain, death and destruction to her life.

It starts innocently enough with Lara being called to the scene of a man threatening to jump off a window ledge and plunge to his death. The issue is why is an FBI agent being called to deal with this? Normally the local police would handle it. But she was asked for by name. That should have raised red flags.

As this drama unfolds it becomes apparent to Lara that it was just a way to get her to surface long enough for the media to catch her face on film and make it public information for everyone.

As that unfolds the real danger starts. Lara's life is put in danger and so are the lives of those she cares about, although she doesn't have many she cares about.

In this first of the eight part series we are introduced to Lara and her new partner and given background information about her previous undercover work and why she is in the place she is now.

The story is well written, it draws you in quickly and sets the stage for a great crime novel to follow. And as any good series of short stories it leaves you hanging at a point where you want more, no wait, not want, you NEED more.

But you will have to wait for the release of the next portion of the story.

This is a different way to read a novel, but it is a bit of a compelling way to catch your attention and hold it for a period of time.

I hope you will enjoy this first part and like me be waiting somewhat impatiently for the second part to be released in January.

Enjoy!

The Saudi Strategy, by Ethan Jones

Justin Hall is again the center of attention as a crisis faces the nation of Canada. But most people don't know that there is a crisis. At the present time Justin is working on tracking down the terrorist responsible for attacks that happened in Book #7 of the series. In that book people close to Justin were killed and he wants to track down the terrorist and make sure that they can't hurt anybody else.

The question is this, is he tracking them down because of a sense of revenge or a sense of honor or a sense of duty to rid the world of terrorist? If he is tracking them down from a sense of revenge he needs to be careful. Revenge usually happens with a mind that is not totally focused on the best way to proceed and many operatives die because they get sloppy and make mistakes when acting out of revenge.

Justin and his partner Carrie are going to come under fire from not just one group of operatives but from at least two groups and maybe even more. The issue is that all these people get trigger happy and people other than those they are targeting get killed or wounded.

Can Justin and Carrie find those responsible for the terrorist work in Canada? Can Carrie find what she needs from the Russians in regards to the death / disappearance of her father? Will Justin step over the line and be booted from the Canadian Intelligence service?

Lots of questions, lots of action and as usual we find that Ethan Jones develops a story that is fast paced, heart stopping and also can add new characters to the plots that are happening.

Thanks Ethan for another great novel.

Back Blast, by Mark Greaney

First of all I would like to thank Net Galley and the publisher for making a review copy of this book available to me in exchange for an unbiased review. The book will become available on February 16, 2016. You can pre-order it on Amazon or at iBooks or Barnes and Noble.

Court Gentry is one of the most deadly assets that the CIA has ever had. He has never failed to complete a mission that they have sent him on. Usually he worked from within a team of six operatives. Sometimes they would work with all six, some times with just two, but always with another member of the team.

But there was one time when the Director of the Clandestine services division approached the team and gave the other five men a leave of absence but asked Court to remain behind. He then assigned him to a solo mission. This was unusual but Court knew he could handle things on his own.

He did and the mission was again a success. But soon after a terminate order was put out on Court and the whole agency, plus others, wanted him dead and they went to great lengths to make it happen.

After five years of running from those after him Court decides to go back to America and get to the bottom of the terminate order and set the record straight.

Mark Greaney does an excellent job of weaving a story that is not only plausible but just down right frightening.

Court is good at his job and bodies start to pile up. But Court isn’t the one piling up the bodies as most people thing, OK so he does kill a few, but he only kills those that are not innocent. Those that are following orders he goes well out of his way to keep them alive.

Will Court get to the bottom of the issue? Will he terminate those that need to be terminated and save himself? Will he be brought back into the agency?

Those are questions that will get answered as you read.

Enjoy!