Front Cover
Synopsis
A shocking attack in Ankara leaves the US Ambassador to Turkey dead and his chief of staff, Amanda Allen, in the hands of brutal terrorists. But Allen is no ordinary diplomat. She’s undercover CIA. The DNI and the President turn to Ember, America’s premier black-ops task force, and its deadliest weapon, former Tier One Navy SEAL John Dempsey, for help. To find Allen, Ember gets embedded in the most dangerous battlefield on Earth: Syria. But when all communications are disabled by an attack in Turkey, Dempsey finds himself with no backup—a lone shadow warrior racing against time to rescue Allen from her captors before she reaches her breaking point.
What Dempsey doesn’t realize is that Allen is just a pawn in a much larger game. A new player has already been unleashed: a legendary mercenary who matches the American Operator in skill, tactical prowess, and a killer instinct for survival. Now there is far more at stake than a kidnapped CIA agent. Dempsey and his team better get this one right, because the balance of power for the entire Middle East rests on their shoulders. And the new threat is far more dangerous than any Dempsey has encountered in his decades waging war against terrorism. Game on.
My Review
I guess it's going to be a little strange reviewing this book, the 4th in the series whilst not having reviewed the previous books, but *shrugs* I guess I'm strange like that.
Nowadays it seems like most military action novels are based on the same routine story line, with the usual badass Rambo-like main character who takes on a whole army with a toothpick, and this series may seem like the usual troupe, but is it?
The protagonist is a former tier one Navy SEAL operator, John Dempsey (formerly known as Jack Kemper), who lost his entire team in a terrorist attack.
However, John, is given the chance to get revenge by faking his own death and joining a secret anti-terrorist group called Ember.
All seems quite standard stuff right? Well, it is and it isn't, for me what sets this apart from most other action novels is the clear progression in the authors writing ability, from the 1st book to the 4th; there is continued growth in all of his main characters, and the plot becomes more dynamic.
Simply put, with each book in the series, my enjoyment is raised even higher, which in my experience is usually the opposite, with my interests normally waning as a series drags on.
Just a final word on the main character, John Dempsey, at the start of book 1, he was your classic all American action man with as much personality as a rock, and I was tempted to call it a day, but near the end of the 1st book something changed, his character started to peel like an onion and you got to see different layers to him, you got to see his fears, you got to see more than a cookie cut-out, and seeing his growth with each passing book is what makes this book so enjoyable for me and makes it different from most of the others.
Conclusion
A pulsating, edge-of-your-seat action series that pits the good guys against the bad - what more could you want?
Out of 10 Stars
8.5 Stars
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