SYNOPSIS

Former Army Ranger Tucker Wayne and his war dog Kane are thrust into a global conspiracy in this second Sigma Force spinoff adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling author James Rollins and Grant Blackwood.

Tucker Wayne’s past and present collide when a former army colleague comes to him for help. She’s on the run from brutal assassins hunting her and her son. To keep them safe, Tucker must discover who killed a brilliant young idealist-a crime that leads back to the most powerful figures in the U.S. government.

From the haunted swamplands of the deep South to the beachheads of a savage civil war in Trinidad, Tucker and his beloved war dog, Kane, must work together to discover the truth behind a mystery that dates back to World War II, involving the genius of a young code-breaker, Alan Turing…

They will be forced to break the law, expose national secrets, and risk everything to stop a madman determined to control the future of modern warfare for his own diabolical ends. But can Tucker and Kane withstand a force so indomitable that it threatens our future?

Book Details:Genre: Thriller
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date:December 27th 2016 (first published April 19th 2016)
Number of Pages: 544
ISBN: 0062135295 (ISBN13: 9780062135292)
Series: Tucker Wayne #2
Purchase Links: Amazon  | Barnes & Noble  | Goodreads

.

MY REVIEW

War Hawk by James Rollins & Grant Blackwood deals with a lot of issues that get  me so involved in the story, at times I forget it is fiction. This bone chilling, action packed suspense novel had my blood boiling, my head feeling like it would explode and my emotions running AMOK.

Tucker is on the run from his past, she is on the run from the present and Kane is along for the ride. Tucker has an ability to, not only read his dog, but people too. With his skills, knowledge and network of people, he embarks on his  journey to help Jane.

I love when there’s a critter in the story, and Tucker’s faithful companion, Kane, is very special indeed. Their ability to act as one is remarkable and real.

Tucker is a bit damaged from his time in Afghanistan…he suffers from PTSD and he struggles to come to terms with his past.

I agree that pizza and beer is always a motivation to live.

Kane is like the energizer bunny…he takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’. I could picture him, crawling, belly scraping on the ground, head low, paw by paw…scouting. On the verge of death…more than once…James Rollins and Grant Blackwood kept my heart in my throat, not only for Kane and Tucker, but for the entire team that is willing to sacrifice their life for US.

Karl Webster is a fabulous villain who won’t go down.

“Perception is everything.”

Warfare is changing and the front line is technological. Electronic warfare, cyber attacks, psychological operations…

The age of technology has reached epic proportions in its ability to shape our future.

Too many people believe everything they see on hear on TV, radio, and online, regardless of the misdirection and distraction tactics used by those who wish to hide the truth.

Could this really happen? Has it already? As I read, all my fears are confirmed. I can’t help but believe there is no way or will be no way to prevent others from stealing information, affecting our presidential election and possibly causing an economic collapse. If I think about it too long, I am left with a feeling of helplessness, seeing no way to protect ourselves. So we must be vigilant and keep on fighting the good fight, with help from those like Tucker and Kane.

Hand to paw, Tucker and Kane face death with a determination to stop THEM. Makes me so angry, the sacrifices they have made and someone, for their own greedy purposes, wants them dead.

This unpudownable, terrifying, realistic thriller pits the warriors against those who wish to rule, and I will be with them til the end!

I voluntarily reviewed War Hawk by James Rollins and Grant Blackwood.

5 Stars

Read more HERE.

Duty and Honor, Grant Blackwood, Tom Clancy, authors; Scott brick, narrator Usually, I eagerly await a Clancy novel to listen to on my long drives up and down the east coast. This book, however, was disappointing. From the get-go, I could not really figure out what it was about or what purpose the author had in mind for his book. The plot was thin and not very plausible. When it began, Jack Ryan, the President’s son was on a forced sabbatical from his work for a clandestine part of the government called The Campus. He was attacked on his way home from a grocery store in a questionable neighborhood. At first, he thought the man simply wanted to rob him, but soon, as the man continued to accost him, he realized he might be more intent on killing him than robbing him. After a brief battle, the man was injured and wandered out into traffic, right into the path of a truck. Above, on an embankment, there is a witness, but this witness turns and leaves doing nothing to aid either of them. He disappears into the night. When revisiting the site of the “mugging”, he finds a hotel key and secretly pockets it. Shortly after, he is spotted on the scene by a detective who tells him of another recent death in the area. He connects the dots and begins to understand that this was not simply a robbery attempt, but rather a planned attempt on his life. Now he had to figure out why someone wanted him dead. Using technology available to him, he discovers the hotel’s location and stakes out the room hoping the witness/accomplice will return to collect the dead assailant’s things. He must question him to find out why his life is in danger. After this encounter, he discovers a young journalist who is following the same man as he is because he believes the man was involved in the “staged” disappearance of the son of a well known government official. They strike up a partnership. The book becomes a cloak and dagger adventure, complete with brainwashing and destruction. The men are led down blind alleys and dead-ends, as the casualties and dead bodies pile up. Murder and mayhem follow their efforts from country to country, but often, it is difficult to understand how they got from point A to point B. Jack and his journalist friend seemed to uncover a corrupt and brutal plot created by a man who was once highly respected, but is now very disillusioned with the way of the world. He wants to take matters into his own hands to wipe out Islamic extremism. He conjures up a scheme to coerce companies to support him and when they pay him, he places the money into a dummy company to fund his effort. This company has apparently been investigated by Jack Ryan for the Hendley Associates, a front for The Campus. The man’s tactics and henchman are ruthless. It was not a satisfying mystery for me as it seemed to go in circles without ever resolving anything satisfactorily. The plot did not roll out smoothly and the reason for Jack Ryan’s involvement seemed far-fetched and implausible. It was not until the very end that the dots even appeared to connect and explain why Jack Ryan was involved. It was only the excellent narration of the book by Scott Brick that kept me reading it.

Another book that really surprised me, this one is a tightly wound, linear story that really develops the lead characters well and forges a real kinetic bond between the lead character, Tucker Wayne, and his sidekick, Kane, an extremely intelligent and loyal shepherd dog. Wayne is charged by the Rollins creation of Sigma Force of extracting Dr. Bukolov out of Russia and his knowledge of a botanical organism that can affect the world positively, or negatively if it were to fall into the wrong hands (think weaponized, biological bomb). What follows is a very readable, well-flowing story that ends on a real nail-biter on the northern shores of the Great Lakes. I found myself really rooting for Kane to pull through the difficult situations that the authors put him in, and am really looking forward to more Wayne/Kane adventures in the future. One of my pleasant surprises of 2014...

Under Fire, Grant Blackwood

Jack Ryan Jr., son of Jack Ryan, the President of the United States, is in Teheran working for The Campus, an organization that reports directly to the President. While there, he meets up with an old high school friend, Seth Gregory, who is supposedly working for Shell Oil. From out of nowhere, he is suddenly visited by two men, one from Britain and one obviously from the United States. They are obviously engaged in covert operations. They are aware of who he is, but still they present him with veiled threats if he doesn’t cooperate with them in their investigation of his friend. They refuse to tell him why they are investigating him, however, but they do intimate that he has been compromised and money has disappeared as well.
During their lunch, Seth had verbally told him his address, which was odd, and even odder, he had surreptitiously left him his apartment key beside his coffee cup. Although warned not to investigate on his own, he has no intention of helping these men until he can find out if the men are legitimate and if Seth is really in trouble. He sets out to find his secret apartment, the one these men did not know about. Then, Seth disappears, and more s n Iranian named Ysabel, who is a close friend of Seth’s. Together they try and find Seth, fearful that he is in danger. The two of them develop a very close working and romantic relationship.
At the same time as this is taking place, there is an alternative narrative taking place involving Russia and Dagestan. From Wikipedia, I learned that “it is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea.” Seth is organizing a coup of that small country so that Russia cannot gain further control as they already had in the Ukraine and Odessa.
This Tom Clancy story is read well by the narrator, but it is very confusing and convoluted. It contains so many unknown and unrecognizable foreign words that I highly recommend the print version of the book, instead. The plot seemed contrived and the twists and turns were too frequent without being fully engaging. There is romance, kidnapping, murder, conspiracy and betrayal, but it never comes together of a piece and sometimes, sorry to say, it did seem utterly ridiculous.

James Rollins & Grant Blackwood bring a new side of the Sigma with the use of a Man and his Dog:

Captain Tucker Wayne and his military dog Kane are about to be handed the mission of their lives. After completing a freelance mission in Russia, Tucker is contacted by Sigma force to help with a delicate situation; extract a pharmaceutical genius from Russian soil before his discovery can be turned into a weapon by the Russian government. Seemed simple enough, but there are more players involved that Tucker thought that are on the hunt the doctor as well. Tucker and Kane don't quite know what they are up against yet, but they will soon learn that the fate of the world is going to be in their hands/paws.

I have not read a Sigma force book, which is one of Rollins' series, but this did not hinder me in the book as there is very limited interaction with someone who I believe is in the other books. There is also limited information about how Tucker and Kane worked for Sigma in the past but this did not limit my understanding of the book and really is just a moot point. The only real association with Sigma in this book is that they ask for Tucker and Kane to take on an assignment, there are no reinforcements coming to help them in Russia. I also really like that this took place in Russia, I just like that it is a change from the Middle East which have dominated Action Adventure novels in the most recent years.

I absolutely loved the interaction between Tucker and Kane; this is where Rollins and Blackwood excelled in the book. You can tell that they put in the research to understand what Tucker and Kane's capabilities could be, and I was shocked to learn the amount of commands and actions that Kane could understand and complete. Kane is a real asset to Tucker and the mission or job that he decides to accept. You can tell that Tucker really cares for Kane and his story about his other dog Abel at the beginning of the story broke my heart (yep I'm a sucker for animals). I also like that Rollins and Blackwood took the time to have some scenes from Kane's point of view and how he reacts to the commands that Tucker gives him and how his overall instinct sometimes wants to override that command. It was very interesting to see how a working dog would interpret commands in these types of situations.

Overall, I felt that the book was long winded, and not in a good way, as you knew they were going to win in the end and I felt that Rollins and Blackwood were really stretching it out for some reason. There were quite a few points where they could have chosen to end the book and I would have been a satisfied reader, but nope here they go again another battle. Some of the events near the end were not needed in my opinion.

I really enjoyed this book and felt that Rollins and Blackwood did a good job of balancing the action and the bond between Tucker and Kane. For me the interaction between the two was the best part of this book as the action at times was pretty farfetched but this is not surprising, it is after all what I would call an Action Adventure novel. I think that this may be a new series, if so I would read the next book and I look forward to learning more about Tucker and see what type of adventure him and Kane get up to.

Enjoy!!!

If You Like This,

Check These Out Too: