Book Review: Tom Clancy's Op-Center:Fallout

Title: Tom Clancy's Op-Center Fallout

Author: Jeff Rovin

Genre:  Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Series: Tom Clancy's Op-Center

Book in Series: 22

ARC: Audiobook

Publisher: St. Martins Griffin

Publication date: May 30, 2023

My Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis:

After successfully extricating one of Bejing's top scientists from captivity and escorting him to America, the Black Wasp commandos find themselves targeted by Chinese assassins.  The killers are not only highly trained but invisible and is aware of every move Black Wasp makes.  Complicating matters, the new president of the United States seems willing to let Op Center take the fall for the mission that precipitated the crisis.

The shocking murder of one of their own forces the surviving team members to seek both a safe haven and an ally in the fight for survival-- an unexpected partner who might , in fact be part of the problem.

My Thoughts

The author did an excellent job following what Tom Clancy envisioned in this series.  It is well written, and the narrorator did an excellent job capturing all the charactors in the book.  The story flowed really well and the plot was very well written.  It kept me on the edge of my seat praying that Black Wasp would find the people behind this.  There was also a lot of political  intrigue, and so forth, but all in all it was an excellent book.  I give this book 5 stars.

About the Author

Jeff Rovin is the author of more that one hundred books, fiction and non fiction, both under his own name, under various pseudonyms, or as a ghost writer, including numerous New York Times bestsellers.  He has written over a dozen Op-Center novels for the late Tom Clancy.  Rovin has also written for television and has had numerous celebrity interviews published in magazines under his byline.  He is a member of the Author's Guild, the Science Fiction Writers of America, and the Horror Writers of America.

 

Book Review: The Syndicate Spy

 Title: The Syndicate Spy

Author: Brittany Butler

Genre: Thriller

Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press

Published: March 21,2023

ARC: Audiobook

Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Synopsis:

In the near future, Earth's oil reserves are depleted.  Nations grapple to find an alternative energy source.  Terrorists race for control over world resources.  And the Syndicate-a conglomerate of allied intelligence agencies-struggles to maintain peace.

Syndicate operative Juliet Arroway and her best friend Mariam, a progressive Saudi princess, are tasked with hunting down terrorists and putting an end to the global energy war, the same mission that cost Juliet's father his life.  But when multiiple terrorist attacks result in devasting losses, including the death of Juliet's  longtime boyfriend, and the Syndicate begins to suspect that Mariam's family is somehow involved, Juliet must rise above her heartbreak to discover the truth.

In her quest, Juliet is paired with Graham-a dashing yet arrogant FBI agent-and embarks on a dangerous journey toward love and survival as they race to obtain the formula that could solve the energy crisis.  but when peace demands a stunning betrayall, Juliet must decide how much she is willing to pay for the success of her mission.  

My Thoughts:

Butler tells a story that is seldom told- how female heros and heroics can change the course of war.  Although I enjoyed the story and how this book focused on females heros, I was not that thrilled with the narrartor.  She didn't sound like she was into the book if that makes sense.  

The story relvolves around Juliet, and her friend Mariam as they both try to find out who the terrorists are and also find a way to fix Earth's problem about not having an energy source.  They face some nasty men and then they rise above and save they day.

About the Author:

Brittany Butler spent ninc years as a targeting officer within CIA's Directorate of Operations, Counterterrorism Center.  Both at Langley and on temporary assignments in the Middle East, Brittany spearheaded operational efforts to achieve some of the most sensitive foreign intelligence objectives abroad.  She has both first hand knowledge of targeting methodologies used in the recruitment of spies and extensive field experience in working with foreign liasions to discover and apprehend terrorists abroad.

She is a staunch advocate for women's rights in the Middle East and has worked for human rights campaigns in Afghanistan to protect and promote the rights of disenfranchised Afghan woman and girls.  Today, she assists Afghan refugees by helping them thrive in her local community.

Book Review: The Last Kingodom

 Title: The last Kingdom

Author: Steve Berry

Genre: Historical Thirller; Political Thriller

Arc: Kindle

Pages; 464

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Published: February 21, 2023

My Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis:

King Ludwig II of Bavaria was an enigmatic figure who was deposed in 1886, mysteriously drowning three days later. Eccentric to the point of madness, history tells us that in the years before he died Ludwig was engaged in a worldwide search for a new kingdom, one separate, apart, and in lieu of Bavaria.

A place he could retreat into and rule as he wished.  But a questions remains, did he succeed?

Enter Cotton Malone.  After many months, Malone's protege, Luke Daiels has managed to infiltrate a renegade group intent on winning Bavarian independence from Germany.  Daniels has also managed to gain the trust of the prince of Barvaria, a frustrated second son intent on eliminating his brother, the duke, and restoring the Wittlesbach monarch, only now with him as king.  Everything hinges on a 19th century deed with proves that Ludwig's long rumored search bore fruit- legal title to the lands that Germany, China, and the United States all now want, only for vastly different reasons.

In a race across Bavaria for clues hidden in Ludwig's three fairy tale castle, Malone and Daniels battle an ever growing list of deadly adversaries, all intent on finding the last kingdom.

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed the book, the whole story was really good.  The only issue I had was the back and forth of going from present to past and back again.  I ended up confused to the point I would have to go back and read certain parts over again.  The author did an awesome job of incorporating all the historical facts and so on, but I just couldn't understand and again was confused.

About the Author:

Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of seventenn Cotton Malone adventures, five stand alone thrillers, and several works of short fiction.  His books have been translated ino 41 languages with over 25,000,000 copies in 52 countries.  They consistently appear in the top echelon of The New York Times, USA Today, and indie bestseller lists.  Somewhere in the world every thirty seconds, a Steve Berry book is sold.

Steve was born and raised in Georgia, graduating from the Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University.  He was a trial lawyer for 30 years and held an elective office for 14 of those years.  He is a founding member of international Thriller Writers- a group of nearly 6,000 thriller writers from around the world.

Book Review: Thunder Road

Title: Thunder Road

Author: Colin Holmes

Genre: Mystery/Suspense

Arc: Audiobook

Publisher: CamCat Publishing

Published: February 15, 2022

My Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis:

When an Army Air Force Major vanishes from his Top Secret job at the Fort Worth airbase in the summer of 1947, down on his luck former Ranger Jefferson Sharp is hired to find him, because the Major owes a sizable gambling debt to a local mobster.  The search takes Sharp from the hideaway poker rooms of Fort Worth's Thunder Road to the barren ranch lands of New Mexico, to secret facilities under construction in the Nevada desert.

Lethal operatives and opaque bureaucracy stand in his way but when he finds an otherworldly clue and learns President Truman is creating a new Central Intelligence Agency and splitting the Air Force from the Army, Sharp begins to connect the dots.  And those dots draw a straight line to a conspiracy aiming to cover up a secret that is out of this world? literally so.

My Thoughts

I thought I would really enjoy this book since it is a mystery and  suspense.  But that was not the case.  It was very slow and the whole scify aspect of it to me just didn't fit into the whole story line.  I really couldn't enjoy the book.  The author did a great job one the story and plot, but this just wasn't for me.

About the Author:

Before the pandemic, I worked in a beige cubical as a mid-level marketing and advertising guy for an international electronics firm. A recovering advertising creative director, I spent far too long at ad agencies and freelancing as a hired gun in the war for capitalism.

As an adman, I wrote newspaper ads (remember those?), TV commercials, radio spots, trade journal articles and tweets. My ads have sold cowboy boots and cheeseburgers, 72-ounce steaks, and hazardous waste site clean-up services. And I’ve encountered fascinating characters at every turn.

Now, I write novels, short stories, and screenplays in an effort to stay out of the way and not drive his far too patient wife completely crazy. I’m an honors graduate of the UCLA Writers Program, a former board member of the DFW Writers Workshop, and serve on the steering committee of the DFW Writers Conference.

I was the original writer on the film Edge of the World which made the festival rounds in 2019 and I detail that story on my website at byColinHolmes dot com.

I’m a fan of baseball, barbeque, fine automobiles, and unpretentious scotch.