#BookReview: Collateral Damage by John Sneeden

Explosive Spy / Revenge Thriller. When we catch up with our heroine of the series in this book, she is hiding and hurting – but still righting wrongs where she sees them, in badass and brutally effective fashion. And shortly thereafter, she gets roped into yet another mission that turns out to not be as it seems, which leads to even more action which tends to also be brutally effective at times. Yet again Sneeden does an excellent job of providing a seemingly shortish (no official page count as I type this review, but it *felt* like it was in the sub-300 page area) bit of pure escapism, this time highlighting various areas of Europe in the process. Perfect for fans of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher or J.M. LeDuc’s Sinclair O’Malley, or (sadly now late) Matthew Mather’s Delta Devlin. Very much recommended.

This review of Collateral Damage by John Sneeden was originally written on October 1, 2022.

#BookReview: Collision Course by Matt Hilton

Sold Reacher-Style Mystery, Deep In Series. This is a solid mystery of the “Reacher” style. In that there is a compelling mystery of someone being missing and/ or in danger, and the good guy (in this case, a team of a PI and her two ex-con friends) has to find them and/ or stop the bad guys. Usually with significant fisticuffs and generally lots of rampant destruction and gunshots. Hell, this book opens up with our female PI pulling off a similar stunt to one of Reacher’s own more memorable ones. One thing to note here is that this book *is* deep into the series – something I didn’t realize when I signed up for the ARC. Not a big deal for me personally, as the backstory was appropriately mentioned enough to get where the characters currently are and whet the appetite for going back as a reader, but those particularly sensitive about spoilers will want to read this series from the beginning. Overall, a solid, action packed mystery. Very much recommended.

This review of Collision Course by Matt Hilton was originally written on October 14, 2020.

#BookReview: Painted Beauty by JM LeDuc

JM LeDuc Outdoes Lee Child. With Child’s work with Jack Reacher, you very quickly know what you’re going to get: an interesting mystery with a bad ass loner investigator that doesn’t work well with anyone, much less a team. With the Sinclair O’Malley books, LeDuc proves that he can create equally compelling mysteries with an equally badass investigator – who happens to know what it means to have a chosen family and others you actually care about. While it could be fun to put Sin up against Reacher, and while I’ve loved the entire Reacher series, LeDuc has very easily crafted a character and ongoing mythology that is even better and at least as deserving of praise. Very much recommended.

This review of Painted Beauty by JM LeDuc was originally written on May 1, 2020.

#BookReview: Sanctum by David Wood

More Mystery But Some Solid Action Too. This book is a short prequel of sorts to Woods’s Crowley books – that alludes to far more possibility of prequels even earlier in the timeline. It is more mystery, with a lot of sneaking around finding clues, with the occasional grenade tossed or bone broken or trial by combat… but given its setting, it very much works. If you ever wanted to imagine what it would be like to unleash Jack Reacher into Hogwarts… this is your kind of book. 😉 Very much recommended.

This review of Sanctum by David Wood was originally written on April 5, 2020.

#BookReview: Sin by JM Leduc

Excellent Action Story. This is the re-published edition of a book that has been around for several years, but with most/ all proofreading mistakes caught and with a new cover. And I’ve had this book for most of the time it existed – and only chose to read it now, with the third book in this series releasing this week. Man, I should have read this book years ago. Truly an awesome action story with a richly developed world and a bad-ass, take-no-prisoners type heroine. The former cover of the book had me thinking it was *vastly* different in style than it turned out to be, and the new cover (with the orange background and standing female figure) is much more indicative of the near frenetic action you get with this tale. It cannot be said enough: If you like Jack Reacher type action tales but with a bit less brooding and a bit more knives in throats… you’re going to love this book. Very much recommended.

This review of Sin by JM Leduc was originally written on December 17, 2019.

#BookReview: Past Tense by Lee Child

Reacher Being Reacher. This is Reacher number 23, and kind of in the middle of the pack overall. Not the best Reacher story, but not the worst either. Third person again, and while the bad guys are truly bad, they aren’t quite as bad as I was fearing – I thought early on Child might be going for more current headlines ala the last Reacher tale, and instead he shifts into something that is rumored online but which I’ve never seen actual evidence of. Don’t start with this book if you’re new to Reacher, but if you’ve read even a single Reacher reading this one out of order won’t be a problem other than introducing certain new wrinkles that could be interesting going forward, should Child decide to pursue them.

This review of Past Tense by Lee Child was originally written on November 18, 2018.