Michael A. Draper's Blog, page 20

Failure to hit a target is usually the fault of the shooter

[image error]  In certain books the reader knows early on that they are going to be entertained.
That is the case with "Target America." by Scott McEwen with Thomas Koloniar.

U.S. Navy SEAL Master Chief Gil Shannon and his group are on a special mission.
There are two nuclear bombs that have been smuggled into the U.S. One of them explodes prematurely, in a smuggler's tunnel that ran from the Mexican to the U.S. border. The other bomb must be found and we share in the search.

The terror mounts as Gil searches for the bomb. It is a suitcase bomb so easily hidden. Since there are only a few days before it's set to explode, the reader is on the edge of their seats to see if Gil will succeed.

There are two segments to the story. In one, there is the  search for the bomb. Since officials believe that it is to go off in a matter of days, Gil is permitted to go outside any traditional rules to find it.

The other segment is where a Chechen terrorist wants payback and wants to kill America's number one hero, Gil Shannon. The assassin believes he is at his ranch in Montana and he plans to shoot Gil with a sniper's rifle. In this segment, Gil's wife, Marie, shows incredible guts and determination.

Our hearts beat faster as we learn of two brothers, members of AQAP (Al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) are behind the planning of the attack and the target. Since they are operating out of Canada, Gil and his boss, Bob Pope, must deal with international reputations to reach the brothers and force them to reveal the target of the bomb.

The characters are well described and the combat scenes very realistic.

I received a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

There aren't many suspects who are innocent of crimes

This suspenseful thriller tells the reader about a K-9 Maggie and her handler, Scott James, a police officer with the LAPD. As much as any character, Maggie is the hero of this novel.

Maggie and her Marine handler, Pete, is on a mission in Afghanistan at the start of the story. Pete is killed and Maggie wounded and taken to medics for treatment.

At a later time, we witness a shootout in Los Angeles where LAPD officer Scott James is wounded and his partner, Stephanie, is killed.

After a period of recuperation, Scott returns to duty and joins the K-9 unit.
He's teamed with Maggie who is reassigned from a military dog to a dog with a police unit. Both Scott and Maggie show the effect of their wounds.

Scott and Maggie have a period of readjustment to each other. It's as if they both have PTSD. What is unusual and grabs the reader's heart is that the remainder of the story is from both Scott's and Maggie's points of view.

Eventually they bond. However, Scott can't forget the shooting and Stephanie's death. He spends much of his time trying to find who was responsible for Stephanie's murder.

There are many levels to the story, on one hand we see the faith and friendship between the K-9 and her handler. We also admire Scott's determination in finding his old partner's killer.

There are a number of surprises and twists that add to the entertainment. The conclusion is well done and after reading it, the reader will want to jump up and cheer.

"Three Strikes and You're Dead" by Michael Draper

Hi All,
I finished my second novel and send the copyedited manuscript to the publisher this week. Horray!
This is the synopsis that will be written on the back cover of the novel. I know it's too long and will shorten it.

                                                                     *

Baseball goes on strike. As following baseball is the main avocation of many people, there is a great deal of discontent.

A chat group is formed: Friends against the baseball strike.

One member is a terrorist wannabe and he is able to manipulate a gullible man who has no life to obey his wishes. He tells the man, who takes on the name, The Vindicator, he should strike back against the sport. Baseball used to be the sport of the common man but now with the multi-million-dollar contracts, regular people can't afford the price of admission. It can cost hundreds of dollars for a man and wife to bring their children to a baseball game and get some food.

The gullible man uses the name The Vindicator on the chat site. The other man uses the name The Advocate. No one has paid much attention to him (The Vindicator) in the past so he wants to please The Advocate. He decides to take action and kill the highest paid player on each team. Each killing will be in a different way and there will be a message to end the strike.

After the first killing, the FBI becomes involved and the Baseball Commissioner's Office hires a group of private investigators to show they are proactive. The group consists of a young woman and two men who are being trained by a retired state trooper.

As more ballplayers are killed, the trio of private investigators decides to challenge the killer using social media. They put a notice on Facebook to see if they can get the killer to go after one of them, who will be armed.

The private investigators are working with the FBI and able to get video surveillance tape from the hotel where the first killing took place. Together with the tape from the airport car rental, there is enough for facial recognition but it is hazy. The photo is placed in the newspapers and the private investigators get a lead.

There is a major confrontation at the Union Station in Washington. This is between the killer, the man who manipulated him, a man with a bomb and the FBI and private investigators.

This is a scary story

This story is scary! I still get nervous when thinking about the murders taking place. The killers were well described and cold blooded; they planned their crimes professionally. As I read the story, it seemed that the victims didn't have a chance. When Lucas Davenport and his unit of Minnesota Criminal Apprehension arrived, the reader might expect a quick resolution and capture of the criminals. That didn't happen.

Although I've never had to deal with murders, this story seemed very real, as if it were taken from the files of a real Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

I enjoyed the characters, particularly the unflappable Lucas and his bright daughter, Letty. The villains were truly evil and the reader will hope for their demise.

The setting was also well described and I thought it was terrific how two lovers made the discovery of where there was a black hole that contained the bodies of the killer's victims.

Highly recommended!

Responsibility for others awaits us outside of Eden.

"Eden in Winter" is the final book in the trilogy of the Blaine family, written by Richard North Patterson. It's a fast moving novel with lots of action. The story begins as the family attends an inquest about the cause of death of novelist, Ben Blaine.

Ben's body was found at the bottom of a cliff. The question is if he fell or committed suicide since he was terminally ill with cancer, or, was he murdered since he had recently rewritten his will leaving the bulk of his estate to his mistress, Carla, and leaving his wife, Clarice and his sons with nothing.

Adam Blaine is the central character. He's an undercover agent with the CIA.  Officials want his help with the inquiry but his first loyalty is to his family.

He's a strongly moral character and this is demonstrated in the compassion he shows with his translator and other men on a mission in Afghanistan. It is also seen with his relationship with Carla. His relationship with Carla becomes closer during the course of the story. He realizes that Carla is defenseless like a deer in the forest.

Carla is another character whose development is finely tuned. She's more than just Adam's father's mistress. She tells Adam about her troubled childhood with her father's abuse to her mother. She would try to defend her mother but it didn't help. Acting was how she escaped this life but she did fall into dependency on alcohol and drugs.

It seemed that Adam became a father figure and substitute emotional giver to Carla. The reader witnesses this development in their emails back and forth from Afghanistan to Martha's Vineyard.

The relationship between Adam and Carla carry the story. He wants to protect her and asks his brother to look after her when he (Adam) goes overseas to Afghanistan.

I enjoyed the action and the flow of the story from war torned Afghanistan to vacation land Martha's Vineyard.

I received this book in return for my honest review.

"To manage men, one ought to have a sharp mind in a velvet sheath." Eliot

This enchanting story opens at Yellowstone National Park. It mixes the serenity of a natural animal preserve with a number of unscrupulous character who use the park for their own agendas.

Rachel Stanley is a bear biologist. She makes a grim discovery of a scientist who appears to have been killed and partially eaten by a bear. It is unusual for a bear to attack humans in the park and this unusual animal behavior is magnified when Rachel finds a number of animals that have been born deformed.

Rainey is a former P.I. who meets Jen Donahue, while he was fly fishing. Jen is a Chicago cop who is on leave. Rainey is a rare character who is totally honest and possesses so many good qualities that both Jen and Rachel are drawn to him.

There are multiple stories in this complex mystery such as a corrupt sheriff who is trying to open an illegal business that would sell elk horns to a Chinese man,  there is a crazed poacher who believes that the devil is after him and he has to offer sacrifices and there is also a black ops government agent performing experiments in the park.

The characters at first seem interesting but turn out to be extraordinary. The scene when Rachel discovers that the black ops agent is performing these expirements and that might be effecting animal life, is most memorable.

I was totally satisfied with the story and sad to see it end.

Black Horizon made me blue

Jack Swyteck is a trial lawyer honeymooning in Key West when an offshore explosion occurs. Soon, gobs of sticky oil began drifting to the Florida coast.

He's hired to represent a woman whose husband was killed in the explosion. However, he's not sure who to sue since the explosion was in Cuban waters and the oil derrick was owned by a consortium made up of Cuba, Venezuela, China and Russia.

Jack does the research with his sidekick Theo and the banter between these two characters makes up much of the story.

The central characters of Jack, Theo and Jack's wife, Andie went about their business in a dry and steady manner. Andie is an undercover agent for the FBI. However, the action was as if I was reading it from a newspaper and I never felt an urgency to keep turning the pages.

Theo is a complainer and demands much of Jack's time. Eventually he became annoying, like a spoiled child.

There is a scene when Andie has a health issue that was well described. But, overall, even though I'm a fan of Grippando and always look forward to his books, this one just didn't excite me.

Take a shot on this thriller

This thriller plays out as if it were a lengthy episode of NCIS.

An American Naval ship finds a body floating in a life raft. The man's body had been brutally beaten and showed burn marks consistent with radiation burning.

Based on an actual hijacking, Somali pirates hijacked the MV Markarid in the Gulf of Aden. The ship was retaken by members of the Iranian military then made its way to port in Caracas, Venezuela.

With the possibility of radiation poisoning, the CIA enters the picture and the assignment given to agent Jonathan Burke (think Jethro Gibbs). He is a senior analyst in charge of Red Cell, a think tank that thinks outside the box.

Burke and his protege Kyra Stryker (think Ellie Bishop) are ordered to Venezuela to locate a possible nuclear stockpile.

We learn that Iran and Venezuela have conspired to create a nuclear weapon. As the action unfolds, we wonder how the CIA representatives can locate where the nuclear materials are being hidden.

We also observe the arrogance of the president of Venezuela toward the United States and see he is joined in his lofty attitude by the man in charge of Iran's nuclear program.

The novel shows the scenario where Venezuela tries to become a nuclear power and then it might be able to force the United States cower to its will. There is all the stuff of a good spy novel with good action, good characters and a contemporary story.

Well written medical thriller

Dr. Lou Welcome is sent to Atlanta to make a presentation for his boss at a medical convention. His boss couldn't attend due to his wife's health.

Lou brings his best friend and AA sponsor, Cap Duncan on the trip. While on a long distance run through mountain terrain, a freak accident lands Cap in the hospital. He contracts a deadly infection from which there is no cure. This flesh eating bacteria is dubbed the Doomsday Germ by the media.

Unable to give the presentation because Lou is caring for his friend, his boss fires Lou for dereliction of duty. This enables Lou to return to Atlanta and spend more time to care for his friend.

Lou is informed that the doctors will have to amputate Cap's leg because the bacteria is spreading. Lou meets a pharmacist named Humphrey Miller. Miller gives Lou advice about which surgeon to pick for Cap's operation and he and Lou become friends.

Humphrey is an  intelligent man suffering from cerebral palsy. Because of this he is often overlooked and underappreciated but he has a passion for macrobiotics and has been working with another doctor on a cure for this bacteria.

The reader follows a group of people called 100 Neighbors. They want to end government entitlement programs like social security, medicare and welfare. They think these programs are ruining the country. They want to find a cure to this disease and blackmail the government into stopping the entitlement programs and then they will give the government the cure to the Doomsday Germ.

There are a number of surprises and the good characters like Lou, Cap Duncan and Humphrey are well described and likable. We want them to succeed. The evil characters are somewhat stereotypical of what a villain should be. But there is excellent suspense and the action moves swiftly.

I enjoyed this fast moving story and regret that the author is no longer with us to demonstrate Lou Welcome in another adventure.  I also found a number of messages in the story such as a person's loyalty to another, overcoming physical obstacles and the power of having a positive mental attitude.

Justice Prevailed

Dani Mueller legally changed her name and relocated to Austin after her daughter was murdered and the man accused of the murder was acquitted. When the body of the accused man was found beaten to death, the man's family figured that Dani was the killer. They began harassing and stalking her. It became so hard to bear so she thought it would be better to start a new life in Austin.

She works as a crime scene investigator for the city of Austin, Police Department. When she attends the trial of a man accused of killing a little girl about the same age as Dani's daughter, she sees this man also acquitted. Dani decides to provide her own justice but someone beats him to it.

Det. Jason Scarsdale of the Austin, PD is dealing with his own tragedy. He lost his wife recently and decides there is nothing to live for. Then he realizes what a special person his five-year-old daughter, Shannon, is.

He becomes involved in investigating two murders and comes into contact with Dani at work. She provides good assistance.

Dani meets Shannon at the take your child to work day. They each fill a void in the other's eyes, Dani, for her daughter and Shannon for her deceased mother.

Jason and Dani are good characters. They are sympathetic and make the reader interested in their lives and predicaments. The evil characters are truly evil and are active in a child pedophile group and selling child pornography. We follow their trail and want them to be punished. This is the stuff of a very good mystery.

With a number of surprises, good characters, and a suspenseful story, what else could mystery lovers want?

I received this book from the author in return for an honest review.