Review: COGAR'S DESPAIR by Nate Granzow
Nate Granzow is no stranger to my blog. He amazed me with his debut eNovel, The Scorpion's Nest (the review to which can be found here), and again demonstrates why he is such a solid writer with Cogar's Despair.
The work revolves around Grant Cogar, an adrenaline-junkie freelance journalist which a knack for finding bad situations and beautiful women, in that order. He finds himself in Seoul, South Korea, covering an escalation of force between the ROK and the DPRK, but at the behest of his hard partying friend, Harold Chamberlain (who is the son of the ambassador to South Korea), Cogar finds himself in Shanghai, and on the bad side of some cocaine smugglers.
Cogar's charm is that he is an everyman, in contrast to Jack Murphy's protagonist Deckard, or to my own Ben Williams. He is not a trained operator, and he has no military or law enforcement background. Grant Cogar is an ordinary man in extraordinary situations, who survives on his wit, intellect, and sheer survivability. He has all of the charm and humor of James Bond, but none of the skills, which makes his bad situations that much worse. Beneath this glib exterior is a man who cares, who has seen things but, unlike a cop or a soldier, tends to retain more of his original humanity due to a fact that he was never trained to internalize what he has seen.
Another character of note is Jessica, the unofficial nanny to Harold Chamberlain. Without giving away any spoilers, there is much more to her than meets the eye, and I loved the dynamic between her and Cogar. I am hoping to see her in future installments.
The work did have some grammatical errors, and a factual error in referring to North Korea as the People's Republic of North Korea instead of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (which threw me off when referred to as "People's Republic," as I thought Granzow was referring to Mainland China), but they were largely overshadowed by the humor and the charisma oozed from Cogar.
All in all, Cogar's Despair is an excellent read, and a strong start to a new series. Consider that two hits in the bag for Granzow.
You can purchase Cogar's Despair for the Amazon Kindle here.
The work revolves around Grant Cogar, an adrenaline-junkie freelance journalist which a knack for finding bad situations and beautiful women, in that order. He finds himself in Seoul, South Korea, covering an escalation of force between the ROK and the DPRK, but at the behest of his hard partying friend, Harold Chamberlain (who is the son of the ambassador to South Korea), Cogar finds himself in Shanghai, and on the bad side of some cocaine smugglers.
Cogar's charm is that he is an everyman, in contrast to Jack Murphy's protagonist Deckard, or to my own Ben Williams. He is not a trained operator, and he has no military or law enforcement background. Grant Cogar is an ordinary man in extraordinary situations, who survives on his wit, intellect, and sheer survivability. He has all of the charm and humor of James Bond, but none of the skills, which makes his bad situations that much worse. Beneath this glib exterior is a man who cares, who has seen things but, unlike a cop or a soldier, tends to retain more of his original humanity due to a fact that he was never trained to internalize what he has seen.
Another character of note is Jessica, the unofficial nanny to Harold Chamberlain. Without giving away any spoilers, there is much more to her than meets the eye, and I loved the dynamic between her and Cogar. I am hoping to see her in future installments.
The work did have some grammatical errors, and a factual error in referring to North Korea as the People's Republic of North Korea instead of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (which threw me off when referred to as "People's Republic," as I thought Granzow was referring to Mainland China), but they were largely overshadowed by the humor and the charisma oozed from Cogar.
All in all, Cogar's Despair is an excellent read, and a strong start to a new series. Consider that two hits in the bag for Granzow.
You can purchase Cogar's Despair for the Amazon Kindle here.
No comments have been added yet.
