Review: Predator Strike! Lands on Target

Osama bin Laden was not killed by a SEAL team in a Pakistani
hide-out in 2011. He was captured 10 years before and secretly held prisoner by
the United States until his death was convenient. Well, that’s a popular
conspiracy theory, at least. In Predator Strike!, Australian writer Liam
Saville wraps that conspiracy theory into a taut military mystery novella. Saville
does not claim to believe the bin Laden theory, but he has succeeded in turning
it into a plausible  plot line.

 Australian Defense
Force Investigative Service officer, Captain Sam Ryan, is rushed to Afghanistan
to investigate the apparent suicide of an Australian soldier who, only weeks
earlier, had survived a blue-on-blue attack on his sniper team by an American
Predator combat drone. Ryan learns that in the days leading up to his death, the
young sniper claimed he and his partner had seen bin Laden in the custody of
American soldiers in Afghanistan only days before he was reportedly killed in
Pakistan. Ryan quickly finds himself targeted by unknown forces trying to
thwart his investigation by bluff and violence.

An army officer turned police officer, Saville writes with a
clean, thrifty grace. He doesn’t waste words, but brings the reader along with a
clear and vivid narration. Sam Ryan is no Dirty Harry; he’s a realistic,
professional investigator and military officer. He’s also someone you enjoy
spending time with.

 Saville’s depiction
of the war in Afghanistan rings with authenticity, from his biting description
of the overwhelming wealth of the American military compared to its poorer
Aussie cousin, to his descriptions of combat action. But above all else,
Predator Strike! is an excellent example of a police procedural.

Predator Strike! is the first of a planned series of mystery
novellas. I, for one, am looking forward to reading about more of Captain Sam
Ryan’s cases.

You can buy Predator Strike! by clicking here.