Injured and demoralized, Conor and his people have fled the US for Cyprus to heal and regroup. Each of them is fighting their own battles, trying to process their experiences in the fallen America and trying to determine what the future holds for them. But while Conor, Ricardo, and their team fought for their lives, another potential savior was quietly building his army.
Behind the scenes, one of the largest military contracting companies in the world has been building an alliance of orphaned American military units, stranded operators, intelligence specialists, mercenaries, and friendly foreign powers. Now that Lightspeed is dead and America has gone dark again, the CEO of the company realizes it’s time for him to act. This might be the last chance to save America from Chinese occupation and the Mad Mick, Ricardo, and their team want a piece of it.
Franklin Horton lives and writes in the mountains of southwestern Virginia. He attended Virginia Intermont College and Virginia Commonwealth University. In his spare time he pursues outdoor adventures with his wife and two children. His interests include camping, kayaking, backpacking, mountain biking, and shooting.
THE MAD MICK IS BACK & KICKING ASS THE ONLY WAY THE MAD MICK KNOWS HOW. HE'S "THE GOAT GURU."
Review 3/16/26 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
THE MAD MICK IS BACK & KICKING ASS THE ONLY WAY THE MAD MICK KNOWS HOW. HE'S "THE GOAT GURU" OF AMERICA.
Collateral Savage: Book Twelve in The Mad Mick Series by Franklin Horton is an action-packed continuation of one of Franklin's greatest series that brings the life of a group of contractors together to take back America after an EMP wreaked havoc, destruction, and death from the east coast to the west coast taking out the majority of the population. And if that's not bad enough, China sweeps in to take over the U.S. for themselves and our allies worldwide have set back on their laurels watching and waiting to see who will be the next dominant country. Of course, this is not going to happen if The Mad Mick, Conor McGuire, his daughter, Barb, Ricardo, Ragus, Shani, Havoc, Tao Fang, Kate, Valeria, and the rest of the cast have anything to say and do about it.
Conor, Ricardo, and the gang team up with a large mercenary services company with the resources and man power to take on the Chinese forces on U.S. soil as well as taking the battle and war to China itself through hackers using malware and hacking their systems attacking China and raising havoc in their transportation systems, their banking, communications, manufacturing, military deployment, and national, commercial, and private security systems, leading to an uprising of the population and and uprising of enemies they've been terrorizing forever. Oh, of course, The Mad Mick and his team do what they do best, blowing things up and dropping the bodies of the bad guys right and left.
Franklin Horton sets the stage in his books through well-written characters that you'll find yourself cheering for them when they're out doing the what they do best, kicking ass. The story is full of interesting situations which keep you on the edge of your seat to see how they come out on top as well as cheering when the bad guys are taken out for good. There are a slew of new characters in this twelfth installment that adds depth to the storyline and opens the door for additional books covering the aftermath of the EMP, the majority of the U.S. politicians and military leaders who betrayed the U.S. citizens and opened the door for China's invasion.
If you haven't had a chance to read this series, I highly recommend that you start on the first book and before your through the first chapter you'll be hooked reading each book and starting the next before the previous one is even cold. They're just that good. For eleven books so far and I still can't wait until the next book comes out and in between, there are shoot offs with series with Barb and Jim just for example to keep your interest going. I know I have really enjoyed reading each and everyone and hope you will too.
Quotes:
"The retirement regiment? The bungling brigade?" We scrappy," Griff fired back. "Seasoned and scrappy." "Seasoned and saggy," Howard fired back.
"Maybe I can make up a Purple Pooper metal for you."
"Humans don't come with manuals. Our entire life is spent learning how we work and function."
The teams hackers of Black Canopy;
"Created deep fake footage of military officials fornicating with livestock" and released the footage over China's national television network and the internet both in China's controlled internet system and world wide.
Oh my word, was I glad to be back in the world of The Mad Mick! This book starts off with a bang, and it just keeps on going! Conor, Barb, Ricardo, and crew are in Cyprus where a group of Chinese attack. After some wheeling and dealing with the Cyprus government, they're shipped off to Jordan, where they're brought into Blackburn's team. Blackburn has been working in the background from the beginning, and when Conor's team runs into trouble, he's able to get them out of Cyprus and back into the action. In Collateral Savage, we see The Mad Mick journey to China (twice!), working with Blackburn to eliminate the Chinese threat to the USA. Meanwhile back home, Chinese troops are still working their way across the country. A small team is taken out by locals in Virginia, who later team up with one of Blackburn's men to fight for their little community. We briefly see Shani, Abela, and Ragus who are all in Israel. Watching Ragus deal with his grief and pain was heart-wrenching, and I found myself tearing up. Horton is back at his best with this one, writing about an amazing gang of loveable misfits. I cannot wait to see where he goes from here.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I absolutely loved this continuation of Conor and his team's story. The fast paced start, the locations, and new characters were on point. I knew i would read it cover to cover in one night. For me it was Ragus that stole my heart in this one, his pain and willingness to face it, admit his fears, and know his limitations was the soul of this book. I cant wait to read more about his journey. Get this book!!..you won't be disappointed.
I know you can only go so far with a character and their escapades before the storyline becomes mired in redundancy, but I hope to read more adventures from Mad Mick, Barb, Ricardo, and Ragus. They’ve become family. I’ve enjoyed every word!
If this is the finale for Mick and his friends, it is a satisfying sendoff. It will be interesting to see if the Reset Roadhouse is affected by what happens here. Thumb up!