From the Bookshelf of The Orion Team. …

The Devil You Don't Know (American Praetorians Book 4)

Peter Nealen

Start date: April 22, 2016

Finish date: April 22, 2016

Why we're reading this: Fourth entry in the outstanding contemporary military thriller/speculative dystopian novel written by a f…more
[close] Fourth entry in the outstanding contemporary military thriller/speculative dystopian novel written by a former Force Recon Marine and member of this group.
The setting: Latin America.
The Mission: Search and destroy.
The Target: International man of mystery.
The odds: Not good.

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Apr 25, 2015 Samuel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

DANCE WITH A DEVIL

“Per Mare, Per Terram”- Royal Marine Commando motto (and where they shall blow you away from).

"I don't know what the Queensbury rules are, but the Oscar Wilde rule is to shoot on sight."- Oscar Wilde.

“There is only one principle of war and that's this. Hit the other fellow, as quickly as you can, as hard as you can, where it hurts him most, when he ain't lookin”- Field Marshall Bill Slim.

A recent trend that I have seen and enjoyed in spy/military fiction is infusing a cont ...more

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Jun 06, 2016 Steven Jr. rated it it was amazing

Pound For Pound, One of The Best Thrillers On The Market

I've been a fan of the American Praetorian series for a few years now. Penned by former Reconnaissance Marine Peter Nealen, they follow Jeff Stone, himself a former Recon Marine and currently a contractor for Praetorian Security.

The first book, Task Force Desperate, followed Stone as he and his contractors killed their way through the Horn of Africa in search of American hostages.

The second and third novels, Hunting in the Shadows and Alone Pound For Pound, One of The Best Thrillers On The Market

I've been a fan of the American Praetorian series for a few years now. Penned by former Reconnaissance Marine Peter Nealen, they follow Jeff Stone, himself a former Recon Marine and currently a contractor for Praetorian Security.

The first book, Task Force Desperate, followed Stone as he and his contractors killed their way through the Horn of Africa in search of American hostages.

The second and third novels, Hunting in the Shadows and Alone and Unafraid, took Stone to a post-exit Iraq and showed the dangerous, constantly shifting power plays between Iran, the Iraqi government, ISIS, and American power brokers.

Each one has been bleak, with Stone suffering great personal loss en route to pyrrhic victories in a dystopian near-future.

The Devil You Don't Know takes a break from fighting jihadists to focus on an oft-ignored theater: Latin America's drug war.

From the onset, you can tell Nealen's typical attention to detail is present in the depiction of the various cartels, anecdotes about cartel atrocities, and the usual weapons and techniques. Hours upon hours of research were put into DYDK, and it shows on every page.

Much like Alone and Unafraid, DYDK also delves more into Stone, the man. We see more of his friendships, see the human cost of constant warfare and realize the paradox of this line of work eating away at him, and yet, this kind of work being the thing he does best, his calling in life.

We also get to see more about the Praetorian shooters, more tidbits about them to make them seem human as opposed to robotic contractors with guns. This is an area in which Nealen improves with every book.

The biggest change from formula has been the addition of Mia, a female contractor with an intelligence background. Nealen uses Mia as a commentary on females in combat arms, giving his brutally honest assessment which will certainly anger social justice types (to his amusement and pleasure) and differentiating from the standard female shooter tropes.

Without giving away the ending, on the surface, DYDK is less bleak than its predecessors, but the foreboding ending leaves the potential for bleakness, agony, and death unlike the likes of which Stone and the Praetorians have ever seen.

Bottom line, if you want a realistic, brutal, and entertaining take on the drug war and geopolitics, read The Devil You Don't Know. It is, pound for pound, one of the best thrillers on the market. ...more

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