Al Shield

This will be ongoing as I read through the books (prelude and 3 novels to this trilogy).
First, I'd like to see a printed copy as in the picture. Because the epub and mobi seem to have no editing: typos are so common that they are very distracting. Some errors make it hard to know for sure what is meant at times. It's not like word processor auto-correct; more like phone auto-correct, though that seems very unlikely. There appears to be zero editing (by a professional editor).
Second thing I see is with the name Hack. With the references to cyber this and that, I was assuming that the book would be about computer hacking. It quickly became apparent that Hack is not qualified for cyber hacking.
The story is constant military-style action, but to an exaggerated level. Almost as though the author has watched movies and read books, and maybe talked with military people who gave him the most active stories they could - maybe exaggerated stories.
The other possibility is that the author is trying to extrapolate how bad the future will become based on the past fifty years or so. In other words, he believes the exaggeration is a possible scenario for the future he is writing about.
Having stated all these negative little issues - the story so far is interesting; and certainly military action (whether unrealistic exaggeration or potential future) is the the rule. I'm at the point where he appears to be joining the mercenaries who captured and tortured him. In other words, too much blood and gore. At least Hack has shown restraint, trying to do the minimum necessary to achieve the objective, and in the fight scene in chapter 14, has disapproved of gratuitous mayhem and killing. Considering the title of the next chapter (15), [given variously, incorrectly, as Run, Rabbit Run or Run Rabbit, Run], he may be rethinking joining these people - or it may be more a matter of who it is that blows up the van that he will be running from.
I finished the first book (& prequel). I won't say more here about the story, because I don't want to give away spoilers.
What I will comment on is that Lester Dent (most of his books were published as Kenneth Robeson) wrote an article on how to write lots of stories. This is from memory, but basically he said [once you had the basic premise and characters] to put the characters in situations they couldn't get out of. When it seems they might survive, dump more troubles on them. As they start to resolve some of that, then REALLY hit them with a difficult situation. Finally, resolve all the problems in ways that aren't TOO obviously guessable.
This author seems to follow Dent's method. Except Dent's stories about Doc Savage were a lot cleaner, and had a lot less gore.
This story would be just what a lot of people want, after extensive editing.… (altro)