This book was a bit of a disappointment after Terminal List. I was hoping Reece would become some sort of hit man, for himself, or a degached mercenary type group. It is very hard to believe that the US Government would take him bqdk, even tf it is the CIA. Carr certainly enjoys his technical descriptions of gear, especially guns. I rhink he is just showing off for those who may doupt his intimate knowledge of the workings of special teams. What may keep me reading for the third outing, was his unauthorized revenge killings in last very last chapters. There is hope yet for an independent Reece. At any rate, I definitely would not want to cross this guy. ( )

This book.

Huh.

Okay, typically, I like to take a book strictly based on its own merits. The author produced the work, and it's the work—not the author—that we're here to talk about, right? The problem is, Carr seems to go out of his way to ensure that both he and his story are tightly, inextricably linked with his forwards about being a frogman, and the fact that his books have to be reviewed by the military and letting us know all redactions are in the greater good of America.

He said the same in the first book but, just on the topic of redactions, I have to say I didn't notice any, so, if there were, they were so minor as to be virtually invisible.

That's not the case here.

Carr's novel is riddled with redactions that, at first, seem to give the novel a touch of verisimilitude. Unfortunately, once they start, they just don't stop, tossed through the narrative like confetti. By the time he gets to two full paragraphs being redacted, he's basically taken a rocket launcher to verisimilitude, and left behind a smoking crater of annoyance.

My point here is, if you're going for authenticity, sure, toss in (or leave in) a couple of redactions. But dude, you're an author of fiction. Make. Something. Up. Give us a fictional, unredacted desert if you must.

So, there's that. But this novel has bigger problems.

Carr also states that this is a novel about the soldiers who come back to their families and lives, and the struggle with finding a way to find their way in that world. It's a noble and excellent path, especially after Carr's first novel with Reece. But Carr then proceeds to utilize the first half—well over two hundred pages—to detail Reece's flight from America to him finding some sort of peace, all while sprinkling short little bits that eventually come into play in the second half of the novel.

But if this story was about Reece finding some sort of peace, it likely would have ended with him still fighting poachers in Africa. And honestly, I could have dug that story, as I did enjoy that first part. But it really wasn't about that, it was about finding another noble cause, which he did.

Aaaaaand then it ended. Aaaaaand then the real story kicked in.

So, if the first book was The Punisher by way of Tom Clancy, then this book is Tom Clancy by way of...I don't know...Out of Africa crossed with Rambo? Whatever, ultimately it devolved into a contracted version of the first novel.

I have a feeling all Carr's books will be a twist on his first novel.

The final thing I want to mention is how I almost DNF'd this one on a few different occasions. I'm fine with opposing ideologies. I get that there's a rabid fanbase in America for the Second Amendment, and the rah rah "America's the best country in the world" stuff. Just as there's an equally rabid fanbase that doesn't buy into the gun culture, etc, etc. Everyone's entitled to their beliefs.

But when the author overtly pushes his own beliefs—clumsily disguised as those of his characters—over and over and over through the course of the novel, I do begin to lose interest. I'm here to be entertained, not dragged into a Twitter rant on Jack Carr's specific beliefs.

I enjoyed Tom Clancy's books, but when he began inserting his views, I stopped reading him. I'm close with Carr, because overall, this book did very little for me. There were two decent stories here, but I feel like he muffed both of them.

So, while I had a lot of problems with this novel, unfortunately, all of them stem directly from the author making strange choices and being a touch exuberant with his own platform. It's too bad, because he also makes a lot of good points, and when he gets out of his own way, he can tell a great story.

I'm putting all this down to the sophomore slump. I'll try one more, but if it smells anything like this one, I'm out. ( )

4/5
Way less political pandering in this one. Story takes awhile to get going. But has a lot of ground to cover after how first book ended. Really enjoyed it. ( )

DNF

I started out by rounding this book up from 3.5 stars to 4, but then I remembered how the author redacted his own book with sections of the text blacked out in my Kindle edition, which I guess is an annoying reminder that Jack Carr was a real-life Navy SEAL and subject to Department of Defense censorship. The book is loaded with lots of tech goodies and realistic tactics, but the plot is borderline "Come on, man." Should have read the first book in the series, but that story seems even fantastical. ( )