Epicenter by Luke Swanson starts out slowly. If all the cops are like the protagonist, I'm glad I moved out of Southern California. The beginning is a log of angsty stuff about how Jason feels guilty for all the evil in the world. It doesn't actually get interesting until the earthquake hits. The character of Tobin was fun in a smart-alecky way. All in all it was kind of a meh for me. Having been in the L.A. area during earthquakes and riots, some of the writing didn't seem that realistic.

This review was written as part of the Early Reviewers program.
Not having read the first book in the series, I approached this book as a standalone novel. It works fairly well as such, but the reader is thrown immediately into Jason Flynn's nightmare and anguish, without the buildup to this state and so without some of the empathy the character's travails might have drawn.
The best part of the book is the peripheral characters, who are well drawn ad who become central to the story's development in the latter part of the book.
A good book, well written with mostly well drawn characters (the exception being the main character as noted) and an interesting, building, plot which twists and turns very enjoyably.

Disclaimer: An electronic copy of this book was provided in exchange for review by publishers Black Rose Writing, via Library Thing.

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Luke Swanson’s ‘Epicenter’ is a relentlessly-paced crime novel that reads like a cross between ‘Die Hard’ and ‘Death Wish’ as LAPD detective Jason Flynn struggles with the internal demons that urge him to mete out street justice by “making sure no monsters walk free”.

Flynn’s world is quite literally rocked when a major earthquake hits Los Angeles as he and his partner are in pursuit of a teenager they’d like to question regarding a murder in his neighborhood. The kid escapes by jumping into a car conveniently left running at the curb, not realizing that a Japanese gangster marked for murder by a Mexican drug cartel is locked in the trunk. Things get progressively messier and more lethal from that point. Sheer grit, determination, and street smarts keep Flynn, the kid, and the temporarily-rescued gangster moving through the nightmare landscape of a shattered city in which several factions are trying to make them permanently dead, and by the time it’s over, the body count is well into double digits. Here’s where Flynn’s hyperactive guilt complex kicks in, as he is convinced many innocent people died because he didn’t stop the monsters when he could.

Listed as the second entry in the Jason Flynn series, this one stands well on its own, but it’s marred by an abrupt and jarring ending that leaves Flynn’s existential crisis unresolved, and in a way that seems to make future books in the series unlikely. And that’s too bad, because Swanson has created a character here with a whole raft of internal conflicts that could have carried several more sequels. ( )

Epicenter is a thriller based around Detective Jason Flynn. Flynn is struggling with an internal battle between good and evil while trying to protect a teen boy and a mob accountant from a rival cartel. This is all set in the destroyed city of LA following a major earthquake.

The author has left openings for other books (both prequel and sequel) to further tell Flynn's story. I found it an entertaining read and with a plot that would make for a good action film.

A tale starting with a search for answers led to a kid being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This led to being chased by a deadly gang during a massive earthquake in LA and the addition of a second gang looking for some missing accountants. Add to this a kid trying to prove himself to a gang boss and a cop who feels as though he is causing death and destruction all around him. The entire story takes place over a day where the body counts add up and with a city in despair. ( )