One of the perks of this blogging thing is I get to read books free. For some reason, people place more value on my opinion than I do. But a few weeks back, the publicist for Brad Taylor sent me a copy of his book One Rough Man and it was a surprisingly good story.
According to his bio, Mr. Taylor is a retired Special Forces officer, and, of course, I verified that there is a LTC Bradly S. Taylor whose specialty is SF in Army Knowledge Online, so that’s one point in his favor with this blog.
The story goes that Pike Logan, the main character loses his wife and daughter who are beaten to death while he’s on a mission so he turns into a drunk (I wish I could tell you how many times this happens to SF members).
Meanwhile, down in Guatemala, an archeologist discovers a chemical compound in a Mayan temple which wiped out the Mayans a millennium ago. Anyway, through a complex series of events Logan runs into the archeologist’s niece and ends up trying to stop Arab terrorists (yes, he dares to use Arab terrorists and Mexican smugglers as criminals) from using the newly discovered compound as a WMD against American targets.
It’s as well written as any of the Brad Thor novels, but with a lot less of the smoochy-face, loverboy crap that Thor has been adding lately. That makes Taylor’s novel a more likely purchase next time for this reader. I like my action novels to have action not love-crippled louts who try to neck with a hot chick half their age while saving the world. Novelists, make a choice – romance or action.
If you have several nights ahead with nothing to read, you won’t be sorry that you read this book. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. If it was a dog, you wouldn’t be reading this review right now.