Necessary Retribution by Mike McNeff --Review and Giveaway

(Action/Adventure)

This review is in conjunction with a book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Mike will be awarding an ebook (international) of GOTU by Mike McNeff at each stop to a randomly drawn commenter, along with a grand prize of a paperback (US only) of GOTU to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. The other stops on the tour can be found by clicking the tour banner.




“We don’t need you guys for easy missions.”

Those words set the stage for the entry of Robin Marlette and his team of ex-cops into the world of covert operations and counter-terrorism. After two years of intense training by the best special ops teams in the US military, The CIA and the world situation propel the team into dangerous and complex missions that threaten the world’s balance of power and tests the team to the ragged edge of their abilities.

Author Mike McNeff continues the saga of the Guardians, first introduced in his first novel GOTU and takes the reader on another action packed roller coaster of a story. You’ll find yourself on the edge of your seat as Robin leads his men while they capture international criminals, rescue hostages and fight terrorists all over the globe...with the help of unlikely partners. Mike’s research into the historical background is evident and adds frightening realism to the plot.

If you like to be swept away with tense and exciting action, this book is for you.




With a writing style reminiscent of Tom Clancy, author Mike McNeff creates a story that intrigues and a group of characters the reader can care about.

First, let me say that this is the second in a series. Aside from some references by Robin "Rob" Marlette to "the attack" (which upon some research I discovered apparently happened in the first book when his daughter was kidnapped) I never felt in the least bit lost. This book very ably stands alone.

It's complex and full of details. This is both good and bad... it makes it difficult to get into at the beginning (which also made me think of Clancy ... I have the same problem with his books) because so much information is being presented and we haven't gotten to know the characters enough to care about what happens.  I recommend you stick with it, though, because once you do get to know the group of characters involved in The Guardians, you won't want to stop.

I admit, too, that I hadn't realized when I chose to read this book that it's set in the recent past.  When the discussion of Saddam Hussein invading Kuwait came up, it had me scratching my head.  My husband fought in Desert Storm, so this event is something I'm familiar with.  But once I got past that, it was full steam ahead.

I love the group dynamic between the members of this group Robin has organized, as well as the interactions with his family.  And, though the action was exciting and interesting, it's this dynamic that kept me reading. 

All-in-all, Necessary Retribution was a good book.  Despite the difficulty I had engaging with the story at the beginning, I'm glad I read it.  It's full of action, great characters and good, complex writing.  If you like books by Tom Clancy, this might be a good fit for you.

4 Flowers - This was a very good book! I'd recommend it to my friends.

Mike McNeff is a cop who writes about cops. He was born in San Angelo, Texas to an U.S. Air Force family. His early years saw much travel across the U.S. and the Far East. Mike attended Arizona State University and Arizona State College of Law (now Sandra Day O'Connor Law School).

He began his law enforcement career in 1969 with the Arizona Department of Public Safety. He also served with the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Department in Washington State. He has worked patrol, criminal intelligence, narcotics, and has been a SWAT team leader and commander as well as a hostage negotiator. Mike has instructed at the Arizona Highway Patrol Academy, Arizona Law Enforcement Training Academy, the DEA Narcotics Commanders’ School and DEA Marijuana Eradication School, the Arizona Law Enforcement Academy, the Chandler/Gilbert Law Enforcement Academy and has lectured in many other law enforcement training venues around the country. Mike retired from law enforcement in 2009 as a Police Legal Advisor and an officer with the Chandler Police Department in Arizona.

Mike has also been a Deputy County Attorney for Maricopa County, AZ and the Prosecuting Attorney for Okanogan County, WA. He is an experienced trial attorney in both criminal and civil cases. He has successfully defended police officers accused of civil rights violations in federal court. He is a member of the Arizona State Bar and the Washington State Bar.

Mike started writing after he retired. Necessary Retribution is his second novel. He is currently finishing a western and working on the third installment of the adventures of the Guardians. Writing has become Mike’s new career.

Mike is married to his wife Linda, has four grown children and seven grandchildren. He likes to cruise on his boat, fish, crab, bike, play guitar, shoot and of course write.

www.gotuseries.com
http://www.facebook.com/MikeMcNeff.Site
Twitter
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5625753.Mike_McNeff
Buy GOTO at Amazon.
Buy Necessary Retribution at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

No Remorse by Ian Walkley - Virtual Tour and Giveaway

Today we're welcoming author Ian Walkley to the blog on his tour with Goddess Fish Promotions for the action/thriller novel, "No Remorse".  I'm so glad I saw this tour, the book sounds amazing and it's on my TBR list.  Remember folks, the holidays aren't too far away and books make GREAT gifts.

Ian is giving away a $50 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour so comment today AND follow his tour (if you click on the banner over there on the left, it'll take you to a list of his tour stops)! The more you read and comment, the better your odds of winning. You could be introduced to a great new author AND win a GC!

Ian was gracious enough to answer all my prying questions. Thanks, Ian!  Also, he asks a question at the end that I'd love to see your answers to... and now, I turn the floor over to our author.

Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

My writing heroes were Ludlum, Maclean, Wilbur Smith—action adventures, global conspiracies—so I naturally gravitated to thrillers. I tend to like action and suspense, but I get bored with mysteries that basically take up lots of pages with manipulated scenes designed to delay the revealing of the secret. Thrillers are basically about creating tension that makes the reader want to turn the page. And given many males particularly do not read fiction, I would like to write books that get men back reading again, while also appealing to female readers. I think the answer is short chapters, lots of action, and a mix of conflict, violence and sex. That is, a thriller. My readers write to me about how they stayed up all night to finish No Remorse, or how their husband wouldn’t pay them attention until he had finished the book. It is a great airplane read. When I was running my marketing consultancy I traveled a great deal, and loved to read escapist thrillers while flying. I wanted to write a book that other travelers would enjoy.

What research is required?

Many thriller writers such as Lee Child say they do little research, while others like John Gilstrap and DPLyle do a great deal for their technical thrillers. I have a background as a market and social researcher, so I have some understanding about motivations and behavior. There is a great deal of research into aspects of No Remorse, such as settings like Paris and Dubai, and into some of the activities of the bad guys. For example I found that global human trafficking is a business rivaling drugs. And there are some terrible things happening with slavery and kidnapping. I also did a considerable amount of research into the whole corruption of the financial system, and the development of computer software that could be used in the way described in the book.

Name one thing you learned from your hero.

One thing that you cannot control is the past. My hero has serious female problems because his fiancée left him for his brother four weeks before their wedding. Will he be able to work with the woman who is effectively his boss? Gradually, he realizes that he has to give up those chips on his shoulder that come from past failures and past problems with trust. But then, can he trust the organization he is forced to work with?

Any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?

I’m a little old-fashioned about trusting computers. I back up my work every day, and more often if I make changes to substantial sections of plot. I have enough material saved for about six novels I think! I will sometimes get up in the middle of the night or early hours to write because a great idea comes when I’m dozing. I use photos for prompting about characters, and diagrams of relationships, and I try lots of different things – index cards, software, flowcharting – for plot formulation and scene structure. I write best in the early morning and try to hold off the marketing stuff until after lunch.

Plotter or pantser?

I would like to say that I outline and plan. I try. I use cards, A3 pages, software programs with structure outlines. But I find every 10,000 words or so the writing takes a life of its own. I have to keep referring back to my storyline. With No Remorse, I found I could add deleted chapters back in some cases, because they fitted with a sub-plot. So, I don’t mind having to delete chapters or characters. It’s all practice, and might be useful another day.

Look to your right – what’s sitting there?

Directly to my right is my window out to my backyard and pool, and my second computer screen. Below the desk is sitting one of our dogs, a poodle/shihtzu cross called “Charlie” who sits at my feet every day while I’m writing.

Anything new coming up from you? What?

I’m working on a crime thriller set in Australia. There’s a preview at the end of No Remorse. It is about a woman vigilante Kasey who acts as bait to catch bad guys. When she goes to a country town called Deception Crossing she encounters an American she was in love with several years earlier. There are lots of bad things happening in Deception Crossing and soon Kasey and the American find themselves and their loved ones under serious threat.

Do you have a question for our readers?

Thanks for the opportunity… I would like to ask readers whether they think thrillers should have more explicit sex and violence or whether they prefer such things to happen “off stage”. Traditionally, thrillers tend not to have many sex scenes because they slow the pace down. But with the popularity of Fifty Shades of Gray, I am wondering whether there will be any change here. Similarly, true crime tends to have more explicit violence and this genre seems to be increasing in popularity. What do readers want in thrillers?

Two men, exiles from their respective societies, take conflicting approaches in the quest to regain their place and self-respect, and find themselves at war over a kidnapped girl.

Lee McCloud (“Mac”), a special forces soldier facing trumped-up charges of murder, is forced to work for a mysterious government outfit operating outside the law.

Khalid Yubani, cast out of Saudi Arabia for an offence against another member of the Royal family, seeks revenge through ruthless acts of evil. Engaged in the worst forms of human trafficking, Khalid buys Sophia, the daughter of Mac’s best friend, who has been kidnapped in Mexico. With time running out for Sophia, Mac enlists the help of a beautiful computer genius, a British SAS soldier and a Lebanese fixer to try to find Sophia and save her from the terrifying fate that Khalid has in store.

Although starting the quest as a man with no remorse, Mac gradually discovers a side of himself that he suppressed after witnessing the abduction of his own sister years before.

Dodging assassins, corrupt generals, evil medicos, Mossad agents, corrupt bureaucrats, and sharks, Mac ignores the order to stay out of trouble and follows Sophia’s trail from Mexico to Paris, London and Dubai, and the island of Andaran, where Khalid and his henchmen are waiting…

EXCERPT:

The long journey had been a nightmare, bouncing along in trucks and noisy cargo planes. First, they had thrown Sophia and Danni into the back of a truck filled with crates of vegetables, barely enough room to move, struggling to breathe in air that reeked like steamed cabbage. Crammed in with them were two others, Jeanette from Toronto, and Erika, from Sweden, who explained in stilted English that she was an exchange student, taken in Mexico City. Jeanette cried as she told them three men grabbed her as she was walking through the grounds of her hotel to the pool. The two bottles of water they’d been given were soon empty, and they sucked water from the lettuce leaves in one of the crates. Sophia tried to reassure the others, to talk her own confidence up. Air trickling in through a small ventilation grill couldn’t disperse the heat and fumes, and after a while Jeanette began to retch. The stench was revolting, and soon all four of them had emptied their stomachs into a plastic bucket they found in the corner.

"I'm so sorry, Sophe." Danni said, as the truck lumbered along. "I wish I'd never suggested we go shopping by ourselves."

Sophia shook her head and held Danni close and said words she was not so sure of herself. "They'll get us back, I'm sure of it." Still, she cursed herself for nagging their parents to let her and Danni go shopping. It should have been safe, only ten minutes from their hotel. But it wasn’t.

Ian Walkley has had a career in social and market research, and has been writing novels, short stories, travel articles and copywriting since 2008. He has co-authored two publications on small business and his first novel, No Remorse, was published in 2012. Ian's screenplay "Deniable Justice" placed fourth in the Writer’s Digest 2011 Competition for best screenplay. Ian has travelled extensively and researched his subject, and brings a knowledge of location and technical detail to the exotic settings and big screen thrills. Ian lives in Brisbane with his wife and three children.

http://www.ianwalkley.com/
http://www.facebook.com/ianwalkleyauthor
http://www.twitter.com/ianjwalkley

Virtual Book Tour Review and Giveaway: Golden Chariot by Chris Karlsen

(A contemporary romantic suspense novel, self-published )

This review is done in conjunction with the author's virtual tour with Goddess Fish Promotions. Chris is giving away  a $75 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter during her tour, so comment today AND follow the tour (if you click on the tour banner above, it'll take you to a list of her tour stops) -- the more you read and comment, the better your odds of winning. You could be introduced to a great new author AND win a GC!

The rare discovery of a ship sunk during the time of the Trojan War has been found off the coast of Turkey, near Troy. Charlotte Dashiell is an American nautical archaeologist and thrilled to be part of the recovery team. The wreck may contain proof of her highly controversial theory about the Trojan War.

Charlotte is present when the Turkish government agent assigned to guard the site is murdered. Her possible involvement and a questionable connection to a private collector of black market relics bring her under suspicion. Atakan Vadim is the Turkish agent sent to investigate her. Unknown to either of them, the smuggler behind the murder plans to steal a valuable artifact and frame Charlotte for the theft...after they murder her.

The mere mention of the Trojan War intrigued me.  I knew I needed to read this book with such a unique premise and I'm glad I did.  The plot was solid, the suspense good, the ending satisfying. 

Charlotte is a strong woman ... occasionally stronger than I would have expected, but her steel spine gets her through some difficult times.  Admittedly, it gets her in trouble a bit too.  And, while I knew Atakan was our hero, it took a while for both Charlotte and I to warm up to him--but he turns out to be quite the hero!

The story begins quickly, with a shipwreck and mayhem.  I felt a bit lost at first, with characters being thrown at me from every direction... it was difficult to know who was who, and which persons were friends with whom.  Still, it definitely hooked me, and made me want to continue reading.  This is very much a plot-driven story, with details galore.  The characters may not have been as easy to get to know as I would have liked, at least not at the beginning.  The story was the focus, and the characters necessary to move the plot forward, but they weren't fully fleshed out right off.

Over time, however, they shared their secrets with me, and I came to care about them, enough that I worried terribly for Charlotte several times, especially at the very exciting ending!  I've not turned pages that quickly in a long time.  I had to know if she'd be okay...

If you like a solid action/suspense story with romantic elements and a solid plot, with heart-pounding excitement and question after question posed (and eventually answered) with an ending that will make your heart sigh, then this is the book for you. 

3.5/5 Flowers

I was born and raised in Chicago. My father was a history professor and my mother was, and is, a voracious reader. I grew up with a love of history and books.

My parents also love traveling, a passion they passed onto me. I wanted to see the places I read about, see the land and monuments from the time periods that fascinated me. I’ve had the good fortune to travel extensively throughout Europe, the Near East, and North Africa.

I am a retired police detective. I spent twenty-five years in law enforcement with two different agencies. My desire to write came in my early teens. After I retired, I decided to pursue that dream.

I currently live in the Pacific Northwest with my husband, four rescue dogs and a rescue horse.

http://www.chriskarlsen.com/index.html
 http://www.facebook.com/#!/chriskarlsenwriter