Mike Cooper (1)Critiques

The last person that most people do not want to see during the month of April is their trusted account. A person that could be described as someone who is rather dull, rigid, and does things by the book. This story is about your not so average accountant that takes on the corporations that hide money from the government. His name is Silas Cade and he is a man with a double life. To most he is an average accountant that audits large companies, while in reality he is an independent contractor with a bullet. Silas is a man that leads an intense life and one that is on its way of being shortened. He finds himself on the doorstep of an executive that has 'cooked' the books by millions of dollars. While exposing this leader's lies he finds the Russian mob on his trail and is in for the fight of his life. Will Silas expose this executives tendency toward murder and manipulation? Can he bring justice to the many people that have been swindled out of their money?

This book was a very intense read that kept me occupied for many hours. I enjoyed the constant action that took place throughout the book and I liked how the author kept me interested. I found myself wondering what would happen next to Silas and thought that it could not get any worse for him. Boy was I wrong, but I liked how the story played itself out. There was surprise after surprise and I did not think that I would enjoy it as much as I did. I am normally not one to really get into stories like this so it was a fun change for me. I would recommend this book in a heart beat and believe it would make a great gift. If you have a loved one that is into high action thriller type novels than this book is for you! I have to thank both the author and goodreads for sending this book to me in a giveaway! It was much appreciated and I look forward to reading the author's future works! :)

Full Ratchet: A Silas Cade Thiller is the second Silas Cade book by Mike Cooper. The “hook” of this series is that Silas is an accountant who uses his military background to even the score for financial malfeasance. It seems like an interesting premise, and the book is well-written, but ultimately it does little else to distinguish itself in the crowded thriller field.

The major failing of Full Ratchet is a muddled plot where even at the end I’m not entirely sure what they were fighting for or why they were fighting. Silas is engaging enough as an action hero, but he doesn’t really seem overly competent, as is shown later in the book when he partners up with Harmony, a woman hired to find him for murky reasons, who proves to be seemingly much better prepared, skilled, and financed than Silas.

A significant plot point is Silas meeting the brother he didn’t know he had in a small town outside of Pittsburgh. The meeting is part of Silas’s reason for taking a job that leads him to Pittsburgh, but both brothers seem to quickly become very reliant on each other and far too trusting. Silas’s brother Dave is just too inconsistent of a character for me to like or trust him. He makes a big deal about his “baby” a souped up race car that he only drives to race, but ends up driving around in (somewhat out of necessity) for most of the book with no reference to his earlier misgivings. His treatment of his friends, even viewed through Silas’s somewhat forgiving eyes, is too unlikeable for him to be a sympathetic character.

Cooper does several things well in this book. The description of Pittsburgh as a contrast from major metropolis to rusting steel belt city, as well as his description of the more rural suburbs and surrounding countryside have an authentic and genuine feel to them. The action scenes, gunfights and car chases are all exciting and well-paced (with the exception of one eye-roll inducing scene above a closed auto body shop). The villains, however, don’t really have a face to them. They are generic Russian thugs, one of whom is exceptionally tall and strong, but their motives or their employers motives are never sufficiently conveyed. At least not in a way that identifies a clear path for Cade to counter.

The writing here is solid, but the plot is too muddled and the characterization, particularly of the secondary characters could have been stronger. Full Ratchet is an interesting read, but it doesn’t really motivate me to pick up more books in the series.

I was provided an advance copy of this book.

Silas Cade has been compared to Jack Reacher. He's not as clever as Reacher but certainly has the potential to get there. Recommend for those who like lots of action and an interesting story line. My first read of this author and I look forward to reading more from him.

For my full review please visit The Mystery Bookshelf @ http://wp.me/p6kwu-12f½

Why do we love those bad boys?

Silas Cade is the protagonist (Anti-hero?) of Mike Cooper’s debut novel, Clawback. He’s a forensic accountant, of sorts. Early on, he describes his work like this:

“If I had one, my logo might be a green eyeshade crossed by a 9 mil.

It’s a small niche, though a necessary one, especially in economic times as difficult as these. Straightforward accountancy is all well and good. But sometimes you need someone packing a P226, not an HP-12c—if you know what I mean.”

What he means is that he’s a career criminal, a very successful one. And one of the ways that he stays successful is by living almost entirely off the grid. Silas is a smart, paranoid man, with a complex system of ethics. He’s fascinating.

As the novel opens, Silas is just completing his latest job, but when he drives past his employer’s home later that night, he sees cops everywhere. The man’s been murdered. Strangely, it seems there may be a connection between this and the next job he takes on. A powerful investment banker wants him to investigate rumors that several of the most unsuccessful money managers in NY are being murdered. And that would be business as usual, but incredibly an industrious blogger and would-be journalist has connected him to the case. For a man so far off the grid, this is unprecedented. Now she has leverage over him, so they’re working together towards a mutually beneficial goal.

And guess what? They’re a great team! The dialog and interplay between the two is terrific, without being that fake banter that’s always so hard to believe. Blogger Clara Dawson is an upstanding member of society, but somehow she and Silas have great chemistry together that goes beyond romantic tension. In fact, the two seem to genuinely like and respect each other. It’s rare to see an author handle both male and female characters so well. I found the two equally appealing.

So far, we’re got some intriguing and unusual protagonists, and a slew of quirky (and yet again, believable) supporting characters. We’ve got an interesting and not overdone thriller plot. We’ve got strong dialog and clean clear writing. And, oh yes, some really fantastic action sequences. The book moved so quickly that I finished it easily in a day.
It’s clear to me that this is the first of a series. It’s hard to imagine what’s next for Silas and Clara, but I’ll be back to see. Mike Cooper is a great new discovery!½

This book was a fun read. It was well written, fast paced and kept the story line moving throughout. There were lots of plot twists to keep you entertained. The book is mostly dialogue driven, which made for an easy read.

For readers that get bored with financial jargon, beware that there is lots of financial terminology throughout the book, but having been in the industry, I enjoyed it very much. Clawback is a nice escape novel, although some of the plot twists may be a bit 007 "Bondish" and a little unrealistic for the average person.

Reader received a complimentary copy from Good Reads First Reads.

Someone is killing all the least successful investment bankers and Silas Cade is hired to find out who it is and stop that person from killing more bankers. This novel fits in with today's society where the bankers are targeted as the ones to blame for our poor economy.

I really liked that this novel started off with some action right away. It hooked me from the start. I'm not one that knows much financial stuff, but this wasn't bogged down with too many terms that would distract from the story (all though there were a couple terms that I didn't understand but it didn't lessen my interest at all). I liked how Silas went from being a part of black ops and then became an accountant (doing mysterious independent consulting work) and how he finds out that those two worlds are more similar than he thought they would be.

I loved the action in this novel. It was fast-paced and made me never want to put the book down. I also loved the relationship between Silas and Clara, it seemed to humanize Silas in my mind.

I thought this was an action-packed book filled with a little bit of romance and a lot of greed. I would recommend this to everyone.

*I received this book from a Goodreads giveaway which in no way affects the content of my review.*