Jack Carr (1)Critiques

Revenge Conspiracy Thriller Masterpiece

When liberal politicians (of both the civilian and military variety) purposely send a seal team into an ambush resulting in dozens of American servicemens' deaths, and then have the sole survivor's family murdered it's time for some serious payback. Obviously these backstabbing weasels have just pissed off the wrong man. Page turning goodness ensues. It would almost seem over the top if so much political BS hadn't happened during the Obama reign of terror (remember Benghazi or the Seal Team helicopter shoot down? How about the death of the Supreme Court Chief Justice?). The conspiracy in this book pales in comparison. Anyway, I haven't enjoyed a revenge thriller this much since reading Term Limits by Vince Flynn. Other revenge thrillers I have read and enjoyed include: The First Rule by Robert Crais, The Chinaman by Stephen Leather, Without Remorse by Tom Clancy and Fade by Kyle Mills. I'll be looking for more books from Jack Carr in the future.

This is the usual case of the truth of the saying, familiarity breeds contempt, where the author's quirks are beginning to become tiresome. What is with the name-dropping on clothing and accessories, even when in disguise! This guy is definitely a gun and equipment snob to the nth degree. When did everybody fall in love with acronyms even when they are not really necessary? His getting out of prison from the murder charge from the end of the last book, seems a bit truncated and glossed over: an anti-climax. The 'great', top-secret, discovery left by his father to Reece in a safe-deposit box and for which the Russian faction wants him dead, seems like wishy-washy conjecture to me, hardly earth-shattering: another anti-climax! Carr's strength is putting together exciting, page-turning action sequences. He should probably stay with this as much as possible.

A suspenseful, although far-fetched, outing for Reece where he races with a young, of course, beautiful scientist and friend of his girlfriend Katie to prove that the deadly strain of Ebola virus is not naturally airborne but is an Iranian attempt to throw the US into chaos, with the destruction of two major urban centers. See what I mean? Well done suspense, but low on plot believability. Enough with the acronyms already!½

This is the third Carr book I've read, but I found out that this is further along in the series. This was a bit stronger than the second, as usual Reece is focused on revenge for the death of a friend. The last chapter does not bode well for his future, as the powers that be are finally going to exact some payback for the bloodbath of The Terminal List.

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.

After this book, I think I have finally discovered a comparable series to Jack Reacher and Lee Child. James Reece's motivation, with his seal team and family both being killed and back story, as a long-standing and decorated Navy Seal, are excellent and believable. the level of support he receives is smoetimes hard to believe. Who has friends that would go to that length to help with their money and skills, that Reece gets here? But the action scenes are described well and in detail and the. book is a fun to read action fantasy, like watching, a Stallone, Statham, Norris, Van Damme or Schwartzenegger movie. I've started the next one already. The thorough glossary of acronyms. etc., is very helpful.

(I'm befuddled by the other reviews and tags shown for Jess Kidd's "The Night Ship" -- they have nothing to do with the book I just completed and seem to be for a far different title by a completely different author. Methinks there is a flaw under the Librarything hood. The ISBN matches Jess Kidd's book; it has nothing to do with Jack Carr's "In The Blood.")

"The Night Ship," focusing on a young girl sent to join her merchant father upon the death of her mother, recounts the journey of the Dutch East India ship 'Batavia' from the Netherlands to the Dutch colony of Batavia (present day Java in Indonesia) in 1629. Parallel to that historical event, Kidd interweaves a more contemporary story of a young boy sent to live with his grandfather, a fisherman living on a small island near where the 'Batavia' foundered.

The young girl, Mayken, is curious, adventurous, creative, caring, and bold; the young boy, Gil, is shy, perhaps queer or trans or both, reticent, quiet, caring, and yet curious, especially about the history of the 'Batavia.' A shared hag stone (witch stone, adder stone) provides a tenuous link between the two. Both suffer insular and challenging communities -- the closed and strictly hierarchical community of the 'Batavia' and the isolated and hardscrabble community of the island. The tensions and human brutality in both communities slowly build over the course of the novel and come to open conflict with a rush over the last quarter of the novel. I found myself spending more time researching the horrific story of the historical voyage of the 'Batavia' as I did reading this fictionalization.

This is a very different story and structure from Kidd's previous novels. Her previous novels were firmly rooted in her Irishness; this is a bold departure that shows Kidd's versatility and development as an author. It's brilliant.

The story begins with a bang and the thrill continues until the final chapter. Although the plot premise was taken from recent news stories about the Ukraine War, don't assume that this is all you will get from reading the book. The Ukraine War is merely the framework for the story. The reader gets an original, spine tingling story with plenty of action from the author's imagination.

The series main character is Scot Harvath. He has always been bold, brash and lethal. In Dead Fall Harvath is surprisingly underequipped with weapons and doesn't have his usual team of spies to help him. Dare I say that he seems somewhat humble from finding himself in this situation? I was not surprised, though, to see him finding the resources that he needs to get the job done. The reader sees more of Harvath's intelligence here as he figures out what each of his steps are going to be in order to finish the mission.

The Ravens are Thor's fictional version of the Wagner Group. While we all have read about Wagner's barbarity from the news, the information we get about the Ravens is complete. The reader learns more about their movements and how they make decisions. Even the barbarity of their treatment of the Ukrainians has much more detail than what we read in the news concerning the Wagner Group.

Dead Fall is a gripping novel and I highly recommend it.

An action packed thriller with a lot of violence and death. Quite a macho read and near the end I did find it did drag on a bit.

Diminishing returns on this series, and I'm really debating on whether to continue.

As mentioned in the review of the second book in this series, Carr drizzles his own politics all over the main characters. It's fine in low doses, but Carr worries at it like a dog with a bone. He just won't let it lie. A little is okay. A lot—whether I agree with it or not (and I complained about the politics in Gwendy's Final Task too, and I agreed with them)—is unwelcome in my fiction.

The second is all the damn redactions. Come on, Carr...if something's redacted, you're a bloody author...make something up instead of leaving it in there to show how verisimilitudey you are. I'd rather read a fake place name rather than a redaction notice. Carr acts all upset about the redactions, but with such an easy fix at hand—and not utilized—one begins to suspect that he actually digs them, and likely puts stuff in just so it can be redacted. Whatever. Put on your big author pants and write something.

Finally, I'm beginning to see how one-dimensional the characters are. There's no shades of gray in Carr's world. The soldiers are almost uniformly incredibly good at their jobs, incredibly noble, and have a wealth of hidden skills, such as master gun builders, or archers, or wine experts, or whatever.

The women are both really hot and badass. Always. Even when they work for the enemy.

And the men that are on the bad side? They're REMFs, they're doughy and paunchy and they all seem to have some deviancy (either to do with sex or torture, more than likely both). And they're rich.

It's getting tiresome.

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.

If you want a good action thriller along the lines of Mark Greaney or Jonathan Maberry, then this may be for you.

Carr does a lot right—he really does—but he also very much wears his politics right on his sleeve. And...well...some of it ain't pretty.

But, if you can get past that, then it's a pretty good story. Basically, he's taken Marvel's The Punisher, and made it more realistic.

There seems to be a trend in movies lately to make characters gray. They're not bad, but they're not really all that good, either. With so many gray characters out there, it can be refreshing to find a hero you can cheer for without any reservations. Jack Carr provides that kind of character, telling a satisfying story about a good guy who wears the whitest of white hats and where the villains are unequivocally deserving of everything they're gonna get. His hero is sympathetic, and if Carr uses cheap tricks to create sympathy, remember that it's a thriller, not literary fiction.

I grew up on the likes of Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum, and while it's been a lot of years since I've read anything by either, Carr's writing, in comparison, feels more straightforward. Where Clancy might spend chapters setting up a villain and the rest of his book sending Jack Ryan on a hunt for the villain (or for the Red October, as the case may be), Carr cuts right to the chase, drops you right in the action, and through quick flashbacks fills in the gaps. It makes for an page-turner, the perfect novel for warm summer evenings. I listened to it while I was mowing the lawn and then read it long after lights out to see what happened. It’s action driven, a close cousin to Top Gun or The Dirty Dozen, and it’s worth every page.

With The Terminal List, you know who the bad guys are almost from the beginning and the only question in your mind is how are they going to meet their demise. Carr sounds like he knows his subject well; he is, after all, a former Navy Seal himself, and every page feels authentic, sometimes violently so: James Reese is a Seal and he's getting revenge--he's not filing lawsuits here. Expect explosive and deadly results as he deals with the conspirators with extreme prejudice.

Unfortunately, I read The Terminal List right before watching Chris Pratt play the role on Amazon, and it was a disappointment. The changes for the show just don't improve the plot. Jack Carr had it right the first time, and I'm a big fan of not messing with a good thing. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. (And when in doubt, trust the book. It’s always better than the movie.)

The Terminal List was a fun way to close out the summer, and I think I'll try out the sequel to see what Carr does with his character. There were few loose ends in The Terminal List, so I'm predicting that James Reese becomes something of a one-man A-Team. "If you have a problem if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... the A-Team."

Least favorite in the series by far. This one had some good moments but I feel some characters need to have forward momentum and growth. Have not seen that from James Reece. Plus I hate cliffhangers. It’s the cheapest way to get people to buy the next book.

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.

Exciting right out of the gate. I’m usually not a big fan of political thrillers but I have enjoyed this series. Way way less product placement in this one. A very good story about what have our enemies learned by watching us fight them in a 20 plus years war on terror?

Clearly this is a work of fiction because there is a young popular president who’s a liberal and supports 2A. What’s next a Republican who’s not a war hawk? Lol

I liked the story. I liked how the plot played out. I liked the action, adventure, and mystery. Then why only 3 stars? Simple whether it be liberal, or conservative. I hate preaching in my books. Just tell me the f’ing story. Not your ideology. I don’t care

This one had a lot of action and some very gruesome violence. Not for the faint of heart. My only gripe is sometimes I feel like there are too many product placements if you know what I mean.

I will word things as carefully as I can. This was a very masculine book bordering on toxic at times. Yes. I get that this is a book about a navy seal doing navy seal stuff so there was certainly a lot of running, shooting, crotch grabbing (their own, most definitely not other people's), spitting and blowing stuff up. I have read lots of books like this and really enjoyed them. There was just a slight undertone in this that I felt excluded me from being part of the target audience. It seemed to lean towards one particular set of political views. I also never felt sympathy for James because he barely seemed to grieve before he became so bloody minded and vengeful. I love revenge stories when I can get behind the main character but this was not the case in this novel. Others have loved this series so it's just not for me.

I must admit that I struggled to get going with this book having stopped and restarted 3 times before I really got into it. Might have had something to do with my mood at the time or the other reading that I was doing but I found it technically daunting to start with all the acronyms and navy seals jargon in use. Not being used to those terms and the equipment used by the seals was a bit of a barrier for me but with the trusty google by my side I was able to make my way past this obstacle and learn a whole lot about NOD's, FROGs, WARCOM, etc. So, once I got into it, it took off like a rocket and I completed the audiobook within the next 12 hours. The story and pacing literally grips you and draws you in and won't let go. Looking forward to watching the series to the compare the book with prime video's take on it. 1/17 Came back to update that I binge watched the series on Prime Video and while it was different from the story in the book. I did appreciate and enjoy the interpretation.

Another journey with an intriguing character, James Reece, righting wrongs at every turn and getting his revenge. It is interesting to see how Jack Carr ensures that Reece/Mr. Donovan has out maneuvered the terrorists well in advance and in a way that they have no comprehension what is about to happen to them.

Fast paced and keeps the pages turning.

DNF

The storyline was good but some of the characters and their dialog was so heavy handed. I actually liked the show better which is rare.

Well written Military Thriller. Bad politicians take advantage of military members to make money on new pharmaceuticals. Bad idea to anger people with skills. Military good - Politicians bad. Revenge killings as needed.

the premise is interesting but the execution was lacking for me.