One Rough Man by Brad Taylor

One Rough Man by Brad Taylor

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Jacket Blurb: 
They call it the Taskforce. Their existence is as essential as it is illegal. Commissioned at the highest level of the U.S. government. Protected from the prying eyes of Congress and the media. Built around the top operators from across the clandestine, intelligence, and special forces landscape. Designed to operate outside the bounds of U.S. law. Trained to exist on the ragged edge of human capability.

Pike Logan was the most successful operator on the Taskforce, his instincts and talents unrivaled-until personal tragedy permanently altered his outlook on the world. Pike knows what the rest of the country might not want to admit: The real threat isn't from any nation, any government, any terrorist group. The real threat is one or two men, controlled by ideology, operating independently, in possession of a powerful weapon.

Buried in a stack of intercepted chatter is evidence of two such men. The transcripts are scheduled for analysis in three months. The attack is mere days away. It is their bad luck that they're about to cross paths with Pike Logan. And Pike Logan has nothing left to lose.

DNF.

Read as an audiobook.  Which probably skewed my opinion of this book because the main narrator (there were two) made our female protagonist a whiner who questioned everything, despite the fact that a total stranger was busy saving her ass.

To say I detested this book would be a fairly accurate review.

Character-wise I liked 'Pike' Logan.  I could have done with out Jennifer.  Then the plot went down hill for any kind of plausibility - and I say this KNOWING I read scifi and fantasy.  The book lost credibility when Jennifer scampers up and down the side of a building three times, then tells Pike she trained with Cirque de Soliel for three months.  Um...no.  Just because you trained as a performer does NOT give you the ability to climb up and down a two story building three times. 

The whole premise that Pike and Jennifer needed to be "terminated" was utterly contrived and well. stupid. 
>
I could also make the argument that this was a romance disguised as a political thriller. Damsel in distress, down on his luck Hero turns into a shining knight.  We have abduction, fleeing, little tremors of realization that "ooo, she likes me!".   Romance. 

The book also jumps around fairly frequently - like in paragraphs - from point of view to point of view.  A little jarring, but I could see the author was trying to keep the timeline cohesive and all the characters moving forward at the same rate.   

The only part of this book I liked were the terrorists. 

Can't recommend this one.  Unless you like political thrillers, then maybe you'll have better luck than I.  I'm going back to police procedurals.



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