Jeremy Brown (2)

At first, I was a little skeptical of this book as it was 1) based around an MMA fighter and 2) was written like a crime noir, first-person narrative. But after getting past the initial reaction I found that I really enjoyed this book. The character is quite relatable and funny (not taking himself too seriously) while dealing with a dangerous situation (no spoilers).

One of the things I liked about this was that the author describes MMA fight moves in such a way as they could be understood show more by the reader without prior background, and is only used to advance the story, much like any action story would.

The plot had several twists and turns which kept me hooked on what would happen next and how our "hero" would get out of the situation, both the immediate problem and the bigger problem.

I generally lean towards the sci-fi genre but I found this a pleasant diversion from my usual books and would like to read the next book in the series.

I received a free digital copy of this book in exchange for a thoughtful and honest review and hope I've done that. If you've seen some of my other reviews, you'll notice I've not always been kind, so you can tell this is an honest review. show less

In this novel, Aaron “Woodshed” Wallace is a professional mixed martial arts fighter with a very shaky past. He’s rough around the edges and is the kind of person who only knows fighting, so he might as well get paid for it. He’s a club fighter operating in regional shows when promoter Eddie Banzai from the world’s largest fighting organization (this novel’s version of the UFC), offers him to fight one of their most prominent fighters on two days notice, who Woody incidentally show more had previously beaten, in the co-main-event of a Pay Per View card. After he signs a contract all hell breaks loose. He is out to dinner with Marcela, the cousin of his Brazilian training partners when an old friend whom Woody owes a big favor asks to back him up to a bookie he owes money to. Woody intervenes when the bookie’s henchman starts beating up his friend. This later leads to Marcela being kidnapped. Woody is told that he has to win the fight or bad things will happen to Marcela. The story then evolves into rival gangs, illegal pit fighting, and the Yakuza.

There is some good and bad and this novel. I enjoyed the training and the fight scenes. The author either has a background in mixed martial arts or has done a lot of research because this aspect of the book is very well done. The book is extremely fast paced and was a quick read, things that I appreciate it. The main characters, such as Woody, his training partners, and Marcela arr well done. The villain characters in this story, such as Eddie Banzai, Kendall, and Chops weren’t quite as well developed. My biggest issue centers about the believability aspects on certain plot points. The quandary that Woody gets himself could have been explained better and was hard to buy into. The way he gets himself out of it is also a stretch. The climax was hard to follow in spots and could have gone through a bit of rewrite for clarity. Overall, I find this to be an enjoyable read and would recommend it.

Carl Alves - author of Reconquest: Mother Earth show less

Lots of fun, if a bit short for my reading level.

A great forensic type of book to read. Enjoyable.