Steven Konkoly

I rarely give a book 5 stars but this non-stop thriller introduces male and female heroes one can really attach to, and who seemingly can deal with any crisis. The author’s credentials speak for themselves & his ability to tell a realistic story. The main character was framed for a botched hostage recovery, which forces him into action to uncover the truth with help from a splendid group of women kidnap survivors. 1st in series I plan to keep reading.

Konkoly Konquers Jakarta

I really wasn't sure how much I could tolerate a book about a Pandemic given that, at the time I read this, we are in the third year of the COVID Pandemic.

Steven Konkoly manages to take a heart rending, thoroughly depressing subject and turn it into a tightly wound, hair-raising post-apocalyptic thriller.

Packed with the foibles of human weaknesses, mixed with the inherent good and bravery of those shining few who rise to the top during a crisis, this story is show more unbeatable for an all night read. show less

In Konkoly's favour: he creates an interesting story and tells it well. The action scenes are very good, as are his descriptions of environments. Dialog is okay for the most part, but banter between characters is a little too contrived at times.

Annoyances: dialog tags lean almost entirely on "said". With no variety in this tag, it is a monotonous ping pong of he said/she said/he said/she said. There are many tags choose from and the author would have done well to introduce more variety. This show more is clearly not his strong suit. Additionally, Konkoly goes with "said Decker", "said Harlow " and so on, rather than the more conventional "Decker said", "Harlow said". Almost no other works I read are in the habit of doing this, so it is jarring and I keep substituting alternatives in my mind, both for tags and the word order. The only other annoyance is the excessive descriptions of ordinance, vehicles, and other related details. At one point he spent two pages describing every item being taken on a mission, brand and model. I concede that some may be interested in this, but it distracts from the story with unnecessary detail. He is also keen on referring to commercial entities such as Amazon, Google, Starbucks and so on. Whilst specifics such as these may help set the scene, it is something seen less in other books and another distraction. Examining a map using an online resource, without the specifics of Google Earth or Google maps, would usually suffice.

That being said, the story is interesting enough to keep me reading. show less

The Rescue has been getting a ton of early praise. Unfortunately, I won't be joining that party train, so feel free to boo me if you must.

This book and I were simply a bad match. All the things I love in a book just aren't here.

The biggest problem for me revolves around the absence of character development. For me to invest in a story, I have to care about, or at least get to know, the characters. That doesn't happen. Instead, we have a ton of narrating characters, some who matter a lot more show more than others, and we don't learn much about any of them, aside from how well they shoot.

The entire book is plot-driven, relying on a lot of action, all the time. And this brings me back to the lack of character development. I didn't feel any balance between the characters as people and the constant action propelling things forward.

And, finally, the action was over-the-top superhero kind of stuff.

This book is being compared to Lee Child's Jack Reacher Series. It is absolutely not comparable. Jack Reacher's character is, from the start, complex and well developed. Readers fell in love with Jack Reacher first, and the plots second. Those books have balance. This one does not. The Rescue relies on action only, which is fine if that's your thing. It's just not mine. show less