Jeff Struecker

As a former member of the US Army who saw just a bit of active service I find a lot of fault with most military fiction. The authors either make errors of fact or feel. The errors of fact should be corrected easily by most authors. Anyone with a computer can find in a matter of seconds just how much a M4 weighs or what kind of ordnance the Air Force would bring against troops in the open.

The errors of feel are a lot harder to fix. Too many writers present the US Army as either filled with show more robot Rambo’s or killer buffoons. They are one dimensionally drawn to serve the purpose of the plot alone. At the end of the book you may well have enjoyed the story but you have obtained no insight or developed no relationship with the characters.

Jeff Struecker and Alton Gansky fall into neither of these errors. The facts are straight and the people are real. I found this to be an excellent book that captures the problems and effects of the type of warfare that is going on today and will likely to continue through the next few years. The author’s technology and tactics are up to date and well presented.

The true strength of this book however is in the people you will meet. Six primary characters are very well drawn. The members of an elite ranger team, both the men and their families, are brought to life. The real lives and problems of long serving military families are described to a fine point. I know I was a member of one of those families and these authors get it all exactly right.

By the end of this fine book you will have enjoyed an action filled exciting tale and learned a lot about the members and families of our armed forces. You will also have come to care about the men that you will meet in the book.

Both authors are men of religion. One is a decorated member of the army who fought in Somalia, Panama, and Kuwait then turned to service as a chaplain in Afghanistan and Iraq. The other author is an award winning author who served as a pulpit minister for twenty years and has written almost thirty books.

Together they introduce you to the real world of the US Army Ranger.

Their religious background brings things to this novel but it does not overshadow it. This is a story of men in combat and the problems they face both in action and out. The spiritual impact and help is a part of the story but the authors do not preach, they story tell. And it makes for a wonderful book.

If pressed for an objection I would note that they take the liberty of altering just a bit of the usual language of the troops. The new army is not as foul mouthed as the one I served with but I do not think they have cleaned up their act quite that much.

However, the lack of foul language does allow this book to be read by anyone without offence. The book describes wounds in accurate detail that might be disturbing to some but that would be the only warning to a general audience. This is an excellent novel written by men who have walked the walk. I hope it is widely read.

A copy of this book was provided free by the publisher for the purposes of this review. show less

“Certain Jeopardy” is a better-than-average military action story set in Venezuela. The book opens with a tense firefight in Afghanistan to introduce the elite Special Ops military team that is the focus of the rest of the book, then pulls back to give us background on the key characters. The rest of the story involves a hostage, a “black” or unofficial mission in Venezuela, and good action sequences.

Some readers may be put off by the Christian themes in the book. However, given show more that the principal author is an Army chaplain, the themes are to be expected. Also, the Christian themes complement the main story line without interfering with it.

The action scenes are well-written and plausible, and the authors get just the right balance of fast-paced action and exposition of the personalities of the key characters. The book is proof that you can have a well-written, action story for adults that does not include sex or explicit profanity. show less

This is one hell of a good book! Oops! Perhaps I should have said 'heck', since the authors are an Army chaplain and a minister. But that word is too mild to convey the enthusiasm I feel.

This is the story of an Army Special Ops team in Venezuela who experience big problems in carrying out their mission, which changes character while they are in country, and while their families back home are having major problems too. In that sense, the book is like "The Unit", the TV show. But, unlike in show more the TV show, only one of the primary characters has a problem with marital fidelity.

You'll not find any swearing here, which is a bit unrealistic. But to be truthful, I didn't miss it at all. What you will encounter is a lot of praying; soldiers discussing faith with one another; a fair amount of subtle preaching; and a clear conservative Christian bias.

Normally, these overt displays of the authors' biases would bother me -- a lot -- in a book like this since I'm liberal and agnostic. But, they didn't bother me in this book. I knew going in who the authors were, and so I wasn't blindsided.

And, the interesting, believable, and realistic plot kept me engaged, even through a short relatively quiet section about two thirds of the way into the book. If you are tempted to stop reading at that point, don't. The action picks up quickly to a breakneck pace and stays there to the end.

If you like military action, you will really like this story. show less

I found the book a little hard to start, but once going, enjoyed it, and would read more by the same authors. It's more of what I would classify as a summer beach read for guys, but definitely has the Christian aspect throughout. Not the easiest thing to do, juxtapositioning modern covert ops and Christianity, but it was reasonably well done here. Some solutions were a little pat, and many characters lacked depth, but overall, a quick two-day read.