No Fortunate Son

No Fortunate Son by Brad Taylor is an exciting thriller that will both satisfy current fans of the Pike Logan series as well as win him new ones.

Nephilim “Pike” Logan is one of the great action hero names and he certainly doesn’t disappoint. Taylor adds some layers to his hero so it’s not constant run and shoot but requires some brains and some skill to unravel the terrorists plot. Here again, Taylor invents a nicely complicated terrorist plot involving the new IRA, a group of ruthless Bosnian jewel thieves and Somali terrorists on the one side, with a government stressed over high value hostages, red herrings, and government assets on and off the books pulling in all different directions.

The multi-layered plot is one of the show more things that sets this book apart from a lot of other military thrillers. Not only are some false paths laid out, but the actual clues lead in different directions because of the complexity of the terrorists plan leaving Pike Logan to rely on his instincts and a little bit of luck to lead him to the truth. It also creates enough doubt in his mind to realize one wrong guess could cause the death of the people he’s trying to rescue.

The action is also top-notch with great firefights, chase scenes and car chases. There is enough here to satisfy any action fan, with a little bit extra to satisfy those who like intricate plotting. This is an outstanding character and both a book and a series worth checking out. Highly recommended.

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book. show less

Task Force's Pike and Logan are officially fired from their covert government relationship (contract?) but are recommissioned, unofficially, by their former boss when his daughter and several other relatives of government officials, including the VP's son, are kidnapped by terrorists. Who are the terrorists? Islamist extremists? Eastern Europeans? Non-stop action with plenty of espionage tactics and bag of tricks procedures. I enjoyed this read to the max. There is upsetting killing and some language, but nothing more than you would see on contemporary news programs. It's right up to date and well-worth your time. My thanks to Penguin's First to Read program for a complimentary copy of the book.

When I first started listening to this audio version of the book a while back, it was alright. In fact, I got to disk three of eleven. Yet there was something about it that I did not continue on listening. I was looking for something to read and came across this one again. I popped it in and started from the beginning again. I have to say that this time around I was more invested in the story.

Although it was not until the second disk that I felt the story really began. This is where Colonel Kurt Hale asks for Pike and Jennifer's help to find his niece. In the beginning I was not feeling the female voice as it kind of came off like a drag queen with the deep voice but I got used to it. Listening to this book is one that I felt I enjoyed show more better this way. I probably would have put it down if I had been reading it myself. There was plenty of action and I thought the narration performed by Henry Strozier and Rich Orlow was done nicely. show less

Disaffected peoples of the world unite! In No Fortunate Son, a mercenary whose outfit was just fired by the US Government, finds himself re-employed through back channels to find the missing niece of his former commander. Meanwhile, there's another high profile kidnapping -- the vice-president's son. People-hunter extraordinaire Pike Logan is off to Europe to investigate the niece's last known whereabouts at one of the colleges of Oxford University.

The plot involves three groups of terrorists: Irish, who are pining for the days of the IRA and looking to bring attention to themselves, Serbians, who are out to avenge drone strikes, and the Somalis, who are employed stooges mostly in for the money and jihad. The lead bad guy is Irish, and show more he has to keep the hostages on the move until he can rake in vast sums of untraceable bitcoin as ransom.

The audiobook version uses two voices, a decidedly younger voice for chapters that are Pike Logan POV; and the narrator, who has a grizzled, old voice. In some chapters where Logan speaks but is not POV, the old narrator continues on, making one wonder if Logan is 30 or 60. That aside, the pace is good, lots of action, good local flavor in England, Ireland, France and Belgium. I've not read any of the other Pike Logan books (this is number 7) and while there are references to events in past novels, I didn't feel it was required knowledge to enjoy this thriller. show less

This is a multi-layered suspense story that certainly kept my reading until the last sentence. First you have Pike Logan (who worked for a secret Special Ops unit of the US) was decommissioned and without a job. But when relatives of employees of the US government are kidnapped, he is asked by a friend to locate his niece (who so happened to get kidnapped with the vice-president’s son). So when Pike and his partner Jennifer find more in their search for the girl then the official US government teams, they finally get assistance. Pike goes all out and gets closer to the kidnappers, whom seem to be unraveling as their plan deteriorates. I have read other Pike Logan stories, but this is by far the best.

This review is for the recorded version of No Fortunate Son that I received through LibraryThing Early Reviewers. This Recorded Books version was very well done with the tone of the characters, portrayed by two unique voices, giving me the feeling that I knew them all.
This the first Pike Logan Thriller that I have read and meeting Task Force Operatives Pike Logan and his partner, Jennifer Cahill in this one convinces me that I need to go back and learn where they came from. I was intrigued by the fast paced action and the twistingly complicated plot involving a group of Irish kidnappers, a Croatian arms dealer, and a pair of Somalia terrorists. OhMy!

This review is for the recorded version of the book:
Recorded Books; eleven compact discs, thirteen hours.

In this timely and terrifying narrative, Kurt Hale’s niece Kylie has disappeared and he presses Pike Logan into service to find her. But it soon becomes clear that Kylie’s disappearance is not an isolated incident; family members of several key Washington officials have been kidnapped. And with the vice president’s son being one of the hostages, the Task Force must find a way to get them back.

Here the bad guys loathsomely evil, the good guys aren’t above breaking a few rules to rescue the hostages, and readers are treated to a story filled with twists and turns and plenty of non-stop action. As might be expected with this show more tale of terrorists and intrigue, there’s plenty of violence and coarse language, but it is appropriate to the rough characters and gritty situations.

Henry Strozier and Rich Orlow serve as the readers for this unabridged edition and their reading carries just the right tone for the various characters. The book is recorded in three minute tracks, making bookmarking easy; however, listeners are likely to be far too involved in this narrative to make use of them.

Recommended. show less