Savage Son

Diminishing returns on this series, and I'm really debating on whether to continue.

As mentioned in the review of the second book in this series, Carr drizzles his own politics all over the main characters. It's fine in low doses, but Carr worries at it like a dog with a bone. He just won't let it lie. A little is okay. A lot—whether I agree with it or not (and I complained about the politics in Gwendy's Final Task too, and I agreed with them)—is unwelcome in my fiction.

The second is all the damn redactions. Come on, Carr...if something's redacted, you're a bloody author...make something up instead of leaving it in there to show how verisimilitudey you are. I'd rather read a fake place name rather than a redaction notice. Carr acts show more all upset about the redactions, but with such an easy fix at hand—and not utilized—one begins to suspect that he actually digs them, and likely puts stuff in just so it can be redacted. Whatever. Put on your big author pants and write something.

Finally, I'm beginning to see how one-dimensional the characters are. There's no shades of gray in Carr's world. The soldiers are almost uniformly incredibly good at their jobs, incredibly noble, and have a wealth of hidden skills, such as master gun builders, or archers, or wine experts, or whatever.

The women are both really hot and badass. Always. Even when they work for the enemy.

And the men that are on the bad side? They're REMFs, they're doughy and paunchy and they all seem to have some deviancy (either to do with sex or torture, more than likely both). And they're rich.

It's getting tiresome. show less

Another really good James Reece thriller. It’s funny how you can pick up the authors contempt for a person/people or type of person by the way he writes their introductions and the same works in the inverse for the reverence he has for others done in the same way. It doesn’t take away from the enjoyment of the book, but man he really eviscerates some characters, almost so much so that you can envision this is a real person who crossed the author in the past that he’s taking his revenge on in the book. Again, doesn’t change my enjoyment of the book, just something I feel like I picked up on, though I really have no idea if I'm correct or not.

Carr's weakness is that every book has revenge as the primary motive. (Don't mess with Reece's friends.). He is also in love with acronyms, technology and the fashion of clandestine fighting, i.e. the guys have to have the 'right' brand of watch, of gun holder, of gun, and the 'in' brand of clothing, even the bag to carry the 'right' gear in. He is trying to impress the wealthy gun nerds, or maybe right wingers in general. Carr's strength is creating the tension of the chase and leading up to the chase and kill. I could not put the book down when the crazy Russian, notorious hunter who loves the 'most dangerous game'. The last part, with Reece solo trekking across Siberia and most of Russia, living off the land just to kill the traitor show more Grey, is a bit much even for this super-hero. He had to prove that he is also the best hunter as well. show less

This is a really interesting story. The resolution seemed to come a little too easy after just a detailed setup. Jack Carr's style rubbed me the wrong way through the first 2 books in series but its making more sense and I am enjoying this series.

This one had a lot of action and some very gruesome violence. Not for the faint of heart. My only gripe is sometimes I feel like there are too many product placements if you know what I mean.

Third book in James Reece series and continues to be sooo good! Praise to Jack Carr as he proves to be a fabulous story teller. If you like Scot Harvath and haven't checked out James Reece, you are missing out.

Book 3 - Legit purchased this Kindle book on Amazon - read it in two days. Really dig this guy!