The one thing you get with a J.T. Patten book is authenticity. He lived and breathed this stuff, so when you read his stories the realism and authenticity really stand out. He’s able to throw in specifics that feel real but you know (or at least hope) are fictional. Another thing you get with a Patten novel is a deep appreciation of just how many different layers there are in the government. Every time you think you have the layers figured out – he throws another one in, just to show you that this onion is much bigger than you originally thought.
The main character Drake Woolf aka Birddog was a fantastic leading man. He’s flawed in multiple ways and even though he can be completely ruthless – he also has a heart. Not enough of one to get him killed or leave him out in the open. But enough of one that you can get behind rooting for him. (This also had me Google the meaning/definition of birddog – this is what I found “a person hired to locate special items or people…” – I think that fits pretty damn well).
Every time I thought I’d figured this one out I was wrong. I knew going into it that it was going to be a deep and engrossing story but this one surprised me.
I thought that Steve Marvel did a pretty nice job with this one. I can’t tell if it was just my copy or what, but it was a little bit quiet. Nothing turning my car stereo or bluetooth speaker up didn’t fix but I wanted to point it out. His narration style fit the book well.
Slightly off topic of the review. Using a name like “Mark Watley” really threw me. While listening to this I was completely taken out of the story for a moment because I thought they were saying Mark Whatney (you know, the man they left on Mars in The Martian). It really doesn’t take away from the story for more than that moment I just had to point it out because I ended up needed to look at the book to figure out what his actual name was.