The Detachment by Barry Eisler

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"The Detachment" by Barry Eisler brings back assassin John Rain and the former Marine sniper, Dox, from Eisler's first six popular novels and pairs them with the covert operator and hero of Eisler's last two books, Ben Treven, and the deadly Larison from Eisler's most recent "Inside Out." These four, all expert and experienced operators and killers, are thrust together to form a detachment to stop a coup that's being launched on American soil. Black Ops veteran Colonel Scott "Hort" Horton from previous novels brings the four together for the mission, but it's up to the four to figure out just what the mission is, if they can, before being killed, or killing each other. The premise makes for an exciting fast paced yarn that is fun to read and keeps you wondering what is what and who is who throughout.

I'm a friend of Eisler's, and was looking forward to him writing about Rain and Dox again. As a former Army sniper, I have a kindred spirit for the former Marine. I really liked his part in this story, and it was great to see him back in action, as well as providing some of the comical relief when things get tough. Who says a tough guy can't have a sense of humor? The way the four men interacted with each other moved the talk along well, and the trust, or lack of it, element of the story kept it interesting. Sometimes these interactions were as full of "action" as the actual action scenes, just a different type. The way the characters have developed over the series, and the camaraderie between them, and a look into their psyche, enables the reader to better understand these men, their lives, their pains, their insecurities, as well as their strengths.

As a writer, Eisler did another thing I found interesting. When focused on Rain, the narration is in first person, but when writing about Dox, Treven, and Larison, it is in third person. I found this interesting, and it really makes the story a John Rain thriller as the title suggests, rather than a Ben Treven book. And Rain is the primary character, even though the others all play important roles. Eisler, as always, is in top form when writing about covert ops and keeps his locations accurate and realistic. His experience and research pays off.

"The Detachment" is a terrific thriller with John Rain and Dox back in action. The addition of Treven and Larison added to the excitement and I'm looking forward to seeing where this detachment of special op professionals goes next.

Alain Burrese, J.D. is a writer, speaker, and mediator. He has authored several books (including Lost Conscience and the Tough Guy Wisdom series) and a number of instructional DVDs (including Hapkido Cane and the Lock On Joint Locking Essentials series). He has also reviewed hundreds of books, DVDs, and products. His Warrior's Edge programs focus on safety, martial arts, self-defense, and living with The Warrior's Edge. His Black Belt Communicator programs focus on effective communication for conflict resolution, negotiation, leadership, and mediation. You can find out about Alain, read articles and reviews, see video clips of his DVDs, and more at http://www.burrese.com/blog.

Resuscitation Written By D M Annechino

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A superbly written and thought out mystery that is certain to thoroughly entertain you - and SCARE you! The author has so many twists and turns that will excite you and make you constantly think of what will happen to which character next. No, the story will not confuse you as so many do by adding so many changes as the reader goes along that it gets them confused as to who was what and where did they belong in the story. The author, Daniel Annechino, learned his great methods of writing well and I hope he continues writing such invigorating fictional mysteries.

The prologue starts us with a sample of what to expect when a young woman comes to feeling like she just had major surgery, tied to a bed or some such place, IV lines going into her body, and completely naked under a sheet that covered her. This is the result of a highly thought of cardiologist performing a specialized surgery on her to attempt to find a way to treat the many patients that have atrial fibrillation heart problems. Only this morbid physician takes perfectly healthy people off the streets, drugs them, and takes them to his haunts to continue his experiments. Julian would need eight patients to complete his experiments on this subject before he felt he would have the opportunity to win the award for overcoming this heart problem. Killing those he experimented with was no problem for Julian. After the first few he decided his sexual prowess would take over before he would rid himself of this body. Oh yes he was careful hiding all ways he could be identified through his "work!"

Sami Rizzo and Alberto Diaz were a pair in love. Sami had been a cop but after her brush with death with Simon a short time span before, left the police force knowing she was too upset to go through this again. Al was a cop that lived with Sami and had helped her through the major damage she had endured and still did. Sami was so thankful to have Al to be with her and give her the guidance she needed to live every day. One night Sami answered the phone when Al's superiors called to tell him to get to a certain place, as there was a homicide, no details, just get there. The finding of the first body really took all those in the local law enforcement back. The victim was dressed head to foot in very expensive clothes, appearing to be ready for a very expensive outing.

Sami's mother had a heart attack and Dr. Templeton, a very highly thought of cardiologist, was her doctor. He kept in touch with Sami constantly whether at the hospital or home. While her mother was still in the hospital Al received a phone call from Rio that his sister had been involved in a bad auto accident and it was unknown if she would make it. Al had to get there to be with his sister in Rio. So while Sami's mother was recuperating, Al had to fly off to a far away place to be with his sister. All the while Julian took more women as he continued his experiments. Sami was not happy since she had left the police force. She continually wondered if she should apply for reinstatement or if she had any chance for that after her life-threatening problem with Simon. Eventually Sami approached her superiors and, after some consideration, she was reinstated and of course was thrown on the case that was driving all the law authorities crazy.

I will stop here now that you have better than a basis of the story. Don't pass this book up. Sometimes if we don't know an author we move on to one we know we do like, but in this case, if you don't read Resuscitation, you will be the loser.

Reader review by Cy Hilterman of a book supplied by The Amazon Vine Program

The Complaints By Ian Rankin

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In the United States this department is called I.A. or Internal Affairs. The Complaints Department deals with the force and any suspicions against them. No one in the Police Force particularly likes Complaints. They are seen as snitching and snooping on those who keep the peace. This is Ian Rankin's first story after his enormously successful Detective Rebus' retirement. He wrote those in chronological order and retired him when he would have been of age. So now we meet Malcolm Fox. His job is to investigate fellow officers.

I didn't know how I would feel about a different hero being such a huge Rebus fan, but Fox is quite brill. Obviously intelligent but also up to date on investigating. This story starts with the culmination of a case for Fox. He has finally brought enough evidence against a dirty cop and he is ready for his next assignment. Unfortunately he is sent to vice for a briefing about a cop suspected of using child pornography. As the story evolves we are introduced to Fox's sister who is in an abusive relationship with a man she swears she loves. What a position for a policeman to be in; stand by and watch your sister get beaten up or do something about it. Of course, she won't press charges. To add to Fox's stress level is his father who is living in an old people's home. He is doing well but is not completely aware of his daughter and her lifestyle.

The Complaints Department that Fox works for only has four employees. They keep things pretty tight to their chests and have very few friends throughout the rest of the police force. As is usual for colleagues, they know a lot about each other's lives. Malcolm's work mates are concerned about his sister as well and encourage him to think of how to remedy her situation. The story escalates dramatically when the boyfriend of the sister turns up dead. She is, of course, suspected due to the violence and her sporting a broken arm thanks to the victim. Malcolm is supposed to back off completely and not have anything to do with her case but realistically who can honestly say they will do nothing. To add insult to injury, one of the officers on her case is someone the complaints may be investigating. The plot does get stickier and stickier.

There are many different levels to this story but Rankin never leaves us out in the cold trying to remember which character is which. We meet quite a few nasty bastards and Fox gets into some very scary situations. To be honest I hope they televise these as they have done with Rebus - I think they would be great. You can imagine the Scottish underworld skulking around the back streets of Edinburgh in the wee hours. Anyway enough said - great book!

You can find more of my book and movie reviews at: http://ukchica.com/