Sunday, July 29, 2012

Review: "NO REMORSE" by Ian Walkley

The plan was to let the two fathers make the ransom payoff in the valley a few miles outside of Tijuana. Two hundred thousand should buy their freedom as that is what the kidnappers wanted. At least the dads know that backup is watching them and ready to help. All they have to do is give the bad guys the money and get their daughters, Danni and Sophia.


The kidnappers take the money and then want to change the deal. Instead of giving them Danni and Sophia they offer two other teen girls. Understandably the dads want their own daughters back. Things go bad quickly and Delta Force Operator Lee McCloud and his team watch the kidnappers kill the two girls they had been holding in the van. The dead girls were somebody’s children who were murdered solely because the dads wanted their own daughter back. In the aftermath, while they do have a lead to the kidnapped girls, McCloud and his team are in a world of trouble with the United States Military.


Facing court martial and prison time for himself and others of his team, McCloud agrees to take a discharge from the Army after pleading guilty to some lesser charges. He also agrees to go to work as a contractor attached to some sort of vague shadowy unit pursing various terrorists and their monies. While they have their own stated agenda, Lee “Mac” McCloud has his own and that is saving his goddaughter, Sophia, and her friend, Danni.

NO REMORSE  spans the globe in a complicated read that touches on sex slavery, organ harvesting, Islamic terrorism, politics, and various other themes. Numerous characters are involved as are exotic locals, powerful money interests, and nightmarish weapons. The thriller style read shifts in point of view of the various characters through the use of very short scenes, constant action and a minimum of internal narration. Almost no one in this novel can be trusted as their public actions hide a far different and often devious agenda.

The result is a book that is initially slow to get started after the opening ransom scenes as all the players are brought out and explained. Once the pieces are in place the story revs up to high gear by the middle of the book. At some points the pace is so quick that the very short scenes feel rushed as the author moves on too quickly to another point of view. Season thriller readers will also notice that while the characters, often most notably Mac & Tally ( a computer hacker), display classic clichéd elements (both are haunted in their own way by tragedy in the past and are damaged loners ultimately drawn together) the overall read works fairly well as the action moves rapidly forward on many fronts. The final events seem a bit rushed and rather over the top theatrical with a state of the art fortress that must be breached, complex undersea tunnels complete with submersibles, etc.  Despite the flaws NO REMORSE as a whole works rather well and is definitely highly entertaining.

As of this date, NO REMORSE remains the sole title published by Marq Books.  The paperback copy I received of NO REMORSE contains a twelve page preview of Bait due out later this year from the author.

NO REMORSE
Ian Walkley
Marq Books
January 2012
ISBN # 978-0-9808066-0-1
Paperback (also available in e-book)
406 Pages (including preview)
$16.99


Material supplied by publicist PJ Nunn of BreakThrough Promotions for my objective review.


Kevin R. Tipple ©2012

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