What I Read This Summer

Even though I work at BPL, I don’t read nearly as much as my coworkers which they hold over my head as a source of shame.  Despite my aversion to bow to peer pressure, I decided to pick out some books to read this summer.   One coworker commented, “how dare you start reading?”  Another coworker asked one day if I knew about a particular book.  When I told him I had read it, he thought I meant I read a review of it.  “No, I read the book.”  His face awakened in shock at the very thought of it.  I feel pretty good about myself, so I thought I would share a little information about the books that helped me overcome my reading slump.

My favorite new author is Ben Coes.  His books feature an ex-Army Ranger Special Forces Delta soldier named Dewey Andreas.  I wrote a review of his first book, Power Down, last spring.  I finished reading his second and third books, Coup d’Etat  and The Last Refuge, this summer.   If you decide to read the series, be sure to start with Power Down.  These books need to be read in order because each new title closely follows the action of the last title.

In Coup d’Etat, Dewey has been targeted for assassination by a powerful Islamic terrorist due to his actions in Power Down.  He is living on a ranch in Australia and has no idea that kill teams are searching the globe to find him.  Meanwhile, India and Pakistan are at war and any escalation has serious repercussions for both the United States and the rest of the world.  Dewey is notified by the National Security Advisor that terrorists have discovered his location in Australia.  He is later asked to lead a black ops team into Pakistan to try to prevent the conflict from getting further out of control.

The Last Refuge  finds Dewey safely back home in the United States.  I guess that makes it obvious that terrorists didn’t take him out in the last book.  Dewey is trying to settle back into civilian life and interviews with a hedge fund manager to head his security division.  No chance of that with the dangerous world we live in, right?  Before long, Dewey learns that an Israeli soldier who helped save his life in Coup d’Etat  has been kidnapped in the United States and put on trial for murder in Iran.  Furthermore, Dewey discovers that Iran has a nuclear bomb which they plan to detonate in Israel.  Despite admonitions from his friends in Washington, Dewey refuses to sit on the sidelines with the soldier's life and the State of Israel at risk.

I read two other good books also, but those will have to wait for another blog post.  I tend not to write book reviews because my prose is more utilitarian than literary. I'm more likely to refer to "the Earth" versus saying "the azure orb danced in the heavens illuminated by a brilliant sun which fluted a melody in perfect rhythm for the dance."  That is to say, if this "review" didn't meet your expectations, there are better ones coming.  Smile and enjoy the rest of the summer.