tonimcl's review
4.0
I only discovered J.D. Rhoades' books this summer, and devoured all three of the books in his Jack Keller series within about a week's time. I think this is because of Rhoades' timing: he puts a situation into place, some act of chaotic violence, and writes outward from there as the people either caught up in or assigned to investigate that situation uncover the truth. His stories tend to expand outward like a furious fireball of mayhem, where you keep turning pages to find out what will happen next.
I enjoyed reading the Keller books, but I think this standalone book was stronger. It felt like Rhoades found his voice and hit a good pace for his style in Breaking Cover; there was more heft to this story and the characters than in the previous three books. I'd love to see Rhoades make this into a series - I'd read it.
I also liked the shifting point of view in the center of the book; that held my interest and gave details in a way that created more empathy for the lead character than it otherwise might have.
Two criticisms: The resolution between the main character and his wife was practically nonexistent. I think the point was that the news of Kendra Wolf's pregnancy meant Tony Wolf figured he'd best step out of the picture, even thought Kendra knew she didn't really love the baby's father. But there was no conversation about or explanation for why they couldn't be together beyond a flippant remark to the female reporter at the very end. Wow, this sounds like a soap opera, and I promise the book didn't read like one, but this was the central struggle of the book--the slim-to-none hope of getting back home to the life he left behind and there wasn't really much said about it. I found that disappointing. If Rhoades does a sequel, perhaps a flashback scene will appear . . . Perhaps the author was trying to avoid being overly soapy and left things as uncomplicated as possible.
The second crit is the level of violence. As with sex, I think that so often in storytelling, less is more, and I felt that the depiction of the Viking "eagle" torture technique was memorable, for sure, but the portrayal seemed . . . egregious to me. My reading tastes skew very masculine and I love crime/mystery novels, but maybe I'm not as up on newer genre fiction as I could be. It left me wondering if this ramped up uber-violence is the norm for readers of thrillers now. If it is, I'm not enamored with it. That won't stop me from reading Rhoades' books, but I did feel it was worth noting.
I enjoyed reading the Keller books, but I think this standalone book was stronger. It felt like Rhoades found his voice and hit a good pace for his style in Breaking Cover; there was more heft to this story and the characters than in the previous three books. I'd love to see Rhoades make this into a series - I'd read it.
I also liked the shifting point of view in the center of the book; that held my interest and gave details in a way that created more empathy for the lead character than it otherwise might have.
Two criticisms: The resolution between the main character and his wife was practically nonexistent. I think the point was that the news of Kendra Wolf's pregnancy meant Tony Wolf figured he'd best step out of the picture, even thought Kendra knew she didn't really love the baby's father. But there was no conversation about or explanation for why they couldn't be together beyond a flippant remark to the female reporter at the very end. Wow, this sounds like a soap opera, and I promise the book didn't read like one, but this was the central struggle of the book--the slim-to-none hope of getting back home to the life he left behind and there wasn't really much said about it. I found that disappointing. If Rhoades does a sequel, perhaps a flashback scene will appear . . . Perhaps the author was trying to avoid being overly soapy and left things as uncomplicated as possible.
The second crit is the level of violence. As with sex, I think that so often in storytelling, less is more, and I felt that the depiction of the Viking "eagle" torture technique was memorable, for sure, but the portrayal seemed . . . egregious to me. My reading tastes skew very masculine and I love crime/mystery novels, but maybe I'm not as up on newer genre fiction as I could be. It left me wondering if this ramped up uber-violence is the norm for readers of thrillers now. If it is, I'm not enamored with it. That won't stop me from reading Rhoades' books, but I did feel it was worth noting.
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