eviebookish's review
4.0
Highway to Vengeance by Brian Springer is a fast-paced and gripping action thriller. Well written and with a solid plot, it's a perfect read for long summer evenings with a cuppa coffee!
The protagonist of this story, Thomas Highway is an ex-Navy SEAL. He decided to join the Navy ranks after the 911 attacks, but was forced to drop out not long after finishing his training, due to a life-threatening health issue. The story starts with Thomas and his wife, Josie, having their weekly lunch at a BBQ place in San Diego. It's a beautiful, sunny day, the food was fantastic and everyone is in a great mood, especially Tom and Josie, who seem to be as in love with each other as ever. Everything is just perfect. After the meal they separate, as Josie has an important meeting at her office. She leaves first and Tom, still sitting at the restaurant's patio, is watching her cross the street. That's when everything comes tumbling down. From where he sits, Tom witnesses Josie being hit by a speeding car. She dies in his arms few minutes later. Highway is convinced that the so-called car accident wasn't an accident at all, but a deliberate murder. Devastated and desperate for vengeance, he's set on doing everything he can to find the person behind Josie's murder. With help from his best friend, Willis (who owns a Security and Investigations Company), Thomas will do whatever it takes to avenge his wife's death.
As he goes deeper into his investigation, he realizes that the murder of his wife is actually a conspiracy on a much bigger scale than he ever expected. Before he knows it, he's caught up in a situation involving Homeland Security, Mexican drug cartels, Weapons of Mass Destruction and a suspicious government agency intent on using him as a pawn in their conspiracy game. Not knowing who to trust, Highway is going to have to make some tough choices. It will take everything he learned during his Navy SEAL training to get out of this alive.
Highway to Vengeance is a quick and pleasant read, which I enjoyed a lot, but would have enjoyed even more if it was a bit longer. I loved how gripping the story was and I definitely had a lot of fun with all the twists and turns in the plot, but at the same time I found myself wishing that the author would give us a little bit more insight into what was going on in Highway's head. It lacked the emotional depth. Don't get me wrong, the book really is a great piece of action thriller, packed with kick-ass adventures and life-threatening situations that will keep you on the edge of your chair, but I just couldn't get emotionally involved with it, as it didn't offer much of anything else but action. Nonetheless, Highway to Vengeance is no doubt a well-written and believable action thriller, with no loose ends. I liked the BUD/S training interludes, they made the whole thing a whole lot more interesting and dynamic.
Final verdict: It's a bad-ass story, that slams into you at full speed from the very start and takes you on a wild thrill ride. It tears along at breakneck speed, has plenty of obstacles, and the bad guys get what they deserve in the end. It might not be the most original story ever, after all vengeance is quite a popular subject in both movies and books, but it's definitely worth reading!
The protagonist of this story, Thomas Highway is an ex-Navy SEAL. He decided to join the Navy ranks after the 911 attacks, but was forced to drop out not long after finishing his training, due to a life-threatening health issue. The story starts with Thomas and his wife, Josie, having their weekly lunch at a BBQ place in San Diego. It's a beautiful, sunny day, the food was fantastic and everyone is in a great mood, especially Tom and Josie, who seem to be as in love with each other as ever. Everything is just perfect. After the meal they separate, as Josie has an important meeting at her office. She leaves first and Tom, still sitting at the restaurant's patio, is watching her cross the street. That's when everything comes tumbling down. From where he sits, Tom witnesses Josie being hit by a speeding car. She dies in his arms few minutes later. Highway is convinced that the so-called car accident wasn't an accident at all, but a deliberate murder. Devastated and desperate for vengeance, he's set on doing everything he can to find the person behind Josie's murder. With help from his best friend, Willis (who owns a Security and Investigations Company), Thomas will do whatever it takes to avenge his wife's death.
As he goes deeper into his investigation, he realizes that the murder of his wife is actually a conspiracy on a much bigger scale than he ever expected. Before he knows it, he's caught up in a situation involving Homeland Security, Mexican drug cartels, Weapons of Mass Destruction and a suspicious government agency intent on using him as a pawn in their conspiracy game. Not knowing who to trust, Highway is going to have to make some tough choices. It will take everything he learned during his Navy SEAL training to get out of this alive.
Highway to Vengeance is a quick and pleasant read, which I enjoyed a lot, but would have enjoyed even more if it was a bit longer. I loved how gripping the story was and I definitely had a lot of fun with all the twists and turns in the plot, but at the same time I found myself wishing that the author would give us a little bit more insight into what was going on in Highway's head. It lacked the emotional depth. Don't get me wrong, the book really is a great piece of action thriller, packed with kick-ass adventures and life-threatening situations that will keep you on the edge of your chair, but I just couldn't get emotionally involved with it, as it didn't offer much of anything else but action. Nonetheless, Highway to Vengeance is no doubt a well-written and believable action thriller, with no loose ends. I liked the BUD/S training interludes, they made the whole thing a whole lot more interesting and dynamic.
Final verdict: It's a bad-ass story, that slams into you at full speed from the very start and takes you on a wild thrill ride. It tears along at breakneck speed, has plenty of obstacles, and the bad guys get what they deserve in the end. It might not be the most original story ever, after all vengeance is quite a popular subject in both movies and books, but it's definitely worth reading!
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