Tag: Ward Larsen

Reading Update and Ward Larsen’s Cutting Edge

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So in my last post on Saturday (partially written Friday night) I outlined how I was going to tackle reading the eight books I have checked out of the library. At the time, I stated that I had already started two of the books: Cutting Edge from Ward Larsen and Dark Sky by Mike Brooks.

About Ward Larsen’s Books

Since then I have finished one of those Larsen’s Cutting Edge. Cutting Edge is a stand-alone book of which Larsen has written several. However, he may be best known for his two series books.

One series features former Israeli assassin David Salton and the other aircraft investigator Jammer Davis. Last year I read three out of the four books in the Slaton series. They were great. And I am looking forward to the next book in the series that will be release later in 2018. I started one of the Jammer Davis books but something happened and I abandoned the book but I do intend at some point to get back to it.

About Cutting Edge

In Cutting Edge,  the protagonist is not an intelligence agent or an investigator. Petty “Officer Trey DeBolt is a Coast Guard rescue swimmer. DeBolt is gravely injured during  a harrowing rescue, when his helicopter crashes. DeBolt awakes weeks later in a seaside cabin in Maine. Joan Chandler, the nurse who saved his life has been nursing him back to health.. She tells DeBolt he has been declared dead in the crash. Additionally, she  tells him he was operated on not only to make him well, but to make him different!

Then one night, while he is on the beach, he witnesses  a military assault on the cabin. His nurse is killed in the assault but DeBolt soon realizes that he is the target. He escapes to the sea, When a compass appears in his right eye after he asks the direction to shore, he discovers his new talent. He can tap into any database just by thinking about it. The result is he can learn anything about everything..

Trey is soon on the run. But how can you run when your dead and have no one to turn to.?

That’s where Shannon Lund, a Coast Guard investigator, comes in. During an investigation in Kodiak, Alaska Lund comes across some evidence that indicates DeBolt may be alive. Soon  a call comes from a Maine Sheriff investigating the explosion at a Maine cabin. He relates that investigators found DeBolt’s fingerprints in the cabin.  Lund is soon flying across the country in hopes of finding and helping DeBolt.

Trey and Shannon ultimately join forces. Trey only wants to know what was  done to him. While all the developer of the project wants to do is wipe out any trace of Shannon, Trey and the people who operated him.

Bottom Line

While I don’t know how close the science is behind Trey’s augmentation i.e. planting a chip in someone’s brain, I did find the story a page turner. Larsen did a good job developing  the two main characters. As well as,  the mastermind  behind Trey’s new found abilities.

EKK Rating 4/5 stars  Goodreads  Rating: 4.1/5     Book 14 of  2018

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Ward Larsen

Author’s Website
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Assassin’s Code – Ward Larsen – Slaton v. Terrorists – in France

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Assassin’s Code -Ward Larsen (David Slaton #4)

The other day Assassin’s Code by Ward Larsen became the 59th book I have read this year. That leaves only one more book to read before the end of the year to reach my goal of 60 books read!  It is also the third David Slaton novel I have read this year. Previously, I read Assassin’s Game and Assassin’s Silence in February and March respectively. All three have been terrific reads.

About David Slaton and Assassin’s Code

David Slaton is a retired kidon or an assassin. He worked for Mossad. After his last to adventures David along with his wife Catherine and their son Davy was living on a catamaran in the islands off of the Philippines.

One day his wife received a request for David to search for her missing husband. He had left on a fishing trip and not returned home.  It had been reported that his ship had been seen tied to the abandoned ship, Esperanza When he finds and boards the Esperanza, he encounters four men who have apprently been sent to kill him.

Slatin escapes leaving the men wounded or dead. He takes with him a memory stick with the name Slaton written on the side. Among the files on the memory stick is a picture of a man. It is the terrorist Ali Samir, who Slaton had assassinated  fifteen years earlier!

Meanwhile in France terrorists have struck again a bomb has rocked Grenoble. It has set France’s counterterrorist unit into action. The investigation into the bombing is led  by rising-star Zavier Baland. It is Baland who bears an uncanny resemblance to the terrorist Slaton had executed.

Hold on, could it be a terrorist long thought dead is now one step away from heading France’s  DGSI? More importantly what can David Slaton do to stop him?

My Thoughts about David Slaton and Assassin’s Code 

In David Slaton Ward Larsen has created one terrific character. David is an extraordinary assassin.  But he is also a husband and father and he  knows his work puts his family in danger. (See Assassin’s Silence) At least twice he has retired and gone off the grid to keep them safe. However, his sense of duty keeps drawing him back into service.

In Assassin’s Code that duty is to prevent a terrorist from ascending to the top of France’s counterterrorist unit.

Ward Larsen has created a fine character in David Slaton. In Assassin’s Code, he has also created two great characters: Zavier Baland and the assassin turned terrorist Malika.

Assassin’s Code plot twists and turns with the final answers to a myriad of questions are not revealed until the final pages.

When reading Assassin’s Code the reader can’t help but relate the actions and attack’s in the book to the current situation in France and Syria.

Bottom line :

Great read! So check it out! And also check out Assassin’s Silence and Assassin’s Game

Goodreads Rating: 4.38.    My Rating 4.5.

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Ward Larsen

Author’s Website
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Assassin’s Game by Ward Larsen is a Home Run!

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Assassin’s Game – Ward Larsen (David Slaton #2)

 

I went to the library a couple of times last week to pick up books that I had on hold. I of course had to look at the new books, while I was there. One of the new books, Assassin’s Silence by Ward Larsen caught my eye. I had never seen the book before and was unfamiliar with the author. Anyway I picked it up and read the rave reviews on the back and decided that it was my type of book!.

I discovered, when I got home, that it was only book three in the David Slaton series. I went to my library’s website and discovered that they didn’t have book one in the series but they did have book two Assassin’s Game. One of the copies that they had was an e-book. That was fine with me. It saved me a trip to the library! It  also meant that I could start it quicker! So start it I did and it was a real page-turner for me! I loved the book and finished it in a couple of days!

About Ward Larsen

 

Since the release of The Perfect Assassin in 2004. Ward Larsen has released seven more novels. Two of those Stealing Trinity and The Messenger are stand alone thrillers. Of the remaining five books, three are part of the Jammer Davis and two are part of the David Slaton series. Jammer Davis is an aircraft accident investigator and of course David Slaton is an assassin.

Ward Larsen is  former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, Larsen flew over twenty missions in  Operation Desert Storm. He has served as a federal law enforcement officer, airline captain, and is a trained aircraft accident investigator. Larsen is also a three-time winner of the
Florida Book Award. And I better get started on The Perfect Assassin because it is currently being adapted into a major motion picture by Amber Entertainment!

About Assassin’s Game

 

David Slaton is a kidon or assassin for Israel’s Mossad. In Assassin’s Game, Slaton is brought back into the game by Mossad. His target is an Iranian scientist who is one the verge of providing Iran a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile. Mossad has made several attempts to kill the scientist, but they are thwarted each time, by Iranian intelligence. Because they fear there is a traitor supplying Iran information about the hits, a decision to go outside their service is made. Since the world thinks that David Slaton is dead he is the perfect choice for the assignment.

But David is living a quiet life in the Virginia suburbs. He has a new wife and is adjusting nicely to that life. After David’s ex-Mossad boss’s meeting with David’s wife in Sweden, ends in a shoot out and David’s wife’s disappearance, David is forced back into the game, to save his wife and to keep the bomb from Iran. The shoot-out in Stockholm left his boss in a coma and several agents dead. And it put a Swedish police detective on David’s trail!

Bottom Line:

Assassin’s Game was a terrific page-turner! I loved all of the well-drawn characters. David Slaton and Swedish detective Arne Sanderson are both characters that you could root for! The storyline was superb. with some twists and turns that I didn’t see coming!! It kept me guessing right up until the final pages. Bravo Mr. Larsen!

It’s been many years since I read Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal, but I agree with Stephen Coonts who wrote…..

“Ward Larsen has written a stunning thriller, one that ranks right up there with The Day of the Jackal. Frankly, this is the best nail-biting suspense novel I’ve read in years.”

So Check it Out! As for me I can’t wait to get started on some of Larsen’s other books. I already have Assassin’s Silence checked out of the library now. So I can I can start that right away, while I’m searching for those Jammer David books!!

Book 13 for 2017 – Rating: **** (five-stars)

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Ward Larsen

Author’s Website
Facebook
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Goodreads
Amazon