Book: The Wrong Man by Jason Dean

Former soldier and bodyguard James Bishop finds himself framed for murder and sent to prison in the exciting debut thriller from Jason Dean.

Determined to clear his name Bishop plans a daring prison break and once he’s outside the walls he begins to track down those responsible for setting him up.

Aided by a group of unlikely allies which includes computer hackers, a helicopter pilot and a safecracker, Bishop’s quest takes him back to his old team and uncovers a secret that reaches right to the heart of the US government.

This novel reminded me a lot of the brilliant tv show Prison Break and successfully recreated the frantic pace which that possessed. Bishop is a likeable character and as this is the first in a series I expect that he will be developed accordingly.

Anyone who enjoys or has become indifferent to Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books should check out The Wrong Man as this series definitely has the potential to be every bit as popular.

Ric’s Rating: Highly Recommended.     

Book: Beautiful, Naked & Dead by Josh Stallings

When an L.A strip club waitress calls her friend, club bouncer and all-round badass Moses McGuire, asking for help, he figures it’s nothing important and gets distracted by other females at the club. Turning up at her place hours later he discovers her mutilated body and vows to track down the killers.

Riding a wave of guilt and bound by his word to a dead girl Moses sets off on a path that will lead through brothels, mobsters, corrupt cops and sexual deviants as he seeks retribution.

This has explosive scenes of violence, there are shoot-outs and fist fights galore but there are also some lighter moments. When McGuire discovers an abandoned puppy he decides to keep her and becomes a regular down at the dog park where his considerable presence doesn’t go un-noticed amongst the respectable regulars.

Josh Stallings’ self published debut is a breath of fresh air in the series character genre. Here we have a hard drinking, pill popping, womanizing main character with suicidal tendencies who is, very importantly, not a cop. This provides a different perspective to that of the majority of series novels.

A fine introduction to a cool character and a sign of great things to come this is highly recommended for fans of action thrillers.

Ric’s Rating: 76%

Book: Contagious by Scott Sigler

This sequel to the excellent Infected (see top list elsewhere here)
continues Perry Dawsey, Margaret Montoya and Dew Phillips' fight against the alien invaders who grow inside the human body.

"Scary" Perry Dawsey is an awesome character, he is like Jack Reacher on acid and every time he appears the story cranks up a notch. Recovered from his own infection in the previous book but still extremely physically and emotionally scarred, Dawsey now tracks and kills infected hosts.

Infected was basically Perry's battle with "the triangles" and although there was great character development elsewhere, he was the star of the show, which resulted in a thrilling journey into the mind of a man who wouldn't back down from a fight, no matter how dangerous the opponent or how terrifying the consequences.

Contagious is more of an ensemble piece. The cast of characters is mostly good but the story gets caught up in Presidential decisions and military action and I found myself racing through chapters to get back to Perry Dawsey.

Top billing is shared with CIA Agent Dew Phillips, who himself is a fantastic character, the battle weary veteran must keep control of various volatile situations throughout the book and he does so with all the style of an ageing John Wayne.

Unfortunately the main villain is a little girl and no matter how well it's explained or how formidable a character she becomes I'm just sick of supposedly scary little girls. There seems to have been an abundence of them ever since the film The Ring.

That aside this is still a great read and should not be judged by it's cover. More a well developed, character based, battle for the survival of the human race than a blood and guts (although there is plenty of that too) splatter book.

Read Infected and take it from there.

Ric's Rating: 74%