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978-1-4490-3481-8
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SHEEPDOGS
By A. J. Bilings
- Posted by IR Staff
- |
In 2004, a group of Vietnam Veterans gathered for a fellow soldier’s funeral. While together, one of the men gets terrible news – his granddaughter has been kidnapped by a vicious Mexican drug cartel. These grizzled old “sheepdogs” spring into action, organizing plans for a daring rescue. But as they dig deeper, they find they’re not just fighting Mexican drug gangs but a terrorist Al Qaeda cell. Suddenly their daring rescue is a matter of national security. Can a band of aging ‘Nam vets stop a catastrophic terrorist attack?
Jerrod Hurst is the fittest and most “free to do what was right without regard for the consequences” since his wife’s death, so he spearheads the Mexican rescue mission. Jerrod is heroic in every way, rescuing wayward teens, helping an underprivileged child get an operation, foiling terrorist plots, ferreting out corrupt government officials, and winning the heart (and loins) of a tough-but-beautiful female FBI agent. Hurst can also crash land a helicopter without injury and handle high-power assault weapons in a style that would make John Rambo jealous. SHEEPDOGS feels like one of the later films in the Rambo franchise or Chuck Norris’s Missing In Action trilogy. Imagine the scripts for The Expendables and Taken blended into a smoothie.
A disenchanted war veteran, betrayed by the government yet still compelled to fight for truth and justice, is not an original concept. But author Alan Billings makes the most of it in SHEEPDOGS, crafting a fast-moving story with solid action sequences. The novel stays squarely in the military thriller genre, spending plenty of page time describing weapons and old Huey helicopters. Billings has a great sense of pacing and a very cinematic storytelling style. The novel suffers from occasional narrative speed bumps, like an exposition dump via a newspaper article, and some of the lesser characters are rather thinly drawn. Billings makes staunch and valid arguments for tighter security along the Mexican border, but left-leaning readers may find his proposed solutions and implied violence too harsh.
Fans of military action thrillers with a right-leaning political agenda will enjoy Alan Billings’ SHEEPDOGS, a fast-paced tale of guts, grit, and glory.
~Rob Errera for IndieReader
Publisher:
N/A
Publication Date:
N/A
Copyright Date:
N/A
ISBN:
978-1-4490-3481-8
Binding:
Paperback
U.S. SRP:
N/A
- Posted by IR Staff
- |
A funeral reunion for Jerrod Hurst and his ex-military buddies turns into a daring rescue mission across the Mexican border when the granddaughter of one of the veterans is kidnapped. During the raid, Jerrod and friends uncover evidence of a terrorist plot that pulls Jerrod into a nightmare world of government corruption and gang violence. Fast-paced, action-packed, and driven by a bunch of engaging central characters, A. J. Bilings’ SHEEPDOGS affords a brutal look at the ruthless barbarity of drug cartels in Mexico and their wider reach. Written in simple, straightforward prose, the novel provides a high-octane and entertaining read.