Extraction by Lumpy
An old love's husband and a team from the defense contractor Northbridge have been taken hostage in Somalia and the company is refusing to pay the ransom. Instead, a rescue mission is planned and Taylor is suspicious of the real motivations behind the rescue and the men picked to attempt it. With help from his old flame, Taylor gets a spot on the rescue team, where he must face hostile warlords and an even more hostile allies, all while finding out what Northbridge is hiding.
Size: 344 KB (67,190 words)
Genre: Thriller
Sex Contents: No Sex
Tags: Fiction, Crime, Military, Violent
Review by Marius-6 [other reviews by Marius-6]
Reviewed: - (Review Updated: )
This story is as good as anything I have read by professional authors Vince Flynn or Brad Taylor. I intend to purchase a copy of this story and several others by Lumpy as soon as I can afford it. This is the eigth of nine stories (so far) in the "John Taylor series" and the second of the stories in the series that I have read; I plan to read them all.
Lumpy demonstrated a breadth of knowledge. In particular his depiction of a realistic scenario in Somalia/the Horn of Africa, including Camp Lemonnier, the only significant US base in Africa at the time. Planning and conduct of military operations, and some aspects of some PMCs (Private Military Contractors). His brief descriptions of MPs is probably the best I have read in fiction.
Lumpy depicts the tribal peoples, as well as the war lords and their minions in an extremely believable manner. So too he accurately depicts a former member of the US Army's Special Forces, and the primary focus of their training and operations: working with indigenous forces (and peoples) to achieve the objectives of the USA, by understanding what the desires of the locals are.
PMCs run the gamut from highly professional, to "typical" mercenaries, to the incompetent, and even armed thugs. Lumpy depicts some individuals, the core of which are a Team, yet fatally flawed. Lax in some aspects of discipline, yet they do know, and practice some military skills. So too the enemy combatants are realistically portrayed. With both strengths and weaknesses. He also conveys the occasional arbitrariness of combat.
It is easy to make the villains of a story completely evil, often incompetent, and thus cartoonish. Where is the challenge of defeating such mooks? Lumpy has crafted a variety of foes for John Taylor (and others), as well as allies. Sometimes your allies don't really help, and foes may be... To avoid spoilers, let me say that characters in this story act based upon their self-interests and passions in a believable manner.
In terms of Character Motivations resulting in believable actions, I would give Lumpy an 11 out of 1 to 10!
Plot: 9 (because I rarely give a 10, my 11 above is unique in my reviews) Excellent Plot, it is connected to other stories in the series, but it stands alone just fine. If this is the only John Taylor story you read, I believe you would be fully satisfied. Plausible plot elements that I won't describe to avoid spoilers.
Technical: 8 several spelling and grammar issues are noticeable. I PMd the author, and I hope he makes the corrections.
Appeal: 9 (I rarely give 10s); probably a 9.6 to me, some people enjoy action/adventure "techno-thrillers" IMHO this is better than Tom Clancy, and as good as Vince Flynn.
