JACKSON PIKE

Jackson Pike is a former SEAL.

Considering the number of jobs he has had in the recent past and the number he has lost, that is about the only thing that can be said about his current career - he has none.

Though he no longer can wear the uniform and is no longer earning a paycheck from the Navy, he is still a SEAL and is proud of that fact, still sworn to defend the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Unfortunately for him, the SEALs are not as happy about it.

The trouble for this former Lieutenant came during in Afghanistan. He and his squad were pinned down fighting the Taliban and needing support. The F-18s came in quickly and there looked to be hope. Then an apparently errant missile caused the world to go black for Pike and when he came to, all of his detachment except for he and his sergeant were dead. So were a dozen or more Afghani schoolchildren. And the worst was to come when the two were accused of excessive force in their deaths and were dishonorably discharged.

So now he was out of the military he had hoped to make his career. And he was soon out of a marriage. And though this 31-year old man, still in pretty good shape, having "thick siney plates of muscle [which] graces his 5'11" frame", leaving him able to do any physical work that came his way, jobs were hard to hold because of his history and his unwillingness to just take it. Which left him no hope or decent prospects in sight.

But when a man like Pike sees bad things happening, even in civilian life, he cannot look away. He steps in to help. Unfortunately for Pike, helping will pit him against some very, very powerful people.

This two-book series is really, truly, one very long book. The first book ends, I'll give it that, but it ends with a promise by Pike to fight on. And then the second book starts up right away with that fight. So, it is two books and one long book at the same time.

The problem that Pike faces is pretty standard; powerful people doing bad things and wanting to get away with it and one person who won't back down facing them. Standard fare but, boy, do I love that standard. And this author does a good job of telling the story and keeping the plot moving and for that he should be applauded.

My only complaint with the book, and it is minor, is that I never really got to like Jackson Pike. I liked what he was doing. I just did not care for him per se.