KYLE SWANSON

Full Name:	Kyle Swanson
Nationality:	American
Organization:	CIA
Occupation	Agent

Creator:	Jack Coughlin, Donald A. Davis
Time Span:	2007 - 2017

ABOUT THE SERIES

Kyle Swanson is an agent with the CIA.

Sort of. Was. And will be again. Kind of.

When we first meet him, he is quite happily serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and has been for quite a few years - enough to have reached the rank of Gunnery Sergeant (E-7). It is somewhat amusing to us readers and to Swanson that in the first recorded mission we follow him on, he is told to eliminate a high value al Qaeda target, does so, and then learns that the kill order had been rescinded just after the trigger was pulled. Naturally, the CIA handlers who dictated the mission blamed him for having carried it out successfully and swore "he would never to get play with them again". Those handlers would be proven wrong again.

Physically, Swanson, a Massachusetts Irishman with reddish-blond hair, is not immediately impressive, standing 5'10" and weighing 175 lbs. A closer look would show the man was toned and quite fit and he moved with "athletic smoothness". His usually clean-shaven face is considered handsome by most female viewers but his green eyes gave a no-nonsense look to him. A fellow sniper, Beth Ledford, upon first meeting him recognized an experienced killer, one with "sundown eyes" because "the last thing an enemy would see as life blacked out. Those eyes would seldom laugh or hold joy for more than a few seconds".

After his time with the Corps is brought to an end because of his "death", Swanson will begin working for a specialized team of highly elite former military spec-ops put together by a two-star general named Middleton; said team being "a unit that could go anywhere and do anything, because the people on it did not exist". His career will take a couple more turns as time goes by, including working again with Langley as a special contractor but it will remain action filled and always giving Swanson a chance to serve the country he loves.

Swanson will become close to two women who will play significant roles in his life, professionally and personally.

One is Sybelle Summers, a Marine Corps officer who is a captain when we meet her in the second adventure and will earn promotions along the way. She is nicknamed the Bride of Dracula by those under her who fear getting on her bad side, especially when as one Marine put it, "Count Dracula divorced her for spousal abuse". She will find in Swanson a kindred spirit and a fellow warrior who is willing to do whatever it takes to get the mission done.

The other is Beth Ledford, a Coast Guard petty officer who is also a trained and extremely deadly sniper. While it will be a few adventures into the Swanson saga that she arrives, once in she hangs around and has saved Swanson's behind more than a couple of times. The two become very tight, this despite Swanson coming across as a jerk in their first meeting; Kyle was :as subtle as an Abrams tank".

Good Lines:
- After having taken out an assigned target, GySgt. Swanson was told to abort the mission. While commenting on how the man was already dead, he comments, "Anyway, we can't unshoot him, can we?"
- After being assumed dead by everyone but while stalking those who tried to eliminate him, Swanson thinks to himself at one point, "Being dead wasn't at all bad. He would live with it".

BOOKS

Number of Books:	10
First Appearance:	2007
Last Appearance:	2017


1			Kill Zone Written by Jack Coughlin, Donald A. Davis Copyright: 2007 "Gunnery Sgt. Kyle Swanson, a top Marine sniper, is vacationing on a yacht in the Mediterranean when he receives orders to mount a top-secret mission to rescue the general. But as Swanson and the Marines prepare to land in the Syrian desert, they unwittingly fly into an ambush. How did the enemy have details of a mission known only to a few high-level American officials?"

2			Dead Shot Written by Jack Coughlin, Donald A. Davis Copyright: 2009 "In Baghdad’s Green Zone, an Iraqi scientist is murdered just before he can reveal the secret that Saddam Hussein took to his grave: the location of the Palace of Death—home to a devastating chemical weapon quietly developed by Islamic militants. The assassination is the work of a mysterious sniper called Juba, who was trained by the British but now works with a twisted mastermind determined to steal control of the terrorist world from Al Qaeda. When he tests the new weapon by killing hundreds of people at a British royal wedding in London, the devastation is all too real. Kyle Swanson, once the top sniper in the Marine Corps and now the key member of a secret special operations team known as Task Force Trident, is assigned to hunt down his old special ops rival. "

3			Clean Kill Written by Jack Coughlin, Donald A. Davis Copyright: 2010 "At a 15th Century castle outside Edinburgh, Scotland, Sir Geoffrey Cornwell is brokering an unprecedented agreement. Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and the Israeli Foreign Minister are scheduled to sign an historic peace treaty—that is, until their meeting is violently interrupted by a missile strike that leaves the Foreign Minister of Israel dead and Cornwell and the Prince injured. Gunnery Sergeant Kyle Swanson is running covert missions in the mountains of Pakistan when he’s called away from duty. He leaves for the U.K., where he thwarts another attempt on the prince of Saudi Arabia’s life."

4			Act of Treason Written by Jack Coughlin, Donald A. Davis Copyright: 2011 "Gunnery Sergeant Kyle Swanson and his beautiful girlfriend, CIA agent Lauren Carson, are on a mission in Islamabad, Pakistan. During a dangerous assault on two Taliban fighters, Kyle finds himself captured and imprisoned. Lauren, meanwhile, is accused by the CIA of being a double agent. Fearing for their lives, it seems there’s only one man left they can trust… His name is Jim Hall. A legendary CIA agent, Kyle’s sniper mentor, and Lauren’s boss and former lover, he’s the one who sent them on the black operation to begin with. But Hall has gone rogue: He’s agreed to sell America’s innermost secrets to a ruthless Pakistani warlord who wants to mold al-Qaeda into a legitimate political party and secure a nuclear arsenal."

5			Running the Maze Written by Jack Coughlin, Donald A. Davis Copyright: 2012 "In the aftermath of great floods, a doctor on a relief mission in northeastern Pakistan discovers the remains of a collapsed bridge that reminds him of a bridge near his childhood home in Ohio. He snaps a cellphone picture and sends it to his sister, just before his entire team is slaughtered. His sister is Beth Ledford, a Coast Guard sniper, who suspects that the answer to the mystery of her brother's death is in that cellphone picture. No one believes her until she finds Swanson and the secret special operations team known as Task Force Trident. When Kyle takes Beth into Pakistan to investigate, they find the true secret behind the mass murder—what may be the last, best hope of victory by al-Qaeda and the Taliban over allied forces."

6			Time to Kill Written by Jack Coughlin, Donald A. Davis Copyright: 2013 "The Sphinx, a symbol of Egypt’s ancient history and power, is blown up by terrorists. A visit to Cairo by Iran’s national soccer team ends in a bloodbath. Egyptian missiles sink an Iranian vessel in the Red Sea. The Muslim Brotherhood is on the march, working behind the scenes to provoke a war between Egypt and its powerful neighbor, Iran—a war that would certainly result in an Iranian victory. What is at stake is nothing less than total control of the Suez Canal through which most of the world’s oil flows. Behind the coup is a sinister double agent called The Pharoah whose goal is a fanatic Islamic regime on Israel’s borders."

7			On Scope Written by Jack Coughlin, Donald A. Davis Copyright: 2014 "Spain is on the brink of economic collapse and European banks demand that any bailout be linked to harsh domestic changes. An alliance of Islamic bankers counters with a rescue package containing no conditions at all. The underlying goal: to break the unity of Europe and put Madrid on the path back to Islamic rule. When the United States stridently opposes that deal, terrorists storm the American consulate in Barcelona and slaughter an entire six-man U.S. Marine security guard. Washington decides the time has come to change the rules of counter-terrorism response, and instead of going after the individual hired gunmen, it unleashes black operations team Task Force Trident to take down the high-ranking financiers known as the Group of Six who were really responsible for the slaughter. Gunnery Sergeant Kyle Swanson, one of the world’s best snipers, and his beautiful sidekick Beth Ledford, go on the attack, and bodies fall from Mallorca to Madrid."

8			Night of the Cobra Written by Jack Coughlin, Donald A. Davis Copyright: 2015 "Top-ranked sniper Kyle Swanson was a promising young Marine on a dangerous peace-keeping mission in Mogadishu when he first captured "the Cobra" and a life-long blood feud began. Twenty years later, Kyle works for the CIA while the Cobra emerges from prison to become an efficient killing machine, and has never slackened his hatred for Swanson. To draw out his ultimate target, the Cobra launches a violent campaign against the United States and attacks the second-largest shopping mall in America."

9			Long Shot Written by Jack Coughlin, Donald A. Davis Copyright: 2016 "A top Russian intelligence agent has defected to the West and the only man with whom he will speak is Kyle Swanson, who busted him out of the U.S. Marine Corps Scout/Sniper School years ago. The defector proves to be an Edward Snowden-type gold mine of amazing secrets about the When, Where and How of President Vladimir Pushkin's next grab for lost Soviet territory. But Swanson, now a special contractor with the CIA, soon begins to believe that it is all fool's gold being sprinkled by Moscow to ignite an open military fight with NATO and the United States."

10			In the Crosshairs Written by Jack Coughlin, Donald A. Davis Copyright: 2017 "The Central Intelligence Agency is under attack, and so is its top field operative, Kyle Swanson. The highly decorated former Marine Corps gunnery sergeant is attending the funeral of a friend when a terrorist blows up the grave. A week later, he narrowly survives a grenade attack in Berlin. In Washington, Congress is being told that Swanson has been turned, his private employer is corrupt, and the Agency itself cannot be trusted. Swanson is assigned to find the root of the problem and is partnered up with Luke Gibson, a skilled operative rated as being almost as good as Swanson."

MY COMMENTS

I foolishly held off opening these adventures for way, way too long because I thought them military ops tales which did not really belong in this compendium. Then a comment by someone on a spy-fan site made me go take a second look and I was surprised to see that it more than fit.

Once I started reading, I was super-surprised to find them really well crafted and extremely exciting and interesting. Definitely the old 'judge a book by its cover" mistake.

Having seen my mistake, I was quite pleased to find that there were nearly a dozen of these excellent adventures to read. I was happy!

GRADE

My Grade: B+

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