Book Review of My Last ARC

Well, I have finished my last ARC (advanced reading copy).  It's called The Last Refuge, and it's the 3rd book in a series (and his 3rd book overall) about Dewey Andreas.  Before I tell you about it, let me tell you why I don't have any more ARC's waiting to be read.  It appears that I have irritated the reps that were sending them to me.  Both were from Penguin Group (USA).  The first one simply stopped answering my emails.  I'm a little confused about that one because I gave all of her ARC's pretty good reviews.  She gave me 6 altogether.  I think she got tired of me on general principle.  I have that effect on some (okay, many) people.

The second rep was actually openly miffed.  I had just read and blogged about Meg Gardiner's book, Ransom River.  I said that she was a solid "B" author.  I also said that many of my favorite authors are "B" authors.  These are authors who aren't great, but who are solid.  I still read them whenever they come out with a new book.  I don't think there's any shame in being on the "B" list.  She didn't agree.  She was also unhappy because I contacted Meg directly to tell her about the blog posting.  Meg responded and  seemed pleasant enough in her emails.  So, the combination of telling everybody that Meg was not an "A" author coupled with my direct contact put me on the s___ list.  What can you do?  At least this gives me an opportunity to catch up on my stable of authors.  I have recently read Flynn, Picoult, RN Patterson, Archer, and Berenson.  This is a happy result.  I can't be bought by a publisher's rep - unless they make me an offer that I can't refuse.  I don't exactly see that happening.

On to Coes.  His hero is an ex-Navy Seal and ex-Delta.  He is clearly a bad-a__.  He finds himself in a position to save the great-grandson of Golda Meir, Kohl (isn't that what face make-up used to be called?), who has been captured by the Iranians right off the streets of Brooklyn.  Dewey owes his life to Kohl from an incident that occurred a year earlier and is determined to extricate Kohl from a maximum security prison in Iran.

At the same time, Iran is getting ready to place it's first nuclear bomb in Tel Aviv.  Obviously, Dewey is also involved in making sure that doesn't happen.  And, he has to do it off the grid, without the help of either Israel or the U.S.  It has been determined that there is a mole inside Israel's administration, and if either country is brought into the loop, then Iran will surely find out about it.  This would lead to early detonation.  So Dewey enlists the aid of "private contractors" whose job description is:  "Go behind the scenes and help eliminate the bad guys."

I enjoyed this book.  I was a big fan of The Wild Wild West back in the '60's.  I liked it when James West, with his trusty sidekick Artemis Gordon, took out tons of bad guys all by themselves - every week!  Dewey is a modern-day James West.  He's similar to Mitch Rapp (Flynn), John Wells (Berenson), and Gabriel Allon (Silva).  I'm cool with that.  Would I recommend it?  Yes.  Will I go back and read #1 and #2?  Probably not (too many books, too little time).  Will I read #4 and beyond?  I would say yes to that.  What more could an author ask for?