FIRST STRIKE by Ben Coes

July 2, 2016
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A Dewey Andreas Novel, Book 6

Since Dewey Andreas’ first appearance in Power Down, Coes has brought him a long way. From a job on an off-shore oil rig in which his long dormant fighting skills acquired as a special forces operator reappeared when the rig was attacked by terrorists, to First Strike, where he has become a highly skilled counter terrorist agent, Dewey has come a long way. What hasn’t changed is the author’s talent for writing a novel in which the action is nonstop. And that is certainly the case here.

The Pentagon has created a scenario in which one handpicked man would emerge as the most powerful leader in the troubled middle east. But the individual selected turns the tables on the U.S.

Tristan Nazir twists the program to create the elite terrorist army of ISIS. When the U.S. is ready to send a final shipment of munitions to Nazir, it becomes suspect that ISIS is receiving the funding to pay for that delivery in order to use the material for their own ends.

Dewey Andreas is sent into Syria to find out what is going on and where the arms are actually being sent. Arriving in Damascus, Dewey is caught and held prisoner, but with the ingenuity he has always exhibited, escapes and returns to the U.S.

The second half of the novel is centered on an ISIS attack on America, which is geared to blackmail the U.S. into releasing the last shipment of weapons to them by a threat almost beyond belief. The action is rapid during the entire novel, but in this lengthy segment is staggering and does not let up. Dewey becomes involved with thwarting the terrorists, and his actions, as well as those of a force aiding him, will keep the reader breathless.

Coes has evolved during his five books involving Dewey Andreas into a master of writing the all nighter. Extremely well formulated and guaranteed to keep his readers awaiting the next book with bated breath.

7/16 Paul Lane

FIRST STRIKE by Ben Coes. St. Martin’s Press (June 28, 2016).  ISBN 978-1250043177.  480p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

Win the July ’16 bookshelf of signed thrillers!

July 1, 2016

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Welcome to the July bookshelf of signed thrillers! I am giving away some terrific books this month, all autographed by the authors. Don’t forget to check back…you never know when new titles will be added. To enter, go to the Win Books page. Best of luck!

GUILTY MINDS by Joseph Finder: Summoned to investigate potentially explosive charges of corruption levied by a gossip website against the chief justice of the Supreme Court, private intelligence operative Nick Heller is given forty-eight hours to prove that the story is baseless.

THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF STONES by M.J. Rose: Designing trench watches and mourning jewelry in World War I Paris, ambitious young jewelry maker Opaline, the daughter of a dark sorceress, communicates with spirits using her rare lithomancy gifts before forging a powerful love with the ghost of a fallen soldier.

YOU WILL KNOW ME by Megan Abbott: When a violent death rocks her close-knit gymnastics community weeks before an important competition, the mother of an Olympic hopeful works frantically to hold her family together in spite of being irresistibly drawn to the crime.

FIRST STRIKE by Ben Coes: When hundreds of American college students are taken captive by a radical Islamic group who demands a massive arms shipment in return for the hostages’ safety, Dewey Andreas obtains proof that the group has been secretly funded by a Pentagon black-ops program.

KILLER LOOK by Linda Fairstein: The shady underside of glamour challenges Alex Cooper, Mike Chapman, and Mercer Wallace, who embark on a murder investigation at the height of New York City’s Fashion Week to expose dark undercurrents in the garment district and the machinations of a resolved killer.

SOMEONE MUST DIE by Sharon Potts: When her six-year-old nephew vanishes from a neighborhood carnival, Aubrey Lynd’s safe, snow-globe world fractures; it shatters when the FBI’s investigation raises questions about her own family that Aubrey can’t answer.

INTO THE WHIRLWIND by Kat Martin: Turning to her former bodyguard, Dirk Reynolds, after her 3-year-old son is kidnapped, Megan O’Brien sees a new side of this man with whom she had a brief affair as they are both forced to enter a dark world of international crime to rescue her little boy.

BREATH OF MALICE by Karen Fenech: FBI special agent Paige Carson hoped she’d be able to start a new life in small-town South Carolina. But when a senator’s sister is murdered and a blank postcard is left next to the body, Paige realizes that a killer from her past has found her—and is sending her a very personal message.

SUNKEN DREAMS by Steven Kuehn: Archaeologists strive to bring the hidden past into the light of the present. In SUNKEN DREAMS, we discover that there are those who prefer to keep the secrets of the past buried – and they’ll kill to keep them that way.

THE TRAP by Melanie Raabe: A reclusive best-selling author, haunted by the unsolved murder of her younger sister, spots her sister’s killer on television and resolves to use the plot of her next novel to set an irresistible trap for him.

DEEP SIX by D. P. Lyle: Agreeing to investigate a suspected adultress, former professional baseball player Jake Longly finds himself in trouble when his target is killed and he runs afoul of Ukrainian mobster Victor Borkov.

FIELD OF GRAVES by J.T. Ellison: Nashville cop Taylor Jackson teams up with troubled FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin to search for a serial killer who is targeting college students at Vanderbilt University. “Well developed, multidimensional characters and an exceptionally strong plot.” Publisher’s Weekly, starred review

 

You can win autographed copies of all these books! If you are new to the site, each month I run a contest in conjunction with the International Thriller Writers organization. We put together a list of books from debut authors to bestsellers, so you can win some of your favorites and find some new favorites.

What makes this contest really special is that all of the books (except eBooks) are signed by the author! Books with multiple authors will be signed by at least one of the authors.

Don’t forget, if you subscribe to the newsletter or follow this blog, you get an extra entry into every contest you enter. Check out the Win Books page for more information on all these books and how you to enter this month’s contest.

Thanks for reading, and good luck!

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

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