No Fortunate Son

October 20, 2014
In Taylor’s edge-of-your-seat seventh Pike Logan thriller (after Days of Rage), the head of the top-secret counterterrorism unit known as the Taskforce, Col. Kurt Hale, orders Pike and fellow operative Jennifer Cahill to locate his niece, Kylie, a University of Virginia student on exchange to Cambridge University. Terrorists have kidnapped Kylie along with several other family members of key U.S. government officials and are holding them for ransom somewhere in Europe. Essentially fired from Taskforce for disobeying orders in Days of Rage, Logan must find Kylie with no support other than Cahill’s and very little to go on. The stakes rise when they discover that one of the kidnap victims is the American vice president’s son—who was working at a NATO intelligence center in England—and that the terrorists may be planning something much more nefarious than a simple hostage exchange. The nonstop action, intricate story line, and jaw-dropping plot twists all but make up for the lack of character development. Agent: John Talbot, Talbot Fortune Agency.

November 15, 2014
An elite counterterrorist operator races to save his commander's kidnapped niece.With more than 20 years of experience in the U.S. Army Infantry and Special Forces, Taylor (Days of Rage, 2014, etc.) writes realistic military thrillers. In the seventh installment of his series, protagonist Nephilim "Pike" Logan has been released from the highly classified counterterrorism unit referred to as the Taskforce and finds himself without a mission. When Pike's commander, Kurt Hale, learns that his beloved niece, Kylie, has gone missing in England, he quickly fills this void in Pike's life and tells him to find the girl at any cost. Working with his partner, Jennifer Cahill, Pike discovers that Kylie's disappearance is connected to a large-scale kidnap-and-ransom campaign by mysterious terrorists in which the military sons-and one daughter-of high-ranking American politicians have been surgically nabbed from across the globe. Although everyone in Washington is focused on bringing back the "fortunate" sons (and daughter) of America, Pike's single-minded focus is on Kylie (who reminds him of the daughter he couldn't save). The American government assumes the mass kidnapping is the work of Islamic terrorists, but Pike is convinced that the responsible party hails from the Emerald Isle. With his trademark intuition leading the way, he finds himself running down members of the Real IRA who are not only willing to dispose of the hostages, but are also planning to blow up one of Britain's favorite tourist attractions. Like his namesake in the Bible (the Nephilim of Genesis), Pike is willing to become a giant monster, because only a monster can bring back the girl and bring these extremists to justice. Smoothly switching between third-person narration and Pike's first-person point of view, Taylor skillfully unfolds the story until it feels like you're on a frenzied ride.A surefire page-turner that is nearly impossible to put down.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2014
Taylor has become the heir apparent to the late Vince Flynn, and his latest thriller featuring Pike Logan and his colleague and girlfriend Jennifer Cahill explodes with action from the first page. They work for a top-secret unit called the Taskforce, which is known for its use of unorthodox methods. When their boss, Commander Kurt Hale, informs them they have been laid off, Logan and Cahill think he's joking. He's not. However, when relatives of key military personnel are kidnapped around the globe, Commander Hale has to act. One of the victims is his niece. Using his own personal funds and keeping everything off the books, Hale hires Logan and Cahill to uncover the truth and reunite the affected families with their loved ones. The surprises never stop, and the pace never relents. Logan and Cahill are a dream team, and military-thriller fans who seek realistic scenarios should consider Taylor mandatory reading.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)