One Rough Man

December 6, 2010
Taylor's debut, a derivative and overly complicated thriller, introduces Pike Logan, the titular rough man, who's one of a band of secret government warriors known as the Taskforce, the operational arm of Project Prometheus, whose presidentially mandated mission is to hunt down terrorists and eliminate them by any means necessary. A personal disaster sidelines Pike, but he gets reluctantly dragged back into the fray after rescuing Jennifer Cahill, a student at the College of Charleston (S.C.), from two mysterious hit men. Meanwhile, in Guatemala, Jennifer's professor uncle has discovered an ancient Mayan weapon of mass destruction, which two Arab terrorists steal and plan to use to start a war in the Mideast. Taylor needs to dial back the body count and concentrate on a more original setup and cast of characters if he ever expects to compete with the other Brad (Thor) on the international thriller playing field. 5-city author tour.

December 15, 2010

A fallen-from-grace former antiterrorist operative and his lady friend chase terrorists armed with a horrifying weapon halfway around the world.

As a member of a clandestine group called the Taskforce, set up to eliminate terrorist threats before they materialize, Pike Logan was used to being where he needed to be to save the day...until the time he was away on an operation when his wife and daughter were murdered. He started making mistakes in the field, and before long he was unemployed, living on a sailboat, drinking too much and picking fights at dive bars. It is after such a drunken brawl that Pike meets Jennifer Cahill, a college student whose uncle, unbeknownst to her, has been kidnapped and killed in Guatemala by a smuggler named El Machete while looking for a lost Mayan temple fabled to house an ancient secret weapon. After he saves her from a few of the smuggler's flunkies, Jennifer convinces Pike to head down to Guatemala with her to clear things up. Meanwhile, two al-Qaeda operatives making arrangements with El Machete overhear some loose talk and hatch a plan to get their hands on the Mayan superweapon. After settling things with El Machete, Pike and Jennifer find clues pointing to the Islamist's intentions, and set out on a global chase to stop them. All the while, a rogue official has sent a team to hunt Pike and Jennifer around the world as part of his plan to spin the aftermath of the terrorist attack to serve his own ends. While first-time novelist Taylor certainly isn't breaking any new ground here, the quality of his writing is just a tick above the median for other books in the genre. On the other hand, the outlandish nature of a near escape or two and some pretty lucky deductive leaps on Logan's part, not to mention the fact that the WMD is ancient and Mayan, put this book's level of believability just a touch south of average. In the end, though, everything balances out to a satisfyingly average read.

Capably written, with occasional flashes of something better.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

December 15, 2010
In his first novel, Taylor, a retired Delta Force commander, introduces Pike Logan, a member of a supersecret, off-the-grid unit of commandos authorized to work outside the law. Logan was the star of the team, called the Taskforce, until a personal tragedy left him unable to work and nearly destitute. A chance encounter with a woman puts him back in the game, however, and he discovers how much he missed the action. Working without the help of his former team, he attempts to track two rogue terrorists in possession of a powerful weapon. Unfortunately, the enemys agenda is vast, and their resources give them easy access to Logan and his former team. Taylors debut flows like the best of Vince Flynn and Brad Thor. An intense and intriguing character, Logan is definitely an action hero to watch.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)