The Night Ranger by Alex Berenson
Putnam, $27.95, 387 pages, ISBN 978-0-399-15972-5
Okay. We admit it . . . this one is special . . . one we’ve been looking forward to for a while. It’s our Double Diamond Jubilee: MBR number 100. That’s right . . . this is our one hundredth book review. And it’s just in time for the start of the summer reading season, so kick back and relax with your favorite adult beverage . . . and enjoy!
This week’s MBR makes for great summertime reading by an author I hadn’t heard of before although he has a number of adventure, thriller and spy novels to his credit. He’s been hailed as “one of the best espionage writers” by the Chicago Sun-Times and as one who writes terrifying stories with absolute authenticity by other notable reviewers. He’s won an Edgar award and is a former NY Times Reporter. His name is Alex Berenson.
The Night Ranger is a wild chase and rescue mission in the lawless areas of western Somalia.
John Wells, a retired CIA operative, is asked by a family member to try and rescue four college students who’ve been kidnapped in Kenya and may have been taken into Somalia. The four are recent graduates of the University of Montana, working in Kenya for an NGO: a non-governmental relief organization. They’re in Kenya as part of a humanitarian relief effort, feeding and providing basic medical care for Somali refugees. When the four students and their Kenyan bodyguard and interpreter disappear, bandits and militants are suspected. John Wells goes undercover, alone and at his own expense, into an unfamiliar area of the world where few assets and many enemies prevail. With the whole country watching, it becomes a race against time and overwhelming odds, and a question of whether any of them will survive. Using guts, determination and a little bit of high tech magic, Wells is soon battling for his and the hostages lives against hordes of competing warlords and terrorists. The threats are real, the action non-stop and the writing crisp and believable. Read this fun novel on your front porch with your dog in your lap and enjoy a walk on the wild side.
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