No Fortunate Son

Former Delta Force squadron commander and bestselling author Brad Taylor keeps cranking out the hits with his Pike Logan thriller series. NO FORTUNATE SON is another quality entry in that series.Once again blending past history with current events, the Real Irish Republican Army plays a huge part in this story, kidnapping the children of several high-level government officials in an attempt to extort the United States government. The Bergdahl exchange also plays a role in that it shows the willingness of the USG to negotiate with terrorists and mentions deprogramming of hostages, both of which come into play with the plot.Pike and Jennifer are now on the outs, due to their actions in DAYS OF RAGE, and Taskforce commander Kurt Hale asks them to go off the reservation to find his missing niece, Kylie. That quickly collides with the terrorist plot, and Pike finds himself once more entangled in Taskforce operations.The action is top notch, as usual, and the prose and plotting are tight and move at a breakneck speed. I read most of this book in the first seven hours of picking it up, and finished it in an additional hour later down the road. Literally could not put the book down. I also loved the character development between Pike and Jennifer, who have both come a long way since ONE ROUGH MAN.Definitely looking forward to jumping into the next Pike Logan thriller. Excellent read, as always.

I enjoy this series a lot although I've not read them in the order of publication. Sometimes it makes a difference as an author does not compensate for out of sequence reading; sometimes authors do. I commend authors that do allow for this.My reason for 4 and not 5 stars this time is the difficulty in keeping track of all of the names and places. Multiple places and names is certainly not unusual for Brad Taylor and the Pike Logan crew, but this time it felt more difficult to keep track. Nonetheless, I look forward to the continuation of the series.

First of all the action, suspense and successes of the Task Force's little band of heroes. Second, but close to first is how Pike, Kurt, et. al., Manage to overcome not only daunting bad guys, but also to circumvent the smarmy, gutless politicians, who want the results but will share none of the politically incorrect risk/blame! Sound familiar?I love books in which the good guys win and the bad guys lose (and often die) but with the outcome never quite clear or certain, and mortal risk always close at hand. Jennifer (aka Koko) is a great character, still evolving with a softer (but still tough) side to counter Pike's hard as nails and deadly persona.The villains in this one are a unlikely assortment of mix and match bad guys from several global groups...and a new/old one. Nuf said. No point in spoiling a fun, exciting read. And check out Nung...a character that will likely show up again.Unless you like reading all night, when you find one of the few lulls in the action, go to bed and resume reading on a new day. Enjoy!

The plot is original, action scenes exciting, and the suspense keeps you wanting more...couldn't put it down. The only less-than positive comment I would have is that it seems to be becoming a trend that Jennifer is always right and the only one who has situation resolving thinking. I would hate to see Pike taking a backseat to Jenn in that department. I mean, after all, he has had many years planning, executing and evaluating complex military operations, and I know she is very smart, but I don't think training with Circe d Soleil is comparable to his trading and experience.

Brad Taylor is back on track after what I thought was an average Pike Logan thriller. "No Fortunate Son" has a plot worthy of Taylor and Pike Logan. It weaves around a very scary and real scenario that could have top government officials at the mercy of terrorists. Taylor's writing, research and imagination is always great and he doesn't suffer from stops and starts like some who claim to be military or spy thriller novelists. (See Joel Rosenberg). I've read just about every great one and he ranks up there with Thor and Baldacci. And for us Marines...one of the recurring characters on the "Task Force" is a Marine. Nice to see a Delta include a Jarhead on the team; although most of know there have been a few on the real Delta Force with one having been awarded the Navy Cross recently. For Colonel Taylor, thanks for sharing your stories of the premier Tier One counterterrorism force in the world...and certainly the quietest of the "Quiet Professionals".

I read this book the week after the terrorist attacks in Paris. Eerie that Taylor's plot included coordinated attacks in Paris - obviously published before the real-life, similar-but-different events. In the fictional account, Paris and London get attacks coordinated by Irish new-IRA wildcards with help from Somalis, Serbs, and gangsters. Every team uses a fixer and a techie-geek these days. The good guys contemplate evil and good, justifiable violence/murder, and the essentials of separating a personal agenda from the larger mission. The bad guys want money to finance their causes and make the USA look stupid. Glad to see that the plane lost while ditching a nuclear device in Brazil (earlier book by Taylor) is replaced with a more elaborate plane to haul the covert good guys all over the globe. I like Jennifer's ability to climb buildings and ferris wheels, as well as think and shoot straight. I got a chuckle out of the Thai-mercenary's salary.

The Pike Logan series was recommended by a friend. i read the first one and liked it, and have now read 7 of them. I like the authenticity by the author, a former long time special forces officer. some of the detail about tactics, weapons etc is over my head. but i like the series and writing is pretty good. In some ways, reminds me of Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva - except these are Americans and it's a group .

Avery good read

Thrilling read from start to finish

Brad Taylor has put together an action filled novel featuring the abduction of several military sons and daughters of high ranking US government officials. The oversight committee calls in the Task Force to attempt a rescue. The vice-president's son is one of the victims, but inadvertently, his girl friend, Kylie, an exchange student in England, is taken during the abduction. Kylie is the niece of Colonel Kurt Hale, leader of the Task Force. Pike Logan and Jennifer have recently been released from the Task Force on orders from the Oversight oversight committee, However; Kurt Hale brings them into the hunt at his own expense to specifically find Kylie.Action ranges from Washington, to Ireland, to France, and to London. Three terrorist groups are involved in the turmoil. Negotiations are done in a technological fashion to avoid detection with even ransom payments being demanded in bitcoin digital currency.Suspense occurs frequently, especially, the human fly exploits by ace climber, Jennifer, a past performer in the Cirque du Soleil.

As always, an excellent tea. This author can grab your attention and keep you engrossed in the syory

Not one of his better ones...just ok