Great historical fiction that brings the past alive and to the present day! Keep you eyes on John Nucket and his works!

Then and Now, The Need Remains

1899: Do you know your history? If so the year will bring to mind Teddy Roosevelt, his Rough Riders, and perhaps even Tammany Hall. A difficult time in history where a handful of powerful men controlled the city, at a high cost to the people living there.

A secret meeting is held that year establishing the Volunteers. Once Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders had been sent home, some still saw the need for their assistance. The goal? To take care of wrongs committed against the people in the city. That it would effect Tammany Hall might be a side benefit.

Present day: A tech legend dies on a city street. As the man who put together Amazon, Google search and Twitter, he has been on the cusp of a new system that could influence a person’s actions. Now Hank Suarez holds that position.

Two years later, his competitor and enemy, Sheng. is the top hacker for China—for the government. Now Sheng is determined to find Hank Suarez, for deadly reasons.

Hank has only one person he can contact. A co-member of The Volunteers. Still in existence, working almost invisibly behind the scenes, members have presented new members through the decades. Which is how police officer Annie Falcone, is invited to become a member–through her father.

Her first assignment: protect Hank from an expected attack.

The assignment becomes something different entirely, something that may easily cost Annie’s life. Money too often reaches even into law enforcement. With misleading clues and many twists, two of the smartest men in the world attempt to outwit the other. Can anyone be trusted?

Because Annie’s first assignment a lie—right from the beginning. The executive committee of The Volunteers has a plan they aren’t sharing, even with those working the assignment.

Et Omnia Recta

Drive is a wonderful story that that will keep you involved right to the finish. Flashing back to 1899, then forward to the present keeps the reader connected with the start of The Volunteers. It’s a fascinating glimpse back to the time of Teddy Roosevelt, prior to his becoming president. It’s a positive look at a secret association in their attempts to balance power to benefit the average person.

The Series

Since this is book one of the Volunteer series, we can count on more to come. It should be a good premise for a series, involving history and current issues. Members of the Volunteers sent on assignments for the good of others. So many possibilities. I’ll look forward to more.

Secret society. You hear these words all the time and yet, most do not believe them. The story follows a secret society known as The Volunteers, that is told from the past view and the present. It's a story full of history and mystery. From past members that include Teddy Roosevelt and Woodbury Kane to present day members that include Annie Falcone, a cop of New York, this story is a thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

I am surprised to say that I liked this book. I am a lover of history but have never been a reader of these types of books. You know those with secret societies and conspiracy. I did find this book very intriguing. The characters were great. They were driven and full of pride and honor. The story itself was full of action and kept me enthralled from the beginning. Annie was by far my favorite character. Her wit and get them attitude was excellent. For a chick, she is pretty impressive and I'm a girl so I would know. The writing was done well and in a way that kept you wanting to know more, making this a hard to put down.

The ending was great. A little touch of romance never hurts. Overall, I have to say I'm very impressed with this book.

very good book enjoyable till the end hope to see a sreie in the future

Drive by John Nuckel. The first book in The Volunteers series. Not my usual type of read. It did take my longer to get though but I did enjoy it in the end. The storyline goes back and forth in time. I did enjoy the current main times of the story it had me going back to find out what happened at the end.

Drive is a hard novel for me to review. When I first started to read it, I didn't last long. I just didn't like it. But I decided to give it a second chance. Even then my reaction changed continuously. I didn't care for the author's choice to alternate stories. What happened with the early Volunteers is really not relevant to the modern story. Leaving that story for lengthy interludes distracted from my enjoyment of the novel. Beyond that, sometimes things were just too inadequately conveyed. The finale of the novel seemed awfully odd for a couple that had such a short time together. That time seemed very contrived. So I am sorry to say that I didn't like the novel as much as I hoped I would. But thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

I really enjoyed how this story took place in both the present and the past, plus the honor and duty demonstrated by the good characters. It was exciting and I had to keep reading to find out what happened next!