The first book, The Locker, appeared in 2016 and the new book, THE BID, came out January 2017. This series has two investigators, one British (Gonzales) and one American (Vaslik). The stories are more investigative-based than special-forces action, thought the army and homeland protection do come into play.
Ruth Gonzales is British ex-army, ex-police. She works for Cruxys, a firm that offers insurance to people in dangerous occupations and tries to find them if they disappear.
It's a great fantasy in a world where we all feel like we could use that kind of insurance.
In THE BID a drone expert is kidnapped and it is up to Gonzales and Vaslik to find him before he is killed—or worse, forced to enable a terrorist attack.

Review

This is the first of my “read a different author books” for this year… and its always great to strike gold on the first attempt. I have to be honest, i own the first three Harry Tate books and for some reason they are sat on my shelf unread, they sound great and yet my reading pile never seemed to allow for me to read them (i seem to always be trying to keep up with the review pile rather than the read for myself pile, its great when the two coincide).

The Bid follows Ruth Gonzales and Andy Vaslik as they search for their client who is missing, his Insurance contract comes into effect as soon as he fails to check in. This extra insurance security must be for a reason and as they dig into his past they discover this consultant is more than he appears on the surface, and his skills are in demand by people who will do anything to make him work for them. His life and his family under threat.

The book follows both from the perspective of the trackers and also the man who holds him captive, all is not what it seems with the captors, this is not your average terrorist cell. The author give the plot plenty of pace and action, without ever once drifting into improbability, the scariest part of this book is that everything is utterly probable, and scarily real.

Given that the book i had finished prior to this and was so so good, i needed something to really grab me, i had actually ditched 4 books in between that book and The Bid because they just didn’t cut the mustard i could not get into them, i had the worst post book hangover. But The Bid, grabs you from the first page, its a very hard to put down book, pulling you across the Atlantic and then across the USA in search of James Chadwick , following the thinnest of threads and battling the reddest of government tape. Because of the utterly realistic nature of the plot, the people really come alive on the page, the exhaustion and frustration, the captivity and desperation of the hunt and the pace and power of the plot, it all culminates in a very tidy Action Thriller and i will most certainly be reading more from this author,

Recommended

(Parm)

Midnight Ink and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Bid. This is my honest opinion of the book.

Cruxys Solutions Investigators Ruth Gonzales and Andy Vaslik are back in this second book of the series that started with The Locker. Client James Chadwick is a drone expert who has disappeared without a trace, so Ruth and Andy are dispatched to find out why. Wife Elizabeth is unaware of his client status, as well as his disappearance, so Ruth and Andy must start from scratch. When the search moves from London to New York, the team soon discovers an unsettling set of clues that lead them to a horrifying realization. Will Ruth and Andy be able to find James and stop the situation from escalating to a devastating conclusion?

What I like most about Adrian Magson's books are their strong, realistic plots with modern implications. The situation described within the pages of The Bid could most certainly occur within the United States or any other major country in the world, for that matter. This helps lend an air of credibility and gives the reader a more horrifying thrill. I could easily see Ruth and Andy up on the silver screen, as their characters are well developed and complete. With many possibilities for future plot lines, I look forward to reading the next installment in this series.

(Lengthened review to come shortly... Stay tuned...)

My next review is as follows:-

"The Bid:Cruxys Solutions Investigations",written by Adrian Magson and published in paperback by Midnight Ink on 1 Feb. 2017. 360 pages.ISBN-13: 978-0738750439

I have read many of this very experienced authors books for review and I never cease to be amazed at his very tight plotting and deft characterisation. The story is very atmospheric and up to the minute in its detail.

The new book describes a prisoner waking up in a box miles from anywhere and the jailer who does not question his job provided the money is as good as he has been promised: The shipment of drones stolen in transit from a cargo hub: The kidnappers are planning a devastating attack on US soil.

When James Chadwick, a drone expert disappears suddenly, a code red is triggered and Cruxys Solutions investigators Ruth Gonzales and Andy Vaslik are assigned to track his last movements. With few clues to go on, the hunt moves from London to New York, gathering speed as they close in on a horrifying plan to kill the US President and inflict total damage on a US Air Force base.

The main attraction I have in reading this authors work is that the stories are completely unpredictable, in the middle of this one I remember thinking what is going to happen next and having no idea at all except that what ever it is will be highly imaginative and take the story in a fresh direction entirely.

This very exciting and sensationally well plotted creation rushes on to its final dramatic conclusion. I have had the privilege of reading for review purposes the earlier Cruxys Solutions story "The Locker" and the author's MI5/CIA bodyguard stories CLOSE QUARTERS(2015) and also THE WATCHMAN(2014), his NO KISS FOR THE DEVIL(2008) in his Riley Gavin series and two of his D.I. Lucas Rocco stories set in provincial France during the early 1960s: DEATH ON THE MARAIS(2010) and DEATH ON THE RIVE NORD(2011). I understand he has also written additionally another fifteen crime and spy thrillers, four short story collections, and a YA Ghost novel!

I hope to read yet more of this very gifted authors stories, whether it is in this new series or any of the previous ones or completely in a new direction soon.Strongly recommended if you want to start reading an exciting book that is exceedingly difficult to put down once started. Very strongly recommended.

Best wishes,


Terry
(To be published on eurocrime.co.uk)

Very readable thriller……

James Chadwick is a pretty ordinary guy. He has a wife he doesn’t get on with and a son at private school plus, it turns out, a sweet young thing he beds when he gets the chance. He has a decent job which pays well and as a hobby is also an expert drone handler.

His concern that he is being watched and followed leads him to take out an insurance with Cruxys Solutions who will find a client if he goes missing and protect his family at the same time. James Chadwick then goes missing….

It would be a spoiler to say why he is kidnapped and held against his will but the whole story is built upon the Cruxys investigators Ruth Gonzales and Andy Vaslik looking for him and building the picture as to why.

As plots go it is comprehensive and logical. The salient facts are well presented to the reader and the pace is varied but moves steadily forward. The characters are well formed although the focus is naturally on the investigators rather than the kidnap victim which is understandable as the Cruxys Investigations are a series of books of which this is the second. Nothing is lost by reading this thriller without having read the first as the reader will quickly pick up the relationship between the two main protagonists.

The style and quality of writing would normally earn this novel a sure-fire 4 star but there are two areas which dragged it back down to 3 stars. The first is the rather rushed ending. It’s almost as if the publishers had stipulated a certain maximum length and the author ran out of pages. The second is that there is more than a suspicion of a fifth columnist inside the FBI or Homeland Security and then we hear no more of it. I don’t mind loose ends except when they peter out and are not referred to again.

Apart from these reservations it’s a good read. Nothing deep or stimulating but entertaining all the same.

mr zorg

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

A naïve drone operator, a tough detective named Ruth and a terror plot that makes you wonder as drones become a part of our lives. Enjoy and know that drones will becoming coming to a terror plot near you soon! (Or so the author thinks, enjoy!)

“The Bid” eBook was published in 2017 and was written by Adrian Magson (http://www.adrianmagson.com). Mr. Magson has published twenty two novels.

I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in the contemporary US. The main character is Ruth Gonzales, an investigator for Cruxys Solutions.

A client of Cruxys Solutions has turned up missing and Gonzales is tasked to investigate. She begins her investigation in the UK, but soon heads to the US to find the client. Before long she finds herself on the trail of terrorists intending on using drones in some kind of attack.

She is teamed with former partner Andy Vaslik as they follow the trail to their missing client. Gonzales proves to be a strong female character. Not only do they find terrorists behind the abduction, but the terrorists are allowing various groups to bid for the right to claim responsibility.

I enjoyed the just short of 9 hours I spent reading this 360 page Mystery / Thriller. I had not read the first book in the series, but this one read well on its own. This was not the most exciting book, but it was a good story. The cover art selected is approprate for the story being told. I give this novel a 3.7 (rounded up to a 4) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

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