Just finished another anniversary of 9/11 which make it a good time to read Ring of Fire. It is now 15 years later and the enemies of the Western World are not done. Taylor uses some accounts of 9/11 to make this believable. Written in 2017, we had not experienced Covind or the aftermath, the shortages and the strain of our ports. This makes it intriguing - the story line is targeting terrorist attack on our port system. Attacking the port system and trade would create a ring of fire.

With Pike Logan in the middle with his team, they must find the connecting dots first with a teen terrorist attacking military personnel near a Las Vegas base. Who is financing and what is the end game. They are all over the world, trying to avoid any more attacks. The action is intense and my heart rate went up a couple of beats. So good and probably is best that I have read. Taylor has a good understanding of the evil verses good in our world.

A special thank you to Penguin Group and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

“Ring of Fire” eBook was published in 2017 and was written by Brad Taylor (http://bradtaylorbooks.com). Mr. Taylor has published 17 novels thus far with this being the 11th in his “Brad Pike” series.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in contemporary times. The primary character is former Special Operations operative Pike Logan.

Years earlier a failing business man makes bribe to win a lucrative aerospace contract. Now this is about to come back to destroy him and his business when he hears that inside information is about to be leaked that might disclose his illegal activities. His fear is heightened as he finds that his company is tied to terrorist activities because of the bribe.

Logan and his partner Jennifer Cahill are dispatched by the Taskforce to investigate this pending leak. The Taskforce fears that they may be outed by the revelations. Terrorists begin a series of attacks on the US, their “ring of fire” intending to hit ports around the US in an effort to impact US shipping. These terrorists are those tied to the business man through the bribe.

This begins a mad dash by Logan and Cahill to discover the terrorist’s plans and stop them any way they can.

I enjoyed the 11 hours I spent reading this 443 page Thriller. I have read other “Pike Logan” novels and liked them as well. The thriller is full of action and daring do by the heroes, Logan and Cahill. The plot was interesting, but did not contain any real surprises. The cover art is OK, but doesn’t really relate to anything in particular. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

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

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

Published by Dutton on January 10, 2017

The last two Pike Logan novels went too far over the top. Brad Taylor scaled back Ring of Fire, and as a result wrote a better novel.

A WikiLeaks-type leaker disclosed information from a Panamanian law firm that sets up shell companies. An American who created a shell to do business with Saudi Arabia, inadvertently contributing to 9/11, worries that his complicity will be revealed. Kurt Hale is also worried, since the Taskforce relies heavily on shells to conceal ownership of the companies that provide its support services (as well as the company that is, on paper, owned by Pike and Jennifer).

Pike and Jennifer begin an investigation of leaked information by visiting the Bahamas, but their mission then requires them to drink blackberry mojitos in Madrid. Tough life, hey? Of course, the mission quickly morphs into something more dangerous as they go glob-trotting to hunt down the bad guys.

The plot involves a Moroccan named Tariq who has a plan to launch multiple attacks on America, each using a different method of spreading terror in an effort to undermine the American economy. Tariq expects to succeed because, unlike ISIS and other known terrorist groups, he isn’t on anyone’s radar.

I am always impressed by Brad Taylor’s ability to see the world from the perspective of terrorists (or whatever villain happens to be the novel’s focus). While other writers portray evil characters as unthinking cartoons, Taylor knows that they are motivated by a particular understanding of the world. His fiction reflects their perspectives, making his villains all the more realistic.

And I’m always impressed by Taylor’s ability to recognize the distinction between Islamic terrorists and peaceful Muslims. An interesting debate between a Pike and a Moroccan secret service official effectively presents both sides of the argument while opening Pike’s mind a bit. (Unfortunately, the novel is already a bit dated in that Pike supports his argument by contending that all the killing in the Philippines is done by Muslims, a passage Taylor probably wrote before President Duterte and his roving death squads came into power).

I also appreciated Pike’s relationship with Jennifer, who buries him whenever he steps out of line. Taylor makes clear that Pike’s “tough guy” attitude limits his effectiveness in situations where negotiation is more likely to be successful than intimidation. Of course, Taylor is very effective when it comes to killing terrorists.

Ring of Fire features the return of Carly, who seems likely to become a series regular. Knuckles is the other regular character who shares the spotlight in this one, with Retro and the others playing minor roles. Taylor continues to develop one or two of the characters a bit more in each novel. They’re good at what they do, but like everyone else, they have flaws, making them real people instead of superheroes.

Taylor delivers his usual fine mix of action and morbid humor. The story follows his formula but it’s a good formula, and even if the “good guys foil terrorists” story seems familiar, I appreciated Taylor backing away from the outlandish plots of his last two novels.

RECOMMENDED

The eleventh novel by Lt Col Brad Taylor featuring Pike Logan and his girl friend - partner Jennifer Cahill with their squad of mission impossible soldiers. Pike and Jennifer are partners in a business called Grolier Retrieval whose work ostensibly involves locating and investigating archaeological sites. Jennifer had studied the subject in college and supplies the expertise in traveling to different sites around the world to supposedly investigate these areas while really being a front for the "Taskforce." The group is an organization formed by people highly placed in the U.S. government to secretly investigate and destroy groups looking to do harm to the United States.
Fifteen years before the story begins a defense contractor paid a bribe to a Saudi Arabian businessman. Unfortunately for him the bribe may come to light and ruin years of rising to the top of the heap of the defense contractor field. At the same time the Saudi businessman has been involved in funding terrorism around the world and now plans a three pronged attack against key ports in the United States.
After a period of being on the "outs" with the US president Pike and his squad are now tasked with finding and stopping the attacks which are planned to coincide with the 15th anniversary of 9/11.
The action is fast and furious as are all of Lt Col Taylor's Pike Logan novels. Two additional factors are included which may shape future books. First, Pike's second in command "Knuckles," has found a lady love. Carly is a member of the CIA and on the behest of her boyfriend is interested in joining the Taskforce. Second the case is made that Saudi Arabia is more than a little complicit in financing and planning the 9/11 attacks. Each of the attacks planned against US ports involve different actions which might confuse the planned US defense systems in place to protect the ports.
The portrait of Carly as a prospective member of the group is used to examine the psychology of others that have dedicated their lives to go into harm's way in order to protect our country against enemies both foreign and domestic. The rigid vetting and training they go through is geared to first take them apart and than put them together as better warriors fighting the good fight.

RING OF FIRE: A Pike Logan Thriller
Brad Taylor
Dutton
ISBN 978-1-101-98476-5
Hardcover
Thriller

Brad Taylor writes books as frightening as you are likely to encounter. His field of expertise is not the supernatural; rather, he is very much concerned with the here and now of threats to the United States at home and abroad. Taylor brings more than expertise and knowledge to the table in his Pike Logan thrillers. While those twin sisters are important, having been acquired during the course of over two decades in the service of US Army Special Forces, Taylor’s considerable skill set also includes the ability to observe data, understand what he is seeing, and extrapolate it. It seems, time after time, as if the threat which Pike Logan encounters in his latest novel has either just manifested itself or is just about to in our own world, a state of affairs that makes the reader wish, and hope that a real world Logan is out there somewhere, quietly but effectively doing the job of taking terrorists down.

This is particularly true in RING OF FIRE, the latest installment in the Pike Logan canon. RING OF FIRE takes place over the course of several days in the run up to the fifteenth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. As the fateful date approaches, one of the financial masterminds behind the attacks broods and reflects not so much on what was accomplished on that horrible day as on what was meant to be accomplished. He accordingly plots and then begins to execute a series of attacks on America’s overseas shipping. The Taskforce gets wind of the plot, indirectly through a document dump which reveals a tie between an American company and a bank account through which the original September 11 attacks were financed. Logan and his team are tasked with tracing the account back to its source, and in the course of doing so discern that there is something much larger going on. Meanwhile, the head of the corporation tied to the bank account takes his own steps to keep anyone from discovering his own complicity, however unintentional, in the occurrence of the original attacks. The result is that Logan and The Taskforce, unbeknownst to them, have an occasional ally as they race to determine who is going to do what to the United States interests, and where. It isn’t easy. While Logan’s team collectively is a veritable swiss army knife, of skills, they don’t always function entirely smoothly and blood is occasionally and (usually) figuratively drawn when a sharp elbow is thrown. Further, Logan and The Taskforce have some differences in management style --- call them office vs. field --- and Logan, who displays a working knowledge of the maxim that it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission, often finds himself called upon a well-worn carpet, even as The Taskforce does as well, given that it has people further up the chain of command to answer to when it rubs against the edges of its extra-legal charter. As with most tasks, things work out in spite of the rules rather than because of them, but the suspense that is built along the way reaches new levels by the time that RING OF FIRE comes to a close.

A good portion of what occurs in RING OF FIRE is initiated by the release of The Panama Papers. If you missed the leakage of those documents in April 2016, you can forgive yourself, given that most of us --- and particularly the chattering classes --- were focused upon the upcoming election. It is unfortunate that more attention wasn’t devoted to the revelations contained in this very extensive and extremely interesting document dump, and certainly a reading of RING OF FIRE will and should incite new and intense interest in this. Taylor, as always, rings quite true. The terrorist attacks which are initiated with some great degree of success in RING OF FIRE are so well-described that on reading about them one does not wonder so much if they could be carried out as why they haven’t been to date. Taylor also in the early days of the book, as well as during its high-tension conclusion, manages to hit one of my more contemporary paranoia spikes. If, after reading RING OF FIRE, you find yourself experiencing some additional anxiety when stuck in traffic, you can forgive yourself. You won’t forgive yourself, however, if you miss this installment in the Pike Logan series. Recommended.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2017, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

I liked the story and all the action but it seemed a bit disjointed to me. Maybe it just needs cleaning up so it flows better. I have now read a couple of this series and maybe need to read the others first. Some of things mentioned in the book referred back to previous adventures.

Interesting story and lots of tie-ins to 9/11 and other incidents throughout the world.

The Taskforce Uncovers a Multi-point Terrorist Attack Designed to Cripple America

The Panama Papers have several people very concerned. Dexter Worthington used one of the accounts fifteen years ago to bribe a Saudi business man. Now a successful defense contractor, he fears exposure. The Taskforce is also concerned. They too have accounts that might show up in the Panama Papers.

Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill are assigned to interdict the leak and control the damage. Since the assignment sends them to the Bahamas, this seems like a plum assignment and maybe time for a vacation in the sun. Once in the Bahamas, Pike and Jennifer find things that seem more complicated than a simple case of leaked information.

In fact, the Saudis have been using some of the accounts to fund terrorism around the world and the next attack is soon to take place. Called Ring of Fire, the attack is designed to disrupt shipping in the biggest ports in the US. Acting with little information, Pike and Jennifer start pulling the threads they have in an effort to avert disaster.

The is a typical Pike Logan fast paced thriller. The plot is complicated since several groups of terrorist are involved and acting independently. If you like action, this is a great read.

The characters are typical action heroes. Pike reminds me more of a superhero than a Taskforce investigator. Jennifer is a great character. She doesn’t take crap from Pike and holds her own in the action arena.

I particularly like the realistic background information: Saudis funding terror, the use of drones as killing machines, and Mossack Fonseca, the law firm that created the Panama Papers. If you like fast paced action, you’ll enjoy this book.

I received this book from Dutton for this review.