Tuesday 30 September 2014

Night Drop by Michael Sherer

Cutler Press
Imagine talking on the phone with someone you care about when suddenly that person's doorbell rings.  You remain on the phone while the person answers the door and then the next thing you hear are loud voices, then screaming, then dead silence. Frantic with fear you drive like a maniac across town only to find the house empty and blood on the living room floor.  You call the police.  Because you are the ex spouse of the person who has vanished, you become a prime suspect in the eyes of the police. What do you do?

If you are Blake Sanders, you immediately go on the offensive.  Your ex-wife Molly has rich parents and is a lawyer in a successful law firm.  It is not unreasonable to assume there will be a ransom demand so the FBI are in charge of the case.  Blake makes sure he is there when the ransom call comes in and he insists on implicating himself in the plans to rescue Molly.  He will bring her back alive or die trying.

It slowly comes to light that one of Molly's clients, Trip Macready, has also disappeared. He is an ex-Navy SEAL dolphin trainer turned animal rights activist.  The Navy connection brings Blake's sometime girlfriend, Reyna Chase, a Naval Intelligence Officer into the search and back by Blake's side. 

The story has three main threads.  Blake's attempt to find and rescue Molly; Macready's attempt to foil a terrorist plot and also rescue Molly; Yousef preparing his team to pull off an act of terror and elude Blake and the FBI. There was a point early on when it felt like I was reading three books and I wondered how everything was going to come together to make sense.  Trust me, it does. 

There is a lot happening in the story and quite a bit to remember and process. By maintaining three distinct threads, Sherer introduces the secondary characters in distinct, well-defined and separate settings, allowing you to get to know each of them well. Otherwise, you would easily lose track of whose who and what is going on. 

I happen to really like Blake Sanders as a character.  I find him to be sympathetic, understandable and believable.  He has his problems and he has his strengths; he's not perfect and he would make a reliable neighbor or solid friend.  Macready is also a character that I came to like and I hope he makes a return in a sequel. A team comprised of Blake, Reyna and Macready has the potential for one hell of an adventure.  
 
Night Drop kept me glued to my Kindle following the unexpected twists and turns and holding my breath waiting for what was going to happen next.  Looking forward to reading Night Strike, next in the series.