Reviews

Dead Man Switch by Matthew Quirk

actionjax1's review

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

3.75

kstumpf's review against another edition

5.0

Excellent story. Solid plot. Great pacing. Nothing unbelievable happened, but Hayes is still a hero character and does things in a human manner, not super human. I look forward to the next installment.

constantreader471's review against another edition

4.0

This book was a fast, easy read. I read it in 2 days, finding hard to put down. The premise of the book is about a secret team of US assassins, trained to kill terrorists not vulnerable to drone attacks. They go undercover, sometimes for a year or more, and kill without a trace, frequently making it look like an accident. But then the US team, called Cold Harvest, is itself targeted with the same methods. The hero of this book is John Hayes , who takes on the terrorist killer team.
There are some implausible elements in the book, such as how easy it is for the bad guys to identify the super secret good guys. If you are a fan of thriller/spy book authors such as Ian Fleming, Frederick Forsyth or Tom Clancy, you will enjoy this book.
One quote: "Its technical name was a pressure-release detonator, more commonly known as a dead man switch."
I won this book in a Goodreads sweepstakes by the publisher, Mulholland Books.
4 stars.

ericbuscemi's review against another edition

2.0

While I liked the first novel in the series, [b:Cold Barrel Zero|30141986|Cold Barrel Zero (John Hayes, #1)|Matthew Quirk|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1465761982s/30141986.jpg|45731637], one of the main reasons was that I found the main character interesting and relatable, and enjoyed seeing him struggle with the mystery and motivations of the black-listed super-soldier. The plot of this sequel follows around that latter character, who as an invincible killing machine is much less compelling, and not the original protagonist, so I just wasn't as interested. Another audiobook I just couldn't be bothered to finish.

leftyjonesq's review

adventurous tense fast-paced

5.0

3no7's review

4.0

“Dead Man Switch” by Matthew Quirk is a covert operations thriller with a terrifying twist – the threats are now in the United States. It is both riveting and compellingly frightening as current and former members of a U.S. covert operations team die accidentally, in the U.S., but under circumstances too suspicious to be mere accidents. Who is killing the families and members of this “black-ops” operation, and how can it possibly be stopped without putting everyone in danger? Perhaps it can’t.

I will not give away the many twist and turns (and they are MANY) in the plot, but no one is who they seem to be, and no one can be trusted. Right from the start, people who are dead, or about to be dead, are not dead, but then, maybe they are; it’s complicated. Those complications are the crux of the sensational conspiracy.

The action is precisely described and technically detailed. There is violence but without excessively graphic gore. It won’t give you a stress-induced headache because of the blood and guts -- just a regular nail-biting headache from chills, thrills, anxiety, stress, murder and speculation about what could possibly happen next. Just when you want to stop and catch your breath, something changes dramatically. There are diversions and complications all along the way to a tragic ending.

I received a copy of “Dead Man Switch” from Matthew Quirk to review, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is the second book in the John Hayes series, the first being “Cold Barrel Zero” which I also highly recommend. It is not necessary to have read the first book in order to appreciate this one. Contextual references throughout the book fill in relevant background without wasting pages and pages rehashing the first book.

Plan your schedule carefully; once you start “Dead Man Switch” you will not be able to put it down.

emilygigs's review

4.0

A freaking fantastic political thriller, with a so-scary-it-must-be-true premise. Big fan of this series.