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A review by danubooks
Perfect Shot: A Thriller by Steve Urszenyi
4.0
A former military sniper has left her days on the battlefield behind her….until the fight is brought right to her door.
FBI Special Agent Alexandra Martel is working in Europe as a liaison to Interpol. As the story begins, she and her team are working in the Netherlands to prevent the sale of nuclear material to an up and coming Islamic terrorist group. Despite their best efforts they are unable to complete the takedown of the involved parties; two of the terrorists make an escape with the contraband, and Alex and her mysterious new teammate Caleb (whom she suspects is CIA) pursue them in a helicopter. With the chopper almost out of fuel, she calls upon her extraordinary sniper skills to bring the fleeing criminals down. Local law enforcement is less than thrilled with the wild chase and the gunfight, but Alex’s bosses try to smooth it over given the satisfactory outcome. Alex, it will become apparent, is very good at what she does, but her actions often result in gunfire and dead bodies…and that tends to annoy the locals. On the heels of this situation, Alex receives notification that Krysten, an MI5 agent with whom she had struck up a friendship some years ago at a security conference, has died. It has been ruled an accident, but Alex is not so sure and heads to London to investigate. Shortly after her arrival Alex finds herself being tailed by Russians (and yes, another firefight ensues), which only intensifies her suspicions. She discovers more about what Krysten was doing undercover for MI5, and learns disturbing facts about Krysten’s background that make her question their friendship….and the encrypted information that Krysten sent to Alex in her final moments. When Alex is yanked out of London and directed to Turkey where a nuclear weapon has gone missing from the American airbase, she reluctantly reunites with Caleb to find out who stole it and why….and must find and neutralize it before it can be released upon the world.
In this first book of a projected series, I enjoyed reading the exploits of a highly trained and very capable woman who started her military career as a medic, morphed into a legendary sniper, and then after experiencing several losses opted to dial back her level of engagement in the world’s conflicts. While she wants to continue to contribute to the effort, she no longer chooses to be the tip of the spear. Caleb has been sent to persuade her otherwise, to remind her of the breadth of her skills and the satisfaction that using those skills brings her. When she is thrust into the murky world of spies and disinformation, she taps into her instincts to sort truth from obfuscation, and follows those instincts even when they contradict direct orders. The author’s background both as a medic and as a CBRNE incident responder provided interesting details throughout the chase, and he wove an interesting plot. Alex seems to get away with a lot of breaches of procedure and protocol to a degree that might strain credulity, but overall it was a fast paced and engrossing read. Readers of Jack Carr, Mark Greaney and Marc Cameron (all of whom have blurbed the novel), as well as Francine Mattews and Cara Black, should pick up a copy and give Alex Martel a spin. Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press/Minotaurs Books for allowing me access to an advanced reader’s copy.
FBI Special Agent Alexandra Martel is working in Europe as a liaison to Interpol. As the story begins, she and her team are working in the Netherlands to prevent the sale of nuclear material to an up and coming Islamic terrorist group. Despite their best efforts they are unable to complete the takedown of the involved parties; two of the terrorists make an escape with the contraband, and Alex and her mysterious new teammate Caleb (whom she suspects is CIA) pursue them in a helicopter. With the chopper almost out of fuel, she calls upon her extraordinary sniper skills to bring the fleeing criminals down. Local law enforcement is less than thrilled with the wild chase and the gunfight, but Alex’s bosses try to smooth it over given the satisfactory outcome. Alex, it will become apparent, is very good at what she does, but her actions often result in gunfire and dead bodies…and that tends to annoy the locals. On the heels of this situation, Alex receives notification that Krysten, an MI5 agent with whom she had struck up a friendship some years ago at a security conference, has died. It has been ruled an accident, but Alex is not so sure and heads to London to investigate. Shortly after her arrival Alex finds herself being tailed by Russians (and yes, another firefight ensues), which only intensifies her suspicions. She discovers more about what Krysten was doing undercover for MI5, and learns disturbing facts about Krysten’s background that make her question their friendship….and the encrypted information that Krysten sent to Alex in her final moments. When Alex is yanked out of London and directed to Turkey where a nuclear weapon has gone missing from the American airbase, she reluctantly reunites with Caleb to find out who stole it and why….and must find and neutralize it before it can be released upon the world.
In this first book of a projected series, I enjoyed reading the exploits of a highly trained and very capable woman who started her military career as a medic, morphed into a legendary sniper, and then after experiencing several losses opted to dial back her level of engagement in the world’s conflicts. While she wants to continue to contribute to the effort, she no longer chooses to be the tip of the spear. Caleb has been sent to persuade her otherwise, to remind her of the breadth of her skills and the satisfaction that using those skills brings her. When she is thrust into the murky world of spies and disinformation, she taps into her instincts to sort truth from obfuscation, and follows those instincts even when they contradict direct orders. The author’s background both as a medic and as a CBRNE incident responder provided interesting details throughout the chase, and he wove an interesting plot. Alex seems to get away with a lot of breaches of procedure and protocol to a degree that might strain credulity, but overall it was a fast paced and engrossing read. Readers of Jack Carr, Mark Greaney and Marc Cameron (all of whom have blurbed the novel), as well as Francine Mattews and Cara Black, should pick up a copy and give Alex Martel a spin. Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press/Minotaurs Books for allowing me access to an advanced reader’s copy.