Waking Lazarus (A Guardian Novel #2)

Jake Harris' life hasn't turned out the way he planned. Battling his addictions, and the shattered pieces of his family, he is hired to ghostwrite a memoir. From the 1920's story of a controversial evangelist, to the present day mystery of a former District Attorney, everything changes when his search for the truth leads to an atrocity hidden from history. With a past he can't remember, he begins to discover that he is not the person he believed himself to be. Rather, he is a threat to a secret society that has remained in the shadows for nearly a century. Jake is drawn deep inside a world he never knew existed that brings him closer to his own extraordinary destiny.

*May Contain Spoilers*

DJ Williams defies expectations with his novel, Waking Lazarus, the second in the Guardian series. With everything already lost, there isn't much choice but for Jake Harris to help with an investigation that cleared him as a suspect. But there's more to the FBI partnership than there seems. 

Jake seems like an average man going through a rocky part of life. He's getting divorced, though he doesn't want to, and lacking both a job and a home. When he's hired to ghostwrite a memoir, it seems his prayers have been answered. He has hope, he has drive, but he also has a drinking problem. Jake Harris is about as real as a character can get, before he is dragged into a world of secret societies and trained assassins. After Doc Warren hires Jake as a writer, he is killed and Jake is pulled into a world that he was once a part of. But those memories have been erased. Jake isn't a perfect person, he has more then his fair share of flaws, but he has good intentions and even better motivations: keeping his wife and daughter safe. I think readers will connect with him through that motivation more than anything else. 

Though not the main character, I really enjoyed Kate's role in the story. She is brought back by the President to protect Jake, though she isn't given a reason as to why. As she becomes entangled in this terrorizing plot, Kate's certainty that she's working for the good guys becomes unclear. I really enjoyed that Williams wrote a female FBI agent to protect Jake, it added another level to the relationships, espionage, and what overall success of the operation would mean exactly. 

The plot begins with Doc Warren and the story of Evelyn Shaw, a 1920s miracle worker. She created Hope House, a place for orphaned children, in different areas around the world. Some of these children were trained to be weapons under an off-the-books government program. Jake Harris was one of them. In present day, the secret society of the Brethren know Jake is alive, but they don't know who he is. They know him only as Lazarus. However, Jake doesn't remember how to be Lazarus. Though he can be forced to remember. 

Waking Lazarus is an action thriller with guts and killer instincts. To fight the Brethren, Lazarus must be awakened in Jake, but the cost is high. Readers will enjoy the action in the novel as Jake searches for answers and redemption. But this is only the start of the war. The end leaves readers hanging off a cliff, waiting for the battle to really begin. 

Rating: 3.5/5 Cups

The Disillusioned (A Guardian Novel #1)

Jailbird

"Jailbird" takes us into a fractured a comic, pure Vonnegut world of high crimes and misdemeanors in government...and in the heart. This wry tale follows bumbling bureacrat Walter F. Starbuck from Harvard to the Nixon White House to the penitentiary as Watergate's least know co-conspirator. But the humor turns dark when Vonnegut shines his spotlight on the cold hearts and calculated greed of the mighty, giving a razor-sharp edge to an unforgettable portrait of power and politics in our times.

*May Contain Spoilers*

I love Kurt Vonnegut. Now that I've said that, let that out, please allow me to clarify. I think he's an amazing writer, a genius of the written craft. Jailbird dares not argue, but further solidifies my opinion. In this novel, published in 1979, Walter Starbuck has just been released from prison for his minuscule role in the Watergate political scandal. 

Walter Starbuck is the son of two immigrant servants, raised in the home of Alexander Hamilton McCone. Walter is an ideological self-admitted fool who takes life as it comes. He grew up playing chess, went to Harvard, and spent time in WWII where he met his wife, Ruth. They had a son and then a couple of weeks after Ruth's passing, Walter is incriminated in the Watergate investigation and is sent to prison. Now upon his release, he has no idea on what to do other than putting his Doctor of Mixology Degree to good use. Vonnegut takes readers into the world of Walter Starbuck, presenting every detail possibly needed from his history to his thought process. Readers will undoubtedly come to know Starbuck better than anyone else in his written life. His vulnerability and honesty will create the bond with readers while his enchanting whirlwind story will entertain them. 

The plot of the novel is very focused, but with more than enough detail on every topic. I love this about Vonnegut; his tangents of information are always entertaining and important. Jailbird opens with the history of Starbuck's parents and how Alexander Hamilton McCone plays a role in his life. Then we learn of the scandal that sent Walter to prison. What follows is a detailed timeline of what happens to Walter upon his release years later. Jailbird is such a lovely novel, I couldn't imagine how any reader wouldn't enjoy it. 

"Love may fail, but courtesy will prevail."
Prologue of Jailbird

Rating: 4.5/5 Cups

Moscow Bound

Ekaterina Romanova, the estranged wife of Russia's wealthiest oligarch Konstantin Gravchenko, asks Scott Mitchell, an idealistic young English human rights lawyer who is being intimidated by the authorities, to find the father she's never met. She believes he's been languishing for decades without trial in the Gulag system.

Meanwhile, General Pravda of military intelligence, though an advocate of transparency, is determined to protect a covert operation that he's been running for years. General Pravda hinders Ekaterina and Scott at every turn and lawyer and client are forced to go on the run for a murder they didn't commit.

As they descend into the Hades that is the world of international realpolitik Scott is compelled to reconsider his own values, and Pravda's life's work disintegrates, when Scott uncovers a 50 year-old Cold War secret, which both the Russian and US governments are still trying to hide from the public domain. 'Moscow Bound' is the first book in The Puppet Meisters trilogy, dealing with state abuse of power.

*May Contain Spoilers*

The Russian Government has a secret that dates back to the Vietnam War. When Ekaterina's mother dies, she doesn't expect the news that her father is still alive. Somehow the two are connected. But neither she nor Scott Mitchell expect the lengths that the Russian Government will go to in order to keep their secret in Moscow Bound by Adrian Churchward.

Scott Mitchell is the main character of Moscow Bound. He's a British human rights lawyer who lives in Moscow and is currently disliked by many of his fellow countrymen. Scott lives the law. He respects the legal system, uses it to his advantage, and readily points out when the law is not being upheld. Readers will respect Scott for his views and ambitions. He fights for the victim, especially when they can't fight for themselves. He's a very intelligent character with an open heart. Though, his inexperience in working with untrustworthy government employees and bad guys is obvious. Way too trusting.  

The plot of Moscow Bound quickly introduces how Scott's previous case has caused unrest with the opinion of him in Russian minds. But no doubt, this popularity catches Ekaterina's attention. She's beginning a search for her father who has been held by the Russian Government without trial for thirty years and needs the help of Mr. Mitchell. Does it get any more human rights than that? Readers will like Ekaterina though she is secretive, seemingly untrustworthy, and bizarre. Regardless I think a connection will still be made through sympathy and understanding. When Scott takes the case, things escalate quickly. Churchward pulls readers into the disastrous situation without pausing to take a breath. If the characters don't keep the audience engaged, the bombings, murders, and kidnappings will.

Rating: 3/5 Cups

Beirut

Michel Freij is poised to become the next president of Lebanon. The billionaire businessman’s calls for a new, strong regional role for the country take on a sinister note when European intelligence reveals Freij has bought two ageing Soviet nuclear warheads from a German arms dealer. 

Maverick British intelligence officer Gerald Lynch has to find the warheads, believed to be on board super-yacht the Arabian Princess, before they can reach Lebanon. Joined by Nathalie Durand, the leader of a French online intelligence team, Lynch is pitched into a deadly clash with Freij and his violent militia as he pursues the Arabian Princess across the Mediterranean. 

Beirut – An Explosive Thriller sweeps through Lebanon, Hamburg, Prague, Malta, Albania and the Greek Islands on its journey to a devastating climax.

*May Contain Spoilers*

No one is safe when those who deal in power play at war. In Alexander McNabb's novel, Beirut, the characters face down a deadly game of Nuclear Risk. One false move and the greedy politician will have his warheads and start the end of the Middle East. 

The main character of the novel, Gerald Lynch (who hates being called Gerry) is a British Intelligence Officer who lives in Beirut. When he discovers that Michel Freij is running for president, he knows that it isn't good for the country of Lebanon. Lynch is the character who demands the respect and sympathy of readers. He's the character left behind when those around him are suffering and disappearing. 

Lynch is loyal, trustworthy, and puts others before himself. Readers will bond with Lynch based on his desire to avenge his friends lost to the makings of war and his prideful personality which allows him to follow his gut. When he knows what needs to be done, Lynch is the man who does it without hesitation. 

The supporting characters each have their own line of sub-plot, but some of them don't stay around long enough for a stronger bond to form. When I say that no character is safe, I mean exactly that. Parts of this novel are a bit grotesque and detailed, but the plot demands the reality of undercover operations. 

As a reader who avoids books about war and death, I found Beirut thrilling and suspenseful. I've never read a book like this before, and Beirut was definitely the one I'm glad I started with. It grabbed my attention and kept the suspense rolling right up to the last word. Recommended. 

Rating: 3.5/5 Cups

Beirut - An Explosive Thriller