Homefront

Phil Broker #6

by Chuck Logan

The daughter of ex-cop Phil Broker andex-army major/anti-terrorist operative Nina Pryce, Kit Brokeris no ordinary eight-year-old. She has seen more -- and survived more -- than most grown-ups. And now she has inadvertently invited a nightmare into the lives of those she loves. Phil Broker and his family moved to tiny Glacier Falls, Minnesota, to heal from the psychological wounds they received while helping to avert an inhuman act of terror. But young Kit chose the wrong adversary when she triumphed over local schoolyard bully Teddy Klumpe -- for the boy's disreputable clan does unholy business from the darkest shadows of their small town . . . and they do not forgive. What begins as a minor feud between neighbors quickly escalates into a major offensive of intimidation, destruction, fear . . . and death. And the worst is yet to come -- because terror has come home.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Action, Crime, Adventure

408 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 28, 2005

About the author

Chuck Logan is an author of crime drama and veteran of the Vietnam War, who lives with his wife and daughter in Stillwater, Minnesota.

He is best known for his series of novels featuring the character Phil Broker, an ex-Minnesota police officer. Logan's novels include Hunter's Moon, Absolute Zero, Vapor Trail, Homefront, and After the Rain. Homefront is now a major motion picture starring James Franco and Jason Stratham.

Reviews

[Alain Burrese · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw “Homefront” by Chuck Logan at the used book store. The repackaging of the cover with the picture of Jason Statham worked, as it is what caught my eye. I enjoyed the movie, so I decided to check out the book that Sylvester Stallone turned into a screenplay.

First of all, the book and movie are quite a bit different. While many of the characters are the same, and there are similarities with the story, there are also some very big differences. The biggest being that Phil Broker's wife is not dead in the book as she is in the film, and she plays a major role in the story.

The story does involve the Brokers and their daughter living near a small town to get away from their past for reasons that are disclosed in the story. They do have a run in with locals that is concluded with violence, something both Brokers are good at.

I enjoyed the book. It is suspenseful and the characters are interesting, flawed and when it comes to the bad guys, evil. It's a gritty dark story with a thread of hope running through it. At times I wanted a bit more action, but I still enjoyed the character development and back stories too. This is the first of Logan's books I've read, but he definitely has the knack of writing a good action thriller.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the movie but this was so different from the movie that it seemed like a separate piece of fiction all together. I really enjoyed the tension that built up in parts of it - like between Cassie and Gator. I also enjoyed the little flashbacks that Logan dispersed throughout the book - they add a lot of background in short snippets. Most of all I loved Nina Pryce and I wished she'd been in the movie. It is wonderfully deep and dynamic character who is facing her own internal struggles alongside the action of the book.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid 4-star tale from cover to cover! The book does justice to the chaos and deep trauma of a couple struggling to return to civilian life after a blown mission, involving tragic deaths, perpetrated by some truly bad actors. It also includes a nasty revenge plot attempted in the middle of a winter storm.

Throw in some tweaker kids trying to make their own supply of meth and the usual bunch of utterly pathetic local crooks who will do anything to make the big time in the interstate meth business, and you have all the precursors (sic) for a great read! Good stuff! I think I’ll read another.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full disclosure. I ordered this 2005 Chuck Logan release from our local library for a couple of reasons. First, I was curious to know if the Sylvester Stallone movie by the same title as released in November 2013 duplicated the novel. (It turns out; there are apparently some major discrepancies. The film version has the lead character, Phil Broker as a widower. His spouse, Nina Pryce, doesn’t appear in the cast. Their daughter Kit is called Mandy in the film. The screenplay version is set in the swamps of Louisiana, not northern Minnesota. There is no Harry Griffin in the movie. There is no Sheriff Keith Nygard in the movie. And the list goes on and on.)

Secondly, Logan and I live not only in the same state but in the same metropolitan area. I was just curious to know if I would recognize any of the places that appear here in “Homefront.” It turns out; Logan includes a lot of real streets and roads and other locales that do exist. Others, not so much. For example, I couldn’t find a Glacier County in Minnesota. Ditto Glacier Falls. Not sure about the Washichu State Forest. An apparent mixture of fact and fiction.

As a writer, Logan paints his characters and settings with clear, almost photographic brush strokes. For example, the author describes the middle school student who serves as a catalyst for the entire plot this way: “The Klumpe kid was almost nine. Naturally powerful for his age, he packed an extra ten pounds of junk-food blubber in a sumo-like tire around his gut and his wide PlayStation 2 butt. Biggest kid in the third grade. Most feared kid. Knew the most swear words. King of the playground.” As a casting director for the film version, this character sketch would make my job quite easy.

Logan also handles action and intense emotion in a similar fashion. Short brush strokes here. “Gator shook his head. Years of work. Perfect plan. Perfect location. Belize. Boat engines. Never gonna see the . . . ocean. With tremendous effort, he pushed off the wall, started after them, Sheryl coming up now, grimacing, rubbing a bruised knot on her temple. Eyes like jelly. Shock maybe. Yapping. ‘What’s going on? Who is she?’ ” An almost poetic sequence. Like an impressionistic painter.

Bottom line, this is a story about relationships. Broken ones mostly. In the end, healed ones. Revenge and restoration are the themes. Logan’s work here is quite graphic, but finely crafted. This is “Mrs. Doubtfire” meets “Die Hard.” Read the book first then watch the movie.

[Karl Jorgenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Logan is a skillful thriller writer, even if his editor can't conjugate the verb 'to lie.' The characters are complex on both sides of the law, struggling with internal/domestic problems as well as external conflicts. This book is the sixth in the series, but the first I've read. I guessed it was later as the characters threw out plot spoilers about how Broker had rescued the cruise ship from pirates and stopped the terrorists from blowing up the Eifel Tower. I'll go back and read earlier books now, even though this one was somewhat less 'thrilling.'
This book, true to its title, is story that happens in between thrillers: Broker and Nina, just back from saving the world, are resting and recuperating in the north woods. For two-thirds of the book we see them drinking coffee, looking at the snow, driving the kid to school. It's not all dull, though, we also see some local bad guys getting ready to run a criminal enterprise. The bad guys see Broker, guess he might be trouble, and after messing with him decide to give his name to some big shot bad guys, who it turns out want to kill Broker. The last third of the book is high suspense and action as the good guys and bad guys go at it.
This plot probably works better for someone who's read the preceding five high-action thrillers and identify with Broker and Nina. For me, it seemed to take too long to build, with way too many tentative scenes where one of the bad guys checks something out and goes 'hmmmm.'

[Marse · Rating 4 out of 5]

No soy muy partidaria de leer libros después de ver la película pero ésta me llamó mucho la atención así que lo leí de igual manera.

Home front es de escritura fácil, te inserta fuertemente en la historia y te hace partícipe de todos los acontecimientos. Buenos personajes y las páginas justas, agregarle una más hubiese sido para aburrir, así está bien.

Lo único por lo que no puedo darle 5 estrellas es porque me faltó más drama al final, ese drama que puso James Franco y Jason Staham en la película.

[RockChick40 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the book & was excited to hear they made a movie about it. Well written, kept me on the edge of my seat. If anyone reads the book they must see the movie!

[Phillip III · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not realize Homefront by Chuck Logan was what they based the movie Homefront (staring Jason Statham and James Franco). I remember really enjoying the movie. I generally don't read a book After seeing a movie. I prefer to read a book prior to the film. But my deal was to read all the Phil Broker books. So I decided I would still read the novel. And man, am I glad that I did.

Nina Pryce is a mess. PTSD,  Her shoulder is shot. Her career with the Army as a Major is all but over. She is slipping away. Her husband, Phil Broker, knows his family needs an escape. Time alone. He takes them to a friend's place. Harry Griffin has graciously given them the keys to his place in Glacier County, and fitted Broker with a part time job, whether the ex-cop, ex-military guy needed work or not. It would give him something to do, to keep him busy.

Broker, Pryce, and their daughter Kit do the best they can to settle in. The cabin is out in the middle of nowhere, but close enough to town for Kit to continue her education while Pryce works on Pryce. A bully at school, Teddy Klumpe, sets in motion a catastrophic series of events that, once started, becomes impossible to stop.

Gator makes a good living restoring vintage tractors. It isn't enough. He wants to be in the big time. Cooking and selling meth is where the money is at. He knows something is not right about Broker. The guy doesn't fit into the community. Sticks out like a sore thumb. Taking a closer look at the family a plan hatches in his demented mind.

Long ago Broker worked undercover. He infiltrated a biker gang. His intel got many of the members arrested. Sent to prison. There were still hard feelings. Danny T. has never let the anger over JoJo's arrest subside. In fact it has only festered. When he learns Broker may have been responsible for the bust, and the Broker was in Glacier, the idea of revenge becomes the biker's only motivation.

There can be no witnesses. The vendetta should be complete. And while Broker believes his life his finally getting back in line, his world is upended . . . and the ones he loves the most are suddenly in danger!

Homefront is explosive. I read the book with a knot in my gut the entire time. Too often I had to remember to breathe. While the movie was definitely good, enjoyable, the novel they adapted the film from was one-hundred times better!

Phillip Tomasso
Author of Absolute Zero
and Damn the Dead

[Marc T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommended as part of the series.

I think Chuck Logan can write and write well. His Broker series has been exemplary - well developed characters and relationships in believable tense, thrilling situations. I have enjoyed this series tremendously. Unfortunately, the last book in the timeline falls short when compared to previous installments.

This one was slow and boring with a underwhelming denouement. Mr. Logan had not produced anything for a while and then a few years ago he came out with "Broker", a seventh installment in the series but which takes us back to Broker's beginnings. I look forward to it. But I do hope he writes at least one more after Homefront chronologically so the series doesn't end with this book.

[Chris Ramsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having seen the movie I was curious about the book when I came across it, with the actors on the cover. I always like to see how close adapted screenplays stray from the original work and after finishing the book, needed a refresher on the movie again for comparison. I didn't initially realize the screenplay was adapted by Sylvester Stallone, and found this interesting. There is a glaring difference between the two with a main character apparently suffering a pre-production demise in the movie. Their presence and story arc I feel gives the book more heart than the film is able to accomplish in the allotted viewing time. Otherwise, it was an enjoyable read and I may have to look into the the previous adventures of Phil Broker now that I see multiple books exist depicting his exploits.

[Tamahome · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again after seeing the passable action movie, I decided to get more details from the book. The book actually has an army wife with ptsd, and she's not in the movie at all. Also, the guy that own's Broker's house, Griffin, is in the book too, but not the movie. The movie, written by Sylverster Stallone, is a severely abridged version of the book. I guess Stallone was originally going to do it, but then gave it to Jason Statham. This is #6 in the book series! It's more technical and has more characterization than the movie. I kind of wished for some more action though.

[Kara Neal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done!

It’s such a shame that Chuck Logan didn’t also write the screenplay, because Stalone cut out the main character and made it into another Rambo movie. The movie was still okay, but the book is so much better. One negative for me were multiple editing misses and/or typos... very sloppy.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably 3.5 stars.

I watched the terrible movie version of this recently. It was poorly done, but it had a lot of potential that could have made a good story. I thought I would give the book a try, and it was an enjoyable read. I really liked the development of the various characters and the setting was very much a character in the book. This was a fun action filled book.

[BBK · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was torture because despite an interesting premise and world building, I didn’t like any of the characters but I especially disliked one of the key ones. The third part was particularly weak after a strong, promising first half.

[Kimberly Kasper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read in that something like this could actually happen with people wanting to get back at others.

[Deyth Banger · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you looking for another book to read this year... try this one here!

[Chris Bridson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Broker saga ends with the hero defending his family from backcountry meth heads.

[Carolina Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. Lots of tension and suspense. Sad to lose one of the characters I liked a lot. No spoilers.
Maybe he'll be replaced in the next book.
Good read. Thanks to Chuck Logan.

[ELDEE · Rating 4 out of 5]

A typical Logan book

[Paul Morra · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story. Nothing crazy, but offered some complex characters. A slow burn but you will not get bored while the flames grow.

[John Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was really good. I got a Chuck Logan recommendation from the prologue in one of Stewar Woods books. I'm definitely going to read a couple more of Logan's novels.

[Bob Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just let the kids handle it

I go this book because I had watch the movie adaptation and wanted to compare the two. As is usually the case the book was different from the movie, but in a good way. Both movie and book show what happens when parents get involved in their children's problems. What starts as a fight between two children ends up turning into a wholly different thing. I don't want to give to much of the story away, but when the big kids get involved things get taken to a whole new level. Phil Broker is trying to save his family from coming apart at the seams and gets thrust into events that he didn't want. Now I would not say that there are innocent victims in this story, but there are degrees of innocence and that is what this story has. If you like stories that have nice people in less than ideal situations, but ends with a glimmer of hope at the end then give this one a try. It is a fast paced story and one that holds your attention to the end.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, complex characters, especially Nina, who suffers from a bout of severe depression throughout most of the book. This author is clearly familiar with the condition as his description of symptoms is right on target. Her husband, Phil, is flawed but still likable. The most interesting aspect of their relationship is that, although he is a tough ex-cop who has no trouble handling himself in a fight, his wife is the real dangerous one in the family and a hero(ine) in her own right. The other characters were equally interesting and well-defined. The suspense was gripping from chapter one, but the payoff, though satisfying, did not quite live up to my expectations. Still, Homefront was a good read and I will definitely check out more from this writer.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

#6 in the Phillip Broker series. I guess with only a few exceptions, when I hit the end of a series it doesn't feel like a natural ending and I expect that lack of contract renewal or declining author's health forced the series cessation. This is not one of the exceptions; the series end took me so by surprise that I sought a sequel for years.
Author Logan did write a non-series novel a few years later, South of Shiloh (2008), but nothing since.

Phillip Broker moves his family to a friend's cabin in Glacier Falls, MN while waiting for wife, Nina, to recover from her depression and physically rehabilitate from her ordeal in "After the Rain". Daughter Kit's schoolyard confrontation with a bully escalates and brings the bully's uncle, ex-con Gater Bodine, to stalk the Brokers.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think as much as I like the troupe of South Florida fiction writers, the Minnesota group can be as entertaining and thought provoking...just as John D. MacDonald is the "Godfather" of the 1st group, John Sanford serves the same purpose for the 2nd...Logan is amongst the best of this 2nd group...the Broker series continues the knight-errant hero's story of righting wrongs in the Great Northern Plains by getting into the middle of a meth-making conspiracy and the long-arm of a biker-gang who wants revenge...it also continues the story of recovery for his wife Nina Pryce of her physical and emotional wounds

[Tagra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I queued this one up because the premise sounded interesting. As I work through my reading queue I often forget why I added books to it, and a chapter or two into this I had to stop and look it up to figure out why the hell I had added it. Then I was like "Oh, right. That DOES sound interesting." I slogged away at it but... I just can't do it. The writing is pretentious and overdone, littered with isolated sentences and choppy wording that's designed to hype up the drama. There's a complete lack of subtlety here. It feels like being bashed over the head with words. Watching the movie will be less painful.

[Roxane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. There are some wonderful parts, particularly in how Logan chronicles Nina's struggles with depression. Very interesting physical descriptions but at times, everything is just a little too much. The action scenes are mostly just crazy jumbles of words, lacking coherence. There are weird jumps through time. And also, this book has not been copyedited, which is a problem.

The really sad part is how Nina was written out of the movie entirely but that is a different topic entirely.

[Mikel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book by Chuck Logan. It portrays a very interesting process his wife, the elite Army soldier, goes through. That said, it's apparent that it's picking up where a previous novel left off, so this series should really be read chronologically.

Logan does a good job with character development and a fair job with plot. His sense of place, northern Minnesota, is refreshing. Made me chilly just to read it.

[Kris Laabs Malmberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book because it was available immediately on Overdrive and I needed something to listen to while walking. Had no idea what it was about. I stumbled on the Phil Broker series set in my home state of MN and throughly enjoyed. It was fast moving and kept me guessing. The reader did great voices. This happened to be #6 in the series. I am now starting back at the beginning of the series.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot was engrossing, but it was a little loosely woven making it hard to follow at times. In fairness, I haven't read any of the earlier books in the series - perhaps the plot-line would have been easier to follow if I had that experience behind my reading. I liked the characters and the general story type, but I'm don't know whether I will go back and catch up the series.