The Specialist: The Costa Rica Job

by Charles Peterson Sheppard

"After barely surviving thirty-nine days of hell in Costa Rica--the site of his first-ever botched assignment--the Specialist is just coming off a six-month hiatus when the beautiful Mimi Sabo contacts him. Desperate to find her kidnapped father and withjust days to come up with millions in ransom, Mimi needs the Specialist's expertise, and quick. But there is only one she is from Costa Rica-the last place the Specialist ever wants to be again. The Specialist is prepared to decline the job until Mimi slaps a fat check on his desk. When he begins his investigation, he enlists the help of his friend and former Israeli secret service member and soon discovers that things are not as they appear. Swept up in a life-or-death mission, the Specialist heads to Costa Rica, where he must walk a path of corruption and betrayal, pitted against drug cartels, dirty cops, turncoat agents, and a terrorist bomber. But even the Specialist could never have predicted what happens next. In this gripping thriller, one man must return to the place that has given him so much trouble and face his demons in order to solve a case for a beautiful client"--P. [4] of cover.

Genres: Fiction

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 27, 2013

About the author

Charles Peterson Sheppard is originally from Springwater NY 14560 and attended Wayland Central School in Wayland, NY 14572 (Go Eagles!) He has seven sisters and four brothers; he is the eleventh of twelve children. He attended UCLA and earned a degree in English Literature with a background in advocacy journalism (Go Bruins!) and taught elementary school in the Los Angeles community for several years. He currently lives and works in California with his wife Paz Merlan (also an author) and his faithful dog Hershey. He welcomes your feedback and reviews. He is currently working on his advanced degree in Education and Public Policy and preparing for the next installment in The Specialist action series in collaboration with his brother Phillip W. Sheppard.

Reviews

[Phillip Sheppard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give my brother five stars for writing a great book but in fair disclosure he is my younger brother and I love him.

Phillip The Specialist

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I admit I would never have picked this up/have known this existed if I were not a massive Survivor fan. But I am, and I happen to follow several contestants on Twitter, which is where I found out that this book is actually a thing. The Kindle version was only $3.49, so I went for it.

First and foremost, I severely doubt this book was even edited. If it was, Mr. Sheppard needs to get his money back. Errors abound! My favorites were where words were spelled two different ways ON THE SAME PAGE. Is it whisky or whiskey? Anjela or Angela? If you can't even spell one of your character's names correctly, there's kind of an issue. (That error happened more than once, by the way.) The country of Colombia was also misspelled as "Columbia" throughout the entire book. Oops. The other thing that boggled my mind was that any word in Spanish, be it a person's name, a place name, or dialogue, was italicized, and Spanish dialogue was redundantly translated.

Fake example: "I entered the old cantina in downtown San Jose, and gestured to the bartender. 'Cerveza, por favor,' Beer, please."

I understand that not everyone can speak Spanish, but I think that using foreign dialogue is meant to convey atmosphere, and that it doesn't necessarily have to be spelled out literally to the reader. It could at least be explained later via narration in a less clunky way, like saying, "'Cerveza, por favor.' The bartender set a frosty mug in front of me, and I took a grateful sip." There, you understand a beer has been ordered, and the translation doesn't remove you from the atmosphere.

No one should pick this up expecting great literature. I'd hoped it might prove mediocre entertainment, and it may have gotten there at times. It's easy and quick to read, and it entertained me for a few days reading it over lunch.

Editorial faults aside, truly the book's greatest moments are the little Survivor in-joke Easter eggs that allude to Phillip's eccentric "secret agent" past. You can feel the sense of joy and wish fulfillment that comes through the descriptions of weapons, cars, fights, explosions, descriptions of hot girls, anything that is stereotypically included in a spy movie is definitely in this book. Whether or not Phillip was actually ever involved in special forces/secret agentry, the enthusiasm for the subject is real. My favorite inclusion was definitely the symbolism of the quetzal and its link to Phillip's ancestral Cherokee grandfather. An absolute shout-out to Survivor fans, and well worth the $3.49.

[Sean C · Rating 1 out of 5]

OK - I read this cover to cover and it's pretty bad. The dialog is laughable and the character of "The Specialist" is miles from believable. The author really should have let some people who weren't friends and family read this before publishing.

[Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the worst books I've read in a long time. I just couldn't get into the story or the characters.

[Dustin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got 5 chapters into this and couldn't continue- I had to stop... it was that BAD! Badly written, bad story, just bad.

[Max · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really did not care for this book--glad it was short!

[Eric J. Gates · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘The Specialist – the Costa Rica Job’ by Charles Peterson Sheppard is an action-packed, thrilling ride right from the first paragraphs to its tense climax. The novel is very fast-paced, in keeping with the genre, and the author’s writing style combined with the narration in the first person puts the reader right in the hot seat throughout. I was also impressed how well researched the tale was too, with many small details adding both credibility and realism to the story.

Action thrillers are many and a goodly portion of them concentrate on the fast-moving events and tend to gloss over the characters. That is most definitely not the case with Sheppard’s writing. Both through the protagonist’s comments and interactions and the deeds of his small band of collaborators, the reader is treated to an assortment of personages brought together with their own backstories and motivations, which occasionally clash, the conflict creating depth and integrity for the distinct decisions they make as the tale progresses, and serves to justify their behavior and make the novel even more entertaining.

Highly recommended for lovers of the books of Chris Ryan, Lee Child, Andy McNab, Mark Dawson and James Rollins.

[Will · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book as a fan of Survivor, and will be honest that I would not have read the book if not for the show. For fans of the show, the book is pretty entertaining, and there are a few great cheeky nods to the show (for example when they fly over a beach where "some reality show" is filmed. The mistakes in spelling and grammar (e.g. the country of "Columbia") are simultaneously amateurish and almost endearing. The writing is patchy, and the story of espionage is pretty by-the-numbers (hot chick? check. betrayal? check. exotic location? check. tough male lead? check. nice car? check. gadgets? check.) I would be giving the book more stars, but the depiction of anyone who isn't American is pretty painful. Latin Americans are all some rough stereotype which gets painful. I want to be supportive of a new writer, and a family project, but this part of the book brings it down.

[James Bond · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to commend the author for his research into weapons, military aircraft, and martial arts. I just wish that he would have put the same amount of effort into the actual story.

[Kerrie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Downloaded this because I enjoyed one of the authors on Survivor, but there were too many grammatical and punctuation errors to concentrate on the story!