Mercenary Measures

by Brandon Collier

A criminal mastermind named Malestar terrorizes the city of Salvador, Brazil, and after the crime spree, the police department and mayor become desperate and unofficially seek help from a band of mercenaries that are known to find criminals, but unlike bounty hunters, they don't return them alive. One such mercenary, Mauricio Campos, draws the interest of Malestar, and the line between predator and prey becomes blurred. Introspective, engaging, and full of action, Mercenary Measures has the literary makeup of an action genre masterpiece.

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Genres: Fiction

582 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

An author known for gritty tales and suspenseful thrillers, Brandon started off with non-fictional accounts of U.S. History as a youth, and then switched to writing fiction novels while learning at the Writer's Workshop during his college years. It was there he wrote numerous screenplays and stories, including Underneath the Palms of Rio, a haunting thriller in the beautiful and dangerous backdrop of Brazil.

Reviews

[↜ƈɦǟռ☂ɛℓℓɛ↝ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25★★★★Mercenary Measures by Brandon Collier

I was given this ARC in exchange for my honest review. It is set to release mid-July, so you're not getting too much from me, sorry.

So I really enjoyed this book. I am arguing with myself over the rating, and have been through out the book. I really want to give it a ★★★★★, but I think I have to stick with the 4.25★★★★.

This is very high paced action driven book, with 'in your face' blood, guts, and gore.

What do you do when a psychopathic madman(Malestar) spewing his propaganda through out the town, rallies all the youth into a die or die revolt against the laws and government? Well if you are greedy corrupt mayor(Cevos) you hire mercenaries. You surely don't want to get your hands dirty or ruin your bought reputation.

A mercenary is a mercenary, and is a killing machine, there are no good guys in this line of work, just people that are good at it. Call them what you will, mercenaries, assassins, hitmen, or straight up killers, they all have have a job, to get rid of problems, that are beyond the normal means of the law.

Mauricio is the best money can buy, and his reputation proceeds him among others of his kind. To him a target is a target, and is just a job. Emotions are for the weak, and only bring trouble.

Rodrigo is what I would call a 'want to be' mercenary. Sort of seems to me, like he just woke up one day and thought, I think I'll give being a mercenary a go. Sure he is handy with a gun, and can track among the best, but he has a lot to learn and is a liability. This is not the career where looking the part in a fancy suit, will advance you. It's most like going to restrict your movement.

Red, formally known as Sophie, is a kick ass vixen, with sharpshooter skills to match. They say if you got it, use it, and she does just that. She knows what all men want and will do anything to get. In the past her body and looks only caused her problems, but now they are another tool of her trade.

But what happens when the hit, is a complete lunatic, with no rhyme or reason to his actions. He does what he wants, when he wants, and believes everyone should do the same. He takes an eye for an eye vengeance beyond extreme, and feels he's creating his own masterpiece. He values only the moment, and no one is safe. The lines between hit and hitman become very thin, and you might find yourself on the wrong end of the gun.

Once a killer, always a killer. It becomes ingrained in your hard-wiring. Sure the thought of a normal life seems good now and then, but after living on an adrenaline rush for so long, could anyone truly live day to day, in a restricting suit, behind a cramped desk, in a stuffy office? I think, not.

This is a long book at almost 600 pages. It is fully a twists and turns and flips and jumps. Almost to the point that it could have been two books, with an incredibly evil cliff hanger in the middle. Ok, maybe that would have been too cruel, but follows true to story line.

I guess my only real issue with the book is location. Not in the locations chosen for the story, they were great. They were detailed, and seemed beautiful and horrible all at the same time. It truly is a glimpse into the cultures of other countries, and how very different and similar, they can be from the U.S. My location problem is, there were quite a few of them. Between countries, hide outs, home, offices, the island, slums, and airports, we were all over the place. There was a lot of jumping around with what each group was doing at any given time. This left me questioning quite a few times, where the hell are they now. There are many language barriers, between the multiple countries and players. This also left me asking myself, who spoke that language, again?

I am a bit bummed because I was secretly hoping for something I didn't get:-( Boo! But we seem to be left with a cliff hanger ending, ugh! So hopefully we will get more of the mercenaries. I really don't believe this is the end of their story, and would love to read more about them.

Thanks to the author for sharing this movie, oh wait I mean book, with me. But seriously, it felt more like I was watching a movie than reading a book. I just watched it play out. Like I said before, it had a real, "Man on Fire," vibe to me, so of course I want more.

[Art the Turtle of Amazing Girth]

DNF at 60%

The writing is poorly poorly edited, there are oh so many instances of where the sentences are cut up and in odd order.

The characters act like a pre-teen wrote them, and their decisions are almost as if I should be watching this on some adult-ish cartoon somewhere.

I'm not attacking the author personally, just trying to be constructive.
Perhaps go to a coffee shoppe and listen to conversations. Observe people in your real life.
I understand they're mercenaries and murderers, but they should still have conversations and interactions like normal folks.

[Mohanalakshmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written thriller with a criminal mastermind at the center. Outfitted with a cast of vibrant characters, those who love suspense will find much to entertain in the story of Malestar, a villain who one could see being played by Javier Bardem in a film. The police need help in catching Malestar from a mercenary duo who provide the requisite romantic tension.

Not my normal reading genre but I enjoyed it all the same.

[Joseph Leavenworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has it all - corruption, action, character development, and a great pace. I couldn't stop turning the pages. Malestar is probably the most scariest villian I have ever read about. He's charismatic and sadistic. This has to be one of my favorite books I have ever read. From the very beginning, I was hooked. If you like fast paced books and great dialogue, I'll say read this book.

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read! Interesting characters, good plot with twists. Think I will cross Brazil off my list of places to visit. Looking forward to the next book.

[Armani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Action, humour, violence and very interesting characters. Awesome book!

[TheConsultingWriter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mercenary Measures is set in the country of Brazil. Mauricio is one of a few assassins hired to handle a problem: the unleashing of villain Malestar onto the streets of Brazil. Mauricio is a conflicted protagonist. A few chapters in, I knew what he would have to go through in order to change him from the man he once was to the hero he was destined to be.

Malestar is every bit of the typical villain, complete with a horrific childhood. When I was first introduced to the character, I initially thought of the Joker. "Some people just want to watch the world burn." I think that makes for an interesting character, as they are harder to figure out and understand.

For those that don't care for the abuse of women, this might not be the book for you. Malestar has a room full of drugged women that he uses for various nefarious purposes.
For those who have a problem with torture, there are some minor scenes. I tend to stay away from such novels; however, this book did not cross any lines, in my opinion (some stabbings and shootings).

But half way through the novel, I had more of a problem with the villain. For me, the air of mystery is important. Sure, its good to know the motivations for the character, but invading his thoughts ruined it for me. To hear his reasoning made me realize he was no different than the other antagonists within the story.

Side note: And then he listens to Joseph Hayden's Symphony No. 5 in F sharp. As a musician, I had some difficult understanding why. In my opinion, the music is rather lively, which would in turn interfere with one's thoughts. There are other, more somber pieces, such as Mozart's Requiem in D minor for example, that would allow the listener to get lost in thought. Yes, yes I am a music snob. But I assure you, my rating on this book did not take this portion into account.

The story was somewhat entertaining. I personally had difficulty focusing on the book; however, this would not have been a story that I would have actively sought out to read. I believe for those who are fans of action, assassins, shoot 'em up movies, etc. that this would be a good read for them.

Note: I received a free copy of the novel from the author for the purpose of Book of the Month. The opinions in this review are my own and are honest opinions of the novel.

[Kimberley Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

**I received a copy of this book as an ARC, and am giving my honest opinion of the book. In no way did this influence my review whatsoever. **

"Mercenary Measures" is not my typical genre when it comes to fiction. However, with that being said, I enjoyed it very much. It was action packed, and the characters and locations described beautifully. I almost felt more like I was watching a movie than reading a book.

Malestar, is a terrorist who has terrorized the city of Salvador, Brazil. The mayor has hired a group of mercenaries to go after him. Collier created a character in Malestar who was sinister, evil and made me despise him through my kindle. One of the mercenaries is Mauricio, who along with his girlfriend, Claudia postpones their future plans to go after him. They join with another group and decide to work together. Malestar's backstory is revealed and proves that he really believes he is in the right when he reigns terror, and due to some of his backstory, Collier made him very real.

I struggled between 3 and four stars with this book. Mainly because it isn't a genre I normally read, but also because the book did have some minor issues. Perhaps for others, these things wouldn't be deemed "issues", but to me, they were. The length of the book was close to 600 pages. It was slightly too long. The story was great, so this wasn't an issue in that way, but it would have been great to see the author break this up into two books. Perhaps even a series, because there is obviously another one coming after this ending. This way, it would have kept my interest peaked the entire time. I agree with a few of the other reviews, there was a lot of telling instead of showing. A a fellow author, I know it's very hard to see that in your own work. I feel like less telling would have made the book easier to wrap up and shorten.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and went with four stars because this author really showed a lot of greatness in this novel. It's a bit graphic and hardcore, but overall very well done. And the cover is fantastic!!

I look forward to more from this author.

[Walter Danley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mercenary Measures by Brandon Collier

BOOK REVIEW by Walter Danley

Let me start by saying I’m not the right person to review this novel. I don’t read fantasy, not even good fantasy, and this is not. The enjoyment of reading fiction, for most of us, is found in the suspension of disbelief. Samuel Taylor Coleridge coined that term in 1817 and defined it thus; if a writer could infuse a "human interest and a semblance of truth" into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative. In my opinion, Mr. Collier failed in this regard.

The premise is that Maurice and Claudia are romantically involved mercenaries hired by the Mayor of a town in Brazil to eliminate (kill) Malestar, the master criminal who has threatened the Mayor and his family lives. Mayor Vesco has additionally hired several other competing mercenaries with the same objective. Malestar’s sole purpose in life is to rob, murder and, in anyway, intimidate the citizens of the town in order to demonstrate his ‘freedom from all authority.” Really?

The inability of the author to create a suspension of disbelief is further foiled by poor editing, short choppy elementary narrative that lacks reader respect, and childish dialog. Both the narrative passages and the dialog seem unconnected to the character’s emotionally development. The liberal sprinkling of clichés, coupled with a sentence structure and vocabulary more appropriate to a very, very young audience, Mercenary Measures fails to be appropriate for an adult reader. The novel is rated two of five stars.

The reviewer was furnished a copy of Mercenary Measures in exchange for an honest review.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

My Thoughts:

Sadly, this book isn't for me. I love mysteries and thrillers, but this is not one to my liking. Mainly, I have an issue with the rudimentary writing style that is employed throughout this entire novel. It is too basic. As this book takes place in Brazil, I was anticipating a novel full of explanations of the city in order to help establish the plot. However, I was mistaken. The lack of descriptive writing makes me question this "world." In other words, I find this story to be totally unbelievable when I believe the author desires his readers to find this to be believable. Yes, government can be corrupt, but I do not believe it can be as corrupt to the extent Collier portrays it to be (especially the way the government deals with Malestar).

Besides the world building, I am disappointed by the characters. To be honest, I did not like a majority of them. Mainly, I did not like their lack of development in the novel; they are too one-dimensional which I think hinders any hope for development. Additionally, I find the protagonist to be too perfect. Conveniently, he gets out of every situation mostly unharmed. I would have preferred more angst as this is a thriller.

Sadly, the writing, plot, and characters are totally unappealing to me. This book is not my cup of tea; I got over halfway through it, but it was torture so I stopped. My mind had been decided, and I frankly couldn't care if they caught Malestar.

There are some captivating scenes in this book where readers will hold their breath, but they are done in such a cliched fashion that it gets dull.

*I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

My biggest complaint about the book is that the writing is bland. It's an odd juxtaposition of a fast-paced action story and bland, almost clinical writing.

Though the writing style could use improvement, I enjoyed the story itself. Furthermore, book is fairly clean of typos and grammatical errors. I've seen some, but it's not as bad as many indie authors, especially for a book of 581 pages. The book also came across as very well researched in its descriptions of Brazil.

As far as character development, it is better than I was expecting. At first, I thought Malestar was going to be a stereotypical psychopath. But he turned out to be more complex than I thought. I didn't feel particularly sympathetic about any of the characters. They all came across as sociopaths, near sociopaths, and sociopath wannabees. However, they were interesting.

So given that the writing style could use improvement, yet relatively clean of typos and grammar errors, the story itself is good, and the characters interesting, I'm giving it a 3.

[Ruby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a fast read coupled with action left and right. Half way through the book I was turning the pages even faster. It was action packed until the very end. There was great character development and it was a well paced story.


Mauricio Campos and a band of mercenaries are hired by the mayor of Salvador, Brazil to take out a criminal mastermind named Malestar who is terrorizing the city at will. The job seems like routine work until Mauricio realizes that Malestar is unlike any target he's faced, and begins to target him as well. The backdrop of the city is described beautifully, as well as the rampant corruption within the city.

This book wouldn't surprise me if it made the big screen. HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!