Death Stake

Trasker #2

by Andrew Mayne

The trail of missing coders leads a spy into an international underworld of treachery, double agents, and digital espionage in a propulsive thriller by a Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

Retired intelligence operative Brad Trasker heads security at a remote aerospace facility when there’s a major breach. A photo of their top-secret AI-designed hydrogen engine has surfaced online. Trasker’s investigation into who did it soon leads to a start-up in Bangkok, where its three software developers have disappeared, along with nearly a million dollars in investment money.

Following their tracks, Trasker hits a dead end. The start-up’s HQ is a padlocked crime scene. No one—not the cagey locals, the mobbed-up gangs, or the Royal Thai Police—is keen on answering Trasker’s questions. But their message is get out of Bangkok or die.

Hunted by assassins, Trasker is drawn into the same complex high-tech underworld of cryptocurrency, digital espionage, and betrayal that swallowed up the runaway coders. As the line between ally and enemy blurs, and the stakes become life and death, Trasker must navigate the dangerous intersection of modern intelligence and old-school spy games to survive.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook, Action, Crime

311 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 29, 2024

Reviews

[PamG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Action and suspense are front and center in Death Stake by Andrew Mayne. This second book in the series featuring retired intelligence operative Brad Trasker is mainly set in Bangkok, Thailand. Trasker is the head of security at a remote aerospace facility in the United States. When a photo of a top-secret military product shows up online, he begins to investigate. This leads to a start-up in Bangkok, where three software developers have disappeared and their headquarters is a crime scene.

Trasker tends to be proactive, wants to feel relevant, and has a great memory. He likes and is interest in maps and has a system to learn foreign words quickly. However, he often causes chaos, but mostly against the people trying to cause problems for him and his company. His greatest fear is letting people down.

What a wonderful, new-to-me series by a favorite author! It’s hard to get your breath as the action is fast and furious and the plot twists and turns. With exciting scenes and an antagonist that thinks on his feet and finds allies where-ever he goes, this is a riveting action and crime thriller.

The story quickly hooked me and kept me engaged to the very end. I can’t wait to see where the author takes the next book in the series. Threads include murder, corporate espionage, missing investments, deception, moral ambiguity, and more. Overall, this was an intense, suspenseful, fast-paced and dynamic thriller with good characterization.

Thomas and Mercer and Andrew Mayne provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The publication date is currently set for October 29, 2024.
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My 4.12 rounded to 4 stars review is coming soon.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Andrew Mayne, and Thomas & Mercer for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

I am always sure of a great reading experience when handed an ARC by Andrew Mayne. His style and adventurous storytelling keep the reader in the middle of the action while educating to no end. Bringing one of his newer protagonists back, Mayne provides the reader with a great story in the middle of Thailand and a tense investigation highly off the books. Brad Trasker will stop at nothing for answers, though his life constantly hangs in the balance. A stellar piece sure to impress many!

After an illustrious career working in Intelligence, Brad Trasker is enjoying semi-retirement as Head of Security for an aerospace facility. When a breach is noticed, Trasker is on it, though the military blowback is intense. Someone has leaked photos of a highly secretive hydrogen engine and Trasker needs to get to the center of it all. While tracing some leads, he stumbles upon a start-up in Bangkok, where three software developers have gone missing. Something is surely amiss and could hep him solve this mystery.

With a significant sum of money missing as well, Trasker is hot on their heels and heads to Thailand. Cultural and linguistic shock await him, though there is also an air of secrecy. Arriving at an address he is provided, all appears locked up by the police, but the Homicide Department of the Royal Thai Police are mum about what might have happened. Tasker won’t let that deter him, as countless dead ends lead to one conclusion, he is not welcome.

Refusing the leave without answers, Trasker soon finds himself on many hit lists, with assassins chasing him down. All the while, he loses himself in the world of cryptocurrency and digital espionage, still looking for the three coders he arrived in Bangkok to locate. He’s an old-school spy with a few of his own tricks to show off and a mission to get answers before returning stateside. A well-paced story that shows how versatile Andrew Mayne tends to be with his writing.

Andrew Mayne has always impressed me with his writing and varied ideas. I learn so much when I read his books and prove to be highly entertained. The narrative flow is clear and gritty, keeping the story moving and the humour edgy. There is so much to take away from the book, from the well-placed characters, the short chapters, and even the technological information on offer. Mayne keeps the reader wanting to know more and tosses in strong plot points to keep things from being too predictable. I am always eager to see what Andrew Mayne puts into his books and this was surely no exception!

Kudos, Mr. Mayne, for yet another winner!

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dynamic espionage thriller that is razor sharp and gripping. This second book in Andrew Mayne's newest series (Trasker) is even better than the first and loaded with suspense.

Intrepid hero, Brad Trasker, from book #1, Night Owl, is now permanently employed in corporate security by the young aerospace firm owned by Kylie Conner. Trasker's newest assignment takes him to Bangkok, Thailand to locate a small group of software developers who run a company that may have scammed and embezzled half a million dollars from Kylie and who are now missing. His adventure leads him into a world of supercomputer systems, image analysis, bitcoin, ransomware attacks, and other cybercrimes.

This author's books are always well thought out and researched which is why they are so captivating. Fans of his books can be assured of another exciting experience when they enter into the hunt with Brad Trasker. I will definitely be on the lookout for the next book in this series.

My sincere thanks to the publisher, Thomas & Mercer, and to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting through out.

[Hope Griffin Diaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Mayne strikes again with Death Stake, book two in the Trasker series realeasing October 29, 2024 from Thomas & Mercer.

I don't know how Andrew Mayne keeps luring me in but he creates characters like Brad Trasker who pull you into scene after scene of a novel and leave you wanting more. In Death Stake, Trasker has to solve a Corporate Espionage/Murder Mystery after his company loses money in a start up investment. (Crypto Currency-something I can't wrap my brain around! This book helped. Don't even get me started on NFTs!) After leaked photos alert Brad to a problem, a very tangled web begins to appear as he ends up in Thailand facing an old childhood school mate and a dubious woman who doesn't pass the sniff test.

The action in this book is non-stop. Trasker is put in situations that are high risk, reflex reaction, and mind boggling. His ability to round up allies, make sense of the players on the chess board, and navigate Bangkok on a motorcycle is amazing.

I really enjoyed this book. The non-stop, fast paced action made it easy to read. While there are characters from the first book making appearances, they aren't the main focus. I giggled out loud at some of lines.

"[…] eyes light up like I'd just told him Gal Gadot was asking him to prom."

Death Stake delivers everything you want in a mystery. 

>high stakes
>underground criminal organization 
>who can you trust
>what really happened
>who is the puppet master
>mind palaces 


Thank you to @NetGalley Andrew Mayne and #thomasandmercer for this Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review. 

[ZZ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andrew Mayne has long been one of my favorite thriller authors, known for his gripping plots and seamless integration of cutting-edge technology. Usually, I can devour his books in a day or two, but Death Stake took me almost a month to finish—and that speaks to a few missteps this time around.

The book centers on an intriguing premise involving advanced technology and crypto, which lies at the heart of the mystery. However, the true nature of this connection remains unclear until the very end, leaving both the protagonist and the reader chasing a nebulous target for most of the story. This lack of clarity drains the narrative of the usual momentum I associate with Mayne's books.

While the final reveal does bring everything together, the conclusion feels rushed and less convincing than I’d hoped for. Despite these shortcomings, Mayne's talent for blending technology with thriller elements is still evident, and fans of the genre may still find enjoyment here. That said, Death Stake doesn't quite match the high bar set by his previous works.

[Ray Moon · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Excellent International Action Thriller

The novel opens with an Air Force Colonel vehemently complaining to Brad Tasker about Wind Aerospace’s security, which allowed pictures of their secret project to be taken. They are now online. While this thread goes dormant, an international thriller starts.

This novel has two threads. The opening thread, as mentioned above, quickly becomes dormant. The second thread is an international effort to find a person in whose company Kylie Connor, the owner of Wind Aerospace, invested. Most of this thread takes place in Bangkok, Thailand, so he is operating by himself most of the time. He faces such problems as police corruption, mob interference, international mercenaries, and another woman there to look for recovery of funds that one of her company's customers invested. She raises some red flags for Tasker. This is an action-thriller with a rapid pace. Unlike many novels in this genre, some parts of this novel require some thought about what is happening. There are numerous twists, turns, and, especially, misdirections that kept me from being sure about whether several characters are good guys or bad guys. For me, the tension and suspense are strong in this novel. My interest was quickly captured and kept all the way to the end.

The background on Brad Tasker provides more about how Tasker reached this stage in his life and how his skills were honed through his previous employment experiences. The B-storyline that began in the first novel between Tasker and Connor continues but because of the distance between them, it is not as extensive as in the first novel. In this novel, the reader sees Tasker working in a more unsupported environment that provides more insight into his character. This aspect did add to my enjoyment of reading this novel.

Some aspects of this novel can cause some readers to stop reading. On the positive side, there are no intimate scenes. On the downside, vulgar and rude language is very evident. As for violence after the fact, it is very descriptive of the results of the violence used on the victims. This novel has chases, shoot-outs, and high-tension confrontations on the action side of the violence. While this is the second novel in the series, I did not notice any unsupported references to the first novel. Overall, if you enjoy action thrillers, you are probably used to this language and violence level.

As with most action thrillers I have read and even watched, a believable main storyline is not their strong point, but that is not the reason to read such novels, so this downside was not significant to me. As an action thriller, I liked that this novel solidly kept my attention and kept me reading late into the evening. Even with the dormant thread at the start, there are no loose ends at the end. I did have a problem with the ending, but most readers probably will not.

I have read nine novels by this author, and this novel only confirmed his ranking as a Must-Read author for me. I highly enjoyed reading this novel. I highly recommend reading this novel if you like this author or action thrillers. I sure hope that there will be another novel in this series. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. I rate it with five stars.

I received this novel's free prepublication e-book version through NetGalley from Thomas & Mercer. My review is based solely on my own reading experience. Thank you, Thomas & Mercer, for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.

[L.G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways for a free copy of this book.

I read both books in this series consecutively. In Night Owl (Trasker, #1) the characters are "fleshed out" and motivations are established. Although the plot in Death Stake isn't reliant on the first book, I suggest starting with Night Owl because of the development and relationships of the recurring characters. Death Stake makes it very apparent how information/intelligence is critical to making situational decisions.

SUMMARY: Retired intelligence operative Brad Trasker heads security at a remote aerospace facility when there’s a major breach. A photo of their top-secret AI-designed hydrogen engine has surfaced online. Trasker’s investigation into who did it soon leads to a start-up in Bangkok, where its three software developers have disappeared, along with nearly a million dollars in investment money. Following their tracks, Trasker hits a dead end. The start-up’s HQ is a padlocked crime scene. No one—not the cagey locals, the mobbed-up gangs, or the Royal Thai Police—is keen on answering Trasker’s questions. But their message is get out of Bangkok or die. Hunted by assassins, Trasker is drawn into the same complex high-tech underworld of cryptocurrency, digital espionage, and betrayal that swallowed up the coders. As the line between ally and enemy blurs, and the stakes become life and death, Trasker must navigate the dangerous intersection of modern intelligence and old-school spy games to survive.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riveting suspense and absolute nonstop action.
Trasker is in Bangkok looking for missing coders who absconded
with start up funds provided to them by his boss. They may or may not
have something to do with undercover photos that
were taken of their secret jet project being worked on by his
agency.
He is trying to put the pieces together and stay alive at the same time.
Not an easy feat but definitely one that he has had much experience with.
Engrossing story and characters that are so well defined they jump right off the pages.
Good read.
Ready for #3, please.

[Gena Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good one

I actually liked this one better than Night Owl. I kinda wish there wasn’t so much story telling about Trasker’s unrelated missions, they didn’t add much to the storyline, although they were interesting. All in all a good read. I hope there are more in the series.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big fan

The action is good fast intense well prepared the pots are intriguing. Characters are great. Feels like it’s building towards a much larger story as both books and on semi Cliff Hangers.

[Doug Sundseth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a throwaway intro mystery that is barely mentioned in the rest of the book and a jarring throwaway ending that makes only minimal sense.

In between, we get some pretty good suspense thriller action, with interesting character work and good action scenes. It's too bad that the whole package is so broken.

Had the story in the middle been opened in a way that made sense and had Mayne not decided that he didn't want to actually write the climax and denouement, this could have been something between very good and excellent.

I like Andrew Mayne's other books and really liked the first book in this series, but this book is a major disappointment.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was tedious.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death Stake

This was quite an exciting read. It was was fast paced, contained a lot of action and excitement. I’m looking forward to more in this series.

[Brandon Gryder · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was looking forward to this release and hoping it would be better than the curtsy book. No such luck. Stick to the excellent “Naturalist” series.

[Ray Palen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 Stars

DEATH STAKE is the second novel in the Brad Trasker thriller series from author and former professional magician Andrew Mayne. The magic that Mayne works on the reader in this novel is the fact that he turns a series based on corporate military espionage into a spy thriller worthy of the Jason Bourne series.

At the start of the story, Brad Trasker receives a phone call from an extremely angry Colonel Melchor. Trasker heads up security for remote aerospace company Wind and reports to a dynamic female CEO named Kylie. It seems there may have been a major breach of privacy when a photo of their top-secret AI-designed hydrogen engine suddenly appears online and was seen by Colonel Melchor. Trasker, who is a retired intelligence operative, quickly discovers who took the photograph and is amazed to find that it is a nondescript young man who works at the Chinese fast food restaurant Panda Express.

The young man, Josiah, is approached by Trasker who persuades him to turn over his cell phone, lap top, and anything else that may have been involved in the posting of this photo. He claims he was contacted by some hacker on the web and paid handsomely to snap the photo. Trasker is alarmed to learn that shortly after he left him, the young man went to his car where he had a pistol hidden and killed himself. Trasker is no fool and recognizes that the fear this young man must have felt after being found meant that he needed to locate the dangerous people who paid him for this photoshoot. With the help of a former colleague, Trasker is able to identify that the individuals involved were located in Bangkok and worked for a technology firm named xQuadrant. Kylie and the rest of the team at Wind were aware of this group and she even confesses to having invested a lot of money in them --- money that seems to have been squandered with noting to show for it.

Trasker attends a convention of other military and aerospace professionals with Kylie and meets a woman named Rebecca Gostler who shares a similar story about the young men at xQuadrant. It turns out the that main operator there is a young man named Vik who works in Bangkok. This is enough reason to justify in Trasker’s mind the need to personally take a trip to Bangkok and seek out the gentlemen at xQuadrant to find out if they were working as spies for one of our enemies like Russia, China, or Iran. He insists on going there alone as he was once very familiar with the area from his military days.

When he arrives at the address for xQuadrant he finds a seedy apartment that is not only torn apart but has a police tag on it claiming the location to be part of an investigation by an Inspector Srisutham. Trasker gets hung up on by the Detective when he calls him and has to find out from the local 7-11 owner that three young men were attacked, tortured, and executed in that apartment. When he gets the opportunity to briefly view the bodies, he finds that not only were they badly tortured but one body had the head and both hands removed. It seems the local police force are not to be trusted and may be under the thumb of local gang lords, which makes relying on them in this case useless.

Attempts are quickly made on Trasker’s life including a high-speed chase scene involving motorcycles. Trasker feels like a definite outsider who now may have set a target on his own back from his personal investigation. That is until he hears his name called at the hotel he is staying at by a familiar voice. He is not surprised to find out that it is Rebecca whom he recently met as she is chasing the same trail of bread crumbs. They team up in search of answers but it soon becomes obvious to Trasker that he might not be able to trust her either.

Trasker finds himself in one dangerous situation after another, all of which push him that much closer to the answers he seeks. When he eventually discovers that Vik is still alive, he attempts to break him out of Bangkok and get him home to the U.S. for protection. This is far easier said than done and provides some of the most intense moments of the novel. The finale of DEATH STAKE is explosive and propels Andrew Mayne to new heights in a career that already contains dozens of novels across different genres that continue to just get better and better.

Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter

[Bookreporter.com Mystery & Thriller · Rating 5 out of 5]

DEATH STAKE is professional magician Andrew Mayne’s second novel with Brad Trasker, following last year’s NIGHT OWL. The magic that Mayne works on the reader is that he turns a series based on corporate military espionage into a spy thriller worthy of the Jason Bourne books.

At the start of the novel, Brad Trasker receives a phone call from an extremely angry Colonel Melchor. Trasker heads up security for Wind, a remote aerospace company, and reports to the dynamic CEO, Kylie Connor. It seems there may have been a major breach of privacy when a photo of their top-secret AI-designed hydrogen engine suddenly appears online and was seen by Colonel Melchor. Trasker, a retired intelligence operative, is amazed to learn that the responsible party is a nondescript young man who works at the Chinese fast food restaurant Panda Express.

Josiah Levenstein is approached by Trasker, who persuades him to turn over his cell phone, laptop and anything else that may have been involved in the posting of the photo. He claims that he was contacted by some hacker on the web and was paid handsomely for his services. Trasker is alarmed to learn that shortly after they parted ways, Josiah went to his car and killed himself with a pistol. He is no fool and recognizes that the fear Josiah must have felt after being found means that he needs to locate the dangerous people who paid for the picture to be posted.

With the help of a former colleague, Trasker is able to identify that the individuals involved are based in Bangkok and work for the technology firm xQuadrant. Kylie and the rest of the team at Wind are aware of this group, and she even confesses to having invested a lot of money in them --- money that seems to have been squandered with nothing to show for it.

Trasker attends a convention of other military and aerospace professionals with Kylie and meets Rebecca Gostler, who shares a similar story about the young men at xQuadrant. It turns out that the main operator there is Vik, who works in Bangkok. This is reason enough in Trasker’s mind to justify the need to take a trip to Bangkok and seek out Vik to see if they’re working as spies for one of our enemies, like Russia, China or Iran. He insists on going there alone as he was once very familiar with the area from his military days.

When he arrives at the address for xQuadrant, Trasker finds a seedy apartment that is not only torn apart but has a police tag on it claiming that it’s part of an investigation. Trasker gets hung up on by the detective in charge of the case and has to find out from the local 7-11 owner that three young men were attacked, tortured and executed in that apartment. When he gets the opportunity to briefly view the bodies, he finds that not only were they badly tortured but one body had the head and both hands removed. It seems that the police force are not to be trusted and may be under the thumb of local gang lords, which makes relying on them useless.

Attempts are quickly made on Trasker’s life, including a high-speed chase involving motorcycles. Trasker feels like a definite outsider who may have set a target on his own back. That is until he hears a familiar voice calling out his name at the hotel where he's staying. He’s not surprised to find out that it’s Rebecca. They team up in search of answers, but it soon becomes obvious that he might not be able to trust her either.

Trasker finds himself in one dangerous situation after another, which pushes him that much closer to the answers he seeks. The finale of DEATH STAKE is explosive and propels Andrew Mayne to new heights in a career that already boasts dozens of novels across different genres that continue to get better and better.

Reviewed by Ray Palen

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

Memory techniques:
" The slips of paper indicate the writer was creating their own peg method with the English alphabet. A peg method involves assigning each letter some physical item, person, or animal. I personally find people easiest to remember: biblical Adam for A, Batman for B, and so on. The technique was first described in the sixteenth century but is likely millennia older than that.
If I had to memorize the bookshelf, I'd start with the title on the upper right, The Three-Body Problem, and imagine one Adam fighting against two other Adams. For the book next to it, Programming WebAssembly with Rust, I'd visualize Batman covered in rust trying to make a webpage on the Batcomputer in the Batcave. And so on.
(...) While the exact wording might not come to you, you usually have enough information to retrieve it later on.

I can mimic handwriting pretty well. My mother made me fill out all my own permission slips in her handwriting.

Mother replied, "[James Bond] reads maps, dear. That's what all good spies do. They learn to memorize where they're going."
(...) "This is Budapest [pointing at a map]. I'm going to quiz you later. Do well and there might be ice cream," she added.
(...) "You see this building? What does the top look like?" she asked.
"Like a blimp," I replied.
"Yes. That's their parliament building. Imagine a blimp filled with hydrogen, exploding like the Hindenburg and all that hot air. And when you think of hot air, you think of politicians, right?"
(...) "Now I want you to imagine that in that explosion, it blew their constitution out the front door and straight down the street. ...
"That street is called 'Alkotmány,' which is what they call the constitution. ... Just imagine at the end of the street, where it intersects with another road, a man is standing in the middle with his arms out trying to block Nazis from trampling on the papers and reaching the capital. ...
"That man's name was Bajcsy-Zsilinszky. He fought the Germans in World War II and is a hero in Hungary. They named the street for him," she explained. "


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► Conquering Chronic Disorganization by Judith Kolberg – personal & emotional organizing, creative

[Lori L (She Treads Softly) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death Stake by Andrew Mayne is a very highly recommended action-packed thriller and the second novel in the Brad Trasker series following Night Owl in 2023. This is a great addition to the series!

Retired intelligence operative Brad Trasker is head of security at Wind Aerospace for CEO Kylie Connor when he learns about a security breach. A photo of their top-secret AI-designed hydrogen engine has surfaced online. Trasker's investigation points to Josiah Levenstein, a young man who is clearly not a criminal mastermind and later is found dead. This leads to the start-up company xQuadrant started by three young software developers. Kylie invested in it and now the young men have disappeared along with nearly a million dollars in investment money.

Trasker begins to follow the trail of the missing young men. It leads him to Bangkok, Thailand, where the HQ of xQuadrant is a padlocked crime scene. The complex investigation in to what happened enters the sophisticated high-tech world of cryptocurrency, the international underworld, cyber-crime, digital espionage, spies and double agents, and internal betrayal.

Death Stake follows Trasker's investigation in this compelling, high octane, action-packed, complicated thriller. There are so many intricate twists and turns in the plot you will be unable to set the fast-paced novel down. I enjoyed every minute of following Trasker as he pieces together clues and makes numerous plans on the fly in order to escape death multiple times.

Trasker is an interesting, full-realized, savvy character with a keen intelligence, a world of experience, and a smart mouth. Even though this is the second book in the series, it can be read as a standalone. I would recommend reading Night Owl first because it is another very highly recommended novel and it is a great initial introduction to the characters.

Death Stake is an exceptional, dynamic, satisfying thriller and I'm looking forward to a third installment featuring Brad Trasker! Thanks to Thomas & Mercer for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2024/1...

[boogleloo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thriller Suspense about a retired spy's investigation into a major breach at an aerospace facility draws him into the underworld of cryptocurrency, espionage and betrayal.

5/5 stars: A long time favorite author, Mayne's second entry in the Trasker series which is a Thriller Suspense that spans the globe and features a retired intelligence operative turned head of security at a remote aerospace facility. After a major breach, his investigation leads to a Bangkok start-up, where its software developers have disappeared, along with nearly a million dollars in investment money. But following their trail gets him nothing but threats and with assassins hunting him, he's drawn into the same complex high-tech underworld of cryptocurrency, digital espionage and betrayal that swallowed up the runaway coders. As the line between ally and enemy blurs and the stakes become life and death, he'll have to navigate the dangerous intersection of modern intelligence and old-school spy games to survive. With tons of action and plenty of twists and turns, Mayne's written a fast-paced gripping tale that will leave you on the edge of your seat until the final reveal. Additionally, I really like how the plot unfolds and weaves together so effortlessly. Mayne's writing and character work are stellar; the characters are well-rounded and complex while remaining incredibly likable. It's great to catch up with Brad Trasker, his boss Kylie and his colleagues. As always, Mayne tackles current day real world topics and issues in a refreshing way and I love the way he depicts Trasker's use of mind palaces. Mayne touches on some sensitive topics; so take care and check out the CWs. While you could read this as a stand-alone, you'll gain so much more by reading the series from the beginning; so be sure to pick up book one, Night Owl.

I received this eARC thanks to Thomas & Mercer in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

[V · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brad Trasker has an impeccable background with counterintelligence, unique memory methods and skills that make mere high IQ people seem substandard. As head of security Brad’s initial goal to trace some missing investment money given to a young startup tech group turns into a much deeper investigation. It’s cutting edge, cutthroat and almost overwhelmed me. Tracing the money leads to tracking the tech group’s footsteps, taking Brad from the Mojave to Bangkok, Thailand. I loved the intensity, the urgency, the tension of the plot. A lot of backtracking into Brad’s previous missions, his very unique childhood training, what brought him to be who and where he is now. While it was enlightening, there were times it sidetracked me so much I forgot where I was in the current mission. It was great for developing his character but didn’t always hold my attention. The tech influencers, crypto, blockchains, coding was rather mind-blowing futuristic jumbo to me. It’s very current and relevant but I had a hard time following this complex theme. I learned new concepts in a technology world that’s exploding with lightning speed. Many readers are going to appreciate the pacing and onslaught of information. It’s a dark web of secrets, power and money with ruthless, fiercely competitive entities willing to kill to be the first breakout in the field. I enjoyed the atmosphere and setting of Bangkok, the spies, dirty cops, bribery, I couldn’t trust anyone there. There were twists I didn’t see coming and plenty of harrowing situations. I’ve read and enjoyed many of Mayne’s previous novels, this one left me feeling out of my depth, lost, out of touch. I feel a younger audience will relate much better to the technology than I did.
Thanks to Thomas & Mercer for providing an Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley of Death Stake Trasker #2, by Andrew Mayne Harter, Publication expected 10/29/2024. These personal, honest thoughts and opinions are all mine given voluntarily without compensation.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel took some time to find its footing. About a quarter of the way through, to be exact. At first, the usual high-intensity pacing I’ve come to expect from Mayne was missing, replaced by too much filler and a lack of the snappy banter that normally keeps the dialogue lively. But once the story opened, the stiffness faded, the unanswered questions started to resolve, and the momentum finally kicked in.

The technology, whether real or convincingly placed, is something I’d rather not dwell on. Some things are better left in the shadows, and the world of espionage is one of them. The mid-story twist saved the pacing from stagnating just as it was slipping into predictability, but the overall rhythm felt uneven. Lulls stretched too long, only for tension spikes to rush through like an afterthought.

Compared to the first book, this one felt a bit underwhelming. Where the debut was nonstop action, Death Stake moved in waves, starting with excess fluff before diving into a rapid, almost hurried conclusion. And let’s talk about the tangled web of Mayne’s interconnected series -- at this point, keeping track of them all is an exercise in patience. Maybe reading by publication date is the safest bet.

Then there’s Brad Trasker. A narcissist? Maybe. A man with just the right experience and just the right anecdote for every situation? Absolutely. I won’t say I don’t like him, I do, tremendously, but maybe I liked his mother more, and her absence here was a noticeable disappointment.

Trasker is the kind of protagonist who gets the job done, no matter the moral ambiguity. If you love thrillers and espionage with a central character who plays fast and loose with the rules, he’s your guy. Would I want to sit down for a meal with him? Not particularly. But if everything went sideways? He’d be the first call, right up there with Liam Neeson.

[Grace (and Fern) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brad is the quintessential retired spy. Divorced, depressed, disillusioned. Also, he has an incredibly tragic backstory that was completely unnecessary and didn’t add a single modicum of complexity to his character. In the first book, Brad meets Kylie. Kylie is essentially the same character as Hailey from the Naturalist series, just with a different name and field of interest. She’s a genius and young, but not naive, and doesn’t need to be protected. Then Brad solves a problem for Kylie and she hires him as her head of security. Somehow, that only seems to involve going to foreign countries and killing people, instead of managing a security team at Kylie’s offices.
Mayne does have an innate talent at writing thrilling action scenes. As long as Brad was jetting around cities, hiding from corrupt local cops and jumping off buildings, I could stay invested. And I did learn a lot about cryptocurrency (every girl’s dream) without it feeling monotonous. But every Brad monologue was just “I’m too old for this shit” and that really started to grate on me. Brad didn’t even have cool retired spy friends he could visit in the foreign cities he visited, because Brad is so boring.
To be fair, 90% of this review could be about truly any James Bond or Lethal Weapon movie. So if you’re looking for a fun dad spy type of series, this could be an absolute homerun for you.
Thanks to Netgalley and Brilliance Audio for the free advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've really enjoyed Andrew Mayne's Underwater Investigation series, and was looking forward to get my teeth into the Trasker series. I enjoyed the first book which I purchased, then had the pleasure to preview this one in NetGalley.

While I expected Trasker to head off to a new adventure, this book picks up where the last one left off - him being employed as the head of security for Wind Aerospace and its young genius founder. After a security breach allows an unauthorized photo of a top secret project to become public, he pivots to track down a company the founder invested in that seemed to disappear off the map.

If you enjoy storylines with lots of twists and turns, involving numerous players involved in games, manipulations and deceptions, then this book is for you. My feeble brain had a hard time keeping track of how all the pieces were fitting together until the very end, so patience is a virtue for those of us who find ourselves confused at times with all that was going on in this story. Certainly this is not one of these books where the good guys and bad guys are obvious at the outset, so if you're looking for a simple storyline, this book isn't for you.

With that said, if you're smarter than me, you'll appreciate this tale in all it's complexity. I'm hoping the next volume is a little easier to follow for simpletons like me.

[Stanley McShane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read his full review on Rosepoint Publishing.

This book reads like a primer for espionage. With the advent of crypto-currencies, the world has been besieged by crooks getting into the system and emptying crypto. The crimes are being perpetrated against some of the world’s foremost crime syndicates and they are not amused.

A group of young American students have mastered the system of infiltrating these crypto accounts and emptying them. Three of four young men are found brutally murdered in an apartment in Thailand and a fourth computer whiz is on the run. Trasker must find him before the owners of the accounts do.

I found this story extremely informative and educational. The monetary and crypto world has become so sophisticated that Harvard graduates have difficulty figuring out what is going wrong.

Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? The water gets very murky in this novel. The players are often not what they seem. Crime is not always by the criminals and law enforcement is often jaded and corrupt. I enjoyed this book and the can of worms it opens. 5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. These thoughts are my own.

[Becca Tullman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love most of Mayne's but this one is just okay.

Trasker is on the trail of a missing tech wizard teenager. There are lots of twists and turns in this story and neither the reader nor Trasker can figure out who to trust, nor who's pulling the strings on the whole criminal operation.

In all of Andrew Mayne's thrillers, we learn a lot about science and technology. All kinds of sciences from biology to psychology and sociology. We also learn about global politics, and so much more. The thrillers are packed with information adding depth and realism to the stories. Except in this particular book I felt like it went a little too far. It was necessary for this story to educate the reader on the world of finance and a little bit about how cryptocurrency works and hacking, some of the ways that money is moved and protected, the world of corruption in the Thai police department and Thai crime and gangs in general, lots of the departments and functions within the US government and some of the corruption there too, as well as extensive explanations of the things that trasker uses as memory tricks. It's all interesting and informative. But there was just so much of it in this particular book that I felt like it pulled you out of the story too often and for too long.

[Nori H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the book on Audible.
Andrew Mayne has been a favorite author ever since listening to The Naturalist in 2018, a book I've listened to more than once, it's that good. Trasker is a new series for Mayne and while I wasn't sold on Brad Trasker, retired intelligence agent with a ruthless reputation in The Night Owl, Death Stake was wonderful. One of the aspects I enjoyed was how realistic the descriptions of Bangkok streets, alleys, marketplaces, apartment complexes were, and so much more that provided rich background as Trasker investigated the execution of three young computer coders, pursued the one young man who escaped the assassination, and evaded pursuit, capture, and death by black op mercenaries and corrupt policemen. Mayne wrote with decent knowledge of cryptocurrency and it's use to transfer enormous amounts of money around the world without any government oversight or intervention. This is an exciting book, and Trasker has a lot of catching up to do in the new world of digital espionage. Fortunately, he's brilliant and his memory technique serves him well while he tries to save the life of a young coder who is wanted by almost every major government around the world.

[Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mayne is always a fun read. His thrillers are suspenseful and impossible to put down. I’ve said before how it must be hard to write about super-smart characters when you’re a normal human but, in Mayne’s case, he seems to be just as intelligent as his fictional heroes. Stories about white-collar crime, hackers and spies usually bore me a bit but this one was so entertaining that I was just as hooked as the author’s other series. What starts as a possible leak takes Trasker to Thailand, just looking for someone who might have stolen money from his boss. The more he investigates, the higher the stakes grow until he is put, again, in a life and death situation. I love Trasker, he is very likable, despite having literally killed people in the past. It may not be the most realistic story and one of Trasker’s escapes here jumps the shark a bit, but I was willing to suspend my disbelief enough to just sit down and enjoy the ride. This is the type of novel I love so the retired super-spy gets 5 stars from me.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Thomas & Mercer.

[Tracie Gutknecht · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thriller

Another smart winner from Mayne!

I love this author. Period. Full-stop. His novels are intelligent, meticulously crafted and a helluva good read.

Death Stake is the second book in the Trasker series. Brad Trasker is a former intelligence officer who now works for a private aviation company. The kind of company that works on cutting edge projects. The kind of projects that other countries want to steal. The owner of the company asks Brad to look into some missing venture capitalists. Kyle, the owner, had given them some money and hasn't heard from them. They appear to have gone missing. The more Trasker digs, the more diabolical the plot becomes. The search for the missing men takes him all over the world and causes him to almost be killed multiple times, get involved with an Asian gang and other government agencies.

Like Mayne's other novels, the plot involves a lot of technology or science that your average reader isn't aware of. Mayne doesn't talk down to the reader but explains the science around the thing in such a way that it deepens the whole plot. it also creates interest in this reader to find out more. I absolutely love when a book inspires the quest for more knowledge.

Another homerun!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC of this book.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars Won this as a Goodreads giveaway in October 2024.

This is more of a straight-up thriller than the first novel in the series was. In some respects, Trasker feels like a different character in this novel. There's only an oblique reference to his memory palace (thank goodness), and he seems slightly more competent here. There are some continuity issues, such as Evan Fimley being referred to here as Kylie's mother's boyfriend instead of husband.

People still know who he is and what he's done, which seems weird for a spy not named James Bond, but at least those characters are all in the Intelligence industry. He's also working on his own in Thailand trying to find some young computer programmers who may or may not have absconded with $500,000 of Kylie's money. As a result, Kylie and the other Wind Aerospace characters aren't really in the novel all that much except as bookends. It makes sense that they aren't, but they are interesting characters and I would have liked to read more with them directly. If there are any more novels coming, I hope they are more fully involved.