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Lethal Instinct
Not yet published
Expected 28 Jun 26He came looking for a pay check. He found a war.
Bob came to Naples, Florida, looking for honest work. Three months in, he's still looking—until he saves a car dealer from a mugging and lands a gig shuttling vehicles to a nearby town.
A car he's sent to collect is stolen. Bob recovers it from a local chop shop… and finds a dead teenager in the trunk.
The dead boy's eighteen-year-old sister, Hailey, wants justice for her brother. Bob figures it’s not his fight and plans to skip town—until some bad guys grab him and torture him to find out what he knows.
That makes it personal.
Bob launches a one-man war, taking on an organized crime gang, local cops, and a powerful politician. And finds himself caught up in a web of treachery and intrigue where no one is what they seem.
Just like the alligators in the nearby swamp, the deadliest enemies stay hidden, waiting for their moment to strike…
Lethal Instinct - the twelfth in the thrilling Rogue Warrior action thriller series. Perfect for fans of Jason Kasper, Jack Carr, and Lee Child.
Bob came to Naples, Florida, looking for honest work. Three months in, he's still looking—until he saves a car dealer from a mugging and lands a gig shuttling vehicles to a nearby town.
A car he's sent to collect is stolen. Bob recovers it from a local chop shop… and finds a dead teenager in the trunk.
The dead boy's eighteen-year-old sister, Hailey, wants justice for her brother. Bob figures it’s not his fight and plans to skip town—until some bad guys grab him and torture him to find out what he knows.
That makes it personal.
Bob launches a one-man war, taking on an organized crime gang, local cops, and a powerful politician. And finds himself caught up in a web of treachery and intrigue where no one is what they seem.
Just like the alligators in the nearby swamp, the deadliest enemies stay hidden, waiting for their moment to strike…
Lethal Instinct - the twelfth in the thrilling Rogue Warrior action thriller series. Perfect for fans of Jason Kasper, Jack Carr, and Lee Child.
ebook
Expected publication June 28, 2026
About the author
Ian Loome
38 books153 followersHave you reviewed one of my books?
I formerly wrote under the pennames "Sam Powers" and "LH Thomson". I was offline for most of the last five years! Send me an email at ian@ianloome.com if you're interested in a review copy of my latest.
Would you like to try my writing?
Grab a couple of free novels at https://ianloome.com/readergroup/
Ian Loome originally published novels as 'LH Thomson' and 'Sam Powers' before consolidating them under his own name in 2021.
He grew up in Africa, England and Canada. A former journalist, he was born in Libya and spent much of his youth in Africa in a communist dictatorship. A weekend tennis match was often against a member of the KGB or East German Stasi. He has lived around the world and covered stories ranging violent crime to features and celebrity interviews.
He served several stints as a legislature reporter, assignment editor and newsroom manager.
He writes the Liam Quinn Mysteries, the Joe Brennan spy novels and numerous stand-alone titles. In his spare time, he plays blues guitar and has toured with a radio charting blues band.
On the autism and ADHD spectrums, he lives with his partner Lori in Canada.
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Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Lethal Instinct grabbed me from the first few pages and barely let go. This is a fast-paced, action-packed thriller that keeps you genuinely guessing right up to the final chapters — no small feat. At 90% through I still had no idea how it was going to resolve, which is exactly what you want from a book in this genre.
Bob is a fantastic protagonist. Likeable, realistic, and — crucially — his own man. Comparisons to Jack Reacher are inevitable given the genre, but they do Bob a disservice. He is different enough in character and approach to stand firmly on his own two feet, and I found that genuinely refreshing.
One element that particularly stood out was the handling of Bob's recovery from alcoholism. Fiction has a bad habit of fetishising drinking — endless loving descriptions of amber liquid, condensation on glasses, ice clinking — and it was quietly wonderful to have a protagonist for whom a beer at the bar carries weight and anxiety rather than being another atmospheric prop. It felt considered and real.
The plot does lean into political territory which may not be to every reader's taste, and at times it felt heavier than necessary — but it serves the story and earns its place.
And then there's the epilogue. I won't spoil it. Just — the epilogue. It elevated the entire book and is the reason this is a 4 star read rather than a 3.5.
Lethal Instinct grabbed me from the first few pages and barely let go. This is a fast-paced, action-packed thriller that keeps you genuinely guessing right up to the final chapters — no small feat. At 90% through I still had no idea how it was going to resolve, which is exactly what you want from a book in this genre.
Bob is a fantastic protagonist. Likeable, realistic, and — crucially — his own man. Comparisons to Jack Reacher are inevitable given the genre, but they do Bob a disservice. He is different enough in character and approach to stand firmly on his own two feet, and I found that genuinely refreshing.
One element that particularly stood out was the handling of Bob's recovery from alcoholism. Fiction has a bad habit of fetishising drinking — endless loving descriptions of amber liquid, condensation on glasses, ice clinking — and it was quietly wonderful to have a protagonist for whom a beer at the bar carries weight and anxiety rather than being another atmospheric prop. It felt considered and real.
The plot does lean into political territory which may not be to every reader's taste, and at times it felt heavier than necessary — but it serves the story and earns its place.
And then there's the epilogue. I won't spoil it. Just — the epilogue. It elevated the entire book and is the reason this is a 4 star read rather than a 3.5.
Displaying 1 of 1 review