Second Chance: A Ryan Lock Novel

Ryan Lock #8

by Sean Black

Over the years, former military bodyguard Ryan Lock has made more than his fair share of enemies. It was only a matter of time before one of them came looking for payback . . .A serial rapist brutally murdered inside California's highest-security prison for women. A frantic gun battle in the middle of downtown Los Angeles. A beautiful, young defense attorney violently abducted from her office.A series of apparently random events that are anything but.Someone is hell bent on revenge, and their target's name is Ryan Lock.Praise for the Ryan Lock “Readers, meet Ryan Lock – a tough-guy hero for the new age.” Gregg Hurwitz"This series is ace!" The Bookseller"This is a writer, and a hero, to watch." - Geoffrey Wansell, The Daily Mail"Black's style is supremely slick." - Jeremy Jehu, The Daily Telegraph

Genres: Thriller, Action

420 pages, Paperback

First published April 29, 2017

About the author

I write the Ryan Lock series of thrillers, which feature ex-military bodyguard Ryan Lock and his partner, former Marine, Ty Johnson. The first two books in the series, Lockdown and Deadlock, hit the Official UK Top 50 Bestseller Chart, and the third, Gridlock, has just been released in hardback. They have have also been translated into Dutch, German, and Russian.

I'm a firm believer in hands-on research, also known as 'any excuse to get out of the house', so before I wrote Lockdown, I trained for a month with former members of the Royal Military Police's specialist close protection unit. That turned out to be great preparation for Deadlock, which I researched by spending time inside Pelican Bay Supermax in California (see the TV interview on my author page). I recently completed a desert survival course in Arizona and ventured into the tunnels under Las Vegas, all as preparation for a new standalone thriller I will begin work on once I have completed the fourth Ryan Lock book.

Before I became a full-time novelist, I taught college and wrote television drama. I'm an Oxbridge and Ivy League graduate – try not to hold that against me.

Reviews

[Kathi Defranc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ryan Locke is put in a position of fear, fear for his girlfriend,Carmen,when she is kidnapped in a flash of guns and murder. As the search for her begins, several other things happen that seem to be too much of a coincidence. Ryan learns that a woman he had put in jail,'Chance', is a client of his girlfriend's law firm,is this kidnapping his fault?! The action starts with a bang and continues through the whole story. There are descriptive scenes in a prison,outside a courthouse,and on a pier as our hero attempts to keep everyone happy and safe. This may be the first time Ryan appears vulnerable,however his last girlfriend killed, which leads him into a horrible, terrifying situation now as Carmen continues being held by a remorseless few.
This is book 8 in the Ryan Locke series, and is still as good, if not better, than the first! This story is entertaining, fast moving and a wonderful adventure for all you readers who love a good thriller! Start reading, bet you can't stop...

[Best Crime Books & More · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite characters are back with the 8th instalment in this series. This time out the scene is set with Ryan Lock and Carmen Lazaro, his new girlfriend (*faints in shock*). The opening few chapters were jam packed with action and it felt a little like revisiting the earlier books in this series. Prison fights, kidnappings and plenty of shooting. It seems that the story kicks off right from the get go and there is a frenetic energy about the story. In addition to Lock and Carmen the reader meets Freya Vaden who is better known in prison as Chance. She is vicious, and ruthless and she is up to something.

It seemed like no time at all before I realised I had hit the halfway mark with this book and was pretty surprised as it felt like no time at all. Ryan's partner Ty Johnson is also back although I felt like he took a bit of a backseat in this story. Don't get me wrong he is there from the start to the finish, but it felt a little like he wasn't an integral part of the story and normally it's the total opposite. Aside from that I literally couldn't fault this latest story and finished it in two sittings.

What I loved about this book was that for once we are seeing Ryan slightly more vulnerable. This creates problems for him and you see him make some hasty decisions which wouldn't normally even be a factor for him. The various threads start to weave together and the reader sees the various layers and what each element of the story brings to the table. The book picks up even more pace as it races towards the end and in all honesty a very satisfactory ending at that!

I have been a huge Sean Black fan for a few years now and think that these books are absolutely fantastic. If you are a fan of series of books in this genre and haven't tried this author I really suggest you give him a go from Book 1. I promise it will be worth it! Luckily I don't have to wait too much longer as Sean Black has another new release due out in September featuring Byron Tibor.

[itchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

brief synopsis:
an old enemy gets a chance to pay ryan back and horrors are relived.

setting:
manhattan beach, california
chowchilla, california
santa monica, california

named personalities:
alicia hallis - an over-protective mom
jackson aka eich - alicia's eight-year-old son
jim hallis - alicia's husband
miss parsons - jackson's teacher
padre - a six-foot, two-hundred-pound dude with a thick black beard and covered with tattoos
brad - a news anchor
gerard browell aka ginny - a serial rapist who underwent gender reassignment
freya 'chance' vaden aka the white queen - a central california women's facility inmate
clarissa thoms - a thin meth addict who had killed her children
ryan lock - a first-class (super-charged) bodyguard and a second-rate date
carrie delaney - the (late) woman of ryan's dreams
carmen lazaro - a criminal defense attorney
tyrone 'ty' johnson - ryan's business partner
monique - a rookie african-american officer
mike - a latino sergeant with a barrel chest and close-cropped hair
point - a hammerskin
rance - point's buddy
stanner - a detective
luis - a valet
merlin - carmen's ginger cat
servando guilen - carmen's narcotics trafficker client
mike mazarovitch - the head of carmen's' law firm
carl galante - an ex-cop investigator for mike's firm
li zhang - a grey-hat hacker
joan of arc - the maid of orleans
adolf eichmann - one of the major organizers of the holocaust
ken prager - a murdered undercover federal law enforcement officer
hitler - the german führer responsible for the holocaust
david lane - a hero and martyr of the white nationalist movement
alan berg - a jewish-american radio talk-show host
benito 'bito' - point's rhodesian ridgeback
benito mussolini - an italian dictator
kyle miller - an infantry staff sergeant
charlie manson - a cult leader
mirales - a special agent from the los angeles office of the federal bureau of investigation
stan petrovsky - a us marshal
george clooney - a celebrity
wylam - a new kid to the supremacist movement
morgan - one of jackson's school friends
dumb - one of two of freya's skinhead buddies
dumber - the second of freya's skinhead buddies

typo:
p24: nonethelss his case attracted a pool of people with the best intentions and equally bad judgment.

the definition of shit happening, again.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was only my second time out with Sean Black's Ryan Lock series but I can already tell that it won't be my last. In fact it's obvious to me that I'm going to have to do some backtracking and read the earlier volumes to help me get a better handle on the characters. This was a fairly fast paced thriller which gripped my interest from the get-go and continued to hold my attention right through to the epilogue. Recommended read.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

It starts off pretty quick but when we reach Carmen’s stopping a car and then the dog breaking the drivers window with the driver not moving? You couldn’t break one with your fist, yet a dogs paw? Sorry it is an impossible stretch and Black has gone too far in believability, real fiction. Why wouldn’t the dog go after who he was chasing ? Anyway all in all it takes some crazy turns but in the end it was a pretty good book. 4.9

[Patsy Gazaleh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

This was my first Ryan Lock book and I am very impressed. The story is complicated, involving the kidnapping of his story girlfriend, white supremacists, a transgender serial rapist, inmates in a women's prison, the military and the U.S. Marshal Service. Somehow it works and makes a very intriguing read. Very hard to put down.

[Ollie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a suspense filled book! How these characters sustained the trauma and kept moving was a mystery of its own. Just the event with the dog would have had me unable to sleep for a long time. There were a few characters that were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is a suspenseful story.

[Sherry M Ambrose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second chance for a nightmare.

Ryan Lock is military trained and though between jobs was never really off duty. When he sees a car idling outside the restaurant where he's dining with the woman he loves, his training kicks in. When Carmen is kidnapped by white supremacist crazies, he knows that he must call on all he knows for their survival.

[Norma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another intense Lock dilemma.

Loved this installment of the series because Lock was caught between a rock and a hard place during much of the action. I love how believable Black's characters are -- even with their flaws and foibles.

[Chris Pilgrim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second Chance

Awesome read! I have now read all 8 Ryan Lock books and I would be hard pressed to tell you my favorite. Sean Black is an incredibly entertaining writer. One of my favorites for sure.

[Frank Roberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

The books get better!

The more I read these books, the more I understand the characters and their mindset when it come to making the right decisions in their line of work. In this book Ryan Lock had some difficult decisions to make regarding the people around him.

[David Skea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Addictive reading

Excellent as always.
Doesn't disappoint.
Always rely on Sean Black to ensure you miss a few hours sleep as you don't want to put the book down until you are finished.

[Peg Ellefson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another action packed Ryan Lock thriller. Couldn't put it down!! Can't wait for #9!!

[Brian Mackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first Ryan Lock book I have read,I found it to be a griping action packed story.will now be reading the previous books in the series.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ryan Lock #8, former military bodyguard is in the thick of it again! Woe be to his enemies, badassery abounds! You can read this as a stand alone or start the whole series. All I can say is, I'll be buying everything Sean Black writes. Good stuff!

[James Gazzard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad. I think the reason he needed a 'second chance' wasn't as bad as some of the other scenarios he's been caught up in.

[Michelle L. Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read!

This was a suspenseful read and i enjoyed it! Black has a good character in Lock. Can’t wait to read more!

[Dinesh Raghavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast pacy thriller....

[Jeff Kaufman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit formulaic but a good action read

[Andrea Grannum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Read!!!

[Jeanie Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really Like Sean Black

Sean's Ryan & Ty books are classic detective novels with a bonus, Ty Johnson. Plus, you get some unexpected twists at the end. Always a good read!

[Terry L Christen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

Great book it will keep you thinking about it all the time and it will be able to find the best possible way it should have been in the works

[Nadia O'Reilly]

Audiobook

[Sue Kitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to follow shortly ...... Absolutely LOVED this book.

[HilbilyRunAmok · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got an advanced copy. Another good read in the Lock series.

[Cherie Waggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I read this as an advance reader for the author, I must refrain from making any critique until the final publication of the book. I'm sure readers of Sean Black's mysteries will enjoy the book.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another great read in the series. While it will work as a standalone read it carries on from the previous books which makes it all the more enjoyable if you are like me a fan of the series. Ryan & Ty doing what they do, in their own unique way - a joyful rollercoaster of a read

[Jeff Benham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kind of like a thunderstorm you can hear rumbling in the distance, but know it’s headed your way, and you know it is going to be torrential! Ryan Lock has to deal with a white supremacy group that has kidnapped his girlfriend, Carmen, and even needs to enlist the aid of the (gasp!) cops. The question they must solve, is why Carmen was abducted in the first place and what connection there might be, if any, to the prisoner known as White Queen that Lock had helped to put away years ago. The story becomes page turning action as he and buddy Ty Johnson go about assembly the puzzle from the clues they have and devise their plan. You will not believe what Lock is going to be asked to do to save Carmen’s life as well as his own. Another terrific read by this author!

[Gail Hynds · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a good mystery and usually have a strong hunch about who-done-it. Sean Black is a master at keeping you guessing. Each time I think I have it figured out, he throws another curve ball.

Ryan Lock is a self assured, macho kind of guy in the business of close-protection security. His girlfriend, Carmen, is kidnapped and held hostage. Ryan's confidence is shattered when his actions will determine whether or not Carmen lives or dies. The stakes are high and personal. Her kidnappers are professionals with high level skills - a good match for Ryan and his partner and best friend, Tyrone (Ty) Johnson. It is up to Ryan to meet the demands of the kidnappers or Carmen will die.

Don't think you will figure out the who, how and why along the way. It won't happen! This book is intriguing, artfully written and difficult to put down. Thumbs up, Mr. Black. You have a winner here.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ryan Lock's latest outing with Ty Johnson is yet another triumph for author, Sean Black. Faced paced, full of action with plot twists and brilliant characterisation, this is most definitely a book not to be missed!