Security Breach

The Syndicate Series #1

by Rose Waites

An action-packed novel introducing the dazzling and dangerous world of the Syndicate Series!

Dwayne Walker always tries to stick to the program and avoid trouble. He’s a citizen of the flourishing Emerald State and a specialist in the demanding arena of state security. He is more qualified than most of the guards in his father’s strictly and efficiently ran security business, but strangely enough he still only has a temporary guard ranking. Dwayne decides to prove himself and embarks on a catastrophic caper with a frenemy after he makes him a tempting offer. What starts off as a slightly bad situation, evolves into a terribly awful one. Dwayne finds himself in the wrong places at all the right times and has to stay true to himself to protect the innocent and make it out alive.

195 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 15, 2017

About the author

Rose Waites is a YA and children's author who specializes in writing and creating worlds with diverse characters and settings. Her goal is to provide more African- American fiction for children and teens not limited to realistic fiction. Her plans for her future writings include stories that take place in Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Action/Adventure, and Mystery genres. Rose is the author of her currently released work, Security Breach (The Syndicate Series).

Reviews

[Watch Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

A frisky, fresh, and fun adventure that delivers the action and personalities that leaves you wanting more .




I opened this book expecting the narration to be either overkill, or underkill. This is the authors first book and going by the description, I expected the narration to be kind of wishful, like a lot of books in this genre. Maybe a little bit like she bit off more than she could chew, trying to hit all the points.I did get a chance to read a ARC because of my connection to the author (super excited for her :D) and it had some slight differences from the now final version. But all in all, the wait was worth it, and honestly, this book delivers.

The first few chapters... had me in jitters. I put so much expectations on this book, and after the first chapter (because I have baggage from reading so much trash books) I had a fear the good feeling I was experiencing was going to be crushed. But guess what? It only got better.

Since this is expected to be a series, the author did give us a little bit of info about the world, Emerald State to be exact, and so as the story and dialog moves you aren't left grasping for information about who is who or what is what. But at the same time, info isn't dumped on you. Dwayne, our main character, is a young man who when we first meet him, is dealing with the aftermath of some event that happened under his watch while on a guarding assignment. He's tired, in pain, and being mercilessly taunted by a close associate as he completes his punishment (doing endless workouts all night, no sleep) put on him by his father for some strange reason... and from there, I would say, our adventure begins.

Why do I love this book? Because finally, FINALLY a book with all AA's that is fun! lighthearted! well-rounded! not-preachy! and most importantly not 'good' just because its representing POC or their stuggles they have for having colored skin. FINALLY!

Not to be confused, this book is still good AA representation. But it normalizes it, and lets it be cool. Our main trio, Dwayne, Lila (African-American), and Hector (African-American or Afro-Hispanic (mix?) ) represent this. They dont act like white characters that are just so happen to have colored skin. They are, act, and exist as AA. They just also so happen to live in a super wealthy society, are rich teenagers, have varying personalities, dont have tragic backstories, and take the reader on a wild action adventure after they get into more trouble than they bargained for.

Lastly, I cant leave out how cool and funny this book is. I mean, there is some serious violence- gun play, people getting stabbed, kidnapping. But it doesn't come off as...violent. (I guess because in some instances its funny, and Hector is a riot.) If anyone knows me, they know I'm always down for some good action/adventure, anything with fighting, jokes, anything like that. THIS BOOK.
We get a main character that can do cool stuff like have killer aim, have awesome gadgets, do tricks and fight, without it having to be the crying narrative of
"MC has a special set of skills because of their dark upbringing and ohh MC is such a a hardened killer ooohh so cool, but they really are soft on the inside and their circumstances has caused them to be like this."
Thank god, because I hate that. Everything is normalized and not cringey.

Also, A+ for having pretty black girl MC that has PERSONALITY and no TRAGIC BACKSTORY. She's her own person, not token, and fits right in without having to be a excuse for a side romance story. Also, her and Hectors seething hate for each other? One of the best parts, no lie.

(A+ for being a cool black book that you can hand to a kid and they wont have to see the typical narration of hardship, struggle, and circumstances. Or a book that was made to be a melting pot for representation for every person, movement, and way of life. Its just a cool action book, not homework or a preach piece.)

I could go on, but I'll conclude with saying this book is all that and more. In my opinion, its one of the first books to take all black characters and put them in a stable setting, and wrap it up with fresh characters, dialog, and plot. One of my new favorites and I highly recommend. -Zoe

[Maegan (The Slinky Serpent) · Rating 4 out of 5]

***I was sent a free copy of this book by the author in exchange for my HONEST review.***

All his life, Dwayne’s done everything to please everybody. His family, his comrades, even you and I. He sacrificed so much, so that everyone else could feel assured in him.” His voice grew more passionate, “But you know what happens when you live your life like that? You wake up one day and realize, you don’t even know what it is that you really want.”



Dwayne is the son of Barrel J. Walker the owner and head-honcho of the Walker Syndicate, the most prestigious guard syndicate in Emerald state. He also happens to work there. As if that’s not enough he’s also only ranked sentry- a rank he is clearly over-qualified for. And this is all notwithstanding that dirty-no-good-pig-stealing-Cassius. So when Hector Valentino comes up with a get-ranked-quick plan, a sleep deprived Dwayne reluctantly agrees. What follows is a light-hearted, tense (yes those are oxymorons, it takes talent) covert-mission turned semi-adventure. Involving fashion-forward teens and a pink haired brat, with Dwayne as it’s center as he tries to figure out- is guarding really what he wants to do?

Before I comment anything on the book:



A moment of silence.

Can we all just sit here for a second and appreciate a black behon, book that’s not about slavery, a broken family, or just MESS. (Like some of those books most of them y’all…) PLEASE. I was also happy to not see a black male as either just the funny friend or the nerd, but as a multiple faceted, well-rounded (MAIN) characters. It was refreshing to say the least.

The story is based in Emerald State a predominantly black/POC society (at one point the characters mention a character who is “pale as a wall” as being unusual, but Hector is at least partially hispanic.) Everyone is pretty…well-to-do to say the least and the people are just living their lives. There is a wide range of supporting characters Lila Okkar and Kolby Stokes (the aforementioned pink-haired drama queen) among them. I found my self smiling (and -I admit, even softly snorting at some parts of the book.) I especially liked Hector (whose view of Dwayne I particularly agree with) and Lila, who is unenthusiastically drawn into the boy’s antics as she tries to fulfill a scheme of her own.

I was also happy to see male and female teens working together (albeit reluctantly) without any sort of romance ensuing, most stories fall into that and most times it is misplaced and just assists in departing from the actual plot.

I will reiterate that overall the book was enjoyable, it was sweet and I closed the book with a smile on my face. I just didn't particularly *love* the main character. He is just sooo perfect and self-righteous, but really is just a people pleaser. I get it he has a duty to fulfill, but he lets it take over his entire character and is just a blah-killjoy. Hector addresses this and I believe this is going to be a series so I could definitely see room and opportunity for the character to grow, but I did roll my eyes several times at his I'm-so-superior attitude, example...

“When would I practice saving a water victim Walker," Hector asked irritably.

“When you do your daily workout,” Dwayne said incredulously.

Oh Ho, Dwayne is sooo amazing, he practices saving drowning victims -Daily! GASP!



But really, I am nitpicking here, Dwayne was not completely flat, I even enjoyed his character at some points, but this side of him was the most prominent. (And really if I am truthful with myself main characters are hardly ever “likable” always getting into dumb situations, making dumb decisions and what not.) All in all it was a good read (hence the four stars) it is a series and I would definitely be interested in reading the next books.

Oh yes -I almost forgot. Keith, you truly are a troll.

[Madri · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHEW this book. The cover pulled me and I said why not. I procrastinated reading this book countless times but finally I gave it a go and wow I cant say I regret it...
First you should know this book has
#1 Great characters
#2 Dialogue is on point, and I mean it!
#3 A pretty good story line
#4 Action (obviously :D)
The story follows teenage Dwayne Walker in his journey of being a Security Guard for the Walker Guard Syndicate, which is owned by his father (very original setup IMO). Through the book he is accompanied by his very hilarious comrade Hector Valentino, the one and only cunning Lila Okkarr and lastly an annoying pink haired little girl (she'll grow on you) plus many more memorable characters. They all dwell in the magnificent emerald state. Now here are the reason why I really enjoyed this book and everything it had to offer.

- Security Breach is about a strong black leading male with ethnic friends and an Independent rich state. That is something we don't see everyday. is it? And don't get me wrong at the same time any kid/adult of any color can pick up this book and will enjoy it. Trust me. It has a great representation for colored ppl but it doesn't force it down your throat AT ALL . We also get a main black female (Lila) that is describe as pretty, happy and living good. No typical stuff ,which is nice to see every once in a while.👌

- The action. We are dealing with security guards so expect combat and lots of guns. The action scenes were fast pace and had me glued! But really I felt there could have been more. Don't get me wrong there was a lot of action but it all starts happening somewhere along the middle going onto the end. I understand that was due to the story line and build up but still. Also when it came to the shoot offs I felt that some characters were miraculously surviving even with the wounds here and there I felt more damage could've been done. Overall if you don't get into the details then the action is very enjoyable and descriptive, almost like watching a movie!

- The Characters. I will say this now the characters are gonna make you wish there was a second to this book. Dwayne is interesting but dry ( not in a bad way) and no he's not the typical cold-stone-ice-cream-cone I got a sad story to tell guy. He tries to always do the right thing and obeys the rules or used to at least. At times I became a little bothered by Dwayne and the cold shoulder he always puts towards his comrades but that's just me. There's Hector the rich, careless/silly half Hispanic suppose to be guard. Every characters can make you laugh but he does a real good job with bringing in the well balanced humor as well as playing a big part in the story and action. And the last of the trio is Lila. She may come off stuck up but likes to prove otherwise.She is also sitting on money just like hector and the paparazzi is always after her. She likes to cut sheisty deals but throughout the book you can see her change and actually start to care for others the same goes for Hector and Dwayne which is great, proves this book has some good underlining messages about friendship. I do have two cons the group sometimes gave off a negative feel but its something you have to get used to and Lila was dead weight in my eyes during the action scenes. Anyway there is much more to all the characters ( because there are many more in the book) you gotta read SB yourself to really understand why they are so great!

Overall great, amazing, and entertaining book, especially because this is a first time writer! I love the universe that the Emerald state is in, would love to return to it. The cons of the books are small and aren't much of a bother so I give it five stars with the recommendation to read it. Plus cant beat the price for such a good book. Cheers!

[D.T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

STORY:
In Security Breach by R. Waites (191 pages), despite exhibiting major potential and leadership skills, Dwayne Walker's content being a low-ranking sentry at his father's guard syndicate. His lack of ambition is disappointing to everyone. But Dwayne is fine with his position until an opportunity presents itself, a crazy, dangerous opportunity. 

The premise of security is interesting. I know next to nothing about security/guard syndicates, but I feel the book explained everything without babying the reader.

Also, for those who don't care for it, no romance is present.

CHARACTERS:
Dwayne's delightfully witty and self-less. I like how chill he is. His (arguably) two best friends, Hector and Lila, are respectively a manipulative pretty boy and cut-throat boss chick. Honestly, their dynamics are entertaining. 

Hector is my absolute favorite. He's so snot-nosed (not literally). He's hilarious, prideful,  and awesome in his own right. I can see why Dwayne (and Lila) find him so draining at times.

Lila's soft-spoken and vicious, the best combination. 

Also, let's acknowledge that Major, Dwayne's smartwatch, is dope. I wished I could have seen it used a little bit more.

Lastly, I really like Barrel Walker (doesn't that name scream manly?). It's rare to see strict, serious parents that actually love their kids in YA fiction. 

Yes, he probably eats rocks for breakfast and doesn't cry when he slams his hand in the car door, but he loves Dwayne. Believe it! *Naruto voice*

OVERALL:
Fun cast of characters and good action and suspense!  I wouldn't mind reading more about Dwayne, Lila, and Hector.

I recommend it!