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Van Shaw #5
A Dangerous Breed
“This guy has got what it takes.”—Lee Child
Van Shaw’s past and present collide when an ingenious blackmailer pushes him to the brink in this electrifying fifth novel in Glen Erik Hamilton’s gritty and emotionally powerful thriller series.
An invitation addressed to his long-dead mother sparks Van Shaw’s curiosity about the woman he barely knew. As he digs into young Moira Shaw's past, he uncovers startling details about her life, including her relationship to a boy named Sean Burke—a boy Moira may have been seeing when she became pregnant. Could this Burke be the biological father who abandoned Van before he was born? Although Van knows all too well that some doors shouldn’t be opened, he decides to investigate the man—only to discover that Burke has an even darker family history than Van's own.
But Van’s got more immediate problems. His friend Hollis is in a jam, and helping him out accidentally steers Van into the path of a master extortionist named Bilal Nath. Nath demands that the talented thief to mastermind a daring heist targeting a Seattle biotechnology firm, or the blackmailer will destroy the lives of people Van loves. Will Van be forced to steal a viral weapon with the potential to kill thousands?
With Bilal Nath coercing him into a possible act of domestic terrorism, Van turns to his formidable crew of lawbreaking friends—including Hollis, Big Will Willard, and Willard's sly and seductive niece Elana—for help. Yet even this team may not be enough. To outwit a brilliant sociopath, Van might just need a cold-blooded killer . . . a criminal whose blood may run through his own veins.
Van Shaw’s past and present collide when an ingenious blackmailer pushes him to the brink in this electrifying fifth novel in Glen Erik Hamilton’s gritty and emotionally powerful thriller series.
An invitation addressed to his long-dead mother sparks Van Shaw’s curiosity about the woman he barely knew. As he digs into young Moira Shaw's past, he uncovers startling details about her life, including her relationship to a boy named Sean Burke—a boy Moira may have been seeing when she became pregnant. Could this Burke be the biological father who abandoned Van before he was born? Although Van knows all too well that some doors shouldn’t be opened, he decides to investigate the man—only to discover that Burke has an even darker family history than Van's own.
But Van’s got more immediate problems. His friend Hollis is in a jam, and helping him out accidentally steers Van into the path of a master extortionist named Bilal Nath. Nath demands that the talented thief to mastermind a daring heist targeting a Seattle biotechnology firm, or the blackmailer will destroy the lives of people Van loves. Will Van be forced to steal a viral weapon with the potential to kill thousands?
With Bilal Nath coercing him into a possible act of domestic terrorism, Van turns to his formidable crew of lawbreaking friends—including Hollis, Big Will Willard, and Willard's sly and seductive niece Elana—for help. Yet even this team may not be enough. To outwit a brilliant sociopath, Van might just need a cold-blooded killer . . . a criminal whose blood may run through his own veins.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published July 14, 2020
119 people are currently reading
2484 people want to read
About the author
Glen Erik Hamilton
11 books296 followersGlen Erik Hamilton writes crime thrillers. His novels have been called “outstanding” (Publishers Weekly), “perfect mix of serious crime and caper movie” (Criminal Element), and “a must-read series” (Mystery Scene Magazine).
Hamilton's debut novel Past Crimes won the Anthony, Macavity, and Strand Magazine Critics Awards, and was also nominated for the Edgar®, Barry, and Nero Awards. Kirkus called Past Crimes “an exciting heir to the classic detective novel.” Each of his subsequent books in the Van Shaw series have earned starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and more, and been published in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Turkey, the Czech Republic, and Japan.
Glen grew up aboard a sailboat in Seattle, Washington, and around the islands, marinas, and commercial docks of the Pacific Northwest. He served as President of the Southern California chapter of Mystery Writers of America from 2018-2019 and is also a member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime. He lives near Los Angeles with his family and openly acknowledges his addiction to Columbo.
Hamilton's debut novel Past Crimes won the Anthony, Macavity, and Strand Magazine Critics Awards, and was also nominated for the Edgar®, Barry, and Nero Awards. Kirkus called Past Crimes “an exciting heir to the classic detective novel.” Each of his subsequent books in the Van Shaw series have earned starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and more, and been published in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Turkey, the Czech Republic, and Japan.
Glen grew up aboard a sailboat in Seattle, Washington, and around the islands, marinas, and commercial docks of the Pacific Northwest. He served as President of the Southern California chapter of Mystery Writers of America from 2018-2019 and is also a member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime. He lives near Los Angeles with his family and openly acknowledges his addiction to Columbo.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
December 6, 2021
A trip with his friend Hollis to get medical help for an injured man puts reformed thief and former Army Ranger Van Shaw in the sights of a dangerous man. Suddenly, Van is being extorted to break into a biotech firm and steal an unspecified item. Meanwhile, Van might be on the trail of his father for the first time in his life. If he finds him, does he want to know this man after all?
Normally, I enjoy these books and all the twists and turns they give us. This one left me unsatisfied. While the stories do reach logical and suspenseful conclusions, I can’t help feeling there should have been more. Neither story was developed enough for a full novel, but took time away from each other. Of course, the characters, new and returning, were excellent as always. While I was expecting more language and violence than the books I normally read, there was one particularly distasteful scene. This book is disappointing since I usually enjoy the series. This one is for fans only.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
Normally, I enjoy these books and all the twists and turns they give us. This one left me unsatisfied. While the stories do reach logical and suspenseful conclusions, I can’t help feeling there should have been more. Neither story was developed enough for a full novel, but took time away from each other. Of course, the characters, new and returning, were excellent as always. While I was expecting more language and violence than the books I normally read, there was one particularly distasteful scene. This book is disappointing since I usually enjoy the series. This one is for fans only.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
March 1, 2022
Van Shaw is minding his own business when he gets a call from his old smuggler friend. There's a man who was shot. They take him to a doctor and get involved with a hacker/gangster who wants a certain object from a heavily guarded building. Then he gets an invitation for his mother to go to a high school reunion. She's been gone a long time, but Van takes this opportunity to try to find his father, who very well may be a sociopathic hit man.
Pretty good, but I have to say the ending was a little too happy.
Pretty good, but I have to say the ending was a little too happy.
July 21, 2020
Van Shaw, one of the most interesting protagonists in thrillers today, learns long-hidden truths about himself in this latest series entry, which combines tense and twisty action with some subtle observations about the nature of family. Hamilton is establishing himself as a master.
January 16, 2023
I had the privilege of meeting the author a few years ago at The Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale, just after having read book #1 in the series. He was joined by Brad Parks who I’ve since enjoyed reading.
✍️
The series takes place in the Pacific Northwest which is also an area I’m familiar with, but Van Shaw is the reason I’ll keep coming back. I enjoy the combination of a great character and tension that pulls you through the book.
✍️
The series takes place in the Pacific Northwest which is also an area I’m familiar with, but Van Shaw is the reason I’ll keep coming back. I enjoy the combination of a great character and tension that pulls you through the book.
July 15, 2020
The book read to me like two separate novels. A first and back half. A good mystery/detective read. I did feel like there was too much thought given into naming the characters as most had highly unusual names. A quick, easy entertaining read.
June 28, 2020
First of all a big thank you to #WilliamMorrow , #HarperCollins and #Edelweiss for giving me this wonderful book by Glen Erik Hamilton. A Dangerous Breed is the latest adventure with Van Shaw and this time he is back in Seattle and he is actually back in time as well. In this book we get to know a lot about his background and his mother and maybe his father? It is actually several stories in one book. In my opinion this is the best one yet but I hope I will be pleasantly surprised in the future. Van Shaw grows on me. I can really recommend this as soon as it hits the shelves, buy it and enjoy.
July 30, 2020
“A Dangerous Breed” opens with a prologue that leaves the reader with the tantalizing task of finding out how the character got into that perilous situation. The story continues in a first person narrative by Van Shaw. The action is driven by conversations, what Shaw says and what people say to him. His thoughts and comments are impartial, formal, and complete. He comments directly to the reader as if in an official report on the incidents that occurred.
The narrative continues with two concurrent stories. Shaw receives a letter for a high school reunion. That opens up his troubled past and unwraps many questions but a few answers. He decides to trace his roots, to learn his father’s identity. However, looking for the man who abandoned him and his mother thirty years before involves digging up long-hidden family secrets that might be better left hidden. The pursuit should be straight forward in this era of on-line family ancestry sites and DNA, but nothing goes smoothly for Shaw, especially not this search.
The second story starts when Shaw helps a friend get medical aid for an injured man, and this act of help leads to a demand for “something,” not money, in exchange for the medical assistance. What follows is a high tech cat and mouse game complete with electronic eavesdropping, electronic breaking and entering, and digital tracking. Shaw has professional acquaintances in every profession who can provide just about anything within a few hours’ notice, and he uses all these resources to extract himself from unimaginable situations. His first aid skills come in handy as he navigates this complex web of treachery and revenge.
The pace is fast, and the plot is complex, but interspersed are everyday activities such as running with Addy’s dog, Stanley, that bring realism and humanity to Shaw and the world he inhabits. In the past, Shaw felt like a black sheep, but after his search for family, he acknowledges that it is nice to know he is from a good flock.
I received a review copy of “A Dangerous Breed” from Glen Erik Hamilton and William Morrow. The book is part of the Van Shaw Series, and there are passing references to events from previous books, but it is not necessary to have read them first to follow the action in this book. I recommend the entire series.
The narrative continues with two concurrent stories. Shaw receives a letter for a high school reunion. That opens up his troubled past and unwraps many questions but a few answers. He decides to trace his roots, to learn his father’s identity. However, looking for the man who abandoned him and his mother thirty years before involves digging up long-hidden family secrets that might be better left hidden. The pursuit should be straight forward in this era of on-line family ancestry sites and DNA, but nothing goes smoothly for Shaw, especially not this search.
The second story starts when Shaw helps a friend get medical aid for an injured man, and this act of help leads to a demand for “something,” not money, in exchange for the medical assistance. What follows is a high tech cat and mouse game complete with electronic eavesdropping, electronic breaking and entering, and digital tracking. Shaw has professional acquaintances in every profession who can provide just about anything within a few hours’ notice, and he uses all these resources to extract himself from unimaginable situations. His first aid skills come in handy as he navigates this complex web of treachery and revenge.
The pace is fast, and the plot is complex, but interspersed are everyday activities such as running with Addy’s dog, Stanley, that bring realism and humanity to Shaw and the world he inhabits. In the past, Shaw felt like a black sheep, but after his search for family, he acknowledges that it is nice to know he is from a good flock.
I received a review copy of “A Dangerous Breed” from Glen Erik Hamilton and William Morrow. The book is part of the Van Shaw Series, and there are passing references to events from previous books, but it is not necessary to have read them first to follow the action in this book. I recommend the entire series.
August 24, 2020
Like this mystery/thriller writer but especially love that most of his stories are set in Seattle and the surrounding areas. It's fun to picture the places he writes about.
July 19, 2020
Glen Erik Hamilton seemingly came out of nowhere a few years ago. Over the course of five thrillers, he has developed and sculpted Van Shaw into a fully realized and compelling character --- a flawed antihero of sorts who carries himself as a rumpled knight. A DANGEROUS BREED is a one-sit read that may be his best work thus far. Its only “flaw” is that it does not contain a good place to stop reading.
Shaw has an interesting background, given that he was raised by Dono, his maternal grandfather, a skilled and highly respected criminal whose name still opens doors for him of both the right and wrong kind in the Seattle area. Shaw’s mother died when he was just a child, and he never knew his father, either in person or in name. So it is a bit of a shock to him early on in A DANGEROUS BREED when an invitation comes to their family homestead inviting his deceased mother to her 30th high school class reunion. Shaw believes that this might be an opportunity to unravel the tangled threads of his past, both with respect to the mother he never really got to know and the father who was totally unknown to him. He reaches out to the sender, who puts him in touch with another contact, and another, and yet another, each bringing him ever closer to the information that he desires.
There is a surprise waiting at the end of the road in the form of a killer who is as good, if not better, at murder for hire as Shaw is at unlocking doors. The man really wants nothing to do with him, at least at first. However, while Shaw is following this path, his attention is diverted by another matter. His good friend, Hollis, has a business associate with a serious problem. Shaw steps in to assist, but it puts him in the path of an enigmatic couple who know of his reputation and force him to aid them as well, threatening his loved ones if he does not comply. The task involves breaking into a seemingly impregnable Seattle biotechnology firm and stealing a heavily guarded vial of...something.
Shaw reluctantly takes the gig, enlisting some other friends possessing various skill sets in what becomes somewhat of a homage to Mission: Impossible, only somehow better. Some of the folks with whom Shaw crosses swords aren’t as bad as they seem to be initially, while others are much worse. The plot is complex, but Hamilton’s surefooted narrative provides the reader with a clear-eyed path to the conclusion, which resolves a number of questions that have been hanging fire over the series while providing a launch pad for the “more,” which is hopefully to come.
Hamilton does a terrific job bringing new readers into the fold without stopping everything to give a “what has gone before” exposition of Shaw’s history. That said, you can start with A DANGEROUS BREED, but once you’re finished, you will want to jump back and see what you’ve missed. That wouldn’t be entirely a bad thing. You’ll have the joy of a new encounter with one of the thriller genre’s best series.
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Shaw has an interesting background, given that he was raised by Dono, his maternal grandfather, a skilled and highly respected criminal whose name still opens doors for him of both the right and wrong kind in the Seattle area. Shaw’s mother died when he was just a child, and he never knew his father, either in person or in name. So it is a bit of a shock to him early on in A DANGEROUS BREED when an invitation comes to their family homestead inviting his deceased mother to her 30th high school class reunion. Shaw believes that this might be an opportunity to unravel the tangled threads of his past, both with respect to the mother he never really got to know and the father who was totally unknown to him. He reaches out to the sender, who puts him in touch with another contact, and another, and yet another, each bringing him ever closer to the information that he desires.
There is a surprise waiting at the end of the road in the form of a killer who is as good, if not better, at murder for hire as Shaw is at unlocking doors. The man really wants nothing to do with him, at least at first. However, while Shaw is following this path, his attention is diverted by another matter. His good friend, Hollis, has a business associate with a serious problem. Shaw steps in to assist, but it puts him in the path of an enigmatic couple who know of his reputation and force him to aid them as well, threatening his loved ones if he does not comply. The task involves breaking into a seemingly impregnable Seattle biotechnology firm and stealing a heavily guarded vial of...something.
Shaw reluctantly takes the gig, enlisting some other friends possessing various skill sets in what becomes somewhat of a homage to Mission: Impossible, only somehow better. Some of the folks with whom Shaw crosses swords aren’t as bad as they seem to be initially, while others are much worse. The plot is complex, but Hamilton’s surefooted narrative provides the reader with a clear-eyed path to the conclusion, which resolves a number of questions that have been hanging fire over the series while providing a launch pad for the “more,” which is hopefully to come.
Hamilton does a terrific job bringing new readers into the fold without stopping everything to give a “what has gone before” exposition of Shaw’s history. That said, you can start with A DANGEROUS BREED, but once you’re finished, you will want to jump back and see what you’ve missed. That wouldn’t be entirely a bad thing. You’ll have the joy of a new encounter with one of the thriller genre’s best series.
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
April 27, 2021
Goodreads Kindle Copy Win
Van Shaw runs across an invitation for his long deceased mother. This leads him to seek for more information about her as he stumbles about finding a boy who she handed out when she was pregnant with him. Could the boy be his dad as he finds the boy’s life is darker than his own?
He is thrown into the mix, as his friend encounter with an extortionist which puts him as a target. Can he save the day as well as find his past? A fast paced thriller.
Van Shaw runs across an invitation for his long deceased mother. This leads him to seek for more information about her as he stumbles about finding a boy who she handed out when she was pregnant with him. Could the boy be his dad as he finds the boy’s life is darker than his own?
He is thrown into the mix, as his friend encounter with an extortionist which puts him as a target. Can he save the day as well as find his past? A fast paced thriller.
April 26, 2021
It might of been a four star if it were 200 pages less. Started off good but wore me down to where I wanted to not continue, but, I did and it did get better. Van Shaw gets himself into some of the worse circumstances imaginable and manages to come out on top.
October 28, 2021
I enjoy reading this series set in Seattle, where I lived for 17 years. The character development is outstanding, as well as the story itself. I especially enjoyed learning more about Van's background.
July 21, 2020
In 2015, Seattle native Glen Erik Hamilton burst onto the literary scene with a juggernaut of a thriller entitled PAST CRIMES. That novel won the Anthony, Macavity, and Strand Magazine Critics awards for Best First Novel, and was also nominated for the Edgar, Barry, and Nero awards. It featured an immediately likeable and unique character named Van Shaw. Van was an Army Ranger who grew up in an environment that would have probably seen him enjoying a life of crime rather than one that the disciplined law-and-order military provided him.
Because of his upbringing, Van had no issues with dealing with the criminal underground. In fact, he could slip into that world with ease which came in very handy for the situations Van found himself in. The first four novels in this series saw Van Shaw palling around more with hoodlum friends then with any ex-military colleagues. Now, Hamilton gives us the fifth novel in the Van Shaw series entitled A DANGEROUS BREED. This novel is quite different from the others that preceded it in that it deals more with Van revisiting his own past as well as standing up for his friends when they get over their heads in a bad situation.
Van's mother, Moira Shaw, was a person he never really got a chance to know. He also never knew who his biological father was. The Prologue of the novel describes an almost dreamlike sequence that sees a much younger Van handcuffed in an automobile that was about to plunge into Seattle's Puget Sound. There was also a man laying across his legs in the backseat of this car and as far as Van could remember, this man was his father.
That trip into the past sets the tone for a novel that is all about family, close relationships, and how the ties that bind us to our family and friends come before anything else, without question. When Van returns to the home that he used to share with his grandfather, Dono, memories come flooding back. When his friend from down the block, Addy, hands Van a stack of mail (yes, mail was still being delivered to this empty home) he comes across some addressed to Moira Shaw.
Moira had been dead for a long-time, but obviously her High School did not know this as she received an invitation for their 30th Reunion. All of this touring down memory lane makes Van dig around the house and he finds some information with his mother's stuff that seems to point him in the direction of his biological father. This is a big part of this novel and I will leave you there rather than spoiling any of the surprises for you. The other main story-line involves Van helping out a friend in need.
His good friend Hollis has got himself into a sticky situation with a really bad man. While helping Hollis out, Van finds himself in the presence of this bad man --- Bilal Nath (doesn't that just sound like a bad name?). Bilal is in need of something and he would like Hollis's friend Van to get it for him. What he wants is inside the building that houses a company called Ceres Biotechnologies. As Van makes his plan to do this 'favor', he also digs a little deeper into what Ceres Biotechnologies is all about. It looks to Van like Bilal Nath might be a domestic terrorist, and this is not something he wants to get involved with.
Along with the help of friends Hollis, Big Will Willard, and Willard's very resourceful young niece, Elana, Van seeks to turn the tables on Bilal without alerting him that he is not going to fulfill the job Bilal needed him to do. Things get really sketchy as they walk the thin line between life and death at the hands of Bilal Nath and it will take all of Van's expertise and the resources of his small group of friends to come out of this alive while possibly preventing an act of terrorism on American soil. A DANGEROUS BREED is a good read and will definitely appeal to readers who have been there since PAST CRIMES.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for Criminal Element
Because of his upbringing, Van had no issues with dealing with the criminal underground. In fact, he could slip into that world with ease which came in very handy for the situations Van found himself in. The first four novels in this series saw Van Shaw palling around more with hoodlum friends then with any ex-military colleagues. Now, Hamilton gives us the fifth novel in the Van Shaw series entitled A DANGEROUS BREED. This novel is quite different from the others that preceded it in that it deals more with Van revisiting his own past as well as standing up for his friends when they get over their heads in a bad situation.
Van's mother, Moira Shaw, was a person he never really got a chance to know. He also never knew who his biological father was. The Prologue of the novel describes an almost dreamlike sequence that sees a much younger Van handcuffed in an automobile that was about to plunge into Seattle's Puget Sound. There was also a man laying across his legs in the backseat of this car and as far as Van could remember, this man was his father.
That trip into the past sets the tone for a novel that is all about family, close relationships, and how the ties that bind us to our family and friends come before anything else, without question. When Van returns to the home that he used to share with his grandfather, Dono, memories come flooding back. When his friend from down the block, Addy, hands Van a stack of mail (yes, mail was still being delivered to this empty home) he comes across some addressed to Moira Shaw.
Moira had been dead for a long-time, but obviously her High School did not know this as she received an invitation for their 30th Reunion. All of this touring down memory lane makes Van dig around the house and he finds some information with his mother's stuff that seems to point him in the direction of his biological father. This is a big part of this novel and I will leave you there rather than spoiling any of the surprises for you. The other main story-line involves Van helping out a friend in need.
His good friend Hollis has got himself into a sticky situation with a really bad man. While helping Hollis out, Van finds himself in the presence of this bad man --- Bilal Nath (doesn't that just sound like a bad name?). Bilal is in need of something and he would like Hollis's friend Van to get it for him. What he wants is inside the building that houses a company called Ceres Biotechnologies. As Van makes his plan to do this 'favor', he also digs a little deeper into what Ceres Biotechnologies is all about. It looks to Van like Bilal Nath might be a domestic terrorist, and this is not something he wants to get involved with.
Along with the help of friends Hollis, Big Will Willard, and Willard's very resourceful young niece, Elana, Van seeks to turn the tables on Bilal without alerting him that he is not going to fulfill the job Bilal needed him to do. Things get really sketchy as they walk the thin line between life and death at the hands of Bilal Nath and it will take all of Van's expertise and the resources of his small group of friends to come out of this alive while possibly preventing an act of terrorism on American soil. A DANGEROUS BREED is a good read and will definitely appeal to readers who have been there since PAST CRIMES.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for Criminal Element
December 2, 2021
Book Review by Stacey Lorenson
A Dangerous Breed, Glen Erik Hamilton
Rate: 3.85
A Dangerous Breed, written my Glen Erik Hamilton, is a faced paced, suspenseful thriller. The story unfolds around a main story with two additional sub-plots. Hamilton’s main character, Van Shaw, is an ex-military veteran, who stumbles upon an injured man requiring immediate medical attention. This leads Shaw down the first of many rabbit holes. Shaw must out-wit cyber hackers, untangle himself from a web of extortion and blackmail, and prevent an illegal Russian arms deal. Shaw is assisted in these escapades by an interesting array of characters.
A Dangerous Breed is a complex thriller that includes action and adventure, along with an emotional element that revolves around Shaw’s loyalty to his family. I loved that Shaw’s character was multidimensional. Van Shaw struggles to balance a ‘normal’ family life while dealing with his involvement in the criminal element that inevitably finds him character that is highly intelligent, and skillfully trained. The storylines of the various supporting characters are interesting as well. I also appreciated that Hamilton gives an important voice to the unconventional family unit
Shaw receives a letter that causes him to search for information about his mom, who was killed when he was six. This leads Shaw on a search to discover who his father might be. The past and present are linked by the additional story of Shaw’s teen years, scattered throughout the book, which explains Van’s childhood and his relationship with his grandfather, Dono, a former career criminal. It sounds complicated, but Hamilton manages to skillfully weave all these stories together, resulting in an enjoyable read.
A Dangerous Breed, Glen Erik Hamilton
Rate: 3.85
A Dangerous Breed, written my Glen Erik Hamilton, is a faced paced, suspenseful thriller. The story unfolds around a main story with two additional sub-plots. Hamilton’s main character, Van Shaw, is an ex-military veteran, who stumbles upon an injured man requiring immediate medical attention. This leads Shaw down the first of many rabbit holes. Shaw must out-wit cyber hackers, untangle himself from a web of extortion and blackmail, and prevent an illegal Russian arms deal. Shaw is assisted in these escapades by an interesting array of characters.
A Dangerous Breed is a complex thriller that includes action and adventure, along with an emotional element that revolves around Shaw’s loyalty to his family. I loved that Shaw’s character was multidimensional. Van Shaw struggles to balance a ‘normal’ family life while dealing with his involvement in the criminal element that inevitably finds him character that is highly intelligent, and skillfully trained. The storylines of the various supporting characters are interesting as well. I also appreciated that Hamilton gives an important voice to the unconventional family unit
Shaw receives a letter that causes him to search for information about his mom, who was killed when he was six. This leads Shaw on a search to discover who his father might be. The past and present are linked by the additional story of Shaw’s teen years, scattered throughout the book, which explains Van’s childhood and his relationship with his grandfather, Dono, a former career criminal. It sounds complicated, but Hamilton manages to skillfully weave all these stories together, resulting in an enjoyable read.
June 14, 2021
Disclaimer: I won this book through Goodreads. Thanks to everyone who made that possible.
I now have another series to follow. I have not read books 1 through 4 in the series. I will now go and start at the beginnning.
I moved to the Seattle area about a year ago. While the pandemic has kept me home most of the time, I have ventured out. I've ventured out enough to follow the comings and goings of Shaw. Seattle is another character in this book. I got to appreciate much of Seattle through the book and through my adventures when I left my house.
Shaw is a great character and I'm excited to learn more about him and many others that I would assume make up his support team. While starting at book 5 might have provided some backgound that might be a tension in earlier books (won't know until I read them), I get a strong sense that Hamilton has developed this character over time. So, you could start here, getting a good picture of Shaw, and probably not be complicated should you go back and read books 1 through 4.
This is a very good story with great character development. I look forward to reading the other books (and joining Hamilton in California, returning back after only 1 year in beautiful Seattle).
And, the short story at the end is great. A nice little bonus of pandemic literature.
I now have another series to follow. I have not read books 1 through 4 in the series. I will now go and start at the beginnning.
I moved to the Seattle area about a year ago. While the pandemic has kept me home most of the time, I have ventured out. I've ventured out enough to follow the comings and goings of Shaw. Seattle is another character in this book. I got to appreciate much of Seattle through the book and through my adventures when I left my house.
Shaw is a great character and I'm excited to learn more about him and many others that I would assume make up his support team. While starting at book 5 might have provided some backgound that might be a tension in earlier books (won't know until I read them), I get a strong sense that Hamilton has developed this character over time. So, you could start here, getting a good picture of Shaw, and probably not be complicated should you go back and read books 1 through 4.
This is a very good story with great character development. I look forward to reading the other books (and joining Hamilton in California, returning back after only 1 year in beautiful Seattle).
And, the short story at the end is great. A nice little bonus of pandemic literature.
July 7, 2020
Upfront- I've only read one of the preceding books and honestly wasn't a fan. That said, I wish I'd had this one first because it is, in some ways, an origin story for Van Shaw. He's a former Army Ranger with a criminal past and a team of friends who solves (sometimes quite violently) bad situations. Here, Van goes on a quest to learn more about his mother, who died when he was a child, and to find his father. Is it Sean Burke? No spoilers from me but these people- geez. The more pressing concern, however, is the fact that an evil madman named Bilal wants to commit an act of terrorism using- wait for it- a virus and is threatening Van if he won't help. It's topical (well, let's hope not), it's fast paced, and don't be fooled by my comments about his quest for family, it's very much an action thriller. I feel like I understand Shaw better now. I enjoyed his interaction with his team and with the bad guys. Thanks to Edelweiss for the ARC. I'm not really the target audience for this but I enjoyed it. it would be the perfect travel book but is also a good armchair read.
November 14, 2023
Van Shaw is a white knight. Trained by his grandfather to be a criminal but reformed by service as an Army Ranger, he uses his varied skills to help others get out of jams.
Here, Van is on a quest to learn about his mother who died when he was just a small boy. He also gets rope into helping another criminal steal something from a bio research lab and stopping a Ukrainian criminal from importing a large shipment of weapons into the US.
The three story lines cross and intersect as the story progresses and their basic premises are engaging enough to hold my interest.
But resolving them takes too long. The story stretches over 505 pages, making getting to the resolutions a bit of a slog. This trend to longer books seems to be a thing in the thriller genre recently. The last few thrillers I’ve read have all been over 400 pages, a couple even near the 600-page mark. Thrillers should be taut, but when they’re this long, they feel flabby, like a top-notch athlete who gets soft once he retires.
Still, I liked this story enough that I’ll come back for more Van Shaw novels.
Here, Van is on a quest to learn about his mother who died when he was just a small boy. He also gets rope into helping another criminal steal something from a bio research lab and stopping a Ukrainian criminal from importing a large shipment of weapons into the US.
The three story lines cross and intersect as the story progresses and their basic premises are engaging enough to hold my interest.
But resolving them takes too long. The story stretches over 505 pages, making getting to the resolutions a bit of a slog. This trend to longer books seems to be a thing in the thriller genre recently. The last few thrillers I’ve read have all been over 400 pages, a couple even near the 600-page mark. Thrillers should be taut, but when they’re this long, they feel flabby, like a top-notch athlete who gets soft once he retires.
Still, I liked this story enough that I’ll come back for more Van Shaw novels.
September 6, 2022
I tried, I really did, but I gave up on page 289 of 505. This genre is just not a good fit for me. I’m trying to widen my horizons and try some authors unfamiliar to me, but….here I draw my line in the sand.
The storyline is tight, the characters sharp-edged, the story fast-paced. I’m sure fans of this cops&robbers kind of writing just love Hamilton’s style. There is an underlying theme where the main character, Van, thinks he might have found his birthfather, but even that situation wasn’t warm and fuzzy. Everyone in this book is a lawbreaker of some kind: thieves, techie hackers, smugglers, ex-cons, outright killers, extortionists, and no one trusts anyone. For me, there is no one to like. Reading this, I felt like I was walking through a dingy and dirty alley in the middle of the rundown part of an ugly city. Not appealing at all.
So, do I recommend A Dangerous Breed? Sure, if you like thrillers and crime novels, you’ll probably love this book. Me, not so much.
The storyline is tight, the characters sharp-edged, the story fast-paced. I’m sure fans of this cops&robbers kind of writing just love Hamilton’s style. There is an underlying theme where the main character, Van, thinks he might have found his birthfather, but even that situation wasn’t warm and fuzzy. Everyone in this book is a lawbreaker of some kind: thieves, techie hackers, smugglers, ex-cons, outright killers, extortionists, and no one trusts anyone. For me, there is no one to like. Reading this, I felt like I was walking through a dingy and dirty alley in the middle of the rundown part of an ugly city. Not appealing at all.
So, do I recommend A Dangerous Breed? Sure, if you like thrillers and crime novels, you’ll probably love this book. Me, not so much.
October 24, 2020
Glen Erik Hamilton’s ex-army ranger / reluctant safe-cracking professional thief, Van Shaw, is back for his fifth heart-pounding adventure. Set in Seattle’s rain-soaked harbor area, Van Shaw is doing his best to protect the family of misfits he clings to, having no one in his past to brag about, especially not his grandfather, career-criminal and namesake Donovan Shaw. Without spoiling the fast-moving action, which there is plenty of, it should be noted that Hamilton deftly weaves a story about Van’s mother, lost when he was only a child, and explores the notion of the families we choose versus the families we’re born into. Of course, there are also enough high-tech break-ins and character callbacks to keep readers of the series happily hoping for the next installment.
May 6, 2025
Hamilton writes consistently entertaining thrillers, and this is no exception. Former Army Ranger Van Shaw finds a few clues about the identity of his mysterious father, and follows them into some hazardous situations where he will need both the tactical skills he leaned in the Army and the felonious talents he learned while being raised by his grandfather, an expert thief. There’s a budding new tense action sequences, and a skillfully twisted plot Van will have to unravel in order to make it out alive.
The bonus short story is more of a historical artifact than anything else, taking us back to the Covid-19 era and all the ridiculous measures people and businesses took to “combat” the virus. Still, it’s fun enough and doesn’t detract from the top-notch main feature.
The bonus short story is more of a historical artifact than anything else, taking us back to the Covid-19 era and all the ridiculous measures people and businesses took to “combat” the virus. Still, it’s fun enough and doesn’t detract from the top-notch main feature.
June 20, 2020
I really liked the ARC(although it was a paperback, and not a hardcover as it states here.) I won the paperback ARC through a Goodreads giveaway. The book has multiple plot lines which intersect. Van Shaw's mother died in an accident when she was 22 and he was 6. He was subsequently raised by his maternal grandfather, who makes his money by less than savory methods. When his mother receives an invitation to her 30th high school reunion, his curiosity about his mother is piqued, and he ends up speaking with people who knew her when she was pregnant with him in high school. He becomes curious about who his father was, and that is a very dangerous road he begins to follow. Recommended.
July 14, 2020
Summertime calls for great and distracting thrillers. You could not ask for more when reading A Dangerous Breed by Glen Erik Hamilton. Van Shaw is an ex-Army Ranger who now does favors for people who are in trouble. He uses whatever tools are available, and if violence is necessary he never hesitates. This time out Van is trying to get a better picture of his mom who died when Van was a boy. While on this mission, a deranged terrorist threatens Van if Van will not assist him in executing his plot. The characters are well-drawn and the dialog is entertaining. A Dangerous Breed unfolds with twists and turns and keeps you reading until the last page. A great summer and beach read.
March 3, 2021
This is not the first in the series of book about a former Army Ranger, who comes from a rough background. So I did feel at times like I was in the dark about some of the characters and their background, but it wasn't too much of a distraction. This character is a strong character who is just trying to piece together the mystery of who his father is. There are so many secrets that he must uncover, and in the process he get mixed up in some shady events. He has to figure out a way to stay true to his moral compass. None of this easy, but somehow he is able to work the mystery out and all of dangerous events life throws at him.
November 17, 2020
4.5 stars. Probably my favorite book in the series so far. There are actually two major stories in this installment, overlapping at times. First Van is forced to commit a high stacks robbery in exchange for his and his friends safety. Then he starts poking around in his past in an attempt to learn more about his mother and who his father is. Van succeeds in outwitting his enmities, but not before he gets himself into some almost inescapable situations. Plenty of hair raising drama and suspense, a real page turner. My new favorite series character.
April 15, 2021
I like Van Shaw and his compadres.
In addition to the thrilling "thriller" part of the story, Van learns more about his roots: his mother who died young and his up-to-now unknown father. Addy, Cyndra, Hollis, Willard, and Elana drop in and out of the story, as needed. Some help him and others - Addy and Cyndra, of course - he protects.
Ever think your life is a mess? Trust me, it doesn't hold a candle to Van's troubles.
Recommend: Good series. Start at the beginning for utmost pleasure, though A Dangerous Breed can stand alone. Then again, why make it do so.
In addition to the thrilling "thriller" part of the story, Van learns more about his roots: his mother who died young and his up-to-now unknown father. Addy, Cyndra, Hollis, Willard, and Elana drop in and out of the story, as needed. Some help him and others - Addy and Cyndra, of course - he protects.
Ever think your life is a mess? Trust me, it doesn't hold a candle to Van's troubles.
Recommend: Good series. Start at the beginning for utmost pleasure, though A Dangerous Breed can stand alone. Then again, why make it do so.
May 5, 2021
First of all, a big thank you to Goodreads for this ebook so that I can expand my horizons of authors. Like many of you, I have a select grouping of authors I read and rarely go beyond those boundaries. This was an interesting book for me, as I love mystery/thrillers and this was definitely a fast-paced book. I enjoyed the fact that the protagonist was a guy who was trained by his grandfather to be a thief. Great plot line and the book will definitely appeal to lovers of suspense/thrillers. I highly recommend it.
May 12, 2022
WOW! Talk about thrilling, non-stop action and adventure. This guy has about 90 lives. I can't believe all this was packed into about a week of this character's life. Smuggling, European mobs, murder, killer dogs, politics & elections, paternity mystery, stowaways, stakeouts, car chases, disposing of corpses, near drowning...and I'm probably leaving something out. This type of book is not really my cup of tea and I'm not sure why I had it on my list, but it was well-written, fast-moving, and really complicated plotlines that miraculously came together in a surprise ending.
June 19, 2020
I received a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
While I didn't think this was poorly written by any means, I did not find it at all appealing and gave up after about a hundred pages because it simply could not hold my interest. That might be more because of my personal preferences than anything else, so if you're a fan of this genre, I wouldn't write it off. It simply wasn't really for me.
While I didn't think this was poorly written by any means, I did not find it at all appealing and gave up after about a hundred pages because it simply could not hold my interest. That might be more because of my personal preferences than anything else, so if you're a fan of this genre, I wouldn't write it off. It simply wasn't really for me.
July 23, 2020
Keep your eye on Glen Erik Hamilton. His mystery/thrillers just keep getting better and better. This latest novel is a taut, compelling story, told against the background of Seattle (one of my favorite cities). It's a complex tale of an investigator searching for his roots, while trying to solve a modern-day enigma. Colorful atmospherics, snappy dialog and clever plotting move the story forward at a breakneck pace. Put this author on your "must read" list.
September 22, 2020
Recently, I have been less than thrilled with recommendations from various websites about thrillers but, this book did not disappoint. Despite the protagonist being somewhat of an antihero, the reader is cheering him on the whole way. The very short prologue is such an auspicious start, it didn’t seem likely to be sustainable. And lest the reader finally relax after the climax, beware! If I could, I would give it 6 stars.
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