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Detective Kate Bowen #3
Strike Back: Dublin Surveillance Squad: 3
The latest, explosive installment in the Detective Kate Bowen mystery thriller series
'A great storm is coming, ' the British ISIS messenger warns. 'As the Crusader seeks to destroy the lands of the Prophet, so we will lay waste a great city. Your greatest power will be our greatest weapon.'
Detective Kate Bowen works scant clues to foil a looming ISIS attack. Nobody knows the when, where, or how the terrorist cell will strike. All Kate has is an insatiable thirst for justice and a hard-boiled surveillance team.
Her past is her enemy
As her mother is struck down and clings to life by a thread, a faceless specter from Kate's past emerges threatening biblical revenge. Her transgression is unspoken, the danger unknown.
Her two worlds explode
With explosions rocking her city of Dublin and her personal life in tatters, can Kate strike back at her nemesis and save a metropolis from ruin before a ticking clock hits zero?
'A thrilling and fast paced novel. With 'Strike Back' T.R. Croke has created a visceral page turner, propelling us into a tense and exciting world, and a story that moves at breakneck speed. Fasten your safety belts!' - Niamh Boyce, the No. 1 bestselling author of Her Kind and The Herbalist.
'Strike Back is a fast-paced, action packed thriller with a strong and sympathetic female lead in Detective Kate Bowen.' - Andrea Carter, author of the best-selling Inishowen Mysteries series.
If you enjoy compulsive page-turners with constant tension and engaging twists and turns, you'll love the Kate Bowen thriller series.
'A great storm is coming, ' the British ISIS messenger warns. 'As the Crusader seeks to destroy the lands of the Prophet, so we will lay waste a great city. Your greatest power will be our greatest weapon.'
Detective Kate Bowen works scant clues to foil a looming ISIS attack. Nobody knows the when, where, or how the terrorist cell will strike. All Kate has is an insatiable thirst for justice and a hard-boiled surveillance team.
Her past is her enemy
As her mother is struck down and clings to life by a thread, a faceless specter from Kate's past emerges threatening biblical revenge. Her transgression is unspoken, the danger unknown.
Her two worlds explode
With explosions rocking her city of Dublin and her personal life in tatters, can Kate strike back at her nemesis and save a metropolis from ruin before a ticking clock hits zero?
'A thrilling and fast paced novel. With 'Strike Back' T.R. Croke has created a visceral page turner, propelling us into a tense and exciting world, and a story that moves at breakneck speed. Fasten your safety belts!' - Niamh Boyce, the No. 1 bestselling author of Her Kind and The Herbalist.
'Strike Back is a fast-paced, action packed thriller with a strong and sympathetic female lead in Detective Kate Bowen.' - Andrea Carter, author of the best-selling Inishowen Mysteries series.
If you enjoy compulsive page-turners with constant tension and engaging twists and turns, you'll love the Kate Bowen thriller series.
362 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 23, 2020
4 people are currently reading
4 people want to read
About the author
T.R. Croke
5 books5 followersBorn in Portlaoise, Ireland, Ray always loved stories. From the ones he heard from his grandfather, to the books he read as a child, borrowed each week from the local library.
A career with Ireland’s National Police Service, An Garda Síochána, mainly as a detective in Dublin, meant he documented real-life villains and events. During his police service, he learned to speak French, did a 15-month tour with the UN civilian police in Cyprus, and completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in European Studies with the Open University. From 2005 to 2010 he worked in Paris as Garda Liaison Officer for France and Monaco.
To hone his writing skills he took courses, workshops and attended seminars in Dublin. He collaborated with Lizzie Harwood, his Paris-based editor extraordinaire, on the manuscripts of his first two novels; an experience he described as more enlightening than a dozen writing retreats.
He is married to Eva and lives in County Laois in the Irish midlands.
A career with Ireland’s National Police Service, An Garda Síochána, mainly as a detective in Dublin, meant he documented real-life villains and events. During his police service, he learned to speak French, did a 15-month tour with the UN civilian police in Cyprus, and completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in European Studies with the Open University. From 2005 to 2010 he worked in Paris as Garda Liaison Officer for France and Monaco.
To hone his writing skills he took courses, workshops and attended seminars in Dublin. He collaborated with Lizzie Harwood, his Paris-based editor extraordinaire, on the manuscripts of his first two novels; an experience he described as more enlightening than a dozen writing retreats.
He is married to Eva and lives in County Laois in the Irish midlands.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 25, 2021
I found this book to be compulsive reading from start to finish and I loved the plots involving Kate's personal life, which made her totally believable. It was so gripping that I finished it in just over a day. I thoroughly recommend it to those who are into crime thrillers.
October 4, 2023
’Strike Back’ proved to be a riveting suspenseful read, it captivated my attention from the first paragraph right up till the very end. Not having read any of the previous three Kate Bowen books published by the author in this series, I was running the gauntlet when a friend recommended the latest T. R. Croke offering. So I took a gamble with an author I’m not familiar with, though I had just given up on a book by another author which had defeated me and left me in no mood to suffer another paragraph let alone a chapter that didn’t engage me.
The Kate Bowen character grabbed me by the lapels from the get go, similar in the way that she might grab one in a close Judo clench and her character held my focus all through to the bittersweet end, leaving me absolutely floored!
Of course I should have guessed that the author had experience as a former Cop to draw upon which lifts this offering onto a higher plane, lending oodles of authenticity and insight on what sacrifices and risks our frontline everyday heroes take on our behalf, such risk and secret’s which the general public could never contemplate, remain confidential and unspoken of even unto their families, which T. R. Croke knows only too well.
This Cop thriller draws back the mantle cloak on that which conflicts our everyday heroe cop who swap cape for understated plain clothes work locker civvies, when grappleing with crime. Now that I’m hooked I can’t wait for the follow up book in the series and can look back and savor catching up on the authors prior offerings that escaped under my radar while we await the next installment in the series.
This book restored my faith in crime fiction and is a well paced thriller to savor and immerse oneself in, but it’s more than that, as it is scripted by one with an insiders perspective. I dived in blind expecting to drown but T. R. Croke and Kate Bowen rescued me from a literary and Pandemic miasma in spite of myself, pure brilliant escapism and just the antidote needed for the times we live in.
The Kate Bowen character grabbed me by the lapels from the get go, similar in the way that she might grab one in a close Judo clench and her character held my focus all through to the bittersweet end, leaving me absolutely floored!
Of course I should have guessed that the author had experience as a former Cop to draw upon which lifts this offering onto a higher plane, lending oodles of authenticity and insight on what sacrifices and risks our frontline everyday heroes take on our behalf, such risk and secret’s which the general public could never contemplate, remain confidential and unspoken of even unto their families, which T. R. Croke knows only too well.
This Cop thriller draws back the mantle cloak on that which conflicts our everyday heroe cop who swap cape for understated plain clothes work locker civvies, when grappleing with crime. Now that I’m hooked I can’t wait for the follow up book in the series and can look back and savor catching up on the authors prior offerings that escaped under my radar while we await the next installment in the series.
This book restored my faith in crime fiction and is a well paced thriller to savor and immerse oneself in, but it’s more than that, as it is scripted by one with an insiders perspective. I dived in blind expecting to drown but T. R. Croke and Kate Bowen rescued me from a literary and Pandemic miasma in spite of myself, pure brilliant escapism and just the antidote needed for the times we live in.
November 24, 2020
An excellent read and a real page turner. From it's - literally- explosive start to its conclusion i was gripped by this story. Mixing international terrorism with more local crime it managed to juggle several plotlines and draw them all together with several twists along the way. I had not previously read any of the Kate Bowen stories - a deficiency i will be correcting soon - so i can also vouch for the fact that the story can work as a stand alone novel without previous knowledge of the characters. The characters were well written and believable and hold the reader's interest right to the end - and no doubt beyond. I could add more but am conscious of not wanting to inadvertently put spoilers in. Pure and simply - treat yourself and read it for yourself. I look forward to the next episode of Kate Bowen's eventful career.
November 26, 2020
A fast paced contemporary thriller with the Irish heroine Detective Kate Bowen having to contend with an international threat from ISIS on her home turf along with a threat to her life as her past catches up with her. To add to this she has to cope a personal tragedy and a burgeoning love interest which makes this a real page turner. I really liked the parallel plots which kept my attention throughout. I am writing this review after receiving an advance reader copy .
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews