Billionaire philanthropist, Senator Charles Cavendish,is head of the renowned Cavendish Foundation, known for building schools and hospitals in Third World countries, and for sponsoring clean water, vaccination and sanitation projects to help vulnerable kids and communities the world over. He is one of the ‘good guys’.
And Cobra has decided he must die, and Harry Bauer must kill him.
He must die because he is evil. His foundation is a front for arms dealing and his support for terrorist groups, who pay him in oil. Bauer is skeptical, but when he learns that Cavendish supplied Mohammed Ben-Amini with the chemical weapons to wipe out the village of Belandhawa, in Helmand province, his skepticism turns to murderous anger.
The problem is, Cavendish lives in an electronic fortress in Pacific Palisades; Bauer can’t get close to him, and when he tries to use Cavendish’s beautiful, naïve assistant, Sheila Newton, things start to unravel badly. Suddenly Bauer doesn’t know who is his enemy, and who is his ally.
But one thing is clear, when Harry Bauer is out for blood, whoever his enemy is, they’re on the wrong side…
USA TODAY and Amazon #1 bestselling author of the OMEGA and DEAD COLD MYSTERY series. Learn more about Blake Banner at his website: www.blakebanner.com
I am guessing this is my first read of the Harry series. I'm disappointed in that there was no conclusion. Leaving prime character, Jane, out in the cold doesn't do it for me. As it is, I will never know, no book 8 for me.
So now it would appear that it’s OK to be Harry Bauer again. The previous two books went to great pains to show us how many worldwide organizations, criminal and otherwise, were looking to kill him.
This book opens with Harry Bauer musing over Covid-19 and progresses to dinner with Colonel Jane who proceeds to berate him in order to contradict the attraction she has for him, or perhaps the attraction they have for each other. Same game, different book. This game ultimately leads to a missing Colonel Jane subplot. I still cannot warm to Colonel Jane. She is stiffly written and doesn’t seem real; she is a cardboard cutout that emulates a woman.
During this dinner-meeting, Colonel Jane references the Al-Habaja massacre and I wonder if that’s a typo for the Al-Halbaja chemical attack in 1988 towards the end of the Iran-Iraq war? Chemical weapons were used against civilians, killing thousands and injuring thousands more.
This writer does like his James Bond references. This time it’s the Vesper martini he orders for the colonel. The Vesper martini is from Ian Fleming’s Casino Royal (one of the best of the James Bond books, I think); it was created by James Bond for Vesper Lynd. Casino Royal is also where the catchphrase, “shaken, not stirred,” comes from, another reference Mr. Banner sprinkles throughout his Harry Bauer books.
Also returning in a cameo appearance is Ben-Amini, or at least the memory of some of his atrocities. He is referenced in every book and while he is always with us, Colonel Jane is not…she goes missing.
The main antagonist, Charles Cavendish, states he has “eyes and ears just about everywhere that counts” but has never heard of Harry Bauer. Given what’s gone before in the previous books, how likely is that? We are told that Cavendish is deeply involved in nefarious, illegal activities; he would have heard of Harry Bauer. But Cobra and Bauer seemed oblivious to this fact.
Doesn’t it seem that Harry Bauer would have a bone to pick with Cobra, the organization that left him out to hang in the book before this one? While Bauer is his own boss, he works for Cobra which has shown itself to be like every alphabet organization out there: untrustworthy, a little shady. And all the agonies laid on Bauer in the previous book were done to test Bauer? Really? That hardly needed to happen; Bauer has ever been upfront with Cobra, but Cobra has not returned the favor. I’m still scratching my head over the previous book and wondering what its purpose was – it didn’t need to happen at all particularly since it had no plot.
There are some “come again?” obstacles: Harry Bauer prepares poison and freezes it into individual pieces (ice cube trays?) and carefully cleans the pot that was used to distill the poison but not the utensils that held the frozen poison-infused water? Hmmm. Harry Bauer is given a debilitating kick to the back of his knee and thinks it may have been broken. Turns out not to have been broken, but still a nasty injury. Somehow he is able to drive his latest model TVR Griffith. He isn’t the type to let a car automatically shift for him; he’d have a manual clutch. Although we don’t know which knee has been badly injured, any type of driving would have been excruciatingly painful given the injury Bauer sustained.
Because at 34% completion Bauer told the brigadier his exact plans for Cavendish’s demise and because he was so definite in these plans, we know they won’t happen; something else is going to get in the way. And sure enough, something else does. Best laid plans and all that….
The file that Bauer had on Cavendish is left in an unlocked drawer and his stay-over girlfriend gets a glimpse at it. While this was necessary for the plot, it seems awfully careless for the usually cautious Harry Bauer, particularly when the file included Bauer’s contract to kill Cavendish. And what happens to that file? Bauer tells Cavendish that he sent it back to New York, but he has not. Presumably it was left behind in the apartment Bauer occupied while he was in Los Angeles? Still, a bit irresponsible.
There are some errors that could have been caught by a good proofreader: “…fusion reactors capable of taking them to Alpha Centaury….” I think that’s “…Alpha Centauri…,” the star system rather than centaury, an herbaceous plant (as opposed to an herbaceous planet, I suppose). “Se had stopped trembling….” I’m pretty sure that should be “She had stopped trembling….” “One it was lodged I gave it a twist….” Probably that’s “Once it was lodged….” There are also some punctuation errors such as the loss of quotation marks at the beginning of a dialog and sometimes subjects and verbs don’t agree as in, “There was no eggs and bacon….” Maybe “There were no eggs and bacon…?”
The book ended with Bauer fulfilling his contract, or did he? Cavendish unbelievably escaped a devastating explosion – and shame on Mr. Banner for that. There was no way Cavendish would have escaped as the scene was written. So…maybe he escapes a devastating fire and will return in the next book. These implausible stories are now droning on.
While we are given to believe (maybe) that the Cavendish story is over, there is a subplot that has been humming just below the surface of the book and is left as a cliffhanger. I don’t care for cliffhangers; I think they are the result of bad planning on the part of the writer, or perhaps it’s just greed, an inducement to entice readers to buy more books. Either way, they are heinous in their own manner.
This latest of the Harry Bauer books reads as if the series is coming to an end, and I believe that might be true since there are eight Bauer novels, and this is number seven. While it is true that time changes all things, including book characters, the changes in Cobra and in Harry Bauer are not agreeable. Cobra seems dark and readers can infer that something is not quite right within the organization. Colonel Jane, cardboard character that she is, is a tool used for some as yet undisclosed end. Even Harry Bauer, a millionaire many times over thanks to the “spoils of war” clause in his Cobra contracts, seems off somehow. He is making dangerous mistakes and is getting careless. Maybe it is time for the series to end. I have enjoyed reading the Harry Bauer adventures but there are too many deviations now and too many blackhearted people in positions of authority. This James Bond-Travis McGee hero is off track somehow…and it’s bothersome. I hope the next and last (so far) book is better than this one.
I have to say I loved the first book I read. The main character Harry was a bad ass and he killed those who needed killing. Period. He didn’t mess around., he was methodical he paid attention and he acted like a professional. he got the job done. Then as the books progressed he continued to make more and more stupidly glaring mistakes. He continued to get beat up more and more often. He continued to make stupid decisions that put himself in danger, and only survived by sheer luck. At this point I can only skim these books just to see the outcome. I’m so disappointed that the author went from writing such a good book to just total garbage. I don’t understand how you take a strong main lead character and turn them into just a stupid, mistake making, joke.
Harry Bauer is busy killing lots of people, again, but this time he's not alone. Somebody else is killing people around him, and he needs to sort whom it is.
The Colonel is missing, and on top of everything else, Harry needs to find her--alive and well, he hopes. First he has to take care of business--Harry's usual business--in Southern California. After a brief stop in Manhattan, it's off to Spain, where Harry finds her, briefly. I guess we'll have to wait until Harry Bauer #8 to unravel the entire mystery.
As always, Blake Banner weaves his tale tightly and well. The reader is anxious to turn the pages, and get to the next step in Harry's ongoing adventure. It's a good read, no pun intended.
Excuse me now, as I have to obtain book #8 and start reading.
Harry Bauer has finally recovered from injuries received on a previous assignment. Now he has an assignment, permanent in nature, it has to look like an accident. One of the wealthiest men in the world. A philanthropist. Extremely respected, well liked. To everyone he is known as one of the kindest men in helping the downtrodden, people with no hope of survival. In reality he is one of the most evil men on the planet earth. Non stop action from the first to last page!! Enjoyed immensely!!!! An excellent read!!
As per usual this novel is fast paced and full of competing secret organizations with multiple twists of plot. Not for the squeamish but great for espionage/adventure readers. I need the ending to be different but with any luck I will have my questions answered I. The next installment. As usual, Bauer leaves a trail of death and destruction in his wake. I read in under 4 hours; it was a good quick read and kept me riveted to it til the end.
you finish the book and you think, honestly, was it worth reading? Well, no. It was entertaining and certainly dragged you in, but really, it was not worth reading, it was an exciting ride, but not much of a book. Makes me wonder is it worth reading any more of his books, there are al the same; fast passed and lots of action; but far too many deaths; do we really want this to be the norm? no. Sorry, but it has depleted my ability to absorb so much death and supposed justifaction; no, not acceptable. Bye bye Harry. Michael Perkins
Another great chapter in the Harry Bauer series ! Unfortunately in this chapter the Colonial Jane gets kidnapped and tortured for information about who she works for. Meanwhile Harry deals with Cavendish and gets alot more than he expected. He thought Cavendish was dead when he blew up the yacht. But when he went to Spain to find Colonial Jane he ran back into Cavendish. He ended up killing him and blew up the club. Then Alice rescued him and he needed medical attention to continue his search for Colonial Jane. Next chapter is up. 10 stars plus. !!!!! Thanks, Carl Clause
The only title I could give this book, Amazon would delete it. So Duck in hell !!!!;!!!;;!!!;;
Mr Banner, you bxxxxxx. I turned the page and you had ended it with me holding my breath. I now have no other option except go to the next book. I was supposed to go and but a washing machine today, only now I can't because I'm not prepared to not know what comes next...... This is a definite love / hate relationship, I love every word, but hate the fact that you are an addiction... Feel free to add as many swear words as you like,but reading this series is actually EPIC !!!!
Harry Bauer is infiltrating an organisation to kill it's top boss, Charles Cavendish, who runs a charity but also does shady business. The trouble starts when Cavendish's assistant finds the truth about Harry and Harry's colleague Colonel Jane Harris is kidnapped. As it turns out, everything is connected. Harry Bauer finds himself in a deep web of conspiracy against himself and his organisation Cobra. Great read. The story doesn't end. You need to pick the next one.
Book number 7 follows Harry Bauer through more action packed adventures. The action really is non stop. I am really looking forward to the next book, Breath of Hell. I think it will be available towards the end of July 2021. A big thank you to the author for writing this book and from me another well deserved 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I like my books to be completed, not left hanging until you buy the next one. I find that Blake Banner's books usually build up well, but then end in a bloody rush, and somewhat far fetched. How the hell did Cavendish survive his luxury cruiser being blown to smithereens and escape in a lifeboat??
If you have read more than one of Blake Banners Harry Bauer or any other you know that he is always commenting on Bow Windows, open floor plans, around the circus (Traffic Circle?) etc. so these in my humble opinion he could lose in his writings. Other than that I enjoy his books they are a fast read, have a semblance continuances'
Another thriller. Loaded with action but, alas, many typos too!
Sadly, punctuation and spelling errors took a 5 star rating down to four! Hard to get involved in the first-class storytelling when third-rate proofreading is evident. Please, Mr. Banner, hire someone or take note of the corrections that we readers have suggested?
Faced with a poison Harry escaped death. But the Cavindish died after two attempts. Harry was to save the Colonel but something was wrong,, An excellent thriller,so many killed and the hopes for safety.
Good fast moving story. However the central character back story is slow wrong. No one can join the SAS direct you have to be in UK military for a couple of years before you can apply
This book was amazing holds your attention all the way though.You want print to go on while wishing you had the next one in this series to read. So hard to wait for it. Loved it.
I’m reading a mile a second and suddenly the novel ends abruptly. That is so unfair!!! If you want roller coaster rides, read Blake Banner’s novels. You won’t be disappointed Dr. C. 💞💞💞💞🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Each book is a chapter and each chapter widens the scope of the black hats while distilling and focusing the operation of the dwindling forces of good but I feel there might just be a hint of a twinkle of light hurtling down the tunnel towards the reader.
Lots of action, surprise every chapter.Harry always finds a way to save himself and destroys the bad guys .He is unique and unpredictable and has his own set of rules and justice. He is brutal in dishing out revenge and justice.
This story was very compelling and exciting with one piece of trouble after another. The number of times he was captured and tortured was amazing he always managed to slip away.
This author continues to amaze with a super hero who is strong, vulnerable,loyal and morally incorruptible. I love this character. I agonize with him, hurt with him and most of all, I route for him you must get on the band wagon and support this author.
Love this one as Harry finds himself in a bunch of trouble all the way up to his chin. This book is fast pace action throughout the book making for a very fast read.
As always B!ake Banner keeps you entertain start to finish!!! Harry Bauer a one man army and wrecking machine never stops. Will he save the Colonel? Find out in book 8!!!
Exciting , Harry Bauer is one tough son of a gun . He never quits no matter how much he is it . He will come get you if you are evil and a blight on humanity. He will send you away and you will never return .
How does Harry get shot, stabbed, beaten, and lives on? This is brutality at its best. And I have to read on. This not my typical book I love to read, but it has me turning pages, and reading on to the next novel. Truly well written and thought out.