Read: "Clear by Fire" by Joshua Hood

Read: Clear by Fire by Joshua Hood, 2015, 9781501105715.

I ran across a writer's blog where Hood was a guest and writing about guns and gin information within novels. I'm fairly certain I spotted a gun error in the article about avoiding gun errors. The irony was delicious. But - big but - I could easily be wrong. Anyhoo.  Hood's shoot-em-up novels sounded like they'd be worth a try. This came from Waukesha PL and I ordered the paperback version of this for my library.

Two main characters. Mason Kane is a former Super-Duper-Commando-Master-Operator-Tactically-Operating-in-Tactical-Operations-With-Fancy-Guns. Kane's unit was sneaking around Libya when Kane was betrayed by the unit and left behind to die. He has since made super good friends with a former head of the Libyan secret police. Kane has been bumming around North Africa avoiding assassination and plotting revenge on the U.S. Army goons who tried to kill him.

Renee Hart is the first woman in a Super-Duper-Commando-Action-Adventure-and-Excitement-and-Explosions unit. Hart is sent to California to work with local Dep. of Defense agents who are investigating whether a local scientist is manufacturing and selling nerve agents.

The two characters follow independent storylines. Mason is eager to get revenge on his old unit buddies plus the CIA people trying to kill him. Mason's unit was an assassination squad and working black ops. Renee is trying to track missing nerve agent and starts after Mason's old unit when that unit destroys a small CIA base in Afghanistan and uses the nerve agent to murder everyone in the local village.

Things happen. The two team up to stop the unit that is traveling through Afghanistan and killing any suspected AG bad guys. The unit is also planning to widen the war - they'd rather nuke the whole region and hope to get things really riled up.

Mason is not a good guy. He is an assassin and burns a man to death out of revenge. Renee is forced to do a number of unethical and immoral things to finish the job. The two make lovey-dovey eyes at each other but this is an action and regret novel. Hood gives us shoot outs and sorrow. Manly men bond under extreme circumstances while politicians and high ranking officers send them to certain death.

Comments:
1. I enjoyed the book but sometimes it was confusing. The story kinda swerved around and did not always make sense.
2. Lots of neat little details about how army and spy guys do things. How they attack a building or prepare for a mission. How people on the run contact colleagues or avoid trouble. Where do you set an ambush? How you react to an ambush. Things I have no clue about. Except for driving a car. I know how to drive car.