Issue: Spring 2015

Night Strike (2015) book review

Tangled Web of Adventure

Some people seek trouble, and some people have trouble thrust upon them.

For those who have read the previous 'Night' books, the key protagonists of this novel are familiar. Blake Sanders still has ADD, social dysfunctions, a night-time paper route, and a tendency to fall into situations others would quickly scratch their way out of. Macready the ex-SEAL is ageing, but unable to resist the call of one last mission, this time spying on the Russian navy. Reyna Chase finds her fast-track career once again at risk when her naval bosses suspend her because Blake, an ex-lover, has possession of a dead NCIS agent's gun.

book cover, Night Strike, Michael Sherer; 220x327

Night Strike by Michael Sherer (2015), Cutter Press,

If it sounds complicated, it is. As Sherer takes his readers from Russia to the Pacific Ocean, to Washington, to Seattle, the individual's stories take shape. We believe that eventually the threads will make a whole cloth, but in the meantime, it sometimes takes a minute to stop and work out who is the protagonist of each new chapter.

Whether this chopping-and-changing interferes with the reader's ability to relate to the characters is possibly up to each reader. Your humble reviewer found that each change of focus came as the story was travelling along nicely, and the change made it easy to put the book down.

Sherer writes well, his characters are interesting, and within the story lines the pace is good. What more do you want from a spy craft novel?

Ali Kayn

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