REVIEW

Review - STANDOFF, David Rollins

Reviewed By
Karen Chisholm

Having not read any of the Vin Cooper series this started out as an exercise in seeing if I could catch up in a hurry. So, for newcomers to the series as well, a few points. Cooper's an interesting character in an over-the-top military style thriller. Definitely a bit of an all-action hero with the physical prowess and durability of a tank, he's also got a touch of humour about him that somehow makes him slightly less hard-boiled than you'd expect. It did, however, leave this reader with a sneaking suspicion that there could be more than just Cooper's tongue firmly planted in his cheek.

The scenario that STANDOFF puts him in is straight out of the wild ride handbook. Very very wild. Towards the end, positively lunatic. Oddly believable for a hefty portion of the plot, with only a couple of points at which the reader might be forgiven a slight sneaking doubt, particularly when it comes to motivation. Although that's really isn't all bad for this style of book.

Of course the violence is extreme, and the mayhem pretty full on. But back to the plot. Which is nicely evil to start off with, with the baddies very bad, and slightly mad; and the good guys very mad, and only sometimes bad. There's lots of twisting and turning, and some evil women who were, and then weren't, there just as sex symbols, and a reason for all the mayhem which was... well madder than most of the mad thriller type scenarios.

Which makes it all a bit hard to put into any context. On the one hand I really liked Vin Cooper. On the other I've no idea if STANDOFF's slightly weird plot is typical. Having said that, can't think of a single reason not to find out.

BOOK DETAILS
BOOK INFORMATION
ISBN
9781760080549
Year of Publication
BLURB

A brutal massacre. A terrifying madman.

OSI Special Agent Vin Cooper is brought to the scene of an airport massacre in El Paso, Texas, to investigate the death of a USAF airman, AWOL from a nearby Air Force base.

When a survivor of the chilling massacre crawls out of the desert, Cooper comes to the obvious conclusion with major cartels just across the border in Juarez, this has to be about drugs.

As he begins to piece together the case, Cooper is drawn into a world of violence and treachery. Soon he finds himself on the run, framed for murders he didn’t commit. But being a fugitive just happens to be the perfect cover for his most dangerous mission yet crossing the border and infiltrating the cartel.

Coming face-to-face with a terrifying madman, Cooper soon realizes that the airport massacre was just a dress rehearsal for something even worse …

Review Review - STANDOFF, David Rollins
Karen Chisholm
Monday, March 3, 2014
Blog CR - Standoff, David Rollins
Karen Chisholm
Monday, February 10, 2014

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