Hunting Season

Rating:
Summary: Good Solid Thriller with some serious problems
Review: A ripping yarn, but it is clear the author has an agenda which might at first be budget problems or turf wars for the Feds. Or maybe he justed hated Janet Reno. He doesn't let political facts stand in the way of his imagination, which is okay.

His FBI is bunch of incompentent fumblers. His heroine has seven years experience with the Fibbies, but sure is dense when it comes to being briefed by "horse holders."

Then again, there is the problem of basic procedure which regard to the baddies. Uh, wouldn't one imagine that some law enforcement agency would be able to call up background check on ol' Jared and know pretty quickly that his Daddy died in WACO.

I think so....and I think life you love male oriented adventure fiction with a hard right wing skrew, the logic and procedural problems will not bother the reader too much.

I am fussy about accuracy in police precedurals, but Deutermann has an instinctive understanding of plotting, and a pretty good handle on pacing and dialogue.

Perfect for that long plane ride to nowhere. And lot better than Tom Clancy hack jobs.

Rating:
Summary: Edit, edit, edit
Review: Lose the paranoid bs, and you've got a readable adventure. This is way too wordy. How come a highly trained hero has to be saved by a novice, bumbling amateur?

Rating:
Summary: pro militia apologia
Review: This is a great read. A page turner thriller on the surface, which delivers entertainment in spades, it is also corrosively critical of the federal government.

No book can be published in contemporary America which champions the bad guys, especially 'terrorists'. But here the heroes are two FBI agents who are literally targeted by an alphabet soup of federal agencies.

The author exhibits clear sympathies with hillbillies who hate and do not hesitate to cause the deaths of 'revenuers'. And these are the good guys, who help the heroes. Even the bad guys, also dumb mountain folk, are coloured in with legitimate grievances against the military and federal government.

All in all this adds a welcome element [depth would be too strong a word in what is after all only a cheap thriller] to a genre which all too often lionizes FBI agents without looking into how badly agents with scruples are treated, not to mention how ordinary citizens are victimized.

Action packed and riveting, this book deserves closer reading than most such thrillers. And is consequently far more rewarding.

Whether this complexity and implicit cynicism is accidental or due to authorial intention I cannot determine.

Rating:
Summary: Exciting from page 1
Review: This is a spectacular book. From the opening scene until the conclusion, this book held my attention like few others have.

Deutermann does a great job of creating characters that the reader feels for. I really cared about the characters. I wanted Kreiss to find his daughter and thwart the bad guy, I wanted Janet Carter to succeed. And, although I could see it coming a mile away, I was not disappointed that Kreiss and Carter linked romantically.

There are some great plot twists and numerous conflicts happening simultaneously that made me keep reading page after page.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes suspense thrillers.

Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: This is an exciting book about contemporary problems and one that is difficult to put down. I recommend it!

Rating:
Summary: AN ABSORBING STORY SKILLFULLY PLOTTED
Review: This time out Deutermann has crafted absorbing story of a father's search for his missing daughter.

Three college students are hiking around an abandoned military complex when presto - they disappear. The FBI soon chalks it up to a youthful runaway.

However, one father knows better, and he's not your typical parent-next-door. Edwin Kriess is a former member of a special CIA group that was trained to find and capture. He's determined to trace his daughter's abductors, and sets about doing so.

The FBI doesn't look kindly upon his investigations - he may have too much information, and what will he discover? Thus, the tracker becomes the tracked when the FBI dispatches someone to ferret out the truth from Kniess.

It's a trigger sharp, twisting yarn, skillfully woven.

Rating:
Summary: Just as entertaining the second time around!
Review: This was the first of P.T.'s books that I read that I found in a bag of second-hand books. I was immediately drawn to the story because I lived near Roanoke and Blacksburg, VA many years ago, when the "Ramsey Arsenal" was still open. From "Hunting Season" I learned about "sweepers" and other specially trained agents and the technology that is available to them as well as the difficult politics of "staying alive" as a Fed (or ex-Fed).
Most of the book takes place in and around the old arsenal and is well described. The underground syphon chamber that was used to flush away bad batches of toxic chemicals was interesting but the various scenarios surrounding it were a bit much as was the constant vehicle switching. But the story is great, and I am reading it for the second time, after 9/11. This book has it all-FBI, CIA, ATF, mountain men, and all the "toys" Kreiss uses that makes a gun unecessary.

Rating:
Summary: Remember It is Fiction
Review: When I first saw this book I thought it looked like a typical "rogue agent vs. Washington establishment" suspense thriller, so I took a pass. However, after looking it up at Amazon.com and reading all the five-star reviews, I decided to take a chance. I knew I had made the correct decision while reading the first page! This is an absorbing novel with intriguing, well-developed characters, especially the female sweeper, Daniella Morganavicz, ex- FBI agent Edwin Kreiss, and disillusioned agent Janet Carter. The plot is believable and is written as if it really happenned. The secret deals, inter-agency competition, and dislike and mistrust each of the characters have for each other are themes interwoven throughout the story. The author takes the reader behind the headlines and takes full advantage of the public's naivete and ignorance about what actually takes place at the higher levels of the CIA, FBI, and BATF. He has created characters with the traits the public suspects and fears most. The positions of power are held by people who are power-hungry, immoral and self-serving and guided by the belief that the end always justifies the means. One of the advantages of fiction though, is the author can get the results he wants and in this case the conclusion is very satisfying.

This book is highly recommended with one caveat: you must remind yourself it is a work of fiction.

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars not enough
Review: When I first saw this book I thought it looked like a typical "rogue agent vs. Washington establishment" suspense thriller, so I took a pass. However, after looking it up at Amazon.com and reading all the five-star reviews, I decided to take a chance. I knew I had made the correct decision while reading the first page! This is an absorbing novel with intriguing, well-developed characters, especially the female sweeper, Daniella Morganavicz, ex- FBI agent Edwin Kreiss, and disillusioned agent Janet Carter. The plot is believable and is written as if it really happenned. The secret deals, inter-agency competition, and dislike and mistrust each of the characters have for each other are themes interwoven throughout the story. The author takes the reader behind the headlines and takes full advantage of the public's naivete and ignorance about what actually takes place at the higher levels of the CIA, FBI, and BATF. He has created characters with the traits the public suspects and fears most. The positions of power are held by people who are power-hungry, immoral and self-serving and guided by the belief that the end always justifies the means. One of the advantages of fiction though, is the author can get the results he wants and in this case the conclusion is very satisfying.

This book is highly recommended with one caveat: you must remind yourself it is a work of fiction.