Mark Greaney delivers a summer blockbuster action-packed thriller with all the adrenaline-booster shots you’ll need to keep you up for a whole day as you read Sentinel, unable to tear yourself away for even a second.
After the explosive events of Armored, Josh Duffy and his wife Nikki are now working together for the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service providing protection for diplomats in the field. When they’re posted together to Ghana to provide protection for an embassy personnel there to highlight American commitment to the construction of a new dam, they imagine a straightforward setting with their kids, almost like a short vacation for the family. But the brief tranquillity is shattered by a plan orchestrated by a Chinese spymaster to destroy the dam. Josh and his wife, Nicole, are caught up in the chaos of gunfire and explosions as he squares off against mercenaries, and a deadly foe from his past.
Mark Greaney has often likened his Gray Man protagonist to John McClane from the Die Hard series. Even though Josh Duffy is miles away from being anything like The Gray Man, Duffy is absolutely as John McClane as one can get in this action-packed outing. One of the many ways readers will resonate with Josh Duffy is that he’s someone ordinary folks can understand fundamentally. He’s a family man, and he can switch off to be at rest with his wife and kids. But when the going gets tough, Duffy can raise hell for his foes and he does so spectacularly in Sentinel. While it takes a bit to set the stage for the intense action-setting, once Duffy spots the threat , the narrative ratchets up in overdrive.
In true Greaney fashion, Sentinel is rife with detailed combat sequences augmented by technical details that bring the pages to life. Duffy shoots and punches and kicks and blows up his opponents in moments of sustained combat throughout the course of the story, each chapter tinged with anticipation of what twist would meet Duffy next as he wades his way through the storm of bullets.
It was a lot of fun to see Josh and his wife working together this time. Not only did it make for a few playful moments between the two, but it also amplified the stakes as Josh not only fought for his mission as a Special Agent of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, but he also fought as a husband and a man who would go to all lengths to protect his family.
Sentinel is an excellent addition to Mark Greaney’s saga of gritty, hard-hitting, timely, and action-packed thrillers and it’s one of the most entertaining thrillers you’re going to read this year. Think of Sentinel as this summer’s cinematic adventure with lots of action. I can’t wait to see where Greaney takes Josh Duffy next, but I’m sure it’s going to be a wild ride.
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