Ever wondered how an action thriller novel would be that is a cross of the badass shootouts from The Expendables, the high-tech mercenary group from 6 Underground, and a disavowed team operating against both the enemy and the allies on a time crunch to prevent a catastrophe of humongous destruction at the same time of Mission Impossible? That’s the beauty of The Enemies of My Country by Jason Kasper.
The Enemies of My Country features a high precision low footprint group of ex-mercenaries now working as an unofficial scalpel for the CIA with the unique mindset of focusing on new and budding terrorists and bad guys that have the potential to be the next bin laden, so they can stop the threat there and then. This team is lead by David Rivers, the lead badass protagonist. Even though I have not read the previous David Rivers books, I had no trouble slipping into gear with this adrenaline action fest. The first chapter itself opens with a barrage of Barrett M107 .50 cal rounds coupled with the HK 417’s 7.62 mm rounds as David Rivers and his team try to ambush a target on their hit list. The ambush doesn’t go as planned and the target narrowly escapes. The team later gathers intelligence of a massive missile strike planned against an unknown target in the US on the 4th of July by the Chinese Uyghur dissident who is waging war against the western world with the help of ISIS. The plot thickens further when David Rivers’ family is somehow tied into the plot, allowing readers to witness a feral and ungodly rage born out of the necessity to protect his family, a choice that may very well be against his directives as a contractor for the CIA. One thing was for certain, until the very last assault from the team, I had no clue what was going to happen. The plot unwound and twisted so well that I could only guess and fail at predicting what would happen next.
The firepower in this action thriller is massive. There are brutal, fast-paced, and extremely well executed action sequences that feel like set pieces out of the Expendables movies with violence and bloodshed without caution. The weaponry and tactical details are well defined to augment the visualization of the shootouts. Every team member is given his due spotlight in the war zones without distracting from the environment of the action.
Even though I jumped into the book without possessing any background knowledge of the characters, I was able to get a great sense of what drives each character to do what they do. It’s uncanny for a character to be so well written that you can pick a later book in the series and still gel with the character. Each team member fulfills a unique role in the team dynamic, some as basic as the medic, and some as controversial as a somewhat broken moral compass who advocates the team to put aside any concepts of nobility towards their enemies and fight dirty, serving the dark tone of the narrative where the lines blur easily. You always have that sense of unease where a character may cross a line one too far. The writing style is reminiscent of that of Brad Taylor’s Pike Logan series as the first person POV on David switches to third person POV when focusing on other characters. The switch seems seamless and helps to develop the characters rather than focusing solely on one character’s development.
The antagonist of the story was nt clearly defined or developed in the narrative. However, I feel this to be more of an active decision on the author’s part to keep the mystery going behind the actual benefactor and mastermind of the attack to be perpetrated by the antagonist in this story since there are clues dropped throughout the story where characters mention there has to be a mastermind behind the antagonist who is pulling the strings. I would love to see this mystery uncovered in future action thrillers.
Authentically described shootouts coupled with fast-paced narrative and a badass and instantly likable legion of shooters and operators make for one of the best action-packed reads you must read in 2021. I highly enjoyed The Enemies of My Country by Jason Kasper and I am intrigued to check out prior books by him.
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