The Second Son took me by surprise. With names like Simon Gervais and Ryan Steck, I knew it was going to be a blast, but I didn’t realize it would end up in the running for my top thrillers of the year.
Chase Burke isn’t your average sommelier. He’s a great one, but he’s also a former soldier. Thinking he has left that life behind, he sticks to the wine, until an ambush at his restaurant puts him in the crosshairs of some nasty and dangerous individuals who now want their pound of flesh after Burke interrupts a carefully planned attack on a congresswoman. His life unravels as he finds close threads linking to his brother who died in a covert operation and branded a traitor in death. With all points converging, it’s up to Chase Burke to clear his family name and unmask the sinister forces behind the scenes orchestrating terror on a global scale.
Firstly, I love the action sequences in The Second Son. They’re so crisp and tactically resilient that you find yourself re-reading the execution of the scenes multiple times just by how cool and cinematic they read off. The awesome action compliments the suspense-filled atmosphere of the story that keeps the momentum bustling at a steady pace with some great shocks in between when you least expect it.
The Second Son is an emotionally charged narrative at its core, dealing with themes of family and neglect in the midst of the fast-paced storytelling. The strong character arc for Chase Burke took me back to the time I first read The Terminal List by Jack Carr and was just as moved by its emotionally resonant themes.
Make sure you’ve got The Second Son on your radar for must-reads this year. The cliffhanger ending took my breath away!
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Purchase The Second Son
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Barrington Books
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Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen
