Readers have been waiting three long years for Dewey Andreas to mete out another ass kicking and boy does Ben Coes deliver in a colossal way. Overflowing with total unadulterated carnage and unyielding hostilities, The Island is one of the bloodiest novels of all time and an instant classic!
Iran has been plotting against the United States for decades and now they’re ready to take the next step, hoping to cripple America by bringing the fight to their own soil. Catching the US with their pants down, Hezbollah operatives strike fast and hard, attacking New York and the United Nations at a time when President Dellenbaugh is about to give a speech, putting his life in mortal jeopardy. Enter Dewey Andreas, CIA operative and certified badass who just survived an attack on his own life, to infiltrate the war zone that New York has become and attempt to extract the President before the terrorists can capture and/or execute him. It’s a race against time to save the leader of the free world…and prevent the terrorists from launching the United States into unmitigated chaos.
The Island includes so much combat and death that you need a Masters degree from MIT and an elaborate spreadsheet to calculate the body count. Terrorists, law enforcement, politicians, civilians and more are all in the crosshairs and dropping like flies. But rest assured it’s not gratuitous violence. In fact, it seems terrifyingly realistic. Every action, shot and kill are a necessary part of providing vivid depictions of the hellscape that results from a well-organized and unthwarted terrorist attack. The overwhelming nature of the attack and response produce an emotional response and extreme sense of urgency that wouldn’t otherwise be present, propelling the reader forward like a MANPAD screaming towards its target at 750 meters per second.
And who do you call to stop a devastating terrorist attack? Dewey Andreas of course. And maybe a few of his friends as well, including the venerable Rob Tacoma and a financial tier one operator. Yes, you read that last part correctly. Finance nerds, our time has finally come! But the main focus is rightfully on Dewey and his unique set of skills that allow him to infiltrate the front lines of the battle despite being Iran’s public enemy number one with Hezbollah operatives looking to take him out. Then once he’s in the fight, there’s no stopping his relentless drive to use every tool at his disposal and every skill in his bag to kill anyone who stands in his way of mission success and saving the country he loves.
This book further elevates the legend of Dewey Andreas, positioning him near the top of the conversation on all-time great characters in the genre. And it confirms once again that Ben Coes is a hell of a great writer. Few authors, if any, can match his incredible pacing and ability to pack pages with massive amounts of action.
Simply put, The Island was worth the wait and an absolute must read. And now I sit here filled with anticipation and desire to find out what’s next for Dewey and America. I just hope and pray we don’t have to wait another three years to find out. But if it is, I’m willing to wait for it. Because no doubt it will be awesome.
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