What can I say, I’m a sucker for a confident bad-ass fighting his way to truth, justice, and the American way. That’s why I like Superman, after all! I randomly picked up Jack Carr’s latest book, 2023’s Only the Dead, not realizing he was the author behind the book, Terminal List, adapted into a TV series by Amazon starring Chris Pratt. The book was also given a blurb by Lee Child, so, that sold it for me. Instead of Military Police like Jack Reacher, Carr’s character, James Reece, is a former Navy SEAL, reminiscent of Carr’s own real world experience. Reece is far more of a killing machine than Reacher, though. Reacher will put someone down quickly, often with his fists and enormous head. Reece will slash and dice every artery in your body, then shoot you four times in the chest, and two in the head, just to be certain. This was far gorier and brutal than I anticipated, with two different scenes where Reece was awash in other people’s blood after brutal, close combat battle.
Only the Dead echoes real life, with the Russians on the march in Ukraine, and scheming to do worse still. In fact, they’re behind the plot that resulted in the assassination of the fictional American president — although I’m skeptical even an IED-like device could thwart “The Beast,” the the president’s souped up security vehicle — and are planning to frame Iran for a suitcase nuclear weapon detonating off the shores of Israel to pull those two countries, and the U.S., into a wider war, thus allowing Russia to finish off Ukraine and China to take Taiwan.
Literally after I read the main thrust of the antagonist’s stated aim in the book, I was scrolling Twitter and saw an article about how Biden administration officials have been working behind the scenes since 2022 to avert and prevent Russia from detonating a nuclear bomb in Ukraine. But there’s more at play here for James Reece to fight: Those behind the plot are the Collective, a shadowy elite cabal of Russians and Americans, who want to control and create a new world order led by Russia and China, with the U.S. knocked off of its superpower perch. Of course, the antagonists are the antagonists for a reach: their ambition exceeds the scope of their logic. The world economy is so globalized at this juncture, including with Russia and China, and the U.S.’s GDP accounts for a fourth of world GDP, where to do something to interfere with the U.S.’s economy would necessarily make the rest of the world worse off, and poorer. Alas, their plan doesn’t work because of Reece’s unrelenting determination to slash, tomahawk, slice, shoot, and drown his way through Russian bad guys, and eventually the CIA mole who killed his father.
Carr did a commendable job putting Reece in situations where you’re naturally wondering, how could even he get out of this pickle? Only for Reece to logically figure out a way out of the pickle, thanks to his training and his will to survive and fight. I also appreciated how ride or die Reece’s SEAL friend was, in helping him through these predicaments. I’m not sure the American side of the equation with the Collective was as well-established as I would have liked, though (the CIA mole and then a very minor American Congressman), but I thought the thrust of the action and story played out well. I mean, you have to hand it to Carr. I was essentially 200 pages into a 600-page book without much action yet, and still, I was intrigued.
Also, at the start of the book, Carr quotes the oath taken by members of the U.S. Armed Forces, the Vice President, and every member of Congress. Then he specifies that the “against all enemies, foreign and domestic” is not included in the president’s oath. However, that difference didn’t play out in the book’s story or with its characters. For example, it wasn’t the president who was the turncoat with the Collective; it was the CIA mole. I kept waiting for the shoe to drop on that set-up. Maybe that’s for an upcoming sequel? I felt like something was teased with the president in the epilogue.
Coming off of Brad Thor’s The Lions of Lucerne featuring Scot Harvath (of which, Carr gives thanks to Thor for his influence and help), and of course, my love of Reacher, Carr’s Reece was a nice addition to the confident bad-ass archetype that I enjoy reading.
Milam's Musings 