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Certain Jeopardy (2009)

by Jeff Struecker(Favorite Author)

4.18 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0805448535 (ISBN13: 9780805448535)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

B&H Books

series

Sgt. Major Eric Moyer

review 1: I have great respect for Struecker, who has written a nail-biting suspense about a Spec Ops (Army Ranger) team that also grapples with the issue of faith.There are a lot of characters in this book, and the point of view bounced around a lot. Add in the team members’ nicknames, and it got hard to follow at times. The early parts bogged down a bit, felt a little slow with all the characters getting a tidbit.Sruecker tried to follow family events happening at home (a rebellious teenage son, a troubled pregnancy) as well as the action on the mission, which I think is a pretty talk order given the huge cast of characters. As a result, it was hard to get to really know any one of the characters. JJ, the only Christian on the team, is probably the one the reader most gets to kn... moreow, along with the team leader (Eric Moyer).Struecker obviously knows the processes and lingo of Spec Ops (having been an Army Ranger himself), but he did an excellent job of not letting that overshadow the storyline.As for the storyline… it had just the right amount of bad-guy stuff (although a tad bit cliché). It moved along very quickly from about the middle of the book.(spoiler alert here) The ending was very good. I was starting to think it would be a HEA which didn’t feel realistic considering how the odds were stacked against this team. But no, the team loses one of their own in the end, and the ‘conversation’ about faith comes full circle, leaving some (Eric in particular) with grief and survivor guilt.Excellent action. Less bouncing around amongst characters would have made this a 5-star read.
review 2: The story follows the lives of six special ops operatives and their immediate family. They live a kind of dual lives because they can never reveal what they really do. Their lives take an interesting turn with a simple phone call as three pairs of special ops soldiers move to a new assignment separately, yet together. As the lives of these six men change with the dire situations, so do the lives of their partners back home.The character portrayal has been done to perfection as each character have their own personalities and quirks. The story is written from various point of views giving us an idea about what each of these people are thinking or going through. The six soldiers – ‘Boss’, ‘Colt’, ‘Doc’, ‘Junior’, ‘Shaq’ and ‘Goat’ – each have distinctive voice in the novel and together they made for a great cast. The plot is genuine and action packed without a single dull moment. From Al-Qaeda base in Venezuela to Nuclear weaponry in Iran, from kidnapping to abortion, this book covers a wide range of things. The only problem I faced was the author’s style of writing. I thought it to be a bit ‘dry’ and kept on wishing for a little more description of the surroundings and bit more expressive.But what I loved the most about this book was its take on religion and faith. While some of the characters were Christians and they practiced their faith the others weren’t as keen. While the author made some points about faith at no point did it get too overbearing. Also, while the people in this line of work are truly appreciated, one often overlooks the struggles of their family. Spending lengths of time away from their partners, the wives have their own fights to live through.The climax is the deal clincher though. I had a great time reading through this book and would recommend you to give it a try. less

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