NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer provided me with an electronic copy of Signature Wounds. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

FBI agent Paul Grale never misses an opportunity to celebrate with his sister and her family on the Fourth of July. As he approaches the venue, a resounding blast stops Paul's world in its tracks. Although he is a bomb expert, those in charge of the investigation decide to shunt Paul off to a periphery lead off of the main case. As Paul quietly searches for the bomb maker, will he be placing himself in extreme danger?

I liked Paul Grale and his relentless pursuit for the truth about the bombing, but the story itself lagged from the middle to the conclusion. The repetitive nature of the plot, coupled with an unnecessarily convoluted thread that Paul follows to find the truth, ruins the book for me. Signature Wounds started out compelling, but lost my interest half way through. As Signature Wounds is listed as book 1, I assume that more Paul Grale novels are to come, but I am not sure if I would read another book in this series. Having read many police procedurals and mystery thrillers, Signature Wounds does not do enough to stand out.

Signature Wounds is the first fast-paced action filled book in the Paul Grale series written by author Kirk Russell. Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for the advance copy.

What a thrilling novel! And a great introduction to what I hope is a long series featuring Paul Grale. I haven't read anything by Kirk Russell before but now I want to run out and get the rest of his works. I hadn't realized this book was offered as a kindle first the month before. I passed on it for another book so I'm glad I got the chance from netgalley to read this book now.

People use phrasing like "High octane" to describe fast paced, heart pumping, page turning pieces of work and I would say this qualifies.

Within the first few chapters, there is a bomb, an explosion, a possible, terrorist attack. This is something that will always be high on American's minds following 9/11 and that is more than the case here given that the victims were military, drone pilots.

Drones are also big now so this book provides some insight into that world for those who may only go by the snipits they hear in the news.

The book never seems to stop. I would recommend trying to read it in one sitting (I had surgery during my reading so I had to break it up and I felt that messed with the flow a bit). I'm looking forward to more works from Russell and more about Paul Grale.

It had a interesting take on a barely looked at but often shown drone project. That was what made this book worth reading. I'm glad I got to review it

The great thing about this novel is that it brings home how difficult and sometimes tedious an investigation can actually be. Russell has captured the meticulous nature of making sure you've got the right bad guy(s). I liked that this wasn't as clear cut as it is in many thrillers, although the unholy union was perhaps a bit of a stretch. Grale is a decent character but the book is less focused on him than on events. This would have benefited from a strong editor to tighten things up in spots. THanks to Netgalley for the ARC.