A good action pact book with military drama and speech. with only maybe one scene that might be a stretch, but other wise a good story with good characters.

"In the Crosshairs" eBook was published in 2017 and was written by Sgt. Jack Coughlin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Coughlin_(author)). Mr. Coughlin has published 10 novels, with this being the 10th in his "Kyle Swanson Sniper" series.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in contemporary times. The primary character is former Marine sniper Kyle Swanson, who is now out of the service, but who occasionally does work for the CIA.

A Mexican police officer who was a good friend of Swanson's is killed in the line of duty. The drug cartel responsible sets off a bomb at the funeral. This sets Swanson on the trail of the man he thinks is responsible. Concurrent to this, a new Congresswoman is stirring up public concern over the CIA and its involvement in the drug trade.

Swanson heads to the middle east in pursuit of the bomber on behalf of the CIA. He has been paired with another sniper who has been employed on special missions for the CIA. The two close in on their quarry, but things take an unexpected turn. A far larger plot is underway than Swanson and the CIA leadership had imagined. 

I enjoyed the 7.5 hours I spent reading this suspenseful 301 page thriller. The characters were well developed and the plot was good, though far from unique. The cover art is OK, though I would have preferred something more closely related to the story. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.

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Exemplary example of excellence in the elite military genre. The action was non-stop. The characters were engaging and left me wanting to know more about each of them. The plot was very believable (except the fake grenade attack on Swanson and Gibson early on that was obviously a set up but taken seriously by our intrepid operator). The pacing of the prose was very good and kept me fully, naturally, and effortlessly engaged which I always find impressive when I encounter it. This was my first Coughlin read but will not be my last. I am eager to find out if this is a one off wonder or a new addition to my "always read immediately" category. Thank you for a great read!