Some Die Nameless brings focus to the private security and military defense contractors like Black Water. (Also interesting is that Erik Prince, Blackwater's founder. is the brother of Betsy DeVos.)

Some Die Nameless is an intense thriller in which the past comes back to haunt members of a team of men who worked for a security-for-hire corporation. Working as a defense contractor, the company sends mercenaries to train others for war. Ray Devlin, now retired, was part of three-man group sent to a South American country to help the opposition overthrow a dictator. Of course, the replacement is equally corrupt and brutal.

The wealthy head of the corporation, seeking more political power and wealth through the reelection of a certain senator, decides to eliminate the men involved in the South American paramilitary operation. Although these men don't know all of the machinations involved in the operation, they are a weak link in the chain.

Ray escapes an attempt on his life and visits Colin Roarke, one of the other men involved in the operation, to see if he has any idea of what was going on. Roarke is short on answers, surprised that one of their former friends had tried to kill Ray. Shortly after Ray leaves, Roarke, along with several innocent victims is murdered.

Tracy Quinn, a journalist, is already investigating a story that involves a murdered man who also has a connection to the Latin American fiasco. The two team up and both are in danger.

Ray Devlin, trying to see how the past has influenced the threat to his life, and Tracy Quinn, the committed journalist in a dying profession, make an interesting pair as they work to stay alive and make headway against an assassin and the man who sent him.

The plot is fast and furious, the use of private corporations to fight wars the U.S doesn't want to be connected to, and the effect of profit and corruption in the political arena are all worth thinking about.

This one was recommended by James Thane, and I am now interested in reading about Crissa Stone, "crime fiction's best bad girl ever."

NetGalley/Mulholland Books
Mystery/Thriller. July 10, 2018. Print length: 341 pages.

Synopsis/blurb.....

'A story so muscular and breakneck we can barely catch our breath . . . lingers with us long after we reach the final page' Megan Abbott

Ex-mercenary Ray Devlin is living a simple life off the grid in Florida, when a visit from an old colleague stirs some bad memories - and ends with a gunshot. Soon Devlin is forced to face a past he'd hoped to leave behind, as a member of a private military force that helped put a brutal South American dictator in power.

Tracy Quinn is an investigative journalist at a struggling Philadelphia newspaper. What appears at first to be a straightforward homicide draws her and Devlin together, ultimately entangling them in a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of the US government.

Before long, they become the targets of a ruthless assassin haunted by his own wartime memories. For Devlin, it could mean a last shot at redemption. For Tracy, the biggest story of her career might just cost her her life.
----------
MY TAKE...

My kind of book and my kind of author if Some Die Nameless is typical of Wallace Stroby's work.

We have an explosive start when an old friend drops in on Ray Devlin and tries to kill him. Devlin then sets out to discover why a former friend and colleague wanted him dead and if someone else is going to come gunning for him. Quelle surprise - there is!

A mercenary past, reconnecting with an old friend, a barroom massacre, an unsolved murder, an investigative journalist, an ultra-ambitious politician with a less than squeaky clean past and a take no prisoners clean the house operation to eliminate a threat to his potential multi-billion dollar defence contracts, threats to family, the newspaper business, politics, shady operations abroad, a boat trip to a secluded island and lots more.

Compelling, thrilling, exciting, dangerous - plenty of action with Devlin in the cross hairs of some capable adversaries. I particularly liked his poke the bear response and his fightback. I loved how the plot unfolded and others were sucked into the maelstrom, especially the newspaper journalist, Tracy Quinn. Quinn and Devlin collaborate. There's more than one way to skin a cat, the pen being mightier than the sword. Sometimes you need both.

Pace, story, topicality, likable characters, heart, action, outcome. What more do I want from my reading? Nothing.

It's kind of hard to do the book justice without rambling on for ages and narrating lots of events. You'd do far better just reading the thing yourself. At a clip under 300 pages, it won't take long, I guarantee.

4.5 from 5

Some Die Nameless is Wallace Stroby's eighth novel, but my first taste of his work. Most of the others including four in his Crissa Stone series sit on the shelf waiting.

Read in October, 2018
Published - 2018
Page count - 295
Source - Net Galley review copy courtesy of Mulholland Books
Format - ePub file read on laptop

https://col2910.blogspot.com/2018/11/wallace-stroby-some-die-nameless-2018.html

I was worried as the description just seems so OVER-USED these days, ex "this and that" but yet and expert. In my uniforms days we said, "An ex is a has-been and a spurt but a drop under pressure". Still the story moves along pretty well to my surprise and I think the journalist angle helped but it ended with a yawn. Still over all I enjoyed the story of Devlin I just wish the ending was better or more exciting maybe..

You know those action/thriller movies where a group of friends from the past suddenly find themselves being picked off one by one in the present? This is kind of that in book form! But add to the main dude being hunted a journalist struggling at a downsizing newspaper who accidentally stumbles into his troubles and danger. I really liked the balance of good, developed characters with tense action scenes, and the dives into political unrest, and the struggles in print vs digital journalism for newspapers.

Stroby is a superb as ever with a thriller that will draw you in and keep you reading! He's in fine writing form as ever.

Stroby is a strong, competent writer, but the plot of this book felt as if I'd already watched the movie. I can't put my finger on anything wrong with it, just that nothing felt original and I had trouble remembering anything about it a couple days later. I fear thrillers with lots of guns and action scenes are just not my thing anymore.