DNF ing because the way this writer talks about people is so off putting that I can’t continue with it.

Fire in the Blood by Perry O'Brien is a pretty good novel. Pretty predictable but still a good story. I really liked the cover.

Unfortunately, Fire in the Blood was not for me. I work in a military environment so I thought I would love it, but the military jargon is over the top, even for me, making it difficult to follow the story.

The synopsis held promise for this one, but it was confusing and disjointed. The military jargon was over the top and totally detracted from the story.

This was definitely outside my comfort zone, and unfortunately, it was a miss.

Fire in the Blood is a fast-paced and heart-stopping debut from Perry O’Brien that tells the story of Coop, a US Soldier serving in Afghanistan whose wife is killed back home in a hit and run that leads him to have serious suspicions around the circumstances of her death as he learns more and more about it. He learns that through a new job he wasn’t aware of, Kay has been working as a drug addiction counselor at a clinic that blurs the line between doctor-patient relationships and being a part of the problem that they set out to solve for their patients. And what does a small team of Albanian drug dealers have to do with it? And a college student that has disappeared? And why is her family of bankers seemingly uninterested in finding out what really happened?

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It has the hallmarks of those armrest-gripping mystery thrillers where the lone wolf protagonist with a past to hide is suddenly thrust into the investigation of their life with everything on the line. It is structurally exactly what I was expecting in reading it, and I found that I finished the second half a great deal faster than the beginning. What is so compelling about this novel is that it not only explores a gripping mystery from the point of view of an AWOL soldier, but manages to subtly explore the true victims in this novel without noisy preaching: those truly suffering from PTSD and the opioid crisis in America. The writing is taut and at times beautiful for a mystery of this kind, and the violent, exciting ending comes at somewhat of a surprise in its violence and gentle landing of beautiful sympathy.

Unfortunately, I read this at the exact same time as Nico Walker’s Cherry, and finished them a day apart. Honestly, I liked that book a great deal more. While they are both novels about some of the same motifs and overall thematic leanings, Walkers spoke to me a great deal while O’Brien’s seemed a bit too flashy – but this is all to say that the difference is a great independent film (Walker) versus an exciting blockbuster (O’Brien), of which the former I prefer a lot more. A great book that was a lot of fun to read, this certainly fit the ‘page-turner’ genre of a great suspense of adept storytelling. An exciting thriller.

I liked the premise of this novel more than the execution. Coop finds out his wife is dead by a hit and run and goes swollen to attend her funeral in New York. He uses his army skill set to find out what happened. And here we enter into a world of Albanian drug dealers. This part of the story has some disconnects that are never really resolved. The chase is on and then everything ends abruptly. Doesn't quite tie things up neatly.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

This one was not for me. The military terminology went way over my head and it was hard to follow. At this point, I could not finish it but I believe that the premise of the book is important. I plan to try again at another time.

Perry O'Brien's Fire in the Blood does a fantastic job of putting the reader into the mind of his protagonist, Coop. Suffering from grief, PTSD and rage, Coop's emotions and thoughts suffuse the story, with hope for redemption in each passing chapter growing dimmer and dimmer. O'Brien has done a masterful job setting tone and building tension, never allowing the reader to become complacent or mollified by the actions of Coop. When the book ends, the reader is left feeling drained, the sign that O'Brien has been able to impart the feelings of his principal to the reader.

In 2003, a soldier named Coop in Afghanistan is told his wife, Kat, is dead in New York City. She was killed in a hit-and-run in the Bronx. Coop goes AWOL to find her killer and avenge her death with Fire in the Blood.

Kosta is a mid-level drug dealer and an Albanian expatriate. One of his low-level dealers, Sean, has run off with some inventory. While bringing Sean back to his lair, Kosta’s driver runs down a woman. Little does Kosta know but he has set off a terror storm of revenge headed his way. You see, Coop’s specialty in the Army is explosives—big explosives.

Fire in the Blood would make a great action movie. While reading it, I kept picturing how each scene would look with Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing Coop. Anyway, if you enjoy action movies, this is a great choice for you. For me, it started with a tad too much detail about war and crime syndicates. The pace was slow until about halfway into the book when it finally sped up to thriller speed. For that reason alone, 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for getting me an ebook. This is a thrill ride of a book. It moves fast, is really smart, at times quite violent but always very emotionally engaging. Coop, who is stationed in Afghanistan, right before the invasion of Iraq, is given the devastating news that his wife had died in a hit and run accident back in NYC. He goes on leave for the funeral, but ends up going AWOL as he tries to find out if his wife was killed by accident or something more sinister. A former soldier, the author paints such a vivid picture of Army life, but there are so many characters and worlds that he also has a sharp eye and keen ear for, including a small group of Albanian drug deals, mysterious, rich in-laws, Bronx detective among so many others. It’s amazing watching Coop deal with all these people as he comes to terms with the truth about his relationship with his wife and the things he’s done in Afghanistan.

Surprisingly good. Wasn't too sure when I started but I got drawn in right away. Lots of twists and turns as you try to figure out what is going on. Writing is spot on. Definitely check it out. Happy reading!

Did you know you can get honorary discharged from the Army for being a conscientious objector? I had no idea, but that’s pretty progressive. I only learned this just now reading the author’s bio, because that’s what he did. And then went on to write this book. About a man who leaves the military temporarily (but technically goes AWOL) and suddenly to investigate the sudden violent death of his estranged wife. It’s one of those books that seemed like it would be a murder mystery, but turned out to be more along the lines of an action driven thriller. The difference being you know the what, the why and the how of it all and are essentially just along for the ride until the main character figures it out too and dishes out some revenge. So not really my favorite sort of a thriller and aggressively testosteronish to boot on both sides, the good and the evil. But then again in the ever rising sea of female driven genre books out there, it’s practically refreshing to behold such an unapologetically masculine one, between the military mentality and the gang mentality, there are just different aspects of hyperdeveloped sort of maleness. So plot wise it’s pretty straight forward. Testosterone levels didn’t really win me over either. But the writing did. The writing’s really good. Not just debut good, but good all around, the protagonist blazes through the novel driven inexorably on his obviously dangerous, potentially lethal trajectory with his despair behind him like a comet with a strikingly pronounced coma on a collision course. The man goes from one war zone to another and both are bleak in their own ways and rendered starkly devastating. It may not be exactly the literary journey of one’s choice, but it is a compelling journey all the same. A hauntingly dark read. You have to be in the mood for it, so recommended…conditionally. Thanks Netgalley.

More miss than a hit for me.

Shortest Summary Ever: Coop - a soldier in Afghanistan, 2003 finds out his wife was killed. While home for her funeral he goes AWOL to try to uncover her killer amongst Albanian gangsters and his wife’s wealthy family he’s never known.

My Thoughts. First, I fully affirm I’m usually love it or hate it in the action-thriller genre. You can’t just have guys punching each other and killing each other. I need STORY. The first 30% of the book I wasn’t feeling and almost DNF due to a plethora of unexplained military jargon that I had to define. Then the story picked up and was enjoyable but for me fell apart at about 75%. I think the fatal flaw for me was not being invested in the characters - it finally got to the point I kind of didn’t care who killed whom. 🤷🏼‍♀️ It just didn’t work for me.

All my reviews available at scrappymags.com

Genre: Action Thriller/Mystery

Recommend to: If you have more military knowledge this might work and be more intriguing.

Not recommended to: If you’re over the movie Taken and the Albanian terrorist thing.

Thank you to the author, Random House, and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my always-honest review.

I really had trouble getting into this book and to be honest, still haven't finished it. I'm not sure I ever will. The writing in the beginning does not capture your attention or do a good job of drawing you in.

Slow to start, this thriller about a man searching for his wife's killer is burdened by too much backstory, but once the narrative drive picks up, it gets more interesting and worth staying with. The protagonist, Coop, finds himself in an unfamiliar place surrounded by strangers while trying to learn who wanted his wife dead and why. They'd barely been together before he was deployed, and he knew little of her family, who dont exactly welcome his appearance at her funeral. And once he starts looking for answers, they're hard to distinguish from the criminal gangs who had their own reasons for wanting her dead. And every hour he pursues the truth, his AWOL time is getting perilously close to desertion. There's a lot going on here, and the novel needs a good edit. But it's a better than average read.