Great thriller that kept me turning the pages. Great story, great writing and characters. Really enjoyable and would read this author again.

Great awesome read, gripping and enthralling from beginning to end. I enjoyed it and will read more by this author in future. Recommended.

Slightly confused


Time To Hunt is the third in the Pierce Hunt series and I heavily suspect that it would be better for any reader to tackle them in order as I felt slightly lost and at sea while reading the book.

Dorothy Triggs is the Deputy Director of the CIA where she works with her son Max who also holds a senior position in the agency. She hires semi-retired Hunt to find an old friend who has gone missing during a black op but his target is very quickly changed to Jorge Remirez; an adversary of long-standing who holds information detrimental to the security of the USA. The action moves quickly from the Bahamas to Switzerland as we follow the journeys of both Triggs and Hunt as they follow their respective paths.

Possibly because I had not read the previous two books in the series it felt as if the characters were rather two dimensional. There were also so many of them that it was difficult to keep track and remember who on what side. Add to that the inclusion of Russian mafia members and South African mercenaries and it was character overload. I don’t want to include a spoiler, it should also be said that the change of sides by one major character was verging on the unbelievable which took place in less than a page......unlikely in the extreme. Additionally, the epilogue felt as if it were tacked on rather than thought through as an integral part of the story.

mr zorg

Elite Reviewing group received a copy of the book to review.

This book was nonstop action from stat to finish. Unfortunately, this was to the detriment of the story line. I hadn't read the first few in the series so at no point did I get invested in the characters or care about their motivations. If you are looking for a quick read with lots of killing and spy missions, this is for you.

In Simon Gervais’s third Pierce Hunt novel, Time to Hunt, Hunt is sought out from the comforts of home for a most critical mission for the CIA. Hunt, who is a former Army Ranger and (most recently) a DEA agent, is considered the ultimate operator. He is autonomous and has a strong devotion to friends and family. So, when CIA agent and close friend of Hunt’s, Charlie Henican goes missing, the CIA knows who to call.

However, Hunt soon discoverers that there is more than meets the eye on this mission. While preparing to find Henican, a past nemesis who slipped through Hunt’s fingers resurfaces with information that poses a grave threat to national security. Hunt is pulled in two different directions of either saving his friend or following orders to protect national security. While this tug-of-war ensues, a third twist is added when word gets out that there is a leak close to the team within the CIA. There is a traitor amongst them. With these high stakes, Hunt recruits a top team of his closest friends, all lethal operators. However, when his team is attacked by possible sources from inside the CIA, Hunt does not know who to trust on this mission.

Simone Gervais pens a dastardly duo of villains: one is Hunt’s past nemesis, and the second, a traitor motivated to right an injustice by doing further wrong. The question is asked, can the reader cheer for the villain? Yes. Can they condone their actions? No. The reader is taken down a twisted path as they wrestle with this traitors actions and motivations. Gervais weaves both villainous story lines together with action, intrigue and suspense. Is this villain truly bad, or is who they aligned themselves with destined them to failure? Who will this person bring down in the process of attaining this impossible goal?

For my final thoughts, this was a stellar fast paced read. We start off the novel with an audacious “arrest” and it does not stop till the last page. This was my first time reading about Pierce Hunt, but I always felt like I was in “the know” the whole book. I was never left with the question of what just happened. With how past books were tied in, I was left wanting to go back and read the entire series. I have to know more about this Pierce Hunt and his past exploits!

Reviewed for “Mystery and Suspense Magazine”

Another fun formula plot in the Pierce Hunt series, Time to Hunt is an incremental improvement and is easily the best of the three. We open with Pierce having settled down in far off Bermuda with Anna and Leila and friends after finally escaping the gravitational tug from the violence that had dogged his life for so many years. Things are going well when, yep, yet another friend from the past gets jammed up and only Pierce has a hope of saving the day. This time, it is a disgruntled mama's boy from CIA Operations that mucks up the works. Pierce pulls a team together from a cast of past favorites and goes to work. I enjoyed yet another hard to believe plot and, again, the pacing was raucous and furious and drags you through by the throat. The characters become more developed and one finds ones self becoming attached in spite of the formula. That makes the purported fact that this is the last in the series a bit of a bummer. Hopefully, Mr. Gervais will relent and give us another installment of what could be come his first long running series if he develops any interest in such things.

Time to Hunt is the third instalment in the US Army Ranger turned DEA Agent Pierce Hunt series, and while I would highly recommend reading them chronologically due to some running storylines, it is not a strict necessity. Disavowed DEA Agent Pierce Hunt has moved to beautiful New Providence in the Bahamas with his girlfriend and heiress to the Garcia crime syndicate, Anna Garcia, and teenage daughter, Leila, to escape the violence, which had been ruling their lives, when his peace is suddenly shattered by unexpected visitors. CIA Deputy Director of the Directorate of Operations Dorothy Triggs and her son and ”right-hand man”, Max Oswald, turn up unannounced hoping they can rope him into finding and recovering his friend Charlie Henican who was seized by a group of men in Istanbul while attempting to assassinate Venezuelan narco-terrorist, murderer and most-wanted fugitive, Jorge Ramirez. He reluctantly accepts the mission as Henican had once saved his life when they were both Rangers in Gaza. But not long after leaving Hunt’s home Triggs and Max are ambushed by gunmen but both survive the attempted kidnap.

Despite the release of a video showing Henican alive and being held by a group known as the Maroon Berets, who accuse him of attempting to kill the Turkish president, the case is deemed too sensitive for Hunt’s often heavy-handed methods and he is sent to Switzerland to accompany veteran agent Harriet Jacobs instead. Their mission is to assassinate Ramirez. And so begins a high stakes game of cat and mouse, which weaves its way across several countries. With switching allegiances, duplicity and deceit being the order of the day exactly who can Hunt trust? This is a riveting and exciting read from start to denouement with all the secrets, lies, delusion, deception and corruption you could wish for in an espionage thriller. Gervais pens a breathless all-action story complete with enough drama and tension that it demands to be read in a single sitting, which is exactly what I did. This is one page-turning thrill ride with never a dull moment and as long as you can excuse the minor plot holes you're in for an entertaining, twist-filled and thoroughly enjoyable read.

Time to Hunt by Simon Gervais
Pierce Hunt #3

Intense, action-packed, intricately plotted story of betrayal that created a great deal of pain and loss for more than one in the story. I have to admit that I had more trouble relating to and caring about the characters in this book than I did in the previous two in the series but still found this well worth reading and look forward to what may come next.

What I liked:
* Pierce: competent, lethal, intense, team player, follows orders, has a conscience, cares for and protects those he loves.
* Carter: Pierce’s friend, another skilled operator, good man, may retire in the future
* Charlie: felt sorry for this friend of Pierce’s as he was betrayed and suffered greatly
* The way the story spun out with threads that were woven together to provide a huge story
* The action scenes
* That at least some of the bad guys were dealt with
* The glimpse of the people in Pierce’s personal life that he cared about
* The twists and turns
* Wondering what Pierce will be required to do next – hoping he will have a handler that he trusts and who cares for him – Hauer
* That it made me question what it would take to do some of the things that were done in this book…the training, the mental process, the physical aspects…and in that same line…what it would take to be the bad guy and do what they did, too.

What I didn’t like:
* The bad guys…and there were some that were not necessarily bad but were also not good
* The ease with which death was ordered and lives were taken

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more in this series/by this author? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars

I recently finished Time to Hunt the latest Pierce Hunt book from Simon Gervais. These books are only getting better and better, although dark and violent the story about Hunt and his friends evolve with every story and is not as repetetive as some other series. Here we get new bad guys and we have a good continuing story line about the personal lives of the characters. Gervais is not afraid to let people close to the hero leave the world violently. We also can not be really sure who is the bad guy in the story because there is new facts coming all the time through the adventure as we read. Great stuff. I have to thank #Netgalley and #ThomasandMercer for giving me an advance copy of #TimeToHunt by #SimonGervais You should all be onboard reading this series by now.

Lots of intense action.
Pierce Hunt is asked to help a friend who has been taken by the Turkish government.
Charles Henican suffers beatings while his kidnappers attempt to break him, to give up his reason for being in Turkey.
Dorothy Triggs convinces Hunt to take the job, with the help of 3 other operatives. They leave for Sweden with the assignment of assignation of Jorge Ramirez. At the last minute, the assingment changes. And Hunts operatives are slain. Hunt must figure out who betrayed them. And what happened to Ramirez.
Short chapters, intense fire fights, treason, use of different narrators moves this plot quickly and sucks you in.

Great awesome read. I’m excited to read more of her work. Very captivating story and sucks you right in from the beginning. Posting on goodreads and for friends to purchase this one.

I loved this very much! The characters, the actions and even the plot itself! Very inspiring for my own book too!

Book Review: Time to Hunt (Pierce Hunt #3) by Simon Gervais
(Published by Thomas & Mercer on November 10, 2020)

4.25 Stars.

"Hunt Them Down", Book 1, was one of the better values on Amazon First Reads in November 2018. The third book in the series, "Time to Hunt" has a plot that takes quite a turn from the first two, it reads as a standalone.

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Palm Cay Marina, New Providence, The Bahamas. Pierce Hunt, former US Army Ranger and ex-DEA rapid response team leader, had just spent the day fishing with his daughter, Leila, on his Cobia 296, when he gets an unwelcome visit from Dorothy Triggs, the CIA's deputy director of the Directorate of Ops, its clandestine arm.

He, Lelia and girlfriend, Anna Garcia had moved to the Bahamas to escape the nonstop violence their lives had been filled with. Now, he's being commissioned on a one-off CIA NOC (noncommissioned cover, to be disavowed if caught or killed) which he reluctantly but willing undertakes. A close friend from Ranger combat days who'd saved his life, Charlie Henican, was taken reported missing in Turkey. Henican was on the trail of a most-wanted fugitive, an ex-Venezuela military narcotraficante responsible for multiple murders in the USA.

Little did Hunt know that what he and his team were to be in as pawns for a scheme of delusion and corruption to the highest heavens.

Quick read, entertaining nonstop action!

Review based on an ARC from Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley.

i really enjoyed reading this, the characters were great and I really enjoyed the mystery elements, it felt like there was a true risk in the book and I enjoyed that.

I've read the two first books in this series, but I'm sorry to say that the quality has dropped a lot for this one. There is just too much nonsense.

Simon Gervais has done it again! This book is a thrill ride from start to finish. Simon knows how to write action scenes and just when you think it cannot get any better, he stomps on the accelerator and gives you some more. If you like action thrillers you need to check out Simon Gervais Hunt series. You will not be disappointed!

Time to Hunt is the third book in a series, and I have not read the first two. While there may be information about Pierce Hunt in the first two, I'm afraid I'll never know.

This book opens with what is to me a laughable action: an operative in Turkey, awakening suddenly in a bed, "diving" for a pistol that is under the other pillow on the bed. A team of black-clothed commandos bursts in and takes him away. He's tortured a few chapters later and at the end of that, it seems he is dying/has died.

Meanwhile, a CIA officer named Triggs is with her son, tracking down Pierce Hunt in the Bahamas. She was told not to go to Turkey to hunt down Jorge Ramirez (who apparently is someone they've been hunting in the first two books), so in the spirit of renegade officers everywhere, she sends someone else.thus, the dude bed diving. Her son Max is her second in command, and they talk about sending the badass Hunt to Turkey with another operative to get the bed diving guy back.

Their vehicles are attacked, and Max sends his mother down the hill behind them after she's been shot. As she makes a break for it, their vehicle is hit with an RPG and explodes, and her son with it, apparently.

I'll stop there for spoiler reasons, in the event you want to read this.

This is one of those very rare instances that a book is a DNF for me. At 15% (according to the progress meter on my Fire), we find out who the bad guy is. At 18%, he has a very lengthy internal monologue, letting us know all about his motivation and his plans.

How can you write a thriller when one of the pieces that should be thrilling but that is not present here is the hunt for the bad guy, sniffing them out, flushing them from cover out into the open so the denouement is satisfying? I know the ultimate bad guy is Ramirez, but short of capturing/killing him, someone else has to take his place in each book, and if I'm told who it is and why he's doing things, it really blunts the part of my mind that cares about what happens, since it's likely that person will be caught/killed.

Sadly, I cannot recommend this. As always, your mileage may vary.

Two stars out of five.

Thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the review copy.

Thanks to #Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review the ARC of Simon Gervais' brilliant new entry in the Pierce Hunt series, "Time To Hunt". Following on the heels of "Hunt Them Down" (Book 1) and "Trained To Hunt" (Book 2), "Time To Hunt" is a runaway thrilling continuation to the search for one of the most dangerous men in the world - Jorge Ramirez, who is on the run with valuable intelligence implicating the United States in events that occurred in Venezuela in the previous book.

This story begins with a massive betrayal and the attempted assassination of a top CIA executive; as well, a good friend of Pierce Hunt, and a top operative is missing in Turkey after being sent there to 'retrieve' Ramirez.

Former Army Ranger, DEA Operative, etc. Pierce Hunt is sent, instead, to Switzerland on an op that is meant to flush out Ramirez - with dire consequences thanks to the ultimate betrayal.

As always, Gervais injects Hunt's feelings for Anna Garcia, for his daughter, and even for his ex-wife and her new husband when making his split-second, life or death decisions.

Honestly, I always go into the "Hunt" books planning on a roller coaster of a ride, and I'm never disappointed. "Time To Hunt" was exactly what I expected and sometimes had a hard time taking a break to do important things like eating, sleeping, etc.

Highly Recommended.

This is the third installment in the Pierce Hunt series, and I love how the author keeps expanding on his character. I thought Gervais's first novel in the series, HUNT THEM DOWN, was a fantastic intro to the series.

This novel definitely did not disappoint. Within the first chapter, I was hooked. It was one of those novels that you can stay up all night reading. For Hunt, it's a book of revenge as he tries to find out who in the CIA betrayed him and his teammates. I've been very impressed with Simon Gervais and his entrance to the genre. His books remind me of a mix of Mark Greaney and Jack Carr. I'd personally love to see more in-depth dialogue between characters, but this is a solid novel in a great series. I highly recommend it!

Time to Hunt was a bit disappointing. I clicked on the request button purely because I'm an espionage junky and I noticed that this book dealt with a CIA officer. What I didn't realize at the time was that this book was the third book in a series that I hadn't read before. While this book can definitely stand on its own, I probably would have liked it more had I read the first two books. That being said, my biggest issue with this book was that it was a little too Hollywood for my taste--which isn't all that surprising given that the author, Simon Gervais, has never worked in the CIA or the intelligence community at large. And as someone who reads a fair number of memoirs and espionage thrillers written by people with a background in the intelligence community, I have a pretty low tolerance for the blockbuster depictions of being a spy. Regardless, Time to Hunt was an enjoyable enough read to warrant the three stars I gave it.