I love all of Steven Konkoly books, and this was one of my favorites.
Devin Gray, a highly trained counter surveillance expert, is having such mixed emotions about the death of his mother. She has been in and out of their lives for the last 20 years, often seeming unstable and flighty. Upon her death he receives a message from her that sends him on a wild goose chase. It seems Helen Gray uncovered a massive Russian plot of sleepers embedded in the United States. Worse she has found evidence of a training camp for second generation sleepers. Devin is instructed to entrust the help of Helen's long time confidant, Karl Berg. Together they embark on a mission to prove Helen's theory and stop something that could ultimately destroy the United States.
Great plot, action packed story. Little bit of a cliff hanger at the end. Looking forward to the next book.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was pleased to be able to receive this ARC because I have really enjoyed Mr. Konkoly's latest Ryan Decker series. So, you can imagine how unbelievably dumb I felt that I did not put two and two together into well into the book. I can not believe that it took me that long to realize that this book takes place in the same world as his Ryan Decker series. We are just dealing with the mercenary group this time - not Ryan and his gang.

With that being said, the premise is interesting. For me, it took a while for me to get into it. Maybe it was because I didn't realize WHO the characters were for a while, but I honestly think that the book just started off a bit slow. But, in true Konkoly fashion, once things take off....hold on to your hats..

I will say this, the ending was a bit odd. It just ended....seriously, it wasn't really a cliffhanger and there is definitely going to have to be a second book because it felt like the book just kind of ended in like the middle of a paragraph. Weird. It was almost like someone just picked a spot and said, "okay, this is enough pages for the first book, let's end it here and the rest will go in book 2" That was how out of place the ending was. Granted, this is an ARC, so this might be changed by the time it goes to print. We'll see.

I enjoyed the book. Not as much as I have with the last few Ryan Decker books, but to be fair, they are several books into that series so the reader has the opportunity to better know the characters and has much more of an investment in the happenings and goings on.

I liked Devin and Marnie. They are new characters. We've met Rich and his gang before, but we haven't really had the opportunity to focus on them like we do in this book. So, I guess I'll be waiting for the next book to come out to find out what the heck this new gang is going to do.

Fun, fun, fun.....

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. The review above is my opinion and my opinion only.

Deep Sleep falls into that category of fast-paced US thrillers with a military/espionage/intelligence background, in which everyone always has the latest gear, the most secret of secret societies are doing secret things and the heroes win against all the oddest of odds - a wonderful genre to just get stuck in and lose yourself in explosions and crazy hunts for a while. It's also a genre that has changed very little in the past years and can feel a bit stuffy for that reason.

That is why I was so pleasantly surprised that Deep Sleep takes some of this genre's conventions and turns them on their head: the operatives aren't young and fit; they're in their 50s (okay, and still fit) and not sure if they should be glad or complain about the likelihood of being retired soon; and our hero, Devin Grey, while a master at his own brand of spy work, is not one of those protagonists who can run 10 miles after nearly drowning, can fly anything, shoot anything, knows anything and who can get a little boring in their very perfection. Instead, he stumbles around loudly while sneaking up on the enemy because he has never worn night vision goggles, causing his buddies to roll their eyes and wish they'd left him at home.

Another thing I really enjoyed was that we're finally beginning to see some women naturally portrayed both in positions of power (without laboriously explaining why she is so very special that she deserves this extreme reward) as well as part of the operatives teams, where they not only hold their own but also often save the day, not because or although they are women, but merely because they're good operatives, period.

The lengthy explanations of the conspiracy plot in the middle of the book were a little tedious at times, but necessary to get the required information across. As usual, these quickly lost me, but in these cases I just lean back and trust that the author knows what he's talking about (and I'm sure Mr Konkoly, with his military background, does), and your mileage with these may very well differ.

The book wraps its plot neatly enough to be read as a stand-alone, but the main conspiracy plot leaves more to be explored at the end of the novel, and I would not be surprised if we saw at least one sequel coming out in the near future.

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

A plot that unfolds giving us a picture of what is going on in Israel, with the sirens and having a safe room in one’s home.
We meet Maya going for her basic IDF combat training.
Then there is Devin a countersurveillance expert racing across the country the stakes are high as are the risks. The covert mission to stop the conspiracy network to destroy the United States. Fast action to the end
Given ARC from Net Galley and Thomas Mercer.for my voluntary review and my honest opinion.

Deep Sleep is a fun action thriller with crisp and exciting action-sequences. The story could have been improved in terms of a more central plotline and a stronger foundation for the characters.