It took me just a little bit to sort out the beginning of this book and develop an understanding of the main character Dez. Once I got past that point, I couldn't put it down! The adventure built very well upon itself and left me looking for a sequel. Highly recommended!!

The Gatekeeper is a very adventurous debut about Dez, a former gatekeeper. He is retired and enjoys playing with a band in California. He just happens to be in the right place to show his many skills by saving a CEO in a hotel. He has wit, charm and so many skills that make him the hero of the day, week or month. I loved this book and have recommended it to many. There are not a lot of books that I have read lately that make me want to keep reading, all the while laughing or holding my breath to see how issues will work out. I hope that there will be another book coming about Dez.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

This is a fun and entertaining read. I enjoyed the action and the thrill with the story keeping me interested from start to finish. A new to me author that I will definitely be looking forward to more from.

The essence of a book that can combine a cinematic superlative with a sense of the real, even as things spiral out of control is a tall order. This reviewer always likes to see new implementations of characters from the ground up so it can be tricky seeing what is really working until sometimes the 3rd or 4th book (if they get that far). With a book like "The Gatekeeper" [James Byrne/Minotaur/304pgs], it moves right from the get go. The first couple chapters are muddled as it tries to establish a little bit of perspective of backstory with what becomes the lead character per se in Dez who is a jack of all trades but pretends he knows none. His essence of wrong place at the wrong time before taking the bull by the horns does work. His foil (at least in this book) is Petra Alexandris,, the headstrong and brilliant daughter of a Greek business magnate who is powerful but stuck behind the times. The conspiracy that builds works quite well also because Dez is a way is so inclusive as a character while still being brutish and non-committal while being committed.

It is a hard balance to keep especially with the background story which is current (as of the past year of 2021). This galley was read in late 2021 and the review run and release date is in mid June 2022. This would be a great character for Gerald Butler in his prime since it needs that off put humor. Liam Neeson's style is too different but the great thing is that the book in this way can be visualized. It is like Jack Reacher but without his baggage. Dez doesn't have baggage per se…he just is. He doesn't get offended but don't piss him off. He doesn't assume anything though he knows most things. As the integration of plot points continue but don't overwhelm the reader, Byrne gives Dez an ability to approach the story with ease, even as the noose in a way tightens.

Even the villains sort of have this chess point. They are somewhat megalomaniacal but definitely don't have everything worked out though they think they do. "The Gatekeepers" [which refers to Dez's job per as a independent contractor, sets up a character wonderfully without assuming too much. the books’ shine is that it keeping the comedy moving without sacrificing any of the intrigue. B

By Tim Wassberg

Dez Limerick is one of my new favorite characters!

The Gatekeeper does the thriller genre proud. It’s one of the few books I’ve read this year that’s marketed as a thriller and actually is a thriller.

Settle in for a wild ride full of intense action, with one of the most unassuming, badass heroes you’ll ever meet.

The plot is original, complex, and evenly paced. The action might push the limits of plausibility a bit, but that’s true of most thrillers. I was unnerved by the possibility—and probability—of something like this happening, given what’s going on in the U.S. these days.

I loved the writing style, the character development and their interactions, the plot execution, the subject, and the way the story ended. I have absolutely no quibbles, grumbles, irritations, or complaints. Every second of this book was pure entertainment.

Also, The Gatekeeper is the first book in the new Dez Limerick series. I’m here celebrating because I so badly needed a new thriller hero to follow. I just wish book 2 was ready and waiting on my shelf!

James Byrne's "The Gatekeeper" is an intricate military thriller whose action takes place on US soil, with anarchists and right-wing militias deliberately stirred up - and a Russian connection.

Its lead is retired mercenary soldier Desmond Aloysius Limerick. Dez's mates call him their gatekeeper, responsible for 'Transitions an' times. Duality an' doors. Passages an' endings.'

In California, he stumbles upon (and foils) an attempt to kidnap Petra, Chief legal counsel of military contractor Triton Expeditors and daughter of its CEO.

What follows is an explosive read.

The Gatekeeper is an action packed thrill ride. Good character development, twists and turns. Attempted kidnapping, possible coup, embezzlement and a former mercenary turned run of the mill gatekeeper. The gatekeeper opens doors/gates and is an all around bad ass.

** I received an electronic ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review of this book.

In the book The Gatekeeper, author James Byrne writes about Dez, a retired mercenary and amateur musician. He is enjoying his time in Southern California when the hotel he is at is attacked. He helps Petra Alexandris escape capture and possible death. Now he is tasked with protecting her. But can she be trusted? Can her father, who is the CEO of a military contractor be trusted? And who is embezzling money from the company?
This was a great edge of your seat book. I would recommend this book. I received a copy of this audio-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Truly enjoyable book to read with characters that have depth. This is an adventure of a retired mercenary, Dez and a chance meeting of Petra in an elevator. Just hours later Dez recognizes a setup to kidnap Petra and as a result decides to step in and protect her. Dez’s desire to keep her safe has him trying to unravel the reason someone wanted to kidnap her.
This story does not disappoint. It is a wild ride with strategy have several chess moves happening at once.
Thank you Netgalley for complimentary copy.

Desmond Aloysius LImerick is a gatekeeper: he opens doors and keeps doors closed that need to be closed; all of the operations he is involved in are top secret. A person won't find a trace of him on the Internet, yet heads of states know him as chef (chief). One night at a hotel he spies a woman he would like to have drinks with, but she has bodyguards and is clearly out of his league. He gets to his room, and notices that there's a sniper across the way, and it's not there for him, so it must be for her. He gets involved, saves the day, and winds up in even more of a twisty situation. He's funny, smart, and can get out of just about any situation. I hope to see more of Dez!

Who is James Byrne and where did he learn how to write?! I cracked this book in the late morning and finished in the late afternoon. Fast moving with a very likable mercenary protagonist and a brilliant female counterpart this story doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t apologize, doesn’t linger, it just moves with a bit of dry humor and a ton of mayhem. The scenario is mind boggling, dangerous and totally within the realm of possibility. Well thought out, detailed and perfectly explained - if man can think it - man can create it.

So, who is this author who takes a character and infuses him with humor, a profound knowledge of black ops, physiology and exquisite descriptions of how to break a bone, crush an esophagus, incapacitate an adversary? James Byrne a/k/a Gregg Hurwitz has created the antithesis to Agent X and I like this newly created Desmond Aloysius Limerick - I like him a lot and hope he will resurface with another story to be told.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for a copy

The Gatekeeper, by author James Byrne, is one that fans of Jack Reacher and Orphan X will sure to love. The story begins in Algeria, and ends in California. Desmond Aloysius Limerick (“Dez” to all) is a retired mercenary, and enthusiastic amateur musician, currently in Southern California, enjoying the sun and sitting in on the occasional gig, when the hotel he's at falls under attack. After finishing a 3 hour set at Hotel Tremaine, Dez spots the glint of a scope from a sniper on the roof of the next building, aimed at the entrance of the hotel.

He watches as a van pulls up, the doors open, and four men pour out. The men are dressed all in black and obviously armed. Dez finds that the phones and alarms have all been disabled. Dez steps into trouble by foiling a kidnapping attempt on Petra Alexandris, the chief legal counsel for Triton Expeditors, a multi-billion-dollar military contractor. After temporarily landing in a L.A. Country jail, where he meets Detective Beth Swain. After he's released, Dez agrees to help Alexandris with another problem she’s having.

Someone has someone has embezzled $1.3 billion dollars from her company. But Dez is a gatekeeper – one who opens doors and keeps them open – and this is just a door of another kind. And the door he opens leads to a dangerous conspiracy involving media manipulation, militias, an armed coup, and an attempt to fracture the United States themselves. With the aid of LAPD Detective Swanson and her boss Captain Naomi Cardona, he follows leads, all pointing to a military-type plot stemming from a small town in north central California.

Dez is five-eight but built like a tank, with a barrel chest, thick arms, short, bowed legs, and oversized hands riddled with scarred knuckles. His scars, burns, and bullet wounds paint a road map of the world’s hot spots. His past and training is shrouded in mystery. On the inside of his right forearm is a tattoo of Janus, the two-faced Roman god of doors, gates and transitions, and the patron for duality—life/ death, war / peace, beginning / ending—holding the metaphorical key to doors or gateways between what was and what is to come.

Dez cannot help but pepper his conversation with quips and wisecracks—somewhat shrouding his true guile and mental acuity, He can quote writers and philosophers, yet is an expert at throwing and taking punches. Even as the situation deteriorates into a life or death situation, Dez keeps cool, calm and collected and does what he does best - controls the gate. You will also want to pay close attention to Petra. She's not just a pretty face who Dez tends to want to sleep with...often. She's a powerful woman who refuses to back down easily, especially against her own father and his company.

I actually overlooked several parts of this book due to the insanity of someone actually believing anything that the author comes up with can happen. The author loves his conspiracy theories. He wants to blame everything on certain ripped out of the news groups that the Media and politicians love to label as villains while watching other groups actually burn down cities, chase reporters trying to cover the riots, and attack police officers because they are pigs and they need to be taken out. And you wonder why we have so much crime in this country.

I would not be hesitant in reading any sequel that the author might write about in the future. I think there's more Dez adventures that could be very entertaining.

You can add Dez Limerick to the list that includes Jack Reached, Orphan X, etc. All the early hype about this book by James Byrne is completely true. It's phenomenal. The beginning of a long successful series of thrillers featuring the escapades of The Gatekeeper, I hope! Fantastic book!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e ARC of this book.
The first in a new series, this book features Dez, the former gatekeeper. He is talented, witty, funny and designed to go anywhere. This series will not get boring. Very readable and entertaining but a bit too much graphic blood and gore to suit me.

Published by Minotaur Books on June 7, 2022

Desmond Aloysius Limerick is my new favorite action hero. While most fictional tough guys take themselves much too seriously, demonstrating their toughness in a transparent effort to mask insecurity about their masculinity, Limerick doesn’t take himself seriously at all. He’s funny, self-effacing, completely secure, and — only when he needs to be — tough.

Limerick’s background is a mystery. He is recognized and respected by highly ranked American military officers, but he isn’t currently in the military. He apparently hails from England, although he spent time in Ireland and Scotland before branching out to the rest of Europe. He speaks Spanish and a version of English that Americans don’t easily understand. (Limerick’s complicated explanation of the phrase “He’ll have a right bull” inspires a cop to say “This is America. Speak English.”) He plays bass in a bar band. Some people call him chef, which might be French for chief, although he claims to have gained the nickname by working in many kitchens.

At this point in his life, when he isn’t playing music, Des is a gatekeeper. He opens doors, guards them, keeps them open, controls who and what passes through, closes them when the time comes. Six months ago, he was opening doors in Algeria for people with guns. Des knows his way around a gun but he doesn’t seem to need one.

When the main story starts, Des is in Los Angeles, playing in a hotel bar. On his way to his room, he flirts with Petra Alexandris, amusing Petra but not her bodyguards. He looks out the window of his room and sees a sniper, then sees thugs entering the hotel. Since Petra has bodyguards, he concludes that the thugs might be coming for her. He wanders down to her floor and nonchalantly but violently saves her from being kidnapped. They spend much of the novel together, sometimes in bed. Des has a good life.

Petra is counsel for her father’s corporation, a massive company that finances and expedites contracts for the world’s militaries. The kidnap attempt ties into a plot that involves white supremacists who are lured to central California with the promise of carving out a 51st state, just for them. The actual scheme is more ambitious and surprisingly clever. To throw a spanner in the works, Des needs to take on the supremacists, defend a nuclear plant, and cause havoc on a not-quite-closed military base. Des takes some beatings in the process, but never loses his smile. Trying to control him by locking him in a cell turns out to be futile because, after all, he’s the Gatekeeper.

The novel gets its charm from Des, one of the wittiest action heroes I’ve encountered. I laughed out loud more than a dozen times at the novel’s sly and surprising humor, often appearing in asides and non sequiturs. The reader has little time to fret about plausibility in an action-filled, fast-moving story. The Gatekeeper is a refreshing change from action novels featuring self-centered tough guys whose personality is based solely on being tough. Des’ personality is based on being kind, smart, funny, disarming, and good with doors. His toughness is a quality he feels no need to brag about. Des is an unconventional protagonist I look forward to meeting again ... and again ... and again.

RECOMMENDED

4 stars = Great! Might re-read.

This was a fun thriller, along the lines of Orphan X or Reacher. I liked the protagonist here - engaging, a bit mysterious, but not the least bit aloof like in many other books of this style. The scheme they have to uncover and thwart was interesting. I would read more stories starring this character! (Language, violence/gore, references to sex, references to sexual assault, suicide)

While I'm not one to usually jump into the middle of a series I've never read, I really enjoyed this work. It was a great standalone book with enough details to understand the main characters background. If you are a fan of military type fighting, equal rights, and a little bit of gore, then this book is for you. I enjoyed the relationships between characters and the short chapters made it an easy read.

Book Review
The Gatekeeper
James Byrne
reviewed by Lou Jacobs


readersremains.com | Goodreads


Better than James Bond! A complex, multilayered action thriller with non-stop action, intrigue, and menace. Our hero is Desmond Aloysius Limerick (“my friends call me Dez”), who looks nothing like James Bond.

Dez is five-eight but built like a tank, with a barrel chest, thick arms, short, bowed legs, and oversized hands riddled with scarred knuckles. His scars, burns, and bullet wounds paint a road map of the world’s hot spots.

His past and training is shrouded in mystery, but he obviously was a seasoned veteran of black ops and clandestine ventures. On the inside of his right forearm is a tattoo of Janus, the two-faced Roman god of doors, gates and transitions, and the patron for duality—life/ death, war / peace, beginning / ending—holding the metaphorical key to doors or gateways between what was and what is to come.

Dez was an expert at opening doors that others couldn’t and keeping them open and closing them when needed, and controlling who goes through and for as long as needed. A small part of his skill set involved hacking into security and information systems, as well as physically picking locks. His crew gave him the nom de plume of “The Gatekeeper,” at other times he was referred to as “Chef.” He hilariously thinks he has mastered an American accent, but no one can hear anything but a mongrel type of accent, affected by his upbringing in Liverpool, Ireland, and Scotland. Much like Nelson Demille’s John Corey character, Dez cannot help but pepper his conversation with quips and wisecracks—somewhat shrouding his true guile and mental acuity, He can quote writers and philosophers, yet is an expert at throwing and taking punches.

Dez is attempting a retirement and finds himself in Los Angeles, working a gig as a bass guitarist in a club in the posh Hotel Tremaine. After a three-hour set, he finds himself sipping a beer in his room and looking out the window. He spots the glint of a scope from a sniper on the roof of the next building, aimed at the entrance of the hotel; as a van pulls up, the doors open, and four men pour out. All in black and obviously armed. Dez proceeds to intervene in foiling a kidnapping attempt of Petra Alexandris, the gorgeous, and brilliant chief legal counsel for Triton Expeditors, a multi-billion-dollar military contractor.

They don’t make war, they just market it across the world. Petra is the daughter of founder and owner, Constantine Alexandris. Petra is no stranger to kidnapping; first kidnapped at age twelve and then again the week she turned twenty-one. The action sequence pitting Dez with four thugs is a thing of beauty, comparable to a ballet of violence. Dez breaks the glass and grabs an axe he comes upon on the hotel hallway wall, and uses this incidental weapon along with his guile and skill to thwart the kidnapping attempt. Petra takes him into her confidence and enlists his aid. “I don’t know who to trust … I need some doors opened.” More than a billion dollars has been surreptitiously diverted from her companies’ coffers. Dez starts investigating a possible linkage of the kidnapping attempt with the missing money. With the aid of LAPD detective Beth Swanson he follows leads, all pointing to a military-type plot stemming from a small town in north central California. White supremacist and militias from across the country are converging there, seemingly agitated by an incendiary media companies’ broadcasts. Who is behind this cabal of conspiracy? Is their goal truly to establish a break-away state independent from the USA? (I.e. State of Jefferson or State of Lexington … for nefarious purposes.)

James Byrne weaves a complex and twisted tale of intrigue, menace, and mounting tension that escalates into a taut and unpredictable roller coaster denouement. His pacing and character building are impeccable as the characters jump off the page. It was refreshing to see multiple characters representing women and non-whites in powerful positions. I personally alternated between the kindle and the audiobook version narrated by actor John Keating. The wonderful narration brings to life the full charm and wit of Dez, along with his empathy and sense of justice. This intriguing tale will appeal to aficionados of Lee Child’s “Jack Reacher,” Gregg Hurwitz’ “Orphan X,” and Nelson DeMille’s “John Corey.”

***4.5 Stars On My Instagram Account***

"Do you believe in God?"
" No."
"Why not?"
"Because you can put the words pediatrics and oncology in the same sentence "

And that my friends is the best example of our hero, Desmond "Dez" Aloysius Limerick, an everyman with special skills that will always help the underdog.

Reading and listening to the hilarious explosive action packed thriller The Gatekeeper by amazingly talented author James Byrne was like a night at the movies watching a mash up of James Bond, Mission Impossible, Taken and the ever charming Bruce Willis in Die Hard.

Unlike the heroes in those movies we don't know what Dez does or did to become The Gatekeeper; someone who can open doors whether they are locked, blocked or heavily guarded.

Dez is between "jobs" when he meets sexy Petra in an elevator. After she turns him down for a drink it's not too long before they meet again when he is saving her from would be kidnappers.

There are some fun twists as we jump right in with Dez helping Petra, well cause that is what Dez does. We have no down time as Dez fights mercenaries, the Russians, Russian mercenaries and has to solve a billion dollar embezzlement scheme connected to a government insurrection. Still he finds time for romance, well cause you know he's a charming sexy badass!

Narrator John Keating made me love Dez's snarky attitude as he slowly decimated the bad guys. I loved the sincere hurt in his voice when people made fun of his name. I laughed even when the action got intense. I swooned when it was Petra asking him out but most of all I was truly happy I got to experience this forget your troubles and have a fun adventure story enhanced by a really talented performer.

I received a free copy of this book and audiobook from the publishers via #netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Well, this one is just plain fun and entertaining. If you want Reacher with a little more humor, this is for you. Dez Limerick is supposedly an Irish-Scottish mercenary for hire who happens to fall into a situation where his skills can save the fair maiden, and one thing leads to another, and somehow the United States itself is at risk. So the British boyo must save us from ourselves. I'm curious to the reaction of actual British/Irish/Scot natives to this American written British conglomerate; Dez didn't always "sound" right to me, more of a caricature of what he is supposed to sound like. But it's all in good fun, and plenty of it, though, like Reacher, not for the squeamish. We'd like to think all these bad guys are over the top, but, um, these days... maybe not so much. Fast moving, lots of action, relatively good plotting and reasonably good characterizations. Recommended.