Fabulous Pike Logan story with all his usual thrills, chills and non stop action. Pike and his wife and fellow operative, Jennifer, are on a "cover story" archeological dig when his phone rings, sending them off on another secret extraction. This time its because Afghanistan has fallen, the US is pulling out and Pike is tasked with retrieving an undercover Afghan who worked and helped the US., while at the same time, trying to find out who has hacked into the US's secret govt computer system and taken it hostage. He takes off on his assignment and the story just takes off right along with him.
Non. Stop.Action.
The story, the scenery descriptions and location placement are incredibly interesting and completely riveting.
Croatia...hmmmmmm.
And stellar gelato.
May just be time to rethink my next vacay👌

Non-stop action all over the world! Spies, terrorists, good guys (and ladies), and bad guys in every scene. Another thrilling novel by Brad Taylor.

Kudos also for such wonderful descriptions of Croatia - the cities and towns, the Bosnia border crossings, the fortresses above Ston / Mali Ston, Plitvice Lakes, Rastoke, the overload of GOT and most of all the delightful Croatian gelato.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to read this fast-paced, exhilarating ARC.

Thank you to Net Galley, the publisher and author for allowing me to read an advance copy of this fantastic book. I have been a big fan of the Pike Logan series, and this was one of the best of the series. Truly from the opening page, this book was non-stop action. Further, I continue to be amazed at how the author develops stories that seem so tied into what could actually happen given current global events. I have actually been a big fan of the development of the more human elements of the Pike Logan character over the past several books; however, this was less of an emphasis for this book, which might be my only criticism of the book. Bottomline, though, I finished this book in one day because it truly was a whirlwind of action. Now, sadly, I have to wait until next January for the next Pike Logan story. I am giving this 5-stars as one of the best books of this incredible series.

Another great book in the Pike Logan Series. As with each of the books the character development keeps bringing out more and more of especially Pike and his relationship with Jennifer. I am enjoying seeing how the team changes and yet keeps close. The secondary characters add so much to the story. Brad Taylor has another bestseller.

Pike Logan is back in one of the most hair-raising thrill rides to date. Against all odds, the Taskforce must battle against countless enemies on the hunt to find who is behind The Devil’s Ransom!

Logan and team are doing their due diligence in maintaining the Grolier Recovery Services front, as an archeological support team in Tajikistan. While camping out in the middle of the forest they are called into action to support a former Afghani CIA asset Jahn Amizi, who has fled the country amid the lightning-fast Taliban takeover.

Along with Amizi is his niece, and something else of great value, that the Badr 313 Battalion from Afghanistan is on the hunt for. Pike and team are always willing to put themselves on the line for those who support the United States, and this is exactly what they do, help. Leading the way to find and provide safe passage back to the U.S. was only supposed to be a quick job when blood is spilled, and another star is awarded on the Langley wall.

Following multiple side street and back alley attempts to find a lead to who has been holding American Technology hostage, the race is on to find a workaround to prevent the death of Americans and the loss of crucial space equipment. They always say that the insider threat is one of most consequence and it is evident as the team is placed in dire circumstances half a world away from their headquarters.

Brad Taylor blends a unique writing style with creative detail in The Devil’s Ransom. With the fall of Afghanistan being so recent, he is able to match current headlines with some of the best writing you can find today. As you try to find your way through the story on the side of those who are good, Taylor flawlessly shows the dark side of lawlessness that wreaks havoc on a global level. He also builds on the relational foundation that Pike and Koko have established while bringing you into the eyes of Pike and team, using unmatched research techniques to bring you a thriller with unmatched authenticity.

Setting the Scene: In the midst of chaotic debacle that was the U.S. capitulation to the Taliban in Afghanistan, an Afghan minister escapes with a national treasure, and the Taskforce's cover organization and all its sub-parts are hit with the mother of ransomware attacks. The resulting shutdown leaves all of the Taskforce operatives, including Pike and his team in the dark. Strangely, these events, though initiated entirely separate and apart from each other, collide, and so it begins. The backdrop of the United States' pathetic scramble to leave Afghanistan is the tip of the iceberg. Que the Taliban, a Russian oligarch and his thugs, a ban of Serbian ransomware thieves, a bunch of U.S. politicians and alphabet agencies, and what was a disaster becomes catastrophic - at least potentially so. With even more at play than anyone knows, Pike and his crew find themselves hopping from one mission to another putting out fires until the lives of innocent Americans, as well as what is left of the reputation of the United States are on the line.

What I thought: It has been a while since I visited Pike and his crew, and I forgot what a wild ride it can be. Keeping up with the various groups and their names, code or otherwise, was a bit much amidst the action of racing through the Croatian, Liechtenstein, and Bosnian landscapes, where the end games seemed to change in a heart beat. Thankfully, Brad Taylor provided a strong easily recognizable leader name for each of these groups making it easier to tell who's who, while skillfully weaving the threads of multiple storylines into a thrill ride of modern espionage, complete with a cyber plot at its core. Never fear, if you are not a tech geek, Mr. Taylor does not bog the story down with a lot of cyber jargon. Even a non-techy like me was able to follow easily - okay, well enough to keep up. I recommend this book to espionage junkies and Pike fans, but buckle up and check your blood pressure before you begin.

The Devil’s Ransom is not only a ‘ripped from the headlines’ story, but Brad Taylor seems to have delved into our collective psyches and wrenched out our darkest fears as well. Full of kinetic action showing Pike Logan and his team at their very best, the plotline is cleverly balanced out with ethical and moral quandaries that will have you debating long after you’re done with this book. This might be the most balanced and thought provoking installment of this iconic series.

As the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the most important CIA asset in the war on terror finds himself in need of assistance and looking for a way out before the Taliban capture and kill him. While on a research/cover trip for Grolier Recovery Services in neighboring Tajikistan, Pike and company find themselves as the closest team capable of pulling off the extraction. What they didn’t count on was having their legs cutout from under them when the Taskforce’s technological resources are shut down due to a sophisticated ransomware attack. Saddled with not only rescuing the asset, Pike and his crew must now hunt down the hackers responsible for the cyberattack that leads them from the mountains of central Asia to the aquatic beauty of the Adriatic sea.

This is a relentless story that can easily be read as a simple action thriller, but Taylor’s addition of another layer took my reading experience to another level. What sets this book apart from the rest of the series is the increased attention to the internal debates and decisions that team members are forced to grapple with as the stakes continue to ratchet up. Taylor does an amazing job taking the reader into those positions alongside our favorite characters and had me wondering throughout what I would do in their situation.

Also, if you weren’t jealous of the research trips that Brad and the DCOE take each year, you will be after this one. The details and local knowledge is top notch and he definitely has me yearning for some Croatian gelato despite the fact that it’s the middle of winter right now.

There are a handful of authors that I look forward to their latest releases in their series, and Brad Taylor is one of those authors. Taylor’s cast of characters are legendary, and his plots are guaranteed heart-pounding. What I greatly enjoy about the well established series like Taylors, are the journeys the readers take with the characters. Taylor has defiantly taken us readers through one heck of a journey with his characters, and his seventeenth Pike Logan novel, The Devi’s Ransom, is no different. What I greatly enjoyed about this installment, was the sense of immortality our characters faced. This is not a new ponderance for this crew, but each time they are faced with this, it forces them to slow down, and consider their life, which makes for an intriguing read.

In Brad Taylor’s latest novel, The Devil’s Ransom, Pike and Jennifer learn of the fall of Afghanistan, and are ordered to take the team and rescue an individual who has done so much for the United States. This seems like a simple tasking, but right in the middle of the mission, the Taskforce is hacked, and Pike and Jennifer’s company is put at risk as well. In what feels like a never ending run, Pike and crew are ordered to go after the perpetrators of this attack. However, as they attempt to track down who did this, the true mastermind is hidden behind vail after vail, and is becoming nearly impossible to track down. As the mission unfolds, it appears the ultimate end game is a Cold War state of being for the U.S.. Pike and his team are in the race of their careers as they become more involved in this mission…can they solve it on time?

The Devil’s Ransom is a definite edge-of-your-seat thriller. The action is non-stop to the bitter end, which makes for a thrilling read! This is the seventeenth edition, and these cast of characters have defiantly been through a lot, and we start to see the consequences of this life on them. They start to ponder past actions that lead them to where they are now. It brings up the question where will it lead them in the future, and will these actions come back to haunt them later? The Devil’s Ransom, in true Brad Taylor fashion, kept the peddle to the meddle to the bitter end, and had stellar stand out moment throughout. This is not one to miss!

A blisteringly fast-paced, ferociously intense and violent thriller, The Devil’s Ransom is Pike Logan at his absolute world-saving best. Brad Taylor has gifted readers a classic Pike mission within a timely and modern storyline that will leave readers sweaty and trying to catch their breath.

With the United States pulling out of Afghanistan, a valuable local CIA asset is on the run and in need of assistance. Luckily, Pike and Jennifer are in nearby Tajikistan as part of their cover as owners of Grolier Recovery Services and can support the extraction. However, things go sideways quickly – as they usually do when Pike is involved. The extraction is intercepted by a foreign adversary while at the same time the Taskforce’s technology is down as a result of a ransomware attack. Now tasked with saving the asset and finding out who’s behind the cyberattack, Pike and his team dive headfirst into a situation that’s much larger and more critical than they initially understood. With the clock ticking down, the United States desperately needs another dose of that famous Pike Logan magic to save the day before catastrophe strikes.

The Devil’s Ransom doesn’t let up for a single second. The chase is on from the very beginning and has several twists and turns along the way. It features well-timed subjects such as cybersecurity, the US exit of Afghanistan, political divisiveness and the privatization of space travel, all interwoven into a compelling storyline with global ramifications that keeps you engaged and enraged. And while there is an abundance of ass kicking and an anxiety-inducing race against time, this book has it’s share of emotional moments that remind us that these amazing tier one operators are human too.

Brad Taylor has delivered another hit in this long-running amazing series. After 17 books, this doesn’t come as a surprise but it’s still great to see. Because there’s no better way to kick off each new year than with Pike, Jennifer, Knuckles and crew taking the fight to the enemy and protecting the United States from those who would do us harm.

A genuine Brad Taylor globe-trotting thriller with an authentic grasp on technical espionage of the modern world along with the dark craziness that we've come to love from Pike Logan. The stakes are personal and the narrative is fueled by an emotional drive that keeps readers hyped up to see Pike and the gang exact vengeance on the bad guys. A mix of cyber-espionage and hands-on tactical action.