One Rough Man - Brad Taylor

Coming from an former Army Infantry and Delta Force soldier I had high expectations from this one. I expected to gain some insights about how the War on Terror looks to the soldier on the ground.

Brad Taylor introduces Taskforce a group of clandestine operators that is as necessary as it is illegal. Taking the War on Terror to a new dimension by snatching identified and important operators working for the other side the sole purpose of the Taskforce is to provide the US an edge in the asymmetric war waged against Terror.

Pike Logan one of the leaders of Taskforce is a maverick even inside Taskforce. Known for his unconventional ways and his ability to get even the toughest of the missions done, Pike walks a fine line between moral and immoral. Keeping him grounded is his family, his wife Heather and daughter Angie. Soon Pike loses even that touch to the normality; when his family is killed as Pike is out on another mission for the Taskforce which comes when he's supposed to be spending time with his family.

Pike feels that hes paid the price for choosing his country over his family and starts to lose his edge making mistakes and putting the entire Taskforce in jeopardy with his actions. One mistake too many causes him to be tossed out of the Taskforce and thus begins his life as an alcoholic drifter trying to get over his grief at his family's loss. Pike literally gets kicked into Jennifer Cahill' s life. Jennifer' s working on overcoming an abusive relationship and getting her archaeological degree. She gets caught in a biological weapons plot when her Uncle literally stumbles into an ancient Mayan ruin which contains a deadly virus. As the Uncle is being tortured for information about the site, he mentions Jennifer to whom he had sent some encrypted files containing the coordinates for the site.

Thus begins the chase to locate Jennifer and obtain the location of the ruins. Even as shes being hunted Jennifer saves Pike from an ass kicking and in turn Pike gets dragged into a fight with the team hunting Jennifer.

With Jennifer reminding him of Heather with her actions and mannerisms Pike at first reluctantly helps her. As he uncovers the threads of the plot he soon finds that the problem is greater than some archaeological dig, somehow Al-Qaeda operatives have gotten their hands on the virus and are now on a path to set if off at a location causing as maximum damage as possible in the process.

The book takes a reader through a journey of how a soldier copes with the situations in life. Pike' s tragedy and the aftermath of how he deals with it is depicted very well.

Told by a former Delta Force operator, One Rough Man is in the same genre as that of Vince Flynn and Brad Thor. So actions fans have a new name to associate along with Mitch Rapp and Scot Harvath -- Pike Logan

Rating: 3/5 Stars
Verdict: Read It (If you are an action fan)