Goodbye Paris: 3 (A Pono Hawkins Thriller)

Mike Bond is my favorite author and I jumped at the chance for an ARC through NetGalley. Mike is a lyric author and his books are nothing short of works of art. The descriptions are not as intense as some of his earlier works, but he still provides a beautiful narrative that evokes images of great detail. This is Pono's third outing as the main character, and in this story it is much more about him and his relationships with his brother soldiers. I could not put this book down once I started reading it, and even at the end I had to take some time to savor the story. I won't rehash the plot, but the style of writing flowed and supported the action every step of the way. Do yourself a favor. Buy this book and set aside some time to read it.

Honestly, I bought this book because it was 99¢. It's definately not my choice of genres.- I skipped over many pages in the first half .....& didn't lose a thing!!! (lots of redundancy, unnecessary detail & ego) - As the book continued, I skipped fewer pages. - Still, too much blood & gore detail. (for me) - EXCELLENT POLITICAL NARRATIVE ...WHETHER YOU CHOOSE TO BELIEVE IT OR NOT!

If you are tired of never reading the truth about the never ending war on terror read this book.This was the best fiction story I've read in several years.I never review most because most are crap.Not this.The author is head and shoulders above many others in the same genre.This took me back to the early years of Vince Flynn,the real Vince Flynn.I can only hope that there will be a sequel.

I did not expect to enjoy this book. So many so-called thrillers are just strung-together, cardboard characters pasted onto a formulaic plot. But this one, written by someone I knew nothing about, was a stunner. It had everything: nostalgic, vivid descriptions of the Paris of our imaginations. There are allusions to European history back to the Islamic invasions; imagine Richard-the-LionHeart and a visit to his castle as the scene of deadly tension. There is the usual hero special forces hero and a companion female French agent, but their lives and their goals are expertly drawn, compared to many knock-off Jack Reacher novels that we read and see at the movies. I note that a previous reviewer was turned off by the plot because it involved the French and American officials depicted as the good guys and the Islamic terrorists as the bad guys. It is true that this book is written from a standpoint of the American and French intelligence forces and against the backdrop of historic events (which happened, by the way). But as we readers of spy fiction understand, there have to be opposing forces to produce a plot! Just enjoy the excellent, evocative writing--certainly a bonus in this genre. Thanks to this author!

I totally enjoyed this book. I have enjoyed this kind of story like Jack Teacher adventures. This may not have been of that caliber of writing, but of that caliber of enjoyable reading. There were several places in the story where the suspense was such that my heart was pounding waiting for the next move that Pono was forced to make in order to keep on living and to continue with his current mission to find and save his friend and former partner in the Special Forces in the wars in the middle East. Some flashback scenes helped to acquaint the reader with who he was and why he was able to tackle the job at hand. Really good fast read that I would recommend to any adventure story enthusiast. I am going back and pick up a couple of his previous works about Pono.