Tag: San Diego Dead

San Diego Dead by Mark Nolan: A Modern-Day Privateer (and his dog) takes on a Powerful Drug Cartel


San Diego Dead

San Diego Dead

by Mark Nolan
Series: Jake Wolfe, #4

Kindle Edition, 348 pg.
2019

Read: January 30-February 3, 2020


Jake Wolfe is a former photojournalist, ex-Marine, ex-CIA asset, lawyer, Mafia “Made Man” and modern-day privateer. He recently saved the life of the new First Lady (before the election), and is on a first-name basis with her (and her husband). Men (who don’t want to kill him) admire him, women (who don’t want to kill him) swoon over him. But for Wolfe, none of that matters, as much as spending time with Cody, who is another Marine vet. Cody shares in most of Wolfe’s accomplishments—and gets the same reaction from men and women. The significant difference between the two is that Wolfe comes from Irish and Italian roots, and Cody is a yellow Labrador and Golden Retriever mix.

Together these two make a seemingly unstoppable force for truth, justice, and the American way. Apart they are capable but diminished, distracted, and less emotionally whole. Wolfe considers Cody a partner and makes it clear to any and all that they’re a package deal.

While on assignment for the Secret Service, the pair assassinates a man who provides boats for a Mexican Drug Cartel to smuggle drugs into the U.S. Around the same time a dear friend and fellow Vet crosses the same cartel, putting both men (and Jake’s girlfriend) in the cross-hairs pg of the leader of that cartel.

The cartel cuts a deadly and destructive swath from Mexico to L.A. attempting to eliminate these two, pushing the pair until they retaliate.

Most of the book is told from Wolfe’s point-of-view, with dips into the POV of his girlfriend or Cartel members. There are a couple of noteworthy sections told from Cody’s perspective—he’s closer to Crais’ Maggie than Quinn’s Chet in these, but he’s more thoughtful (and more human thinking) than Maggie. I wish we had a few more segments from Cody’s POV.

There are two paragraphs in which a ghost appears and saves the day. These two paragraphs have had me thinking far too much about them in contrast to the rest of the novel. They’re proverbial sore thumbs sticking out from the rest—but they also worked better than you’d think.

Recently, listening to interviews with Lee Goldberg, I was reminded of a genre that’s not really out anymore (and I’d totally forgotten about)—”Men of Action” or “Men’s Adventure.” These used to be at grocery stores, convenience stores and the like offering easy-to-read adventures featuring manly men doing manly (frequently super-patriotic) deeds, and deadly (and incredibly attractive) women. Years ago, Goldberg wrote a few of this type under the pen name Ian Ludlow—and now Goldberg’s protagonist of the same name writes that kind of book. See also: Mack Bolan, the Executioner; Remo Williams; and the like. Thanks to that reminder, I was able to see San Diego Dead for the return to that kind of story-telling and enjoy it for what it is. If not for that reminder, I’d have been annoyed, bothered, underwhelmed by the book. But realizing the inherent goals of this kind of writing, I was able to ignore that annoyance and channel it into reuniting such entertaining tropes/themes for contemporary audiences. It’s silly, cheesy fun—which is all it tries to be.

Would much of this work better if you’d read the previous novels? Probably. Does it work fine as a stand-alone? Yes. I’m not going to say that this is for everyone—it’s not (but what is?). If you (or someone you know) need a break from intense, serious, deliberate thrillers and could use solid action that places the emphasis on entertainment factor over all other considerations, give yourself a treat and check out Mark Nolan’s Jake Wolfe.


3 Stars

My thanks to damppebbles blog tours for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including a copy of the novel) they provided.

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: San Diego Dead by Mark Nolan

Today I’m pleased to welcome the Book Tour for San Diego Dead by Mark Nolan. Along with this spotlight post, I’ll be giving my take on the novel here in a bit. But let’s start by learning a little about this here book, okay?


Book Details:

Book Title: San Diego Dead by Mark Nolan
Release date: August 31, 2019
Format: Ebook/Paperback
Length: 348 pages

Book Blurb:

Danger awaits Marine-turned-lawyer Jake Wolfe on his vacation to sunny San Diego and Cabo San Lucas. There he finds sugary white sand beaches, warm turquoise water, boat trips among gray whales, and … cold blooded murder.

It was meant to be a relaxing holiday for Jake and his adopted war dog, Cody, but violence erupts when he crosses paths with a criminal cartel urgently seeking to reclaim a deadly package.

Jake learns the missing item is a threat to US citizens and vows to stop the cartel from possessing it, no matter what vigilante justice actions he might have to take.

Time is running out and thousands of innocent lives are at risk. Will the two combat veterans be able to retrieve the dangerous item before the killers do? The clock is ticking, but Jake hopes that if anybody can help find the package, it has to be his highly-trained and ultra-intelligent dog, Cody.

Find out what happens next. Start reading the latest Jake and Cody thriller right now and enjoy another fast-paced stand-alone story by author Mark Nolan.

About Mark Nolan:

Mark NolanMark Nolan has spent much of his life near the seashore. He loves dogs and has often been called a “dog whisperer.” These interests are reflected in his novels where the main character lives on a boat with his highly intelligent former war dog.

 

Social Networks:

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Goodreads

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK ~ Amazon US

My thanks to damppebbles blog tours for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including a copy of the novel) they provided.

Teaser Tuesday: San Diego Dead by Mark Nolan

Action Thriller
Date Published: 8-31-2019
 photo add-to-goodreads-button_zpsc7b3c634.png
Danger awaits Marine-turned-lawyer Jake Wolfe on his vacation to sunny San Diego and Cabo San Lucas. There he finds sugary white sand beaches, warm turquoise water, boat trips among gray whales, and … cold blooded murder.
It was supposed to be a relaxing holiday for Jake and his adopted war dog, Cody, but violence erupts when he crosses paths with a criminal cartel urgently seeking to reclaim a deadly package.
Jake learns the missing item is a threat to US citizens and vows to steal it from the cartel, no matter what vigilante justice actions he might have to take.
Time is running out and thousands of innocent lives are at risk. Will the two combat veterans be able to retrieve the dangerous item before the killers do? The clock is ticking, but Jake hopes that if anybody can help find the package, it has to be his highly-trained and ultra-intelligent dog, Cody.
Find out what happens next. Start reading the latest Jake and Cody thriller right now and enjoy another fast-paced stand-alone story by author Mark Nolan.

Excerpt

Jake Wolfe and his dog, Cody, sat in a small Zodiac-style inflatable boat, drifting on the Pacific ocean in the dark at night. The electric outboard motor was dead, with a bullet hole in the tiller’s on-board computer.
Sharks circled, bumped the boat and waited impatiently to rip the man and dog limb-from-limb. Sleek and dangerous apex predators with multiple rows of sharp teeth, most of the animals were approximately six feet long, but the largest looked as if it might be ten feet or more.
Jake felt like he and Cody were up the proverbial creek without a paddle, and he cursed at whoever had taken the oars out of this dinghy. He cursed himself too, for not double-checking to make sure the boat was fully equipped.
His retriever dog panted, tongue hanging out while looking at the salty sea all around them, obviously thirsty for a drink of fresh water.
Cody was a yellow Labrador and Golden Retriever cross, with wavy hair and intelligent brown eyes that seemed to look into your heart and sense what you were feeling.
Jake scratched his dog on the back of the neck. “I’m sorry I got us into this, buddy.”
The former war dog, trained again as a service dog, was one of the most intelligent and highly-skilled animals on the planet. He stared at Jake with wise eyes, lifted one paw and put it down.
Jake nodded at him. “Do something?”
Cody barked once.
The largest, most aggressive shark bumped the boat harder, jostling the occupants.
Cody growled and showed his teeth.
Jake studied the big shark. He felt a chill as he wondered how much that thing weighed. Enough to flip the dinghy over if it leapt onto the gunwale; that seemed certain. “Sorry shark-zilla, but you’ve got to go,” he said.
Drawing his stolen pistol with the silencer attached, he took aim at the predator and fired a round at the base of the dorsal fin and into its trunk.
The wounded shark dove below the surface, trailing a plume of blood. Other sharks attacked the dying one in a feeding frenzy, abandoning the drifting boat for a moment.
“That’ll get rid of the big guy and keep the rest of them away from us for a little while,” Jake said.
He ejected the pistol’s mag to count how many rounds were left. Not good. He was running low. Sunrise was a long way off and he didn’t have his phone with him, or his handheld VHF marine radio.
Hopefully, none of the sharks would bite the inflatable boat and sink it. One of the individual airtight chambers had been shot and was deflated, but the rest were holding up, so far.
If he and Cody could survive until sunrise they might live through this. But it was a big, endless ocean with tens of millions of square miles of empty water. They could vanish into the Pacific without a trace, and die of thirst or end up as shark food, their bodies never found.

About the Author

Mark Nolan’s books in order:
1. Dead Lawyers Don’t Lie
2. Vigilante Assassin
3. Killer Lawyer
4. San Diego Dead.
He is currently writing book #5 in the Jake Wolfe and Cody series.
Mark also tries to make time every day to answer emails from readers. You can get in touch with him at marknolan.com.
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