Renegade is an adrenaline shot right to the heart. There is no rest for the protagonist nor the reader as the formidable hero punches, shoots, kicks his way out of lethal situations one after another. This is not the first book in the series but that did not prevent me from having a blast with it. By the time I flipped to the last page, Rob Sinclair was already in my list of excellent thriller authors.
Renegade sees James Ryker, a freelancing operative of sorts with a murky past, surveilling a potential meeting between a banker and a right-wing extremist responsible for sowing unrest in the Middle East. Two pages in and Ryker is involved in a dangerous car chase when the meeting goes horribly wrong. From that moment on, the pace does not let up as Ryker tries to unravel the conspiracy of the highest order. The story preserves the shroud of secrecy one would expect with the best of espionage thrillers by providing just enough clues for Ryker to take the next step without revealing the hidden ace until the HOLY MOLY moment. It barely took me a day to finish it, because the narrative warrants pure attention. I had no idea what the next big twist would be. The suspense was immensely helped by well-written characters, especially those of the antagonists, whose motivations ran deep beyond the somewhat cliched and saturated religious impetuses.
Reading Ryker take on bad guys in the most badass of combat techniques is one of the most fun I have had reading an action thriller. Pump up the killer jams when reading the cinematic action sequences involving Ryker using bad guys as landing cushions and punching bags. There are tons of hand-to-hand combat sequences and a few shootouts, all of which are written with the elegance of detailed visualizations without becoming too complicated for readers. I would rank the action up with the best in the genre such as the works of Tom Wood and Mark Greaney.
Aside from my enthusiasm for the raving action, Renegade offers more. Even though it is quite a few books into the series, I had no trouble familiarizing myself with Ryker. His admirable traits make it super easy to root for him but Rob Sinclair skillfully adds a few chinks in Ryker’s lethal persona for character growth and allowing readers to resonate with Ryker. The hints to his secretive and crazily wild past have me ordering the previous books in the series.
Full disclaimer, there is a big twist that I didn't see coming and it left me absolutely stunned for a good full minute. This action thriller has everything an action thriller fan wants to read. It left me wanting more of Ryker, and it is a hard feat to accomplish if I have not read the previous books in the series.
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