If you’re looking for a high-octane tactical action banger, Stephen Leather’s Still Standing is the one for you. Gun battles in the exotic jungles of Thailand have never felt more cinematically awesome.
When a SAS team member’s death in Thailand is hurriedly passed off as a suicide, alarm bells ring off on Matt Standing’s trouble radar. Knowing something must be afoot, Standing travels to Thailand with the brother of the deceased soldier to find out exactly what happened. It’s clear they’re in for a long haul because the moment they step off into the jungle, they’re pressured and attacked by the criminal syndicate and corrupt police officers. What they don’t know is that Standing is as mean as they come and he wages his own private war against the bad guys.
Stephen Leather evolves his protagonist such that we see a different side to the quick-to-anger war machine. Learning from his previous mistakes, Matt Standing takes a more Zen and tactical approach to matters this time around by dealing with trouble more like a scalpel than a blunt tool.
However, when push comes to shove, Standing lays waste to his enemies without hesitation or remorse. Readers will revel in the visually-striking ballistic shootouts that you’ll find yourself reading again and again in a go because you don’t want it to end. From the trusty HK 417s and M-16s to double barreled AR-15s (codenamed Gilboa Snake), the shootouts are some of the most kinetic and jaw-dropping I’ve read of recent. There seems to be no wasted movements from Standing as he takes down enemy combatants in fluid non-stop bursts of gunfire.
Treat yourself to an action extravaganza with a wild adventurous ride that keeps the pedal to the metal unapologetically. Still Standing is brutal, unrelenting, and darn entertaining for thriller fans who like their action swirling with technical and tactical authenticity.
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