January is a great month for new thriller book releases, and it’s become an annual tradition of mine to pick up the latest Brad Taylor book shortly after New Year’s Day every year. Lucky for me, I didn’t have to wait until 2021 to get a look at the latest Pike Logan adventure. I had high expectations since Brad is one of the best writers, and Pike one of the best operators, in the genre today. After devouring the book, I can honestly say this is one fantastic novel! American Traitor is a cerebral and elaborate story with a tangled plot that combines complex geopolitical shenanigans with that special Pike Logan magic badassery we all know and love.
American Traitor follows Pike and fellow Taskforce operator/now-wife Jennifer Cahill (aka Koko) as they head to Australia for vacation and some diving around the Great Barrier Reef. They’re hoping for a relaxing vacation visiting a friend and former Taskforce member, but with Pike nothing is ever that simple. No sooner do they get to their friend’s apartment than the bloodshed ensues, and this time Pike and Jennifer don’t know why they were targeted. They get involved as a means to protect their friend, but that quickly expands into a kinetic operation across Australia, then Taiwan, with the other illustrious Taskforce members joining in on the fun. As they dig deeper, they unravel an ominous conspiracy with global implications that could start a costly war with China. Now in a race against time, Pike and his team must stretch the limits of the Taskforce charter to save the world…again.
What makes American Traitor one of Brad Taylor’s best books to date is that it’s much more than a large body count at Pike Logan’s hands. Yes, there is plenty of action and dead bad guys along the way to make die-hard fans happy. But this book is so much more than an action thriller. In fact, I believe it’s more of a political thriller combined with a spy thriller. There’s a great deal of insight into Pan-Asian politics with the plot exploring Chinese espionage activities in Australia, the nine-dash line in the South China Sea, the tenuous China/Taiwan relationship and the United States ambiguous diplomatic policy towards Taiwan. These elements make for a compelling story that moves between key characters on multiple sides of the equation until it all comes to a head with an explosive conclusion.
In addition, this book represents a transition point in the series. After the events of Hunter Killer (the previous Pike book), George Wolffe is pressed into action as the new leader of the Taskforce and Brad does a great job of developing him as a character. It would have been easy for George just pick up where Kurt Hale, the prior Taskforce leader, left off. Instead, he is shown to be his own man with more political savvy and a penchant to let Pike work his magic with a little less oversight. George is also faced with the Taskforce charter possibly evolving in a new direction, which requires a different approach. We’ll have to wait and see how George develops over the next few books, but I’m intrigued to see how he progresses and deals with Pike’s unique skillset of pushing the boundaries of authority and mission approval.
I highly recommend picking up a copy of American Traitor. It’s the latest in a long line of absolutely bankable great thrillers by Brad Taylor. It has everything you could want: politics, action, espionage…and Pike taking out everything and everyone standing in his way of mission success. In addition, it feels like a book that is predicting one of the next big world-shaping conflagrations. I’m willing to bet that we’ll see real life actions that mirror the plot of this book. Hopefully not to the same extent, but we’ll just have to wait and see. So read about it now and be prepared for what’s to come!
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