This is not so much a polished novel as a beautifully-decorated confection. If you long for the 1940’s Saturday afternoon serials or some James Bond on steroids, here you go. Your wishes have been answered. THE RUSSIAN inaugurates a new series for Ben Coes but it’s not so much a new series as a spinoff. The hero, Rob Tacoma, has been around for years, operating his ‘security’ service with Katie in the Virginia hunt country. Hey, they’re in Middleburg. When you get tired of blowing things up you can tool on down to the Red Fox Inn and have some of their classic peanut soup.
The other supporting cast are there as well—Hector Calibrisi from the CIA, President J.P. Dellenbaugh and even a cameo appearance by Dewey Andreas, so this is not so much a new series as the highlighting of one character in an ensemble cast. The premise: the Russian Mafia is taking over the world of crime and is upset with those who stand in their way, so they knock off a U.S. Senator and the Florida governor who is a top presidential candidate. Our country will not stand for such shenanigans and promptly puts together a team to return their assassination favors. One (a man named Cosgrove) is promptly terminated with extreme prejudice and the other, our hero Rob Tacoma, springs into violent action. Rob is a former Navy Seal, speaks umpteen languages, knows at least fifteen ways to kill you using only his earlobes and has already been issued an unlimited budget and a presidential pardon for anything he might choose to do. So lock and load that safety belt. SPOILER: the ultimate bad guy has a prosthetic arm that enables him to lift large human objects, break their bones, strangle them, and so on, depending upon his mood.
This is fantasy land, a place in which Rob can swim underwater, carrying all of his tools and weapons. Unlike his classic film predecessors, his weapons will sometimes run out of ammunition, but Rob will never run out of fire in the belly and kill-capacity in his fingers and toes. The interesting thing is that this is a Ben Coes novel, so that the fantasy is simultaneously anchored by precise detail: elaborate files on foreign and domestic operatives with all of the appropriate acronyms in place; extended dialogue in Russian (yes, with translations) and the kind of detailed information on armament that would make Q proud.
All in all, a Nantucket sleigh ride, but we’re in New York, Greenwich, CT, Langley, the Miami docks, Jupiter Island (watch out Tiger; Rob’s in town), and Grosvenor Square, London.
Bottom line: unputdownable fun; leave your requirements for realism at the door and keep your head down when the bullets fly.
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Rob Tacoma: Not as Believable as Dewey Andreas
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2019
Democrat Governor Nick Blake of Florida is tough on crime, especially Russian mafia crime in his state. While he has not yet announced his candidacy, it is expected that he will run for president. He comes to Iowa, one of the early voting states and gives a speech in Des Moines at the Marriott Hotel. He is assassinated with a bullet to the head. Senator John Patrick O’Flaherty has been outspoken against Russian mafia units in the United States. He is in New York at his favorite steakhouse, Sparks Steakhouse. He is assassinated with poison. The murders were two minutes apart.President J.P. Dellenbaugh calls together his senior staff. They quickly determine that the Russian mafia in the United States has declared war. The president wants the CIA to form a hit team to go after the Russian mafia in the United States. This would be illegal say’s the CIA Director. The president then shows the director an old document from the founding fathers that allows the president during a period of such crisis to take extraordinary methods to solve the crisis.A small two-mad team is created. Two warriors with special forces backgrounds. Within hours one of the two-man team is assassinated by the Russians. How did the Russians learn that man’s name? That leaves Rob Tacoma as the man to take out the Russians.Recently released “The Russian” is the first in a new series by author Ben Coes. This follows his highly entertaining Dewey Andreas novels of eight. Those novels were believable. “The Russian”, however, had too many “yeah, right” moments in believability. Still, this reader was entertained and enjoyed the story. Looking forward to the next novel in this series.
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2019
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Top reviews from other countries
richodon
Nice idea but too superficial
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2022Gardener Graham
Fast paced, well written, hard hitting, entertaining
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2021Maria Elena Rossi
There is the promise of another book coming soon!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 6, 2019
