Some years ago I picked up The Brotherhood of the Rose and loved it. From there I went to The Fraternity Of The Stone, The Fifth Profession and others. Some of his books I found great, others I had to ask..."is this the same writer?" So his books have run the gamut for me.This one is a good book. It's a great read that will (if you like fast action and thrills) keep you turning pages (or listening to the audio). It is flawed in a couple of small ways and there were moments when I thought I'd be forced to a 3 star rating, but in the end I had to admit I really liked the book despite any quibbles.So, 4 stars and a recommendation.Now, what were these small problems?The story opens with a( or the requisite) former "special forces" operative. In this case the man is a graduate of Delta Force. He has come to the conclusion that with this kind of background a man has "limited" career opportunities once he leaves Special ops. He has also come to the conclusion that he's an adrenalin junky.So with the choices of law enforcement, mercenary and a few others he has decided on..."protective services". Not "bodyguard" by the way. Our "hero" calls bodyguards thugs. (I find this especially humorous in light of Morrell's book The Fifth Profession). Anyway as in many of Morrell's books we start with a man who has done well in a given profession only to be forced into a situation outside that profession where he must depend on all he's learned in said profession and his prior life.Now the rest I'll put under a spoiler tag, but I will say that while the points I'll mention did annoy a little they didn't actually hurt the "story".(view spoiler)[ The thing here is that you'll probably find a lot of the book very (very, very) predictable. There's a lot of "I saw that coming a mile away". And there's one situation in the part of the book that leads up to the final climax that is so blindingly predictable the protagonist would have had to see it coming. I suspect almost every reader will be mentally yelling at him ....(and here's the spoiler so again if you don't want to read it stop here)..... "He set it off in the car you boob don't just turn your back and run there". But he does. The plot revolves around a compound that released in aerosol form causes uncontrollable fear. The protagonist (Cavanaugh) has been told by Prescott (the developer of the compound and primary antagonist) that the "cylinder" containing the compound has a 20 second safety on the release. He then leaves Prescott alone in the car as he sets up a prisoner exchange in which Prescott is supposed to get his wife back. The fact that Prescott has already double-crossed Cavanaugh multiple times and murdered 5 of his closest friends somehow isn't a tip off that when he runs back to the car with his wife that it will be filled with said compound...duh.Also once our Special ops hero gets his wife involved in all this she takes to it like the proverbial duck to the proverbial water. She's a natural not being overcome by the violence death or anything...until they get shut into a dark room and then she's overcome by claustrophobia and possibly fear of the dark... this of course is due to trauma in her past. So...a little strained but not bad. Just "story stuff" we've all run into before. (hide spoiler)]
I spotted the David Morrell books when I picked up the novels by Michelle Moran. I remembered reading a few of his books when I was first married based on the recommendation of my husband, who wanted two dogs named Romulus and Remus. As I stared at the library shelf full of Morrell books I decided to read another because I had enjoyed four of his other books years before.The last action suspense novels I read were those written by Vince Flynn. As I began The Protector my mind kept wondering how Mitch Rapp was involved in this. But it didn't take very many pages before I straightened out that way of thinking and became absorbed in Cavanaugh's life. I enjoyed the details of car fights and the methodical explanations of Cavanaugh's thoughts, not to mention the constant twists in the plot that aided the story, not simply a technique to add more action for the sake of a longer novel.I've always enjoyed this type of novel. The action, the suspense, and the page-turning are a nice break from the serious reading I do to educate myself to teach my children. I am happy to have picked up this novel as it reminded me of how much I enjoyed Morrell's books. Now I plan to go back and read all of his novels.
A very good read. One of the reasons I like most of David Morrell's books has to do with the amount of research and training he undertakes before writing. For this book, he interviewed a US Marshall, learned defensive and offensive antiterrorist driving techniques and trained with a member contract member of the Diplomatic Security Service. For Ohioans, he interviewed a lieutenant from Ohio's Montgomery County Sheriff's department, who helped plan the high-level security for the 1995 Dayton (Bosnian) Peace Accord. In his fiction, Mr. Morrell provides quite a bit of technical knowledge without bogging down the story. The plot moves quickly, the protagonist is well fleshed out, and the story is fairly unpredictable.
—Steve
Ex-Delta Force officer, Cavanagh is assigned to protect a seriously overweight and extremely nervous biochemist named Daniel Prescott who has invented a dangerous drug to induce fear in everyone including those trained to feel no fear. Unfortunately, appearances can be deceptive. Cavanagh finds himself alone and fighting for his life and trying to track down Prescott, the man he was supposed to protect, but who turned out to be more dangerous than the people who wanted Prescott dead.If you like action and adventure, this book is for you. I found this book to be a very good suspense thriller and it definitely kept me on pins and needles wondering if Cavanagh was going to blow off his promise to protect Prescott and just kill the bastard.
—Sharon
Non-stop suspense and action, but hard to believe !We have to admit that Morrell's novel "Protector" rarely pauses for breath -- so the pages turn pretty fast as we are soon caught up in the hero's thrills and chills. The protagonist is Cavanaugh, an ex-Delta Force specialist who works for a protective custody firm. In quite a twist, we soon start wondering whether the current client, bio-chemist genius Daniel Prescott, is the one needing protection or a horrific villain in his own right who turns the tables on good guys and bad guys alike. Eventually Cavanaugh breaks all the rules and collaborates with his wife (who actually seems to have no other qualifications than desire and propinquity, but learns fast!) to chase the real bad guy to a satisfying conclusion. Violence and double crosses leave bodies strewn all along the way.We've never read Morrell before, but gather from both his ratings and his extensive bibliography that fans of Rambo-style action come away more than entertained with his offerings. Our problem is that the good guy escapes death so many different times, and continues to fight injured when most mortals we know would be long out of commission, that credibility and plausibility extend beyond the breaking point. Despite the clever plot complexity, stories this violent are not exactly our favorite, reflected in our 3-star synopsis despite a book exhibiting skill and craft. And were it a movie (and we could see it being one!), most women (and maybe me!) would have walked out long before mid-point.
—Jerry
