Michael Weston is a burned spy living in Miami. With the
help of his sometimes girlfriend and gun smuggler Fiona, his
ex-SEAL buddy Sam Axe, and occasionally his mother and
brother, Michael does the odd job for those in need of his
special talents. Burn Notice is an original USA Network TV
show, and The Giveaway is one of the show's tie-in novels.
While Michael often seeks out the help of his
money-laundering friend Barry, this time Barry comes to
Michael with the request to help out Bruce Grossman, a
gentleman thief who robbed the wrong biker gang in order to
fund his mother's cancer treatments. Per his personal code,
Bruce is willing to give the documents, patches and some of
the money back, but the Ghouls motorcycle gang is out for
revenge and nothing short of Bruce's dead body will satisfy
them. Fortunately, Michael has a plan that involves exactly
that.
I'm a huge fan of the Burn Notice TV show and was excited
about reading this tie-in. The author has done a great job
of capturing Michael's thoughts and tone - you can hear
Jeffrey Donovan's voice from the first page as a typical
episode opening. Fiona and Sam and Michael's mother are
also true to the characters depicted on the show. The plot
follows the pattern established with planning, misleading,
things gone awry, and Fiona's tendency for violence. The
only aspect of this novel that was out-of-sync was the
political references that are completely out of character
and irrelevant to the story. While it will not keep me from
reading the other Burn Notice tie-in novels, it would be
nice if this author didn't put his personal politics into my
TV show.
Ex-covert op Michael Weston owes favors to Barry, the
local money launderer. Now Barry wants to call those
favors in. Barry has a friend, Bruce, who is an ex-
legendary gentleman thief. But with an ailing mother to
support, Bruce has returned to his illegal vocation.
Unfortunately, his most recent job involved stealing from
the notorious Ghouls motorcycle gang, and they're looking
for some serious payback. Unless Michael can convince them
otherwise...