London is gearing up for the 2012 Olympics and that
includes the London police department. Detective Sergeant
Chris Bronson with the Kent police force has been sent to
help and is given the task of infiltrating a petty
vandalism ring that is targeting the Olympic sites. Chris
gets into the gang easily enough, but getting out is
proving much harder than planned. These small crimes of
vandalism are hiding a much greater threat to London but
without evidence Chris can't get his superiors to listen
and when the London police force rushes in to stop the
small ring of vandals, Chris knows his only chance to find
the true mastermind behind this nefarious plot is to throw
his lot in completely with the criminals, destroying his
career, his reputation, and any chance of getting out of
this mess alive.
With larger than life villains, insurmountable odds, a
beautiful and intelligent love interest, and a protagonist
who never loses his cool and thinks on his feet, ECHO OF
THE REICH by James Becker certainly echoes another very
dashing British spy and like James Bond, Chris Bronson does
what needs to be done to save England (and the world). He
throws himself completely into his assignment without care
for his personal safety and uses his surprising and varied
sources to bring together all the pieces of an intricate
plot that lays shrouded in years of mystery.
I really enjoyed the history of both the Olympic Games and
WWII used throughout the book and how it was tied together,
but the main focus of this story is the action. Car chases,
secret meetings with Nazis, secret weapons being smuggled
into London, and shoot-outs with the police all made this a
very visual story. This is certainly the type of story that
I could see as a movie because of the constant physical
action, but don't expect a lot of character development.
There are specific events in the book that were amazingly
good not only for increasing the external conflict for
Chris but for increasing his internal conflict as well. I
was disappointed in the end when this wonderful internal
conflict was brushed aside to ease Chris's conscience. By
leaving this internal conflict, Chris's character would
have gained depth and made him more relatable, but instead
it was tied up with a pretty bow so there would be no
lingering doubts about Chris and his heroics. Personally,
the lingering questions and the continuing growth of a
character are what make me come back to a series over and
over.
ECHO OF THE REICH is the fifth book with D.S. Chris Bronson
and it's a fun read with great action and a history steeped
in shadows and mystery. If you're a fan of James Bond style
action and justice then definitely check out James Becker.
A deadly weapon uncovered... A decades-old conspiracy... A race to save a city... Berlin, 1936: When African-American Jesse Owens wins four gold medals in the Olympic Games, Hitler refuses to place the medals around Owens’s neck and vows to develop a means of wiping “inferior” races from the earth.... London, 2012: Chris Bronson is ordered to infiltrate a group of anarchists who plan to disrupt the Olympic Games with destruction and violence. When Bronson’s cover is blown, the police call off the operation. But Bronson is convinced that there’s something more sinister at play. On the run from both the police and the militant anarchists, Bronson soon finds himself immersed in a long-buried secret surrounding a Nazi weapon, and a deadly revenge plot that he must stop before it’s too late....
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