The Protector

I've been hooked on Morrell since "The Brotherhood of the Rose." A master researcher and a brilliant story teller, Morrell can not be pinned down to any one genre. Always fast paced, his tales drag you along like a fish on a hook until the very last page. -- Mark LaFlamme, author of "The Pink Room."

Cavanaugh, ex-Delta Force operator, is in the protection business working for Global Protection Services, a firm that protects those in dire circumstances. Their newest client is biochemist, Daniel Prescott. Prescott has developed a hormone that induces fear to be used by the military on the enemy. He is now hunted for the secrets that he has developed. He needs to disappear and enlists Global Protection Services. Prescott is not quite as helpless as he seems. Just as the plan for him to disappear comes to fruition, Cavanaugh's entire team is killed. Now Cavanaugh with the help of his wife, Jamie, is on the hunt for Prescott. With the use of every facet of his training, he and Jaime create a masterful plan to find a man with a brilliant mind trained by Cavanaugh himself in the art of disappearance. In a myriad of plot twists and turns there is non-stop action. The plot is fast-paced and so riveting it is hard to put down. Cavanaugh and Jamie are well-drawn sympathetic characters that you can really care about. David Morrell seems to fly a bit under the radar, but to me he is one of the best in his genre. If you are a first time reader, Morrell has a wonderful backlist of books. I would rank this one as one of his best. Highly recommended.

For thirty years David Morrell has been a leading talent in the thriller genre; not just a master at creating great realistic plots, but also writing some of the best (and most diverse) prose out there. With classics such as FIRST BLOOD, THE TOTEM and THE FIFTH PROFESSION to his credit to name a few; Morrell is the thriller writer's thriller writer.Now over thirty years after FIRST BLOOD he returns with THE PROTECTOR, a book that may surpass even these other classics in terms of realism, page turning suspense and explosive action. In fact, THE PROTECTOR may be the best work Morrell has ever written.The protagonist of the book is Cavanaugh, an ex-Special Forces soldier who is haunted by the violent massacre of his men on what was to be a routine training mission. Years later he is working for an organisation called Global Protective Services, a security organsisation that will bend the rules to ensure the safety of their clients.Cavanaugh's latest charge is Daniel Prescott, a biochemist who has created a powerful new drug, and naturally the wrong people are hunting him down in order to learn its secret. On the surface Prescott appears to just be an annoying dweeb Cavanaugh has to babysit, but as is always the case; Cavanaugh finds out the hard way that Prescott is not a man to be underestimated... or trusted.Fast paced, explosive, intelligent, brilliantly researched THE PROTECTOR may only be 400+ pages long, but Morrell throws up more action and intrigue than Tom Clancy has in his combined backlog (discounting the hideous BEAR AND THE DRAGON and RED RABBIT). And unlike Clancy, Morrell is a talented writer. Strangely, Hollywood's long ignored Morrell. THIS IS THE MAN WHO CREATED JOHN RAMBO fer cryin' out loud! THE PROTECTOR is one of those books that as you read it, it actually feels like there's an action movie playing in your head. (A not so subtle hint to Hollywood execs).If you've never tried David Morrell before then you've got a lot of great reading ahead of you. (But try and avoid the novelisations of RAMBO 2 & 3.) For novice Morrell readers just cutting their teeth, THE PROTECTOR is a great starting point.

Morrell again displays his mastery of espionage and action. The Protector is fashioned with realistic characters who know their business and generate dynamic responses based on undefined dangers. Morrell, as always, does his research. From page one through to the end, action moves at a pace rarely found while detail keeps things vivid and exciting. Twists and turns, combined with three dimensional characters makes The Protector difficult to put down. This book is in a league with Morrell's best. Well worth the read.

THE PROTECTOR is a tour de force that ranks right up there with THE FIFTH PROFESSION and THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE ROSE. Cavanaugh is a protector (different from a bodyguard in that Cavanaugh is a highly trained special operations agent). When he's assigned to protect a biochemist, things go wrong. Cavanaugh's team is killed and he's forced to turn to his wife for help as he tries to set things right. Morrell uses plenty of authentic tradecraft and the book rockets along building suspense. If you're not on the edge of your seat turning pages as fast as you can, you don't have a heartbeat.Tight plotting, smart characters, cool action set-pieces. This would make a great movie, but there's no way that Hollywood can match what Morrell brings to the table.On a scale of one to five stars, THE PROTECTOR deserves a six. Don't start this one late at night or you'll be up until the wee hours of the morning and the last satisfying page is turned.Whatever you do, don't miss this one!