The Second Horseman

I always enjoy Kyle Mills. In addition to a great page-turning plot, I laughed out loud in several spots.

In thie Kyle Mills thriller the hero is a 33 year old burglar. His name is Brandon Vale. He is incarcarated in prison. he was put there by Richard Scanlon when he was an FBI agent. Scanlon has discovered a sinister plot that could shake up the stability of thw world. Scanlon is recruited by Presidential advisoe Edwin Hamdi to stop this plot. There is a Ukranian crime organization that is trying to auction nuclear warheads. It becomes Scanlon's job to take the warheads off of the market. He comes up with a master plan but in order to be sucessful he has to break Brandon Vale out of prison. Vale makes a sucessful jailbreak. He is put into the safekeeping of Scanlon employee Catherine Juarez. Vale pulls off a stunning robbery of Las Vegas cash at the San Francisco federal reserve bank. He is able to steal $200 million dollars. Scanlon uses these funds to purchase the 12 nuclear warheads. Vale is selected as the front man with the Ukranian crime organization. He finally obtains the warheads but quickly discovers that he has beem doublecrossed. Edwin Hamdi has plans of his own for the warheads. It becomes a race against time to discover the plans for the warheads and stop their detonation. This is definitely a pageturner. Once again Kyle Mills has writtem an outstanding book.

Kyle Mills has created a unique, humorous, and compelling protagonist in Brandon Vale, and through the exploits of Brandon we are led on a compelling and twisting labyrinth of action and politics. This book is lean and moves forward like a cinematic action movie. The characterizations of some of the supporting cast are weak, but in this case it serves the narrative flow well. This book hits very close to home with its constant references to terrorism and the 9/11 attacks, and the violence in the Middle East, so the humor is a welcome relief. The plausibility of this novel is scary. Highly recommended.

While this is not Hemingway, I found this book to be quite engaging, readable and enjoyable. The plot is well developed with enough, but not too many, twists and turns to make it consistently interesting. A nice read on a Sunday afternoon. Highly recommended.

The diamond heist that busted Brandon Vale has earned him quite a reputation behind bars as the loot has not been recovered and he did not rat out anyone. What he fails to tell his peers is that he never was part of the caper, but instead rogue former FBI Agent Richard Scanlon set him up. However his comfortable stay behind bars ends when corrupt guard Sergeant Daley forces him outside the prison with bullets flying at Brandon, who prefers to go back in, but has no choice except to flee into the night. Brandon follows a path like a rat in a maze that ends with Scanlon, who gives him an ultimatum. He can return to prison with no safety factor as Scanlon previously arranged or he can steal $250 million from a Vegas casino. Scanlon knows that the Ukrainian Mafia is offering twelve nuclear warheads to the highest bidder, but when he informed his former superiors they rejected his assertion. The rogue agent plans to buy or take the warheads, but Brandon has other plans for the loot as he does not trust with his life or the nukes the man who orchestrated his prison sentence and escape. Before recent revelations on domestic eavesdropping, no one would believe Scanlon's ploy however, now everyone would believe this is plausible. Kyle Mills provides an excellent espionage crime thriller that is fast-paced with no one trusting anyone else as double crosses and crosses to the nth power is the norm. Brandon is a fascinating anti-hero as a crook who is caught up in international events by a great Machiavellian strategist who uses others as pawns in his diabolical operations. THE SECOND HORSEMAN is a thriller at its thrilling best