Customer Reviews

Breaking Cover

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a very hard to put down read ... easily one of the best books I've read this year. A guy who has to do the right thing (because it's his nature to do so), does it and unleashes the demons of his past (to include a nasty biker crew out to kill him, a beautiful loving wife he's left behind and a federal bureau of investigation that thought him dead ... but there's a hostage involved and an agent on the take. The Protagonist (two names so I won't confuse here), has the kind of gravitas that is as endearing as it is convincing. Breaking Cover immediately engages and you'll want to keep going (sorry, no spoilers if you're looking for one) ... the cast of characters are diverse and interesting and the fast pace between the subplots makes for a very thrilling ride. I started it very early in the morning (this morning at the gym) and except for showering/dressing/driving for (and to) work, didn't put it down again until I had to (at work--although I finished it there--what long bathroom breaks are really for). Breaking Cover is my very first J.D. Rhoades novel ... it won't be my last.

If you are not already familiar with J. D. Rhoades from his excellent Jack Keller series, then BREAKING COVER will hit you like a two-by-four between the eyes. Over the course of three novels, Rhoades has quickly established himself as a writer's writer, with his work being textbook exhibits of how the job of writing the edge-of-the-seat thriller is properly done.

BREAKING COVER is a stand-alone work, taking place a step or two outside of the Keller mythos. Fans will not be disappointed by his absence, however temporary, as there are enough explosions, fisticuffs and general mayhem to fill three books.

The opening scene takes place in a convenience store, where gas is sold out front and just about everything you can reasonably think of is inside. Rhoades nails the setting right down to the last nuance, including a description of the cashier that is so dead-on as to be jaw-dropping. It is one of those heartbreaking homemade "Have You Seen Us?" posters on the side of the cash register, with a picture of two missing young brothers, that is the early tipping point for the book. For, indeed, shortly after buying gas, a customer sees one of the boys, apparently being held captive in a white van. He follows the vehicle and initiates the rescue; although he should be hailed as a hero, he bails.

The reason is that the rescuer is Tony Wolf, a former undercover FBI agent who dropped off the grid and out of sight several years before. Wolf has been presumed dead, not only by his former employers but also by his wife, Kendra, an FBI agent herself. When he fell off, Wolf was working undercover with a biker gang whose viciousness almost defies description; his self-initiated exit interview from the gang involved a fiery double-cross that left one of the gang leaders a paraplegic. Now that Wolfe has suddenly resurfaced, alive and well and on the run, he has both the FBI and a crew of gang members full of simmering revenge after him.

Wolf, however, has not spent the past few years assuming he was in the clear; instead, he has been preparing for the inevitable. And when the day of reckoning comes, Wolf is more than ready to dole out street justice to those who have it coming. There are some factors, though, that he cannot anticipate, including a dogged television reporter who keeps getting in the way; his wife, who insists upon being a part of the investigation; and a traitor within the FBI's own ranks. The book has more than one surprising and explosive ending, and while you might guess one of them, it is doubtful you will anticipate them all.

Reading BREAKING COVER is one of the few times I've become short of breath from turning pages so quickly. I kid you not. You should get a note from your doctor that your cardiovascular system is in shape before you beginning reading this. But it'll be worth every minute on the treadmill.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

I could hardly wait for Mr. Rhoades newest book. I ordered it in January and it arrived earlier this week. It portrays a new character, Tony Wolf, an undercover FBI agent, as Axel McCabe, who infiltrates a motorcycle gang and all their society misfits. The story is believable in its entirety and as he backtracks to give details of his actions that led him into four years of forced hiding and later when he ties things up by breaking cover. The story moves right along with the usual vivid portrayal of all the gory details his character Jack Keller helped identify as Rhoades style of writing. Maybe Tony's story is even more gruesome. I hope to read more about Tony in subsequent books. I'm also hopeful Jack Keller will re-emerge in the future. As an afterthought, I really liked Deputy Buckthorn. Maybe JD will give him his own book(?).

I recently discovered J.D. Rhoades through his Jack Keller series so I opted for "Breaking Cover" and wow, am I glad I did! Although meant as a stand alone suspense thriller, I have a hunch we'll see Tony Wolf, the protagonist, again soon...or at least I hope we will.

FBI agent, Tony Wolf, goes undercover to infiltrate a vicious motorcycle gang known as the Brotherhood which is led by a crazed family, the Trents, who are into every illegal pursuit imaginable including meth labs and distribution as well as child pornography. Wolf gets deep into the organization when in a sudden burst of violence, he paralyzes one of the leaders and disappears in a fiery escape.

He drops off the grid completely both because he fears retribution from the 'cycle gang and because there is an apparent leak/traitor in the FBI office so that he is not sure who he can trust to help him. He disappears so well that he doesn't resurface until four years later when his cover is blown when he accidentlly stumbles across a kidnapper holding two children and when his ethics force him to rescue them.

Thanks to an ambitious television reporter looking for her big break, he is soon running for his life not only from the vengeance seeking biker gang but also from the FBI (including his wife who is also an agent) which is no longer sure about him or his motives and from the local police capably lead by Deputy Buckthorn. But Wolf does not run well and soon becomes a hunter.

This is a gripping hard-to-put-down page turner. The pacing is breakneck and the plot is tightly conceived. Rhoades' characterizations are very well done as the reader can almost visualize the people and places (N. Carolina, of course). His dialogue is believable and true to the region. A lot of pieces fall together in the satisfying conclusion that lead me to believe that a sequel could be in the works. A highly recommended read!

J.D. ("Dusty") Rhoades, author of the Jack Keller series, surpasses himself in this stand-alone thriller. Breaking Cover has a heart-thumping drive, a terrific and compelling if enigmatic protagonist, and the kind of villains who must be stopped. And somehow he choreographs a finale that manages to raise the tension to heights rarely reached in any book. Bravo!

Keith Raffel,
Author

I started reading Breaking Cover last night for the second time since I bought it a few months ago from Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, NC. I read it the first time in just a few days and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Rhoades has crafted a modern noir thriller set in rural North Carolina... an area I know well and have a deep connection to. More than any other author I've read recently (with the possible exception of Ron Rash in Serena: A Novel), Rhoades depicts North Carolina authentically.

I love it when he turns his eye to working class folks. There are so few North Carolina authors who do this well.

Breaking Cover centers on an AWOL FBI agent who is in hiding because he discovered in a previous case that his boss at the FBI was dirty. Now living under an alias in fictional Pine Lake, North Carolina, the AWOL FBI agent encounters two kidnapped boys and decides (rather impulsively for such a calculating, cool man) to intervene. The consequence of doing so forms the plot of Breaking Cover.

The novel is framed in three major sections: the flashback to the case where the AWOL agent discovered the dirty FBI boss is bookended by the more present setting in Pine Lake where the AWOL agent discovers the kids and breaks cover to rescue them. At first, I found the flashback a little a jarring, but I went with it and eventually got its rhythm.

I know Rhoades (who is a friend and mentor) is a fan of of Ken Bruen, Jason Starr, Allan Guthrie, Neil Smith, Victor Gischler, and J.A. Konrath and their style of writing, and I love their work, too. But I personally would love a novel like Breaking Cover a hell of a lot more if it centered around a husband-wife protag combo (maybe with a young kid in tow) rather than a loner with very little reason for living. Of course, John Grisham has made a career cranking out novels like this, and I doubt Rhoades has any desire to follow in those well-worn footsteps.

Don't get me wrong. I love this novel. There is a bit of genius underlying it, and I'm serious... nobody depicts North Carolina with as much authenticity as J.D. Rhoades. I want to keep reading. And I do recommend this novel to all fans of gritty, dark crime fiction in the tradition of Laura Lippman and George Pelecanos.

Stacey Cochran
Author of CLAWS available for 80 Cents

I read this in one afternoon. No wasted words with this author. Smacks you right in the face from the start. Grabs you by the nose and pulls you relentlessly to the big bang end. Do not pass it by.

I was a little harsh in my review of the third Jack Keller novel but Breaking Ground is a tight, action packed thriller. Tony Wolf is a good new character and with this novel Rhoades becoms a worthy successor to Mickey Spillane and Richard Prather.
The stroy follow a somewhat predictable trajectory but that's a large part of the enjoyment. We know where the story is going, the suspense is how the author gets us there. Highly reccommended.

It was an intense and well written thriller. Easy page turner and gripping story! I would highhly recommend this novel to all who enjoy action stories.

I hadn't heard of J.D. Rhoades before but I saw this book at my local library on the "New" shelf and decided to take it with me on a trip. I should have taken the rest of his books, too, because this is a quick read! There are very few books that keep me up at night but this one did. Rhoades knows how to start a book with action but, unlike most, he keeps it going -- and going realistically -- throughout the book. Sometimes you don't know who to root for but you keep reading as fast as you can to see what happens next. I hadn't heard of the "redneck noir" genre before but, if Rhoades is typical of writers in that genre, I'm all over it! I can't tell you about the plot without giving spoilers, so just get the book. I read two or more books a year and this was one of the top ten of the last few years as far as I am concerned.