Breaking Cover (Tony Wolf/Tim Buckthorn) [Kindle Edition]

J.D. Rhoades (Author)

Book Description

From the Shamus Award-nominated author of the critically-acclaimed Jack Keller southern crime series comes an explosive stand-alone thriller about an undercover federal agent, a chameleon whose specialty is assaulting criminal organizations from within.

He was the most talented undercover agent in FBI history, until he dropped completely off the grid, and hasn't been heard from in years. Did he go native, or was he discovered and killed? When Tony Wolf is finally driven out into the open, torn from deep cover during the rescue of two kidnapped children, he becomes the number one target of both the vicious biker gang he double-crossed and a massive Federal manhunt.

But Tony’s tired of being the hunted, and as both the gang and a traitorous FBI agent converge on a small southern town, they’re all about to learn a hard lesson: When the Wolf breaks cover, he doesn’t always run away.

Sometimes he comes straight at your throat.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Shamus-finalist Rhoades (The Devil's Right Hand) delivers a gripping stand-alone thriller. Undercover FBI agent Tony Wolf had infiltrated a meth-dealing biker gang until his cover was blown; since then, he's been living under an assumed name outside Pine Lake, N.C. Not even his wife or his employers know where he is. One day while out for a drive, Wolf spots the face of one of two kidnapped young brothers in a van's rear window. Wolf follows the van to a trailer, where he makes short work of the boys' kidnapper. By so doing, Wolf reveals his location to those who have been watching and waiting for him to reappear—drug-crazed bikers thirsty for vengeance, FBI agents hoping to either rescue or silence him and an aggressive local reporter. Wolf proves to be the sort who, once cornered, is far more deadly than his pursuers could have imagined. The action escalates to a powerfully violent, powerfully satisfying conclusion. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Rhoades takes a break from his Keller series, featuring the Gulf War–haunted bounty hunter (Safe and Sound, 2007), with a stand-alone thriller starring rogue FBI agent Tony Wolf. Forced to break cover after rescuing two abducted children, Wolf—officially dead but living under the radar in rural North Carolina—suddenly finds himself on the run from both his former colleagues in the bureau (including his wife) and, more seriously, from the gang of drug-dealing bikers he infiltrated in his last FBI assignment. Tired of running from trouble, Wolf decides to go on the offense: take down the bikers, and expose the mole in the FBI power structure who is feeding the bikers information. If thriller fans are thinking Lee Child here, they’re right on target. Like Child, Rhoades dishes out one airtight action scene after another, mixing in just enough character-building moments and holding our interest in a full cast of nicely developed supporting players. All that, and a Sam Peckinpah–like bloody, bravura finale that will leave even icy-veined thriller fans panting for breath. --Bill Ott

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 471 KB
• Print Length: 284 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00506U0QI
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #46,646 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 Stars all the way ... no doubt about it August 15, 2008

By Charlie Stella

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the few times I've become short of breath from turning pages so quickly October 15, 2008

By Bookreporter

Format:Hardcover

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

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Rhoades Creates Another Great Character July 27, 2008

By eburchelli

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

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(?).

More About the Author

Bestselling author, attorney, award winning newspaper columnist--J.D. Rhoades is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but with a soft creamy center. He attended the University of North Carolina, where he majored in Spelling. A stint in UNC's creative writing program resulted in his not writing another word of fiction for 13 years, unless you count legal briefs.

In 1993, Rhoades' local newspaper, the Southern Pines, North Carolina, Pilot, apparently got tired of his snarky and sarcastic letters to the editor and asked him to write a weekly column. "Hey, smart guy," they said, "you think this is so easy, you try it!" "Hey," he said, "how hard could it be?" These proved to be the very words that have gotten him in more trouble than any others in his life, except maybe "hey, gorgeous, can I buy you a drink?"

After a few years and an award for the column from the North Carolina Press Association, the same editor grudgingly allowed as how Rhoades wasn't a complete hack after all, and suggested he write a novel. "Hey," he said, "how hard can it be?" The answer, as it turns out, was "very hard indeed."

He wrote a novel. It sank like a stone. For some inexplicable reason, he wrote another. That one, THE DEVIL'S RIGHT HAND, was picked up by St. Martin's Minotaur and was nominated for the Shamus Award for Best First P.I. novel. Two more Jack Keller novels followed, as well as a stand-alone, BREAKING COVER.

In 2010, Rhoades looked at the world of e-publishing after seeing the success several friends were having with it. "Hey, he said, "how hard..." --well, you get the idea. After a couple of missteps, his backlist is now available for Kindle, as well as his e-published novels STORM SURGE, LAWYERS GUNS AND MONEY, and GALLOWS POLE. His latest novel, MONSTER: NIGHTRIDER'S VENGEANCE, was written under the pen name J.D. Nixx, and his available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Nightriders-Vengeance-ebook/dp/B007Z8M6PM

Rhoades lives, writes, and practices law in Carthage, North Carolina, where he does not usually refer to himself in the third person.