Customer Reviews

The Colonel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Career military Martin Collins retired as an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel following twenty years of active duty mostly with the Office of Special Investigations. Shortly after leaving the service, Martin's wife dies from cancer. Martin raises their twelve-year-old daughter by himself even as he serves as Chief of police of Warrenton, Virginia. Occasionally, he performs investigative services for the Air Force, working as a liaison between civilian authorities and the military police.

His current case centers on the professional murder of Colonel Margaret Wildman and her two children. Martin soon concludes that the children were murdered to get their mother to talk. Her refusal led to their death, her torture, and ultimately her death too. It appears as if the killers obtained what they sought. On the contrary, the victim worked in the Air Force Safety Office with no access to top-secret information, making the scenario painted by the physical evidence seems unreasonable. This leaves Martin and the other investigators shaking their heads as nothing makes sense.

Patrick A. Davis has written an action packed thriller that will keep readers' interest until the final page is turned. THE COLONEL is a terrific novel because besides being well written the events appear plausible, which adds to airplane passengers playing Russian Roulette every time they fly. Martin is a wonderful person who gains reader empathy early and never loses it as his actions turn him into a real American hero. Mr. Davis is deservedly making quite a name for himself within the thriller genre.

Harriet Klausner

I read this book and one of the author's other books, "The Passenger." Davis writes well and obviously intimately knows the kinds of characters, places, scenes, etc, that background his novel. Perhaps it is me and not Davis who is at fault for not awarding this book five stars, but I feel it is missing something. You are whisked along, helter-skelter, through a plot with the requisite twists, turns, and roller coaster plunges... but I want more. I want it to MEAN something. This book is solid entertainment, so maybe I am wrong to want it to snare me at gut level as well as taking me for a damn good carnival ride.

Martin Collins, a retired Air Force investigator who is currently the police chief of Warrentown, a small town in Virginia, is on occasion called upon by the military to help in criminal investigations. This time around they would like his help in solving a multiple murder. An Air Force Colonel and her 2 children have been slaughtered. Lieutenent Simon Santos, chief homicide investigator of the Arlington County PD, who requested Collins, is working it from the civilian side. As Collins and Simon work together, they find that the government and the military seem to be covering up a defect in a popular aircraft.

Character development and a steady pace with many twists and turns makes this a good read. Secret files, misleading clues and many suspicious characters, will keep you guessing. Beware the power of bureaucracy.

Recommended.

A suspensful thriller that begins with the murder of Colonel Margaret Wildman and both of her children. Colonel Wildman was a military investigator who had discovered a cover-up involving safety certifications on the G-626, one of the most popular civilian aircrafts flying today. The evidence she had accumulated would have crippled a proposed merger between Boeing and Global, the manufacturer of the G-626.

The detective assigned to the case is Simon Santos with a mystery past and a lot of money of his own. His own personal wealth and philosophy enable him to cut a few corners in his investigations. He brings in Martin Collins (Marty) who is a retired Air Force investigator who consults on military related homicides. Martin is still recovering from the death of his wife and trying to cope with a young teenage daughter. He sees the law, the crimes, the cover ups and the investigations in black and white and supposes that they will solve the mystery, expose the coverups and right all the wrongs.

The character development adds to the suspense which builds and continues to the final pages of the book. If there is a flaw, it's that there are too many characters to follow. Altogether a good read, however.

I started this book with great trepidation. Any book with the title 'The Colonel' had to be lacking in some department or another. At least thats how my thinking went until I became engrossed in these pages. The plot surrounds the brutal murder of an investigator of air force planes. Her job was to look into air-craft and see if they were sound. As the story progresses, we learn more and more about this situation and it really is both at the same time compelling as far as pushing the story along and ever more outlandish as far as conspiracy wise. I think that this aspect of the story both intrigued me and caused for my review to get notched down to just four stars.

The main character is Marty, an investigator who works as a consultant on military homicides. We follow him as he interrogates an ever more elaborate set of characters. You are never sure just who is in the wrong here or where the story is going. A couple of characters that help Marty along are also important. One is Simon Santos who is a character that mightily reminds me of the slick genius from Douglas Preston and Licoln Child's series of books. Simon knows everything, is wealthy, and a mysterious character to say the least. Also, Patrick Davis gives us an assistant to Marty, a young officer who prides herself in her ability and prowess.

All in all, this is a very fun book if just to see where it might be leading. Its worth reading.

I enjoyed this book. The characters were likable and well drawn out, the story very interesting. I love a well written conspiracy theory, but love it even more when people who gamble with others lives get what's coming to them. Mr Davis novels centering around the military are really well written, never a disappointment. I recommend this, and await his next.

Patrick Davis has a real winner. You may think you know who dunnit but you don't. This book is one of the best I have read in a long time. Suspense from start to finish. I would love to see a new series started with Simon and Martin. You can throw in Amanda too. Bravo, great book!

I like this series of Davis books and this arrived in a timely fashion so I could continue to read the series as written.

Great book from start to finish. A page turner. Couldn't put it down.

Patrick Davis hit a home run with "The Colonel". I found it fast moving, full of suspense (the butler didn't do it) and a fast read. It is worth the price.