A Flash of Red [Hardcover]

Clay Harvey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 21, 1996

A former special military operative-turned-writer and family man, Tyler Vance finds himself the target of a vengeful and violent family after he kills a bank robber during a holdup. A first novel.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From the quick-clutch first sentence ("I didn't want to shoot him, I really didn't"), first-novelist Harvey (whose nonfiction includes The Hunter's Rifle) establishes himself as a writer possessed of cool control. Narrator Tyler Vance, is, like his creator, an author of books about guns. He's also a former Army "specialist" trained in wet work and dirty tricks, dad to a four-year-old son and seemingly incapable of avoiding trouble. The man Tyler doesn't want to shoot in the opening line is one of two bank robbers dead by his hand in the first scene. The remainder of the novel concerns Tyler's efforts to save his son, and other relations and friends, from the dead men's vengeful partners. Drugs and weapon sales fit into the muscular story line as well. Tyler is tough but sentimental enough to avoid being hard-boiled, rather like Robert B. Parker's Spenser, and he's as much of a smart-mouth as the Boston PI. The first adventure of this lethal weapon in human form zips along in pared-down prose. If only Harvey can learn to refrain from occasional archness ("I left before I had to bear further brunt"), readers should enjoy the promised second as much as this one.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Good old boys from the Bible Belt put paid to the vengeful plans of alien weapons traffickers in this preachy debut thriller. One fateful day, Tyler Vance (a North Carolina freelance writer who churns out books and articles for the guns and ammo market) finds himself in the middle of a bank robbery while on his way to deposit a sizable royalty check. Pistol-packing Ty drops two of the bandits with a few well-aimed shots, but two others escape with a hostage. One of the holdup men who got away is a Bosnian Serb named Valentin Resovic, and his brother Mikhail was a victim of Vance's accurate fire. A transnational gun-runner and racketeer with a lengthy Interpol file, the surviving Resovic vows to make Ty pay for his loss. But Vance, a veteran of a hush-hush Army unit that trained him in a variety of lethal arts and employed his talents in Korea during the '70s, is not without his resources. Though day care is a constant problem, the straight-arrow widower who single-parents a clever five-year-old son quickly recruits a special force of family members, friends, and volunteers from his old military unit (now at Fort Bragg) to help him provide a solution to the Resovic problem. Hunters and hunted have at each other in a series of bloody encounters in the Tarheel State and points south. At length, the ever armed and dangerous Ty (who seldom misses an opportunity to deliver a sermonette against smoking or in favor of wholesome family values and prayer) finds God on the side of the big guns as he confronts his Serbian nemesis at a rural farmstead where Cullen is held captive. Whatever momentum the wildly improbable narrative manages to gather--thanks to Harvey's modest gift for scenes of violent action--is braked by constant moralizing and posturing. For readers with a high tolerance for redneck self-righteousness and machismo. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 228 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (May 21, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399141561
• ISBN-13: 978-0399141560
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,830,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Flash Of Humor & Action, November 8, 2002

By 

Richard Altork (Monroe, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flash of Red (Paperback)

I've read all of Clancy, Cussler, Dale Brown, most of W.E.B. Griffin, Ludlum, and Stephen Hunter, and others, and I find this book refreshing with action. It is refreshing because of Clay Harvey's good sense of humor that fits naturally with the characters in this story, his development of characters who have close friendships, and his development of a realistic relationship that the main character, Tyler Vance, has with his five year old son. It is also refreshing because of Harvey's ability to describe fighting scenes, as well as his knowledge of guns (which reminds me of Stephen Hunter). Harvey knows how to tell a story and to keep the plot moving, while still spending interesting time in character development - even with the bad guys. And his descriptions of the interaction between Tyler Vance and the local police puts you right there, with some interesting - and humorous - twists.

This book is refreshing because it is not just macho action. It is not just plot driven, although the plot is good and believable. It is also character driven - some of whom you may find yourself wanting to meet. Tyler Vance has some characteristics similar to Clancy's Jack Ryan, in that Vance doesn't have a "dark side" that is so popular in many modern action heroes. Vance is just a good guy - with a real personality - period.
I enjoyed this enough to purchase and read the sequel, "A Whisper of Black", and then the delightful prequel to both, "Dwelling In The Gray".

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A FLASH OF FUN READING, April 10, 2000

By 

MICHAEL GOODWIN - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flash of Red (Paperback)

This 1st book of tyler vance and friends was a fun and fast read. The pace was fast for the most part and the dialouge was witty. I just recently came back from a school for my job where this book took place and it was kind of like kismet that I accidently found this new author and series while browsing in the local bookstore. Now I pride myself in knowing a good action/adventure book when I read one since I've read tons of the stuff in all genres for over 30 years. My final analysis of this guy's 1st book was a fun read and a good blend of humor and decent action sequences, but not one of the best I've read. Now don't get me wrong - its a fun and easy read and I would reccomend it, if you like a slower version of a redneck-type Die Hard. I thought it good enough and the characters banter enjoyable enough that I will read the other two books in the series. I currently just started his newest book titled DWELLING IN THE GRAY, and will be reviewing that one as soon as I finish it. Thats all folks!

3.0 out of 5 stars Debut page turner, December 10, 2000

By 

John Bowes (Oxford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Flash of Red (Paperback)

Need to pass some time without too much heavy lifting- this is for you. Good action, not a lot of plausibility. A hero who seems able to do and know everything, while still being a sensitive family man,is the center of this first in a series.