Customer Reviews

Painkiller

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

 

 

What a gem it was finding this book by a brand new author. Outstanding plot development that was well thought out and characters are not just one dimension. This plot was complex and dealt with world politics but I never once felt that I couldn't gain an understanding of what was going on. So often I read these types of novels and there is an implicit understanding that you know about conflict X in depth so they don't bother explaining anything.

The only loss of one star was that at the end it seemed a tad over the top in the fact that it was too detailed and technical given the rest of the tone of the book. Ultimately, by this time, we the reader all want to now how this ends but yet we are subjected to detailed explanation of issues going on when the lead character "saves the day".

Keep up the good work Mr. Staeger. I look forward to reading your next novel.

Painkiller is a riveting 352 page spy novel that expertly interweaves contemporary politics with Caribbean magic and myth. There is a rogue faction within the Chinese military that is threatening to use nuclear terror within American borders with the intent of replacing the United States as the dominant world superpower by the juggernaut totalitarian nation that is China in a growing era of globalization. It will take Julie Laramie, a junior analyst for the CIA at Langley, Virginia to uncover this horrific plot against her country. But it will take the help of quasi-retired, Virgin Islands-based CIA operative known as W. Cooper to buck the CIA brass, deal with a litany of enemies that range from an Haitian witch doctor, to a slave-trading albino serial killer, to a bodybuilding fanatic, to stop a terrifying conspiracy. Painkiller is a roller coaster ride of a read -- and begs to be the stuff of a big-screen movie. Hollywood take note!

I was delighted with Will Staeger's first novel, Painkiller. He's got the dialog down and intersperses detailed research with smart alec comments to add levity to the intricate plot. The characters are people I'd like to know. (Well, some of them are.) I look forward to the sequel (s). I'll bet Will Staeger will soon be a household name.

Sheila Lowenstein

Will Staeger's debut novel sets off as if it's going to be one of those rare fast-paced intelligent thrillers with non-stereotypical characters in non-stereotypical situations. The first 300 pages of the book are dead-on target as the characters are introduced, situations set up, and motivations and histories established. The details and events up to this point were top-notch, and all the characters richly developed.

Unfortunately, as the book finally found its way to the conclusion, Staeger's story didn't pick up the pace like a thriller should, and remained a richly-deep piece of work with stellar writing. I spent the last 75 pages skimming along to get to the action and resolution of the plot. Staeger is a good writer, but the book's pacing definitely lagged when it should have been getting quicker.

Worth a read.

Mr Staeger has a talent in building a fast-paced, non-stop, slam-bang action thriller. But what makes this thriller worth-reading to the end is the inter-exchange chemistry between the two main protagonists: D. Cooper and Julie Laramie.

While Cooper leads his daily life with "live slow, mon" attitude, Julie Laramie seems to have a stressful career life, eager to prove her ability. When the two meet, their exchanging dialogues have been hilariously painkiller. The best odd couple since Remington Steele & Laura Holt.

Mr. Staeger has given us a fast paced thriller with almost non stop action. It is an exceptionally good debut novel that is hard to put down. W. Cooper, an irascible, semi-retired CIA agent gets himself into a mess of international proportions and ends up working with Ms. Laramie, a suspended CIA analyst. The action is quick paced and exciting. The plot is a bit out there sometimes, but this is the stuff thrillers are made of. I hope to see this pair together in future novels. Highly recommended.

This was a fun and wild ride considering it's the authors first outing. While reading parts of it I was visualizing the protagonist as a cinematic 007, as well as a Ludlum/Clancy type rogue spy. A good combination. This looks to be the first in a series featuring Cooper and Laramie. I didn't see the great depth to the characters as other reveiwers did, and would have liked to learn a little more about them. Still good entertainment.

"Live slow, Mon."

Highly recommended.

I am an avid reader of these tangled mysteries. Page turners which make you not want to put the book down signify for me a great read. I escape my world in these type of books and Will Staeger's "Painkiller" is one of the best. Read it in one sitting! I was concerned initially how the varried characters and subplots teasingly illustrated in the first fifty or so pages were going to come together but, boy!, did they. I can wait to see how WC continues with his fairy tale life and how Laramie recovers from her wounds and joins WC in their next adventure. While most books are much better than the movies I can't wait for the movie to be developed!

The logline might be Ian Fleming, Tom Clancy, and Hunter S. Thompson cut loose in the Caribbean, but there's nothing formulaic about Will Staeger's first espionage thriller. This debut rocks. Staeger serves up the rare combination of a complex hero to bond with, a wildly original storyline, head-rattling action, and literary talent to burn.

Start with a burnt out husk of a soul damaged by torture, mix with agility and lethality honed over years as a CIA paramilitary operator, and toss in a talent for extorting Washington scoundrels to access money and favors, and you have W. Cooper, CIA's solo station head and "spy-a-de-island" on Tortola, BVI.

By day, Cooper skin dives, pounds his Apache racing boat over the turquoise chop, and, on a beach kissed by balmy trade winds, lays naked in his deck chair to receive Langley's memos in a diplomatic pouch, reading and burning them one by one with the tip of a good cigar. At night, he picks up married women at the Tiki bar. And, oh yes, knocks back a steady diet of a rum concoction called "Painkillers" to dull his nightly onslaught of skin-flaying memories.

And he would go on that way forever, if not for Cap'n Roy, local police chief, who requests Cooper's skills to dispose of a burned, shot, and battered corpse that inconveniently washed up in his jurisdiction. Cooper obliges to replenish his favor bank. But the simple job turns complicated when the corpse reveals traces of both nuclear radiation and Voodoo magic. Identifying with the anonymous nineteen-year-old as a fellow victim, Cooper becomes pro-bono private investigator for the dead man.

Thus begins a twisted and violent path that ultimately crosses another seeker of truth. In Langley, VA, a fit and brilliant young SATINT analyst named Laramie identifies a pattern of secret Asian military buildups on Keyhole satellite photos. But it's quashed by her boss for blatantly Washingtonian motives until Laramie herself becomes a target of CIA's darker side.

Suffice to say that Cooper and Laramie finally connect to bite off more than they can chew in a gallery of engaging villains-led by a Chinese Vice Premiere and military strategist executing a flawless plan for China to immediately become the world's lone superpower from a private island in the Caribbean. A 21st Century "Dr. No" operation that, absent the death ray and orange jumpsuits, is astonishingly credible and will clearly succeed in the face of Washington's selfish stupidity.

Staeger's tale of global-stakes espionage, Voodoo magic, and the painful cost of redemption has me eagerly waiting for Cooper to kick the sand out of his shoes and get back to work.

In the peaceful British Virgin island of Tortola, burned out Agent W. Cooper heads the local field office, consisting of one person himself. Cooper got this gem post where his job is to drink rum cocktails and chase women by blackmailing the agency's Deputy Director Peter Gates, who is pleased with the arrangement because this wild card has been removed from the deck without exposing or embarrassing him.

Royal Virgin Islands Police Force Captain Roy Gillespie known locally as "Cap'n Roy" risks a beating by waking up Cooper at 6 a.m. Roy is fortunate as Cooper takes his ire that his beauty sleep aided by rum cocktails was interrupted out on a window. The cop wants Cooper to dispose of a battered burned corpse that washed ashore on the beach. Cooper reluctantly gets involved especially when he sees the odd tattoo on the male body. He begins digging until he uncovers proof that a massive increase in weapons in China has occurred. Fellow CIA Agent, Julie Laramie finds similar evidence, but Gates warns her to cease and desist and remain silent or face more than just a firing for insubordination. She refuses and Gates paints her has a failed malcontent. Cooper and Laramie serendipitously meet to continue the inquiries as they realize something global is at stake.

PAIN KILLER is a wild espionage thriller starring a retired on the job antihero and the woman who inspires him to get back into the game. The story line is action-packed, but has a tongue in cheek quality to it because of Cooper's attitude. Fans of Clive Cussler will want to read Will Staeger's action-packed tale, but just go easy on Cooper's PAINKILLER, Pusser's Rum Cocktail.

Harriet Klausner