Tiger by the Tail - John Ringo & Ryan Sear

Baen, Copyright 2013, 458 pages

ISBN: 978-1-4767-3615-0

Read: March 2014, at age 35

So I read book six of this series.  No sign of it ending, but it could end whenever.  Um.  18+ for torture-porn, and plain old porn.  And violence.  And slavery.

From the back cover:

After saving America from Middle Eastern terrorists, even Mike Harmon and the Keldara could use a vacation.  Of course, the Kildar’s idea of relaxation includes taking down pirates in the Singapore Straits for fun and profit.  But when he finds highly classified materials in the pirate booty, Harmon has a new mission thrust upon him – discover how bottom-feeding thieves got their hands on top secret technology. 

From glittering Hong Kong to the slums of Thailand, to the backwoods of Myanmar, Harmon and his Keldara follow a trail of death and deceit across the treacherous underbelly of Southeast Asia.

As their path winds through dark jungle and a slave labor camp to the heart of a newborn democracy, Harmon must devise a way to prevent the overthrow of a nation’s capital by totalitarian tyrants.  But if there’s one thing Mike and the Keldara specialize in, it’s doing whatever it takes to give freedom a chance.

Reactions after the break:

Overall:

I really enjoyed the book.  Excepting the parts about waterboarding.  And other kinds of torture.  But the rest – fun military action throughout.  Quoting my review from A Deeper Blue,

You know what?  I’ll probably read the next book that comes out.  I hate myself just a little bit for that, but for some time when I want to put my brain on a shelf, there are worse ways to spend a couple of hours.

My brain was firmly on the shelf, and I quite enjoyed a couple hours of gun porn, porn porn, and violence.  Could have done without the sadism in places, but… it was fun.  Sigh.  I’ll read the next if there’s another.

Rating:  3

Characters:

Same cast of clowns from the previous books.  Nothing really new to add, except a couple of people that our hero couldn’t torture information out of.  That was kind of a pleasant change, really.  Nobody changes, but that’s where we are in the series, really. 

Setting:

I know next to nothing about southeast Asia.  This book didn’t enlighten me.  As a framework for violence, it was satisfactory.

  

Readability:

The writing was fine.  The pacing was good – fast paced with enough little slack-times to keep it under control.

Plot:

Better than some of the other books.  We get a bit of a mystery thrown in – follow the breadcrumbs to the big bad guy.  It was all right.

Other Opinions:

Shiny Book Review

Really didn’t like the book.  Pretty common theme among the other reviews I read.  I didn’t mind it as much.  It may be that I was just in the right mood for the book.