Binder

In the mountains of West Virginia, hooded men ambush a group of environmental protestors. An Army colonel's daughter goes missing, and ex-operator Michael Herne travels to West Virginia to find her.

But the girl wasn't with the protestors and as Herne tracks her he encounters cults, communes and supremacists on the path to unraveling a deadly conspiracy.

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review by Travis Starnes

Binder is a straight up thriller that follows as former military operator as he heads into coal country West Virginia to track down the missing daughter of an Army Colonel.  What he finds there is much more convoluted and deadly then just a missing girl.

This is a straight up adventure thriller and makes no apologies about it.  While there is a mystery you the reader clearly are not meant to “figure it out” but instead follow along the ride as it slowly unfolds.  What you get instead is a lot of butt kicking.  This was just a fun read.  It might not win any awards for prose or changing the world but if you like military-esq adventure books then this book offers time well spent.

None of the characters are all that fleshed out and you generally get a collection of 2 dimensional stereotypes, but again that is not the point of this book.  This isn’t a character driven story; it’s all about the action and beating the “ticking clock”.  Watching a guy with top of the line special forces training being set on by “good ol’ boys” that are used to beating up environmental protesters was a thrill.  My only complaint is there wasn’t enough of it, but that is just me wanting more of a good thing.

The plot is fairly interesting and I was on board throughout as the story unfolded.  Unlike many books of the genre once you find out the end scenario it doesn’t come off as completely over the top or preposterous.  My only real complaint is the “real bad guys” once they are revealed are a bit too well informed.  They have information it seems unlikely a group, even a well-financed group, like theirs would have a hold of.  That being said the way events unfolded I was on board with and made sense to me.

The pacing of this book is excellent.  As you would expect from this type of thriller it is fast paced and rarely lets up.  The reader will practically zip through the pages of the book once the story kick into gear, and it is a fast read.

For fans of the genre, this book is a textbook on how to do action.  Sure there could have been better characterization, but I walked away from Binder feeling glad that I had read it.