Chasing the Ghost (Black Ops)

By: Bob Mayer

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

Covert operative Horace Chase has been chasing ghosts his entire life.

First, his Medal-of-Honor winner father who died in Vietnam without ever meeting his son. And left him the legacy of an automatic appointment to the Military Academy at West Point which shaped the next thirty-five years of Chase's life. Then, the ghost of his mother, who died while he was at war in Afghanistan and wounded, causing him to resign his commission and return to the United States, a lost soul.

Chase now wears two hats as a Federal counter-terrorism liaison to the local police department in Boulder, Colorado where he becomes embroiled in two seemingly un-related cases. Working as a detective with Boulder PD he chases another death, this one the apparent rape/murder of Rachel Stevens, an upscale housewife attending night classes at the University of Colorado. And with his counter-terrorism team he is embroiled in a series of killings involving a militia group, a rogue ex-Special Forces officer, a psychopathic ex-CIA contract mercenary, and ruthless drug runners.

From the streets of Boulder, to the highest railroad tunnel in the world, to a swingers club hiding in plain site in suburbia, Afghanistan starts to look pretty good to Chase.

©2010 Bob Mayer (P)2012 Bob Mayer

kept me guessing

I love a story that doesn't broadcast the ending. This one had me wondering right to the end.

Hated to stop listening.

Loved the entire book. Makes you wonder who the good guys are, if there are any.

A cut above most in the genre

This book is written well and the storyline is very well developed and unfolds in a very believable sequence. There is action and it is entertaining. In this genre there is often a tenancy for the author to concentrate on the type of hardware and logistics involved in the action instead of the action itself, and I am one that likes all that hardware jargon so it is not something I am usually critical of. Here the author seems to come from a military background and writes very well of it, but blends it into the story very well and develops a very good character with a very good background to be a good action guy. There are several back stories that move the plot forward and all are relevant and bring the plot together in the end. I really like this story and would recommend it with the warning that there are some graphic descriptions of sex scenes in here and if that is something you would want to avoid then this book might not be for you.

Refreshing installment

Although I disliked only having Dave Reilly in the book other than by mention, Horace chase is overall an easier character to like. With the world seemingly against him he manages to overcome the impossible and do what's right. This felt less like a green beret book as it was centered around police but the ending brought back more of what has been throughout the series.