THE EXECUTION (Jeremy Fisk #2) by Dick Wolf

No Sophomore Slump Here!

Published in 2014 by William Morrow

This series revolves around Jeremy Fisk, a detective with NYPD's counter-terrorism squad. New York City has an extensive counter-terrorism unit because New York City has been such a frequent target of terrorism. Fisk is fluent in 5 languages, including Arabic and Spanish. He is frequently a contact person between NYPD and the FBI or CIA.

The Execution takes up where the first book in the series, The Intercept, leaves off. (See my review of The Intercept here) Wolf makes a great attempt to catch up the reader but I think that if you have not read The Intercept you will be a little lost.

The main plot of the story involves Mexican drug lords and an incorruptible member of the Mexican federal police, Detective Cecilia Garza. Garza leads a handpicked task force that is trying to stop the drug smugglers while the bodies of innocent bystanders literally pile up in Mexico. The worst of the worst is a drug lord known as The Hummingbird.

The United Nations in New York City. Photo by Neptuul.

While Fisk helps prepare New York City for United Nations Week (dozens of heads of state show up to give speeches, including the President of the United States) he meets Detective Garza as they both investigate a Mexican drug cartel style mass-killing in New York City. Soon enough, they begin to suspect that this may have something to do with a planned meeting between the President of the United States and the President of Mexico and that all of those dead bodies were intended to be a threat of something worse...

Dick Wolf is best known as the producer and creator of the many different TV series in the Law and Order franchise. I have to say he's learned something about pacing while working in television for all those years because this book moves along quickly, but not at a frenzied pace.  

This is an enjoyable thriller and this series is off to a great start. No sophomore slump here!

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through the Amazon Vine program.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Execution (Jeremy Fisk #2) by Dick Wolf.

The Intercept (Jeremy Fisk #1) (audiobook) by Dick Wolf

Published in 2013 by HarperCollins
Read by Peter Ganim
Duration: 11 hours, 11 minutes.

Unabridged.

Dick Wolf is best known as the producer and creator of the many different TV series in the Law and Order franchise. The Intercept is his first attempt at fictional book writing (he has considerable experience at screenplay writing).

So, how was this first attempt?

I liked it. I liked it a lot.

The story revolves around Jeremy Fisk, a detective with NYPD's counter-terrorism squad. New York City has an extensive counter-terrorism unit because New York City has been such a frequent target of terrorism. Fisk is fluent in Arabic and is frequently a contact person between NYPD and the FBI or CIA.

A terrorist tries to commandeer an airplane headed to America from Sweden by holding a stewardess hostage. Five passengers rise up to fight the terrorist and they succeed in saving the stewardess with only the one of the rescuers suffering the relatively minor injury of a broken forearm. When they land the media pounces on the story and the rescuers and the stewardess become nationally famous.

But, Fisk does not like the way things add up once he interviews the captured terrorist. Once he starts digging he finds that his worst fears may be coming true...

Peter Ganim read the book. He covered the wide variety of accents well, especially the Arabic accents. I was especially pleased with the milder New York accents that he provided. So many actors go with no accent or an over-the-top accent. Sure, some New Yorkers sound like the exaggerated stereotype of the New York accent, but how many more have a more subdued accent? I thought it added a nice touch of realism.

This audiobook has more multiple surprise twists and is pushed along at a quick pace. I found it thoroughly entertaining for the better part of a week's commute.

Note: This book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Intercept: A Jeremy Fisk Novel (Jeremy Fisk Novel #1)

Reviewed on March 2, 2013.