Review: "a girly little roundhouse..."
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 4, 2014
THE DIG is a short story featuring Pike and Jennifer and is set in the weeks leading up to Jennifer's attempt at joining the Taskforce.I've read the Taskforce series since it began with ONE ROUGH MAN and I'd suggest that if you are a fan of Pike Logan then you will enjoy this story as well. The premise of the story is pretty standard fare for author Brad Taylor - Pike and Jennifer have some conflict over his being super-macho-man, Pike and Jennifer get caught unexpectedly in a real jackpot of a situation, Pike and Jennifer resolve the jackpot using the traits that had caused their earlier conflict ...In this case the jackpot develops when Pike and Jennifer go on an archaeological dig only to stumble into a top secret government project, a search for a mysterious artifact, and two opposing factions with big guns and hidden agendas.Don't worry, Pike's predictable in that he will always do the right thing. Even if it's dangerous. Especially if it's dangerous. Because if there's one thing he can't stand, it's for the good guys to stand quietly on the sidelines and let the bad guys exert their will and influence on society.In the past Taylor's critics have called the dialogue in his books "cheeky" along with other equally unimpressive adjectives (especially for his penchant to have Pike use sappy movie quotes) - and he's been criticized for having too simplistic a worldview and for using a writing style that's equally simplistic - but you know, I really don't think Taylor cares a whit about any of that. And why should he? He knows and understands his audience. Taylor is writing for readers who enjoy it when the good guys are relentless in their belief that bad guys should be beat as often as possible as a matter of principle.And if that's not what you enjoy reading, then take a pass.But if you think it's kind of cool when one of the bad guys takes his best punch at the hero, and the hero responds by calling it "a girly little roundhouse" (as Pike does in THE DIG) ... then you absolutely should be reading this and everything else written by Brad Taylor.