Review: A throw-away Taskforce story
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 11, 2013
Following the trend of squeezing a few extra bucks from series fans by packaging a short story with an excerpt from an upcoming novel, Brad Taylor serves up "Gut Instinct," a Taskforce story that chronologically followsAll Necessary Force.  "Gut Instinct" focuses on Taskforce member Jennifer, beginning with a silly fight scene involving Jennifer and her ex-husband that's designed to prove how tough Jennifer has become.  By virtue of her gender, Jennifer is selected to assist another Taskforce team by conducting surveillance on a woman in a gym locker room in Manila.The story could be subtitled "How Jennifer proved she's just as good as any man even if they call her sexist names."  It gives her a chance to show off her climbing and fighting skills and (rather incongruously) her female intuition, but it adds little to the development of her character.  Jennifer is smarter than most of the male characters -- that's what makes her appealing -- but we already knew that."Gut Instinct" is longer than some of the series filler that authors churn out to promote upcoming novels, but it isn't substantial.  Why the Taskforce feels the need to stop a terrorist attack in Manila instead of, for instance, alerting the Philippine military is beyond me, but that's the premise, and it plays out in a predictable (but not remotely believable) way.  Brad Taylor is a capable writer, but sometimes, particularly in his short fiction, his work feels hurried and unpolished.  I'm a fan of the Pike Logan series, but this story adds little of value to it.  It isn't awful, but it isn't up to the standards of Taylor's better work.