"Goliath": A Serious, and Seriously Fun, Thriller

Post date: Oct 6, 2014 10:29:42 PM

In Goliath, author Richard Turner takes the reader from the nearly century-old disappearance of a British airship to the crash site of a WWII cargo plane in the Philippines to the Black Sea and the luxurious yacht of a Russian oligarch plotting to reinstate the Romanov dynasty—and that's just the opening chapters. So I give you this warning: If you sit down to read this book, remember to buckle your seat belt and prepare for a globe-trotting adventure that whips the reader from as far south as South Africa to as far north as the Arctic Circle.Goliath was the first in Turner's series of novels featuring Ryan Mitchell, a former U.S. Army Ranger now working for a private corporation that provides military training and other services for a price. Mitchell and his team of military professionals stumble upon and thwart the attempted kidnapping of Jennifer March by a group of mercenaries. March, a history professor leading a team of volunteers in finding the remains of the cargo plane's crew, has information the employers of the mercenaries wants. What that is, March doesn't know. Back in the U.S., another attempt is successful and Mitchell's team is hired to find March and rescue her.

Turner's bio describes him as a retired soldier, and it shows in his description of weapons and tactics. Yet while there is action aplenty in this book, the author doesn't sacrifice plot or character development for it like some thriller writers do. Turner even finds time to introduce a love story into the plot.

If you are looking for a serious and, yet, seriously fun read, this is it.