Realistic Action in "Resolute Action"

Royal Australian Navy special operations diver Nathan MacDonald, moonlighting as a nightclub bouncer, is viciously gunned down by a biker gang in Sidney’s Kings Cross. Since the biker gang is involved in the drug trade, the local police assume MacDonald was also peddling drugs. Australian Army Captain Sam Ryan, however, finds it hard to believe that a member of Australia’s equivalent of a U.S. Navy SEAL team would be involved with drug dealing.

Ryan, an investigator with the Australian Defense Force Investigative Service, begins a parallel investigation into MacDonald’s death which leads to the discovery of a packet of evidence the sailor had collected against two Navy officers he suspected of being involved in the smuggling of Indonesian refugees. Ryan’s probe takes him uncover, first aboard a Navy patrol boat in the middle of smuggling waters, then to Indonesia to hunt down the former Indonesian army officer who ordered MacDonald’s murder.

I was a great fan of author Liam Saville’s first Sam Ryan novella, Predator Strike! I am no less enthused about Resolute Action. Saville, a former Australian Army officer and police officer, brings great realism to his mystery work. His writing style is straightforward and accessible, á la Dasheill Hammet. Sam Ryan is a true military officer, dedicated to his work and to Australia’s service members. He also believes in justice, even when it can’t be obtained in the normal way. Likable and approachable, Ryan also harbors a sharp edge which sometimes makes him step over the line to get the job done.

Anyone who is a fan of Nelson Demille’s Army investigator Paul Brenner series will enjoy Resolute Action.