Rucka, Greg Books

Private Wars (Queen and Country)

Greg Rucka

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Only Greg Rucka, the thriller genre’s most fearless writer, would dare create a spy so edgy, so explosive, so extreme, she should be rated X.

Tara Chace was once the most dangerous woman alive. And now that the international spy network thinks she’s as good as dead, she’s even more dangerous than ever.

Only one thing could coax Tara back into the game: a chance to vindicate herself. The torture and execution of Dina Malikov has set off a cutthroat grab for power in strategically crucial Uzbekistan. Tara’s job is to slip into the country and extract Dina’s pro-Western husband and their young son before they are murdered—by his ruthless sister.

But there are a couple of wild cards in the deck, including a missing mobile weapons system that can bring down a commercial airliner, not to mention powerful political careers. Now, as she vanishes into hostile territory with a man who may or may not be what he seems, Tara is going to find out that the war on terror is more terrifying than anyone knows. For in a battle where betrayal is a conventional weapon, loyalty is a weakness, and anyone—even a child—is a legitimate target: it’s every spy, every woman, for herself.

Combine a thriller that defies every expectation with a heroine for whom nothing is out of bounds, and the result is Private Wars, a suspense novel so explosively realistic, it should be classified.


From the Hardcover edition.

A Gentleman's Game: A Queen & Country Novel

Greg Rucka

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Tara Chace may be the most dangerous woman alive. She can seduce you into believing she’s the woman of your dreams—or kill you with the icy efficiency of an executioner. As the new head of Special Operations for British Intelligence, she no longer has to court death in the field—she wants to.

Throw away the old rules, the old school, the old-boy network. The world of international espionage is about to learn the hard way that spying is no longer merely…
A Gentleman's Game
Greg Rucka’s electrifying thrillers have pushed the boundaries of suspense fiction to where few have dared to go. Now, in A Gentleman’s Game, one of the genre’s most fearless writers brings readers of international espionage his most
fearless heroine yet: a no-holds-barred woman who’s as lethal as an assassin’s bullet.

When an unthinkable act of terror devastates London, nothing will stop Tara Chace from hunting down those responsible. Her job is simple: stop the terrorists before they strike a second time. To succeed, she’ll do anything and everything it takes. She’ll have to kill again.

Only this time the personal stakes will be higher than ever before. For the terrorist counterstrike will require that Tara allow herself to be used as bait by the government she serves. This time she’s turning her very life into a weapon that can be used only once. But as she and her former mentor race toward destiny at a remote terrorist training camp in Saudi Arabia, Tara begins to question just who’s pulling the trigger—and who’s the real enemy. In this new kind of war, betrayal can take any form...including one’s duty to queen and country.

Based on the graphic novel series that won the coveted Eisner Award, A Gentleman’s Game is an electrifyingly realistic, headline-stealing thriller with an unforgettable protagonist—one who redefines every rule she doesn’t shatter.

Smoker

Greg Rucka

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The subject is BGs--bodyguards--and Natalie Trent (bred and buttered in the personal security business, where her father, Elliot, is a top player) says to Atticus Kodiak, "You know what a bad reputation BGs have. Most people on the street think a BG is a muscle-bound heavy with mirror shades, undereducated and overarmed."

Atticus, of course--as readers of Greg Rucka's explosive and intelligent books about him (Finder and Keeper) already know--is none of the above. He does tend to get involved in running gun battles in heavily populated urban areas, however, and has lost a client or two in a shootout. No wonder the very slick Elliot Trent doesn't want him as an employee, let alone a son-in-law, in a case involving the protection of an eccentric scientist about to blow the whistle on a giant tobacco company. But Atticus worms his way in anyway--and the results are as exciting and packed with fascinating inside details of the BG trade as ever. Particularly entertaining is a scene where Atticus and Natalie are hired to test the security of a safe house, using everything from unordered pizzas to volleys of tennis balls to irritate the guards. And the presence of a very spooky world-class hired killer known only as John (or Jane) Doe keeps the tension wires at maximum tightness. Another fine performance from a writer ready to move up in weight and class. --Dick Adler

Shooting at Midnight

Greg Rucka

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Meet Bridgette Logan 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

It seems to me that Greg Rucka has really hit his stride with this, the 4th and I think, the best so far in the Atticus Kodiak series. It's deeply moving and occasionally depressing in it's true to life issues.

The story is initially told from private investigator Bridgette Logan's viewpoint. Until now we didn't know a lot about Bridgette other than she was tattooed, body pierced and constantly ate altoids and lifesavers. Her past was filled in with a lot of detail, bringing her fully to life and promoting her to one of the main players in the series.

Bridgette is asked by a friend for protection from her abusive estranged husband. The husband is heavily into the drug business, a world in which the friend is desperate to escape. Bridgette agrees to help, but in doing so, puts herself at risk of losing herself to an addiction she had fought hard to overcome.

This is a poignantly told story that deals with the dark world of the drug addict and the drug supplier and the constant battle with addiction. This is a terrific addition to the series with the character development of Bridgette Logan a real plus.

Editorial Review:

Greg Rucka has earned a devoted following for his edgy Atticus Kodiak thrillers, Finder, Keeper, and Smoker. Now, in an electrifying new suspense novel, Rucka puts us in the heart and brain of Kodiak's friend and lover, Bridgett Logan, a young woman living life on her own terms-and living it on the edge. Shooting at Midnight.

It began with a promise made to a friend, made when they were both teenagers. Now, years later, the friend wants to collect. All Bridgett Logan has to do is keep her word and the vow she made: Commit a murder. Now two men are desperately trying to find Bridgett.
One to save her. The other-to kill her.

Keeper

Greg Rucka

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Interesting character, taut thriller 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Greg Rucka's prose is fluid and fine-edged, reminiscent of Lawrence Block's work in his Matthew Scudder series of novels minus the New York City grit that Block does so well.

Atticus Kodiak, Rucka's protagonist is, if seemingly a little too young at 28, an engaging character with an interesting supporting cast, and his chosen profession, bodyguard, is vividly depicted. Rucka seems to be known for his research and he's apparently done his homework here as the overall scenario rings true.

The story's backdrop, New York City at the height of the mid-90s anti-abortion protests and clinic bombings makes for a enthralling plot as Kodiak is charged with the protection of a pro-choice doctor. Rucka unself-consciously tackles the sticky politics of the situation, offering welcome shades of gray in what is often a black and white topic, while delivering a taut thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat through the end. An excellent first novel and I'm looking forward to reading the next one in the series.

Editorial Review:

In a heartbeat, a crowded auditorium or a city street can become a kill zone, where life and death are separated by a split second. For Atticus Kodiak, professional bodyguard, the object is to keep people alive, and there is no margin for error. Now Kodiak faces his toughest challenge: to protect a woman and her daughter from a killer with a fanatic agenda of his own....

Tense, taut, and as brutally real as this morning's headlines, Keeper marks the debut of a talented young writer of tough, unflinching prose--and the
beginning of an electrifying new series.

Critical Space

Greg Rucka

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Penzler Pick, September 2001: Greg Rucka has created a remarkable character named Atticus Kodiak, a bodyguard who, together with assorted friends and associates, has appeared in four previous books. Before reading Critical Space, it's not necessary to know the sometimes complicated history of Atticus and his professional and personal relationships, but it helps.

It helps, for instance, to know that Atticus has been romantically involved with Bridget and Natalie, both of whom have worked on cases with him. It helps to know that Bridget has a very complicated past, which Rucka chronicled in his fourth book, Shooting at Midnight. And it helps to know that he has already had a run-in with one of the most deadly international assassins working--a beautiful woman who goes by the name of Drama.

It is Drama who takes center stage in this latest tale. After quitting a high-profile case as bodyguard to spoiled movie star Skye Van Brandt, Kodiak is approached by an old friend from England who is bringing the famous abused children's advocate, Lady Antonia Ainsley-Hunter, to the States for some appearances. After one near-miss with Lady Antonia, another attempt to abduct her is successful. But it is not a ransom or publicity that the kidnapper wants--she is merely bait for the real target: Atticus. A game of cat and mouse leads through the subways of New York, out to Staten Island, and back over to New Jersey, where Atticus is once again in the presence of Drama, who now needs his help. She has become a target of an assassin named Oxford, who is every bit as good as she is. Drama, who has some idea who might have put the hit on her, needs backup to combat this elite killer.

What is remarkable about this book, and the series as a whole, is not only the writing, which is crisp and concise, but the inside information from Rucka about what it takes to be a bodyguard, what the training is like, and how certain situations are defused. Rucka knows his stuff and deserves a wider audience. --Otto Penzler

Gotham Central Vol. 4: The Quick and the Dead (Batman)

Greg Rucka

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Good Cops in a Bad Land 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This entire series is excellent! Rucka & Brubaker are NOT my favorite people for Superhero books but they do EXCEL at crime stories. Gotham Central is an excellent "reality" approach at one of comic-dom's most famous cities. Not everything in a town like Gotham is about Mr Freeze or the Joker but even when they are, Batman isn't the only one working on it. Love this series and highly recommend it to ANYONE who likes Law & Order, Batman and maybe even The Untouchables.

A great read... crime fiction meets the superhero set 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Another fine entry in this compelling series set in the gritty underbelly of Batman's Gotham City. The plot increasingly focusses on Det. Rene Montoya, which is fine by me (although I'm waiting for her partner, Crispus Allen, to come out of the box a bit more...) Author Greg Rucka's debt to HBO-TV's "The Wire" is increasingly obvious, but that's mighty fine source material.

In this volume, a booby trap set by one of the Flash's foes, Mr. Alchemy, sets Montoya and Allen on a trip to Keystone City, where Alchemy pulls a "Silence Of The Lambs" taunt-the-cops number... Although the story gets more wrapped up in super-doings than earlier story arcs, Montoya's eventual beat-down of the bad guy, though emotionally satisfying, sets the stage for her to begin questioning her own attraction to extreme violence. I predict an even stronger, richer storyline further down the road.

Great entry in a very strong series, compulsively readable from start to finish.

Wolverine Volume 2: Coyote Crossing TPB

Greg Rucka

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

the price of life 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Wolverine has long struggled with who he is, the story told here is no exception. Still struggling with whether he's more animal or man, Logan finds himself in Texas, and stumbles across the horror of human smuggling when 19 people are killed during a smuggling operation gone bad. Determined to make someone pay, Logan beings an investigation to find who the people are that are responsible for this horror and it leads him to a very interesting place.

In the mean time, ATF agent Cassie Lathrop is conducting an investigation of her own, to find Logan, though she can't really decide why she needs to find him. Is it to see if her attraction to him is returned, or to find out what he really is?

The script by Rucka is solid and the art by Fernandez is better than most other art out there, though I prefer Derek Robertson on this title. The reason I decided on 4 stars and not 5 is that this story doesn't really advance Logan's character or show anything new. It's a little too much like Brotherhood, the pervious graphic for my taste.

Still, this is a solid, well crafted book and I recommend it.

This book collects Wolverine vol. 3 #7-11

Editorial Review:

Little is known of his past, save that it was fraught with pain and loss. Long ago, he trained as a Samurai in Japan; later he became Weapon X, an operative for the Canadian government. Today, Logan is an X-Man, using his animal-keen senses, healing factor and razor sharp claws to help protect a world that fears and hates mutants!

Gotham Central Vol. 3: Unresolved Targets (Batman)

Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Chandleresque, Gritty, and Beautifully Bleak 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This series is so wonderfully bleak its almost uplifting. I like the idea of a side-bar story of everyone else in Gotham, and I thought I would miss the long underwear guy, but actually I got caught up in all the noir atmosphere. The 'look' of the book echoes the recent Daredevil, in that grey area between real and unreal, without being cartoony (good for some things, like the new Ghost Rider #6) and helps sell the 'everydayness' of the narrative.
Surprisngly gripping and absorbing.

Editorial Review:

The Joker terrorizes the city at Christmastime by randomly executing people, and no one from the mayor on down is safe! The manhunt is on as the police try to protect the city, only to be baffled when the Clown Prince of Crime surrenders. What does he really want, and can the GCPD figure it out before he gets it?

Wolverine Vol. 1: The Brotherhood

Greg Rucka

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Animal or man? 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

As a long-time Wolverine fan, who has nevertheless not read any of the comics for years, I have to say that Wolverine: the Brotherhood rekindled my fascination with this tragic hero.

The story unfolds on two levels: one following the "Mean Man" himself in his hunt for the men who murdered his neighbour, 17 years old Lucy Braddock, after he was unable to help her when she needed it most. The other follows ATF agent Cassie Lathrop on her hunt for Wolverine after he tracks the murderers' weapons straight through her investigation.

Straightforward as the story is, though, it is not only extremely well presented and drawn, but the dialogue fits the characters so well you can almost hear them speak. There is also an added twist at the end where Logan meets Nightcrawler, or Kurt Wagner, looking for answers to the eternal questions which always haunt him: when the rage takes him, is he an animal or a man? Can he justify his actions and the lives he takes by saying his enemies are evil?

The execution of this book is the best I have seen from Marvel in a very long time, come to think about it, probably the best ever. Logan himself is a short, surly, ugly fellow who nevertheless is able to exude a certain grumpy charisma, Nightcrawler looks as freaky as he should, while still having a reassuring air and the atmosphere is generally gritty, dirty and unpolished.

In addition there are no silly, form fitting costumes, a great relief since more and more readers have come to see these as a patently silly leftover from the early days of comics, and particularly so since these days the mutants are mostly presented as trying to go unnoticed through society.

All in all this is a very good book, its one drawback (if it can be called that since it is not to do with this book as such) is that it is being followed up by two more, Coyote Crossing and Return of the Native, and while they are good reads they are not as good as the Brotherhood. For one thing the style and artwork of one these two is very different, breaking the feeling that they are really interconnected. Despite this, though, they are also highly recommended.

So for both new and old fans of the grittiest, nastiest and decidedly most mature Marvel hero out there, this book is as good as they get, and I could not recommend it more.

Editorial Review:

Wolverine, the world's deadliest mutant embarks on a dangerous mission of revenge, seeking justice for a young neighbor who was murdered in her sleep. Original.