Bloody Sunday

Bloody Sunday: Ben Coes

Revenge is the key to success within the pages of this multi-complex and multiple plot novel as we begin with a group of highly trained medical personnel entering Korea and meeting with its President Kim Jong Un in order to assess his medical issues and determine if they can provide a diagnosis and treatment for this ailing leader. Entering the facility we hear the team speak and get into place explaining their procedures but the final analysis was to come within two days but cut short when they realized that this world leader had only days or hours to live. Upon hearing the verdict and the diagnosis Kim Jong Un summoned his General and only person he trusted to explain his next move which would be to attack the United States with nuclear missiles as retaliation for this diagnosis and because he wanted to go out in blazing glory.

Sometimes events happen and you cannot let them go until you yourself yield the final outcome or punishment. CIA agent Dewey Andreas is deadly and toxic when administering his own brand of justice to those responsible for killing his wife Holly. He can’t bring her back but the President of the United States and other powerful people were responsible for her death, Dewey faced them down and the end result was they would never see another light of day.

Completing his task even though he is warned about the end result, Dewey does what he feels is necessary and then meets with his immediate superior and things from this point on move in many different directions. With the understanding that Kim Jong –un has got stage 4 cancer and cares only to take down two American cities with him, he reaches out to Iran to get some long-range missiles in order to complete this task.

The goal is to find a way to eliminate the nuclear threat but someone has to infiltrate North Korea and Jenna Hartford formerly of M16 has been enlisted to create a way to take down General Pak Yong-sik the head of the Korean armed forces and right hand man to Kim Jong Un. But, the method might be unorthodox as she and her partner create a poison that would be injected into the General giving him 24 hours to give the United States the documents needed to thwart the nuclear threat and then President. J.P, Dellenbaugh would order the release of the antidote and where it was stored. But, in the spy world nothing ever goes as planned or smoothly as we learn when Dewey hands in his resignation and the President asks him personally to complete this mission and go to Macau to take out the General who will be heavily guarded at the Mandarin Hotel in a private room waiting for a dealer to have his hand at blackjack.

Jenna Hartford’s husband Charlie was killed but was he the real target or was she? As we get to know more about his death the reader begins to wonder just who Jenna really is and why would someone want to warn her by killing her husband and does she have something to hide?

The Intel to stop Kim from his attack needs to be solidified and they need to know exactly when the missiles will be launched and how long they have and can it be stopped? Sir Derek Chambers is having doubts about her father and her and wants her investigated but what will they find out? Someone is sent to deal with the person who killed Charlie and that scene is quite revealing and tense as we get to know something behind the murder but not the reasons why he was killed.

Jenna is a former Circus employee and they are allowed to investigate her but not her parents. Hiring Katie Foxx and Rob Tacoma to do the investigation, it’s Tacoma who deals with the killer and the scene allows readers to see up close what definitely can happen in real life. While Dewey is able to get to the Korean General what he does not expect is that Yong-sik is skilled in martial arts and the fight results in both men getting injected with the poison heightening the suspense and intrigue allowing readers to wonder if either one will get the antidote in time as the author brilliantly allows us to experience the effects of this deadly poison and the time frame is slowly winding down before the antidote won’t do either man any good.

The documents that the US wanted are delivered but since this is confidential I won’t leak what they are and just how important they will be to the safety and security of our country and North Korea. But, one document can be revealed and we wonder why the General included a document about Kim’s stage 4 Cancer. Was this his way of letting the U.S. know that what he sent was real?

Dewey had to deal with the fact that poison took effect at various times and he need help in order to complete the mission but in reality the U.S. President added an additional request that might not only endanger him but four navy seals. Information infiltrated and they learned about a way that he and these men can escape that Kim created in case of a coup but Kim was irrational at this time and his orders to his men were to launch the missiles. General Yong-sik was placed between a rock and a hard place plus his loyalty to Kim when questions were asked and the final order is given. The situation room was tense on our side and Samantha Stout had the fate of the mission in her hands as she tried to figure out how every missile launch created by the Korean’s happened, when they would happen and the order of the launch. But, will this be enough to stop what has been set in place? Dewey has the fate of two nations in his hands and the author keeps us guessing until the reveal and the dramatic explosive ending that lets readers know there is much more to come and that Dewey is in danger, the fate of the U.S. and Korea are at stake and the final reveal will let readers know what happens when General Yong-sik comes face to face with a harsh reality and will have to make life changing decisions that will affect his people. General Trailes disagrees with waiting for the amount of time to allow Dewey to complete his mission and stay alive. There are many different situations that involve non-nuclear attacks on one will a nuclear retaliation. Just what the ending brings and the final confrontation is what author Ben Coes creates and everyone in the world hopes that someday endings to books come true. The characters are quite unique in their different roles and the cabinet members each have their own personalities but the President in this novel is strong, determined and a leader in his own right. Jenna Hartford at times has misgivings about her role and feels responsible if something happens to Dewey. The final outcome will let readers know that there is much more to come and the Chapter 90 is quite revealing and lets readers know that this situation with Jenna is not over yet. What is the fate of the U.S. and Korea? Will Kim stop what he started? Will Dewey take him down and if he does what about Yong-sik. If this attack happens and the day of the week is Sunday the ending will be what the title announces but even more bloody and tragic as we learn the final outcome of BLOODY SUNDAY! A storyline that could be ripped right out of the headlines or on the news at any minute author Ben Coes brings the situation with North Korea to light but in a unique and creative way.
Fran Lewis: Just reviews/MJ network/MJ magazine