Jack Be Nimble: Gargoyle by Ben English

Jack Be Nimble: Gargoyle (Book 1)

Author: Ben English

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: July 2011

Kindle/ebook/Paperback; 426 pages

Genre: International Intrigue/Suspense

ISBN# 1463680899

Reviewed by: Shanda

FTC FYI: free digital copy in exchange for an honest review

Summary

The boy came to her out of water, unexpected. He was smart and strong and goofy, as boys are meant to be, but peculiar – he remembered everything. In the span of a single summer, she made him fearless. Now, even as Mercedes Adams is at the height of her career, forbidding changes loom over the world. That night, in the hushed calm of a spring evening, two plain-faced killers watch her home, waiting to make their approach. A few hundred miles away, a brilliant technologist returns to his childhood home in order to begin a descent into darkness . . . in London, a military game theorist finds himself pursuing kidnappers . . . outside Prague, a hacker and a thief stumble upon plans for a weapon unique to the world . . . an FBI agent faces an unpredictable fugitive in Chicago, while in Germany, a sniper-turned-schoolteacher finds reasons to take up his ancient calling . . . and a sitting United States Senator finds his life and his work invaded to terrifying conclusion. In Paris, a widowed man begins to recognize the hints and patterns of a greater puzzle that will bring them together . . . or kill them all. Mercedes Adams is about to find herself at the center of a vast, tightening knot of mystery, intrigue, and globe-spanning terror borne of her family’s legacy. Rising to her aid is a small group of specially-trained men and women. And at their center? A man who remembers everything.

First Line

“She struggled through mountains of falling rain, until her own bright reflection resolved itself on the skin of the train before her.”

Review

Jack Be Nimble: Gargoyle is the first in a series of novels by Ben English. The book opens with Mercedes having an interesting discussion with a mysterious older gentleman who is more than he appears. That was enough to catch my interest and make me read on to find out if these two characters meet again.

The author has a talent for writing interesting characters of varying backgrounds. The first part of the book is a series of written snapshots of each character, giving the reader a peek into their current situations and the sequence of events that eventually lead them to meet up. Because there are several characters, this part seemed to drag a bit and it took a little while to get back around to the other characters. Jack is very likable if a bit too good to be true (a famous actor AND a champion swimmer AND an author AND a trained agent.)

The first half of the book was a lot of set up for the rest of the story so it was considerably slower than last section. Once I got past the flashbacks, introductions and history of the characters, I was pulled into the action and it was like watching an intense action film. The villain’s intentions were terrifying and immense. The scenes in the building were particularly suspenseful. There were some formatting issues in my version where a number of quick scene and point-of-view changes weren’t separated by asterisks or hard returns but I was able to figure it out by context. This issue may have been resolved by now as I have an older copy.

I haven’t read a lot of international intrigue or any books by Dan Brown and similar authors, so I’m not sure how well Jack Be Nimble: Gargoyle compares to other books like it. It is a longer read (about 456 pages) and yet there is so much story yet to tell, as evidenced by the three sequels currently available. Jack Be Nimble: Tyro is the next book in the series. If you like larger-than-life heroes, interesting characters, and international suspense then there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy Jack Be Nimble: Gargoyle.

Content

Language: a few swear words here & there (dang, heck) but nothing excessive & no F-bombs

Violence: some shooting, grenade use, and hand-to-hand combat

Sex: I don’t remember any graphic sexual content, though Mercedes’ body is admired more than once

Drug Use: not that I can remember, though a minor character may have had a drink or two