Dead in Their Tracks: Mitch Kearns Combat Tracker Thriller Novel - Action-Packed Military Suspense Book Series | Perfect for Fans of Military Fiction & Adventure Stories

J.T. Swayer’s first novel in this new series opened with action, as you might expect, but the striking thing to me was the realism brought to the page by the author. Within the first chapter there is some hand-to-hand combat and the Israeli operative uses authentic Krav Maga techniques, including a realistic description of Retzev. But it isn’t heavy-handed – I don’t recall the terms Krav Maga or Retzev being used – but it’s there if you know what you’re reading about.The pacing of this novel was perfect. The action intermittently slows just long to get to know the characters before heating up again and continuing on at an exciting pace.Mitch Kearns, a former combat tracker, knows his craft well. And it’s clear the author does as well. As a survival instructor who teaches tracking and other outdoor tradecraft to U.S. military and federal agents, Mr. Sawyer has most-likely met many people just as dangerous as the main characters of this book. That experience shows as he paints the backstory of several of the main characters.Mitch Kearns is a great protagonist. He lives a simple life and has a healthy disdain for government bureaucracy, but he’s not bitter. Devorah Leitner is a fascinating character with hard edges and a soft interior. She is combat-hardened but driven by motivations much closer to the heart than she’d readily admit to most.The author did a good job of making the main characters come to life and giving them enough depth that we care about them and want to learn more. The “bad guys”, at times, seemed a bit more like evil caricatures than real people. But they certainly had more depth than the disposable antagonists in any Mack Bolan novel – you get the feeling they all think they’re smarter than their compatriots and believe they are the ones in charge and using their partners.There are plot twists and enough unexpected action to keep the reader on the edge of their seat. The combat and pursuit scenes smack of realism and the author shows his knowledge of tradecraft in a deft way that doesn’t feel forced.I definitely cannot wait until the next book in this series and I hope there are many more to come. Mitch and Dev are a real hit and the dynamic between them is great. I hope this becomes a long-running series because there is a lot of potential here. I definitely will be reading the next book, and am counting down the days till its release.Based on this novel I think I’m going to check out some of the author’s other work as well. J.T. Sawyer has earned a spot on my short list of go-to authors.