{"id":14704,"date":"2020-11-02T18:36:14","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T23:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=14704"},"modified":"2020-11-02T18:36:14","modified_gmt":"2020-11-02T23:36:14","slug":"dying-breath-by-blake-banner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=14704","title":{"rendered":"‘Dying Breath,’ by Blake Banner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Here we slowed, but not much, and moved, hooting and honking, among cars and motorized rickshaws, in a city that looked like it was built in the twenty-fifth century to be inhabited by people from the fifth century.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Book 2<\/strong> in Blake Banner\u2019s Cobra series, about elite assassin Harry Bauer, is Dying Breath<\/a><\/em>. It\u2019s as much fun as the first one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I read the Cobra books, I\u2019m reminded, in a way, of Ian Fleming\u2019s James Bond. Except that I like Bauer better than Bond (though I\u2019ll admit I\u2019ve only read a couple Bond books). I find James Bond kind of flat as a character. Harry Bauer is an interesting person, and he occasionally hints at opinions I can get behind. On the heroic indestructibility scale, he\u2019s certainly Bond\u2019s equal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned in my last review, Harry Bauer is a former commando, now employed by a super-secret, non-governmental security organization to take out the worst people in the world. His latest assignment seems relatively straightforward \u2013 to infiltrate a New York hotel and execute two Chinese scientists who are working on a plague that could become pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, as any reader will expect, things don\u2019t go according to plan. The set-up isn\u2019t what Harry expected, and he ends up on a quest that takes him from New York to Casablanca to Bangkok, and which will introduce him to an intriguing femme fatale <\/em>with lots of deadly secrets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What any reader of this book will note is that it\u2019s relevant in a very particular way. A moment of recognition comes packed inside at no additional charge. You\u2019ll know what I mean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I noted one plot problem: Harry makes use of an EMP (Electro-magnetic pulse) machine to knock out electronic systems, but they don’t seem to affect his or his partner’s cars. This is not explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highly recommended as entertainment. Morally problematic in diverse ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here we slowed, but not much, and moved, hooting and honking, among cars and motorized rickshaws, in a city that looked like it was built in the twenty-fifth century to be inhabited by people from the fifth century. Book 2 in Blake Banner\u2019s Cobra series, about elite assassin Harry Bauer, is Dying Breath. It\u2019s as … Continue reading ‘Dying Breath,’ by Blake Banner<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,15],"tags":[3494,3497,3495],"class_list":["post-14704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-reviews","tag-blake-banner","tag-dying-breath","tag-harry-bauer"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14704"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14706,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14704\/revisions\/14706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}