The Saint Jude Rules

Thriller

By Dominic Adler

Paperback 272 pages
Publisher Thistle Publishing (4th May 2017)
ASIN B06ZXS581K
ISBN-3 978-1786080264

"Hard-hitting, smart and snarky, this non-stop action romp pulls few punches as rogue Special Ops killers bite back at the illicit agency which betrayed them." Murder Mayhem & More

📕My Review

This book is certainly full of action with a capital 'A'. Shootings, stabbings and fisticuffs galore! Cal Winter is not a person to be messed with. In The Saint Jude Rules we find him out for vengeance on his old band of cohorts known as The Firm.

This is the third book in the Cal Winter series. I read it as a stand-alone after assurances I didn't need to read the previous two. Yes, it's a complete book in its own right, but a little extra background knowledge of Winter's previous escapades would've helped with continuity. The book contains plenty of blood and gore as Winter, accompanied by partner Oz, find themselves pitched in a battle to prevent World War III.

Although this book nicely slots into the genres I most enjoy reading, I found it quite hard-going at times. If I had to pinpoint the reason why, I'd say it was because I didn't particularly care for any of the characters. They were trained killers and none appeared to have any redeeming qualities (or none that appealed to me). Maybe, given time, Cal Winter could grow on me but at the moment he's not top of my Christmas card list.

My thanks to David Haviland at the Andrew Lownie Literary Agency and author Dominic Adler for providing a copy of this book.

Barnsey's Books Rating ⭐⭐⭐

📗The Blurb

Penniless and desperate, Cal Winter is coerced into joining a band of freelance paramilitaries known as The Firm. After a decade of deniable killing, he plots revenge. Armed with a secret file of The Firm’s dirtiest secrets, Winter returns to London. There he discovers the organisation has evolved into something even worse…

Winter assembles a careworn team of The Firm’s cast-offs and misfits. Their enemy: a ruthless warrior elite, information warfare specialists battle-honed in the West’s ‘Forever Wars.’ From Iceland to the City of London, to the lonely marshes of England’s southern coast, Winter must stop The Firm. Not just to save the country he once scorned, but to fulfill his vow to be a better man.