"Ultimately it came down to their biggest concern: Sayf. The man was cunning, devious, and slippery as a greased eel. Gault had studied him enough to know the Iranian would steal away at the first hint of an assault, leaving the others to fight or die for him." For former spy, Jay Gault, Sayf was definitely an 'irish pennant.' The man had killed many in many different ways. But then he made the mistake of killing Gault's best friend. So Gault puts his plans for a tropical retirement paradise on hold and begins calling in some favors."
Irish Pennant by Drew Howell On-Demand Publishing
book review by Maggie Harding
Irish Pennant is an exciting story in which the author cleverly mixes good old-fashioned police work, modern covert ops, with a special high tech magic which, when combined, can catch the wiliest of coyotes. In addition, Howell has assembled a wide-ranging cast of characters to carry out the roles necessary to make his mission a success. Each one that Gault recruits brings a special set of skills, and each one has his or her own reason for wanting to be a part of his team.
Howell also has a knack for inserting current world events into his story as well as little known strategies used by spies to avoid detection while carrying out their covert activities. He appears to have had some first hand experience with the inner workings of government agencies, and he does not paint a very flattering picture of many that are charged with keeping the country safe from terrorists... foreign and domestic. While his writing style is casual and his dialog peppered with wise cracks, his plot and themes are as serious as today's world situation.
Sometimes the same person is called by his actual name (first or last), sometimes by his alias, and sometimes by his "team" name or nickname. It would be helpful to have a list of characters at the beginning of the book to which readers could refer. Regardless, we know who the good guys are and who they are chasing, and the suspense continues to build as it moves toward the finale. Then, just when it seems that we can heave a sigh of relief, more is revealed that causes you to gasp again. Nice curve ball.