It's my turn on the BlogTour The Profit Motive by David Beckler.
David Beckler - 'I write fast-paced action thrillers populated with well-rounded characters.
Born in Addis Ababa in 1960, I spent my first eight years living on an agricultural college in rural Ethiopia where my love of reading developed. After dropping out of university I became a firefighter and served 19 years before leaving to start my own business.
I began writing in 2010 and use my work experiences to add realism to my fiction.
The Mason and Sterling series centre on two ex-Royal Marines, Byron who now runs a security company and Adam who is a firefighter. A strong cast of characters support my protagonists. Long Stop Books published Brotherhood, the first novel in the series, in September 2019 and will be publishing the second, The Profit Motive, on December 16th 2019. Brotherhood is set in Manchester and The Profit Motive in Manchester and Wenzhou, China.
I live in Manchester, my adopted home since 1984. In my spare time I try to keep fit—an increasingly difficult undertaking—listen to music, socialise and feed my voracious book habit.'
About the book
How do you deal with an implacable foe in an alien land…?
Manchester, England, and Wenzhou, China, 2001
When firefighter Adam Sterling arrives at the scene of a horrific car crash, little does he imagine it will lead him back to his mother’s homeland.
Kate, the woman he pulls from the wreckage, needs his help. Her father has been left for dead after a hit-and-run, in Wenzhou, China. She suspects it wasn’t an accident and so does Jie Gang, the senior policeman investigating the case, and whose efforts are obstructed from on high. When events escalate, Kate employs Adam and Byron Mason, Adam’s best friend and fellow former Royal Marine, to go with her to China.
Catapulted into an alien environment, and unable to trust anyone, Mason and Sterling face escalating challenges. The struggle becomes personal, and Adam has to confront a ruthless enemy determined to destroy him and Kate.
The Profit Motive is the second crime novel in the Mason & Sterling thriller series: gritty, hard-boiled page-turners with an urban setting.
This is the second book in the Mason and Sterling series, both can be read as standalone novels.
The contrast between their experience, training and the reality of their normal every day problems serves as a reminder of their humanity. They are just men who have their Achilles heels and vulnerable moments too. It gives Mason and Sterling, and the series, a more humane side. It's also a bit of an anchor in a story that starts with a tornado like gusto and and continues on throughout with the same speed.
I liked the way the two storylines, set respectively in China and England, seemed to have no connection at first and yet intersected cleverly as the read progressed. Heckler also takes the time to weave in the often subtle cultural differences in both countries, which often determines both action and reaction in the story.
Also the juxtaposition of the crime in China and the trouble in England, and the way Mason and Sterling cope with both of those. It was a little bit like ex-pats suddenly being surprised by the fact colonialism doesn't automatically insert itself into each country they enter.
It's a fast-paced thriller with greed at the core.
The author has a certain stoccato style when it comes to writing - it can seem disjointed and confusing when the story goes from one storyline to the other. It depends on whether you like that kind of feel to your reads.
Buy The Profit Motive at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Long Stop Books; pub date 16 Dec. 2019. Buy at Amazon com.
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