First Strike

First Strike is the sixth installment in Ben Coes’ Dewey Andreas series. In Coes’ latest book, the government sends Dewey Andreas, a member of a black ops program, to Syria to retrieve highly classified information. However, the mission goes awry and Dewey Andreas is captured by ISIS. It is when Andreas is being held hostage by ISIS that he learns the dark truth; that the US government was directly involved in sending weapons to the brutal terrorist organization. However, this is far from over. In the second half of the book, the main anti-hero Tristan Nazir and his henchmen take hostages in a Columbia University dorm and promise to kill one student if their demands aren’t met.

Ben Coes has an uncanny ability of delivering an explosive thriller. He deftly balances action, suspense, thick plot, and character development in order to create one hell of an action novel. In addition, he blends his knowledge of politics gained from working at the White House to infuse the inner workings of government and its super secretive black ops program. Also, First Strike is ripped from the headlines as it features ISIS as the main enemy. Plus, what sets Coes apart from all others is his ability to show the good guys’ human side in addition to all the run and gun action.

Overall, First Strike is an extremely well-crafted novel and possibly the best of all Dewey Andreas books. Ben Coes has definitely proved himself as an extremely talented writer. If you enjoy Brad Thor, Brad Taylor, Vince Flynn, or Tom Clancy, then you will love First Strike.