Beowulf, Explosive Detective Dog, (A Breed Apart, Book 3) by RonieKendig

Description:

Beowulf—a hulky, brindle-coated bullmastiff—is the only “boy” for Timbrel Hogan. And she has a history to remind her why. But when Timbrel, a handler at A Breed Apart, embarks on a mission to detect WMDs in Afghanistan, she reunites with Tony “Candyman” VanAllen and her no-other-man philosophy is challenged. While tension mounts between Timbrel and Tony, the team comes under fire after Beowulf gets a “hit.” When tragedy threatens Tony’s career and Timbrel’s courage, they must maneuver through an intricate plot and a mission like no other.


Review: 

Third book in the A Breed Apart trilogy. And the best one out of all three! I thoroughly loved this one and kept saying to myself that this should not be last one. Now I find that the team of all these characters, those of the ODA452 will be back in a new series called The Quiet Professionals, the first volume called Raptor Six. I am not sure if the MWDs will be back in this series but nevertheless, I am looking forward to this immensely.

 There is more of everything we became used to in this instalment, faster pace, well researched military ops and well developed plot and characters.

In this novel, it seems Kendig has developed the main characters of Hogan and Van Allen more so in this novel than she had the main characters in the previous two. That is not a complaint just an observation and it is a good one for that matter. She has portrayed the chemistry between Van Allen and Hogan very well and makes it very enjoyable. You find yourself being an observer and not a reader watching these two develop their relationship through the various dominant characteristics of each other's personalities and their fears and hurts from the past. Kendig is quite the character developer and these two characters really show her expertise here. As an observer so described here, this relationship was fun to watch and so engaged by Kendig that you rejoiced when things went well and grieved when their relationship went sour and became frustrated but understood when their fears threatened to overtake them and put them on a path of self destruction. 

One could say that there was maybe a touch too much of the romance compared to military action and therefore this made it more of a romance novel with a military background but I guess that would be a fair enough comment if one had not read the previous two novels. I felt this for a while but as the novel progressed and the situation developed with Van Allen, it made sense that this was so and it really did balance out in the second half of this novel.

I loved the touches of humour Kendig inserted especially when it came to the relationship between Beowulf and Van Allen, Beowulf growling and never let Van Allen gain any respect and Van Allen calling him the "hound from hell" whenever there was any major interaction between them. Despite this, it was Beowulf who saves Van Allen from more serious injury during the bomb blast and the two of them forget their differences when it came to joining forces and saving Hogan from harm when she was kidnapped and assaulted. 

After the mission in the first part of the novel, there was quite a time gap or was it that so much transpired since this mission that it seemed the plot relating to this was a bit disjointed? I was a bit concerned but knew Kendig would deal with this as the novel progressed and she did this very well in the last quarter. This added to a great ending, one I was on the edge of my seat with and almost near tears with the thought that Beowulf could have died! One of my thoughts during this time was, "Kendig, you can't kill off Beowulf! No, just no!" I had the same feeling and did cry when the story line implied that Van Allen had died from the bomb blast!! All this does is show how masterful this author is at plot development and flow and also with characterisation. 

Again, Kendig included the spiritual aspects without being preachy and applied them to the fears, hurts and challenges of not only Van Allen and Hogan but also to her mother and her fiancé. In some Christian novels this spiritual side of things can come across as either too much and not applied appropriately to the characters or their situations but in this case, Kendig does show that Christianity is indeed a relationship with God and not a crutch for those who are so called weak and cowardly. She mixes this in very well with the mind set of the strict military and regimented culture of the military who can be very independent in thought and action and masters of their own fate. 

I loved the subplot of Aazim/Dehqan and how the witness of Nafisa, a Christian converted from Islam, softened his heart and this led him to consider Christ as the one True God and not Allah. Af first I felt that with Dehqan narrating his side of things in the first person a bit hard to deal with compared to the rest of the novel in the third person but after a while I found this was very unique and did fit into the plot very well.

All in all I found this a very enjoyable and compelling novel and the best out of this trilogy. 

The other two were Strongly Recommended by myself but this one is Highly Recommended. 

Ronie Kendig, Well done!!

My Rating:  

Talon, Combat Tracking Team by Ronie Kendig (A Breed Apart, Book 2)

Description: 

Aspen Courtland is out to find her missing brother. Only his combat tracking dog, Talon, knows where to look. Problem is, after a brutal attack that separated dog and handler, Talon’s afraid of his own shadow. The search is on, but when one mistake means disaster, can Talon muster the courage for one last mission?

Review:

This is a very good second book in the series that follows on from Tinity. Some of the characters from this first novel have bit parts in this second book while others play more involved roles.

We first met Aspen in Trinity, and it was there that we learn she desperately wants to find her brother who she does not believe in dead but MIA. A clue is in an interview with a man, known as Cardinal, who worked with her brother, Austin, before he went missing and it is this event that sparks a mission to Dijoubti, Africa, where he was most recently seen that initiates the mission to find him.

As with the previous novel, there is action, adventure, suspense and that good old, "cannot put down" quality that needs to be part of any military novel.

In Trinity, we are introduced to Aspen and in Talon it is about her story. She had become the handler of Talon, who was abandoned by Austin when he went MIA, presumed dead by the military. She does not believe he is dead. Since Austin's disappearance, she has to deal with and try to rehabilitate the PTSD that Talon suffers from and to rebuild his trust and confidence in people and to act as a military dog once again.

Kendig deals with this very well. She has a knack of encouraging you to connect with Talon and Aspen and treat them as a unit of which they are. She also developed the other characters, Candyman, Burnett, Hogan and others who make up the team to Djibouti to find Austin. This is good as it means they will most likely be in the third novel, Beowulf as well.

Kendig developed some very good plot structures. She had me guessing for a while about the true identity of Neil Crane and Lina, his girlfriend and her connection to one of the main characters I did not suspect until this was revealed at the end. That was clever. I also did not see the connection to Neil and Cardinal's father.

One other plot structure that I found intriguing was the background to Nikol and who he could be connected to or his real identity. I started to get my suspicions just over half way through the book as the relationship between Cardinal and Aspen was developing.

All these were connected well and explained at the end which made for a well rounded and complete ending.

I also liked how Kendig further developed the character of Timbrel Hogan. Such a man hater and toxic character but one who has been hurt badly by men and relationships and developing her in this novel sets the scene for her story in the next book in this series, Beowulf, Explosive Detective Dog. It will be good to see what happens to Candyman and her from the obvious attraction Candyman has for her and her trying valiantly to deny this and keep her toxic and "I hate all men" attitude that us readers came to love to hate in her in this novel.

What fitted in well in all this was the references to God and the reliance of Him when Aspen and Cardinal were at their lowest and most despairing. This was done well and for me portrayed the nature of God's mercy, love and forgiveness and letting go and letting Him take control of their situation.

I still had trouble with Kendig's writing style. Again with some of the dialogue flow and having to back track to get back on track. Not sure what it is. No other reviewer whom I have read has had this issue. Maybe it is just me.

One the whole, another Strongly Recommended book.

My rating: 

Trinity, Military War Dog, by Ronie Kendig (A Breed Apart, Book 1)

A Former Green Beret. His War dog.

On the greatest mission of their lives.

And probably their last.

A year ago in Afghanistan, Green Beret Heath Daniel’s career was  destroyed. Along with his faith. Now he and his military war dog, Trinity train other dogs and their handlers through the A Breed Apart organisation. The job works. But his passion is to be back in the field. The medical discharge says it can’t happen due to the traumatic brain injury that forced Heath to the sidelines.
Until. . .
Military intelligence officer Darci Kintz is captured and the geological survey team she’s covertly embedded with is slaughtered while secretly tracking the Taliban. It’s clear only one dog can handle the extreme conditions to save her. Trinity. Only one man can handle Trinity. And time is running out on the greatest—and most dangerous—mission of their lives.



Review: 

This is the first in the A Breed Apart trilogy by Ronie Kendig and the second book of hers I have read, the first being the novella, Whole Pieces, that was part of the 7 Hours Series. 

I have read other novels from Christian authors about military special ops but this one is unique having the addition of the military war dogs (MWDs) and the story being centred around the role and function of MWDs.

Kendig does this very well. I loved how she described the relationship between Heath, her Handler, as he is called in the military, and Trinity. I have three dogs of my own and I can relate to this very well, but in the relationship described in this novel, it is taken to another level. There is discipline far more complex than in a domestic relationship. There is strict boundaries. The training the Handler and the MWD undergo is strict and intense. The Handler has to know his MWD extremely well and the MWD has to understand her Handler just as well. No margin for error or misunderstanding.

Kendig definitely uses her experience growing up in the military and being married to a veteran to full advantage, as evidenced is the construction of the plot, use of military terms, relationship between the military hierarchy and even the political/military relationship between Afghanistan, China and the US.

As in other military novels, and also in real life, there is plenty of action, suspense, deceit, betrayal of people and countries, abuse of power and one side of the military who need to, and seek to, right all the wrongs. Here, a military undercover agent, Darci, is captured by the Chinese while in Afghanistan   and the US Green Berets are sent to rescue her. Darci just happens to have met Heath at the US Afghanistan military base who is there as part of the A Breed Apart program to offer encouragement and support to the military personnel at the Base.

Kendig has incorporated into the characters, namely Darci and Heath, seeds of doubt about their faith, Heath in sustaining a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) from a failed mission that has ended his military career and Darci, living on the faith of her deceased mother. In the hostage/recovery situation her faith is tested and she is confronted with having to submit to God and His Sovereignty while Heath has to learn to rely on God and not on his own strength and to accept God's will for him and not his own since his TBI. Intermingled in all this is the growing love between the two of them. Kendig is very good at showing the flaws in their faith and this leading to a greater dependence on God and putting the other above themselves.

Heath is called upon to join the rescue team using his MWD, Trinity, to seek where Darci is being held hostage. He encounters mixed feelings of inadequacy in being part of this team with his TBI and that he feels the others don't accept him because of it. However, the expertise that is delivered by him and Trinity as a team plays a pivotal role in the success of this mission. It is this that adds another level of suspense and tension that keeps the reader coming back for more. The reader wants Heath to be successful; to prove to himself that he still has worth and a role in the military and to prove his comrades wrong about his abilities and role.

The only struggle I had with this book and the Whole Pieces novella is the writing style. Some of the dialogue to me does not flow well. Not sure if that is just me or the author. I will get used to this I am sure in subsequent novels. I just felt that sometimes I had to go back a few lines or paragraphs to get acquainted again with what the dialogue and situation is about.

I found it easy with the Kindle Paperwhite 2nd generation to bookmark the Glossary pages and when you access these pages they would appear in a smaller box on the page you are reading, so you would not have to lose your page to access this like you did with the previous generation reader. That really helped when you were getting used to the military terminology.

I do look forward to the next book, Talon. This is a very good series.

Strongly Recommended.

My Rating: