Hellfire

Mech Force, Book 1

By: Drew Avera, Rick Partlow

Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin

Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Nathan Stout was born to save the world.

Cloned from the genes of heroes past, tossed aside when the Army abandoned the program, Nate has seized his own destiny. Forming the Broken Arrow Mercenary Force, he leads a team of hired guns piloting cutting-edge mechs in a last-ditch effort to restore a United States he never knew.

America is under siege by the Russians and Chinese, its major cities devastated by nuclear terrorism. The Army has retreated, the politicians have abandoned the east coast, and the only thing standing in the way of total devastation is a handful of mercenaries.

But unseen forces are guiding the battles he fights, steering him toward a fate he never imagined, determined to end his dream of a reunited America. Can Nathan Stout’s mech force survive the machinations leading the world toward the hellfires of endless war?

Experience the start of an explosive series from the bestselling author of Drop Trooper. Mechs. Warfare. Intrigue. This is Military Sci Fi the way it's supposed to be.

©2019 Drew Avera and Rick Partlow (P)2021 Audible, Inc.

War and Mechs and Clones, oh my

Waking up with a killer headache with alarms going off, is not a good start to the day. His memory is a little off, but throws on some clothes, but something is definitely not right. Where is everyone? Nate rushes into the hall way from his room and see fires, dead bodies and things are looking bad. No one seems to be left alive. Bodies are all over the place. The mech hanger is torn apart, explosions and fire everywhere. One mech is left standing, the rest in shrapnel. Before the last standing mech, Nate’s friend, Bob is dead at the mech’s foot eternally reaching out for it. He is on his own.

He starts up the process to get the mech to come to life. No time for all the diagnostic checks. As he exits the hanger, he sees man and unmanned mechs outside attacking the base. He shoots one as he surprises them and takes it out. The others turn towards him. It isn’t the Russians, who is it? Mercs? That doesn’t matter now, he needs to survive this and can think about it later. He goes about clearing base or doing what he can. Infantry is coming through the gates. And then the missiles hit him. Fire and pain and then darkness..

Fast forward…a nuke took out parts of the US, the government is gone. He only had the memories deemed useful. One of his team had met Nate ‘Prime’, but the rest aren’t aware.
The author does a great job on world building and throwing you into the action at the beginning of the book. It is a quick book, but definitely worth it.

Hellfire

When you take military heroes and clone the genes needed for their use in mechs (war machines) but than close down the program what do you do with the ones left? You let them do what they do best fight, especially when it is Russia and China who have taken over the east coast of America and these warriors are all that stands in the way of their advances.

This is the start of a wonderful series and I hope I get to hear more of it as narrator James Patrick Cronin did a awesome job, his voice grabbed me and put me there on the sidelines watching as all of this takes place. This book is full of non stop action and suspense. There are also some twists that will have you up reading/listening past your bedtime. This book is a really good futuristic military book and I can't wait for the next one.

Great beginning but I'm done with this series.....

I did find this book a little confused at first, until I realized Nathan Stout was cloned again and again from the original one, who died years ago. It was a good battle with the Russians, who attacked America. I'm going to continue with this series to see what happens to Nathan, since he was taken captive when the story ended.

No romance and the F-bomb was used 67 times.

As for the narration: James Patrick Cronin did a terrific with the reading! Great emotions and voices of both males and females.

Oops! On second thought I'm NOT going to move on to the second book. I can't spend $7.47 or a credit on 184 pages. The only reason I listened to the first one was because it was $1.99, and it was worth every penny. But $7.47? Just NO!!!

War across the entire World.

Nathaniel Stout is a Military Pilot who cloned every time the previous one dies. When the Military has no use for the program where they grow the Clones and the latest clone awakens he is offer instead a Contract job. This is his life Clone to Clone and the people he is in charge of and their Hellfire Combat Machines. Narrator does a fair job with the storyline.