A Fight to the Death

Recon Series, Book 4

By: Rick Partlow

Narrated by: Kyle McCarley

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

It can really suck to work for relatives. Particularly when your uncle's an egomaniacal, power-hungry narcissist who wants to take over the galaxy.

Former Recon Marine Randall Munroe has been working as a hired gun for the Corporate Council for years, doing the dirty work of its Director, Andre Damiani, because he's had no choice - and because Andre is his uncle. But when Damiani gets his hands on incredibly dangerous alien technology, it's time to fight back.

Munroe has seen the lost wonders of the ancient alien race, the Predecessors, who vanished tens of thousands of years ago after terraforming hundreds of planets and setting up a system of wormhole jumpgates to allow us access to them. He knows that Damiani plans to use the technology to take over the Commonwealth government, and he's forced to go to the last person in human space he'd ever thought to ask for help: his mother.

A powerful Corporate Council executive, Munroe's mother, Patrice Damiani, once tried to force him into the life she'd planned for him as her protege, and his response was to join the Marines. Now, they have a common enemy: if her brother Andre takes over the Commonwealth, he won't have any compunction about disposing of his rivals and enemies, and Patrice Damiani has been his rival since they were born.

Munroe has his own problems, though. His handler, a former cut-throat mercenary officer named Calderon, has begun to suspect that Munroe and some of his team of door-kickers have been conspiring against Andre Damiani. Calderon didn't need another reason to hate and resent Munroe, and if he catches him, he won't hesitate to kill him and everyone he loves. This time, there's no way out for Munroe except a fight to the death....

©2017 Rick Partlow (P)2018 Tantor

Each book gets more f-ing annoying.

Did someone gift the author with a thesaurus along the way, or what? Dear gods, why use one adjective or sdverb when cramming in 3 or 4 *must* be better, right? And shouldn't equipment get better over time, or our hero just becoming a pansy somehow? His Force Recon Marine armor in book one saved his butt how many times, but now with years of advancement, *and* getting one of the Glory Boy's bio reflex armor suits to boot, **and** wearing both at the same time - every single time he gets shot it's damn near a death sentence for him, because, um, reasons?? I guess? Jeezus, make up your mind, is the armor and our hero badass or not? The ridiculously long internal monologs fretting over, well, everything FFS, those also had gotten old by early in book 3.

Gratuitous Violence

.....plus the abrupt disclosure of the origin stories of the Tahnee and human races. Kind of wrecked all the affiliated story lines.