Terminal Secrets (An Intergalactic Space Opera Adventure)

Cerberus, Book 2

By: Andy Peloquin

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Nolan Garrett is on the hunt for traitors, and it just got personal!

His targets: A pair of thieves who broke into a military armory. Already, the stolen high-grade weapons have flooded the streets of New Avalon with blood.

Nolan’s pursuit brings him to the last place in the universe he’d want to go...home.

On the planet he thought he’d left behind forever, he is swept up in a local war between his first love and his oldest enemy.

In the heat of battle, he will uncover dark secrets that, if brought to light, could destroy him - and the woman he loved - forever.

Cerberus: Terminal Secrets continues the thrilling, action-packed military space opera series. If you like high-octane sci-fi combat, epic stakes, and flawed heroes, then you’ll devour Andy Peloquin’s gripping Cerberus series.

Join the fight to protect the innocent from greed, corruption, and cruelty!

©2020 Aethon Books (P)2020 Aethon Audio

Great tight tactical military sci fi

Building on his great work in book 1 Andy takes Cerberus home to root out a terrorist and cover som origin story still kept up the great pacing from bk1 and now I can’t wait for bk3

I'm Going Home

Cereberus is given a new assignment. To track and eliminate two thieves who have stolen high grade armor and weapons from a military facility. Nolan ran into some of the guns in the first book. One of the thieves has been spotted on Nolan’s home world. Going home brings back a lot of good and bad memories. Nolan and his brother were orphaned at a young age. His brother is incarcerated and his first love as far as he knows is still there. But he can’t go home without thinking about the death of his parents.

The world has very limited technology and is mostly mining communities. How will Nolan be able to sneak in, do recon without being discovered and why is the criminal there?

Solid, Tight SciFi Tactical Story Continues

If you enjoy small area tactics stories and games (not whole battlefields and fleets, just a single man or small team), then the Cerberus stories are for you. Terminal Secrets picks up literally right where Assassination Protocol left off and continues to raise the stakes and develop the characters and world. Fast-paced action, mystery and investigate, a hint of romance and buried secrets all play out and build towards bigger things yet. Looking forward to more in this series!

Disclaimer: I was given this a free review copy audiobook and have voluntarily left this review.

Waiting for the next audiobook of this series.

All the exciting plots a person can ask for, lots of action and a dash of romance. If you are interested in futuristic Sci-Fi this is the book you want to read.

Cyborg assassin goes to small mining town

I was a big fan of CERBERUS: ASSASSINATION PROTOCOL when it came out a few months ago and pre-ordered the sequel after I finished it. It was a solid gritty space opera story about an assassin working for a corrupt government and it ended on a cliffhanger. Now the sequel has arrived on my Kindle and I swiftly read it through in a single day. I very much enjoyed it and while I have a few issues, I am all ready for the third book in the series.

The premise is Nolan Garret is the assassin Cerberus. A former space marine called a Silverguard, he rids the galaxy of its worst scum for his employer. Unfortunately, Nolan is over a barrel as his brother is imprisoned for treason and his boss doesn't mind using that for leverage. Having uncovered his boss is involved in criminal dealings, he's decided to play it cool and continue to investigate while pretending to be a loyal employee. This sends him back to his homeworld, currently in a mining dispute between corporations, and causes him to face his past.

I like Nolan Garret as a protagonist and think he's always entertaining to read. He's a man fanatically devoted to the honor of the Silverguard, even when it's increasingly clear that not all of them hold the same degree of nobility that he ascribes to its members. He's also an assassin who makes ample use of technology as well as his wits to do some truly thrilling action scenes. He's a bit too noble but has enough flaws that it's still believable. I also like his relationship with his A.I. who provides a kind of sounding board for a lot of inner character development that wouldn't otherwise be possible.

This book has a strong contrast to the first one as instead of taking place in a densely packed urban cityscape, it goes to a rural mining community that isn't too far removed from the 20th century. The book takes on the features of a Neo-Western, really, with Nolan being the gunslinger who needs to protect the locals from the big bad newcomers that are polluting the area by extracting heavy metals. They have military grade weapons and a bunch of goons that our hero is going to have to go through one-by-one in order to stop it. Thankfully, this doesn't have to be done on his own time since his target as a government assassin is one of them.

Complicating this issue is the fact that Moabus is his hometown and it's full of uncomfortable relationships he's left behind like his ex-girlfriend Callie as well as school rival Gavin that is now part of the bad guy's mooks. He's also still suffering from the traumatic death of his parents in a car accident that he was part of. Enough of an event that he never wanted to return to Moabus again despite his lingering feelings for Callie. There's a lot of good action, mystery, adventure, and crazy sci-fi battle scenes through the book. Fans of progressive fiction will also note there's a trans character that Garret knew as a child growing up whose existence gets a, "Oh that's neat. Good for you" reaction.

Criticism-wise, I have to say I much preferred the gritty megacity setting of the first book. Moabus feels a little too normal and while farmers like Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru can exist in science fiction, it hurt the feel of the book I believe to have things so similar to present times. I will admit to finding humor that flannel and Daisy Dukes survive to the 41st century. I also feel the narrative made an excellent twist about something one of Garret's love interests did to him that was genuinely shocking, only to roll it back and reduce the impact of the event. Finally, there's a character named Hal that I very much liked but didn't think they got nearly enough screen-time.

In conclusion, I definitely am going to be picking up the second volume. If you like audiobooks, I also recommend picking up the Audible version as the narrator did a fantastic job.

Good Story Line

Received this book from the publisher. Good continuation of the story line. Another cliff hanger ending. Looking forward to the next book.

Awesome series so far!!!

Take'n out the bad guys, now that is just part of the job. Visiting one's past is never easy. Dealing with an old nemesis is a little hard. See a lost love again after not saying good bye, really rough. Finding out what really happened to your parents, worst day ever... Add a lot of unanswered questions and you've got an awesome book! I can wait for the next book in the series!

Great Story, Great Narration, & Great Flow

Again Andy does a great job writing book that kept me interested from the start. The cliff hanger at the end made me super excited to read the next book to see what happens. Bronson did an amazing job with his narration and brought the book to life. I would definitely recommend this series!