Safe and Sound

by J.D. Rhoades

Book Overview

Bounty hunter Jack Keller faces his most dangerous and sadistic enemy yet in this explosive Southern thriller Jack Keller works in fugitive apprehension, and never feels more alive than when he's hunting down a skip. But when a young girl goes missing, and Keller finds out that the father is an AWOL member of the army's elite Delta Force, he knows immediately that this case will be anything but fun and games. Keller is a Gulf War vet who knows his way around the Army's red tape, but the psychological scars from his experiences in the gulf have only just started to recede enough for him to live and love again. No one is sure how taking on the kidnapping case will affect him, least of all his girlfriend Marie, who's counting on Jack's recovery if they are going to have any future together. But a young girl's life hangs in the balance, and a shadowy group of missing Delta commandos seems to be the key to finding her. For Jack Keller, it's not an easy decision, but it's the only one he can make: consequences be damned, he's going after the girl.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312354894
• ISBN13: 9780312354893
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 275 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Breathless...

That's how I was when I finished this book. I couldn't put it down, and ended up staying up way past my bedtime. Others have covered some of the plot points, so I won't repeat them here. I like Jack, and I worry about him. That's how real he's become to me. While I thoroughly enjoyed 'Breaking Cover', what I really want is more Jack!

Strap In For A Wild Ride

If you are a J.D. Rhoades fan, or even if you have yet to discover him, run, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore for a copy of "Safe And Sound"--it is that good! I have now read all of Rhoades' novels including his latest, "Breaking Cover", and each one gets better and better as he settles into his grab-the reader-by-the-throat breakneck style. In this third outing for bounty hunter Jack Keller, ex-Gulf War vet still carrying heavy baggage from his wartime experiences, a search for a missing (kidnapped?) child initiates an adventure that leads Keller into violent brushes with death and forces him to confront the dark and ugly recesses of his war damaged psyche. Keller must deal with military bureaucracy, red herrings galore, AWOL Delta Force operatives who may or may not be friendlies, and one of the most diabolical villians this reader has come across in a long time. DeGroot is a conscienceless South African mercenary who will let nothing stand in the way of recovering the "key" to a multi million dollar stash. He resorts to torture, kidnapping, murder, and enough general evilness to bring the reader to the point of wishing for his prolonged, painful death. And, of course, he and Keller ultimately face-off in a deadly confrontation that has unexpected results for Keller and those he loves. Rhoades writes at a breath defying pace that kept me absolutely glued to the book for extensive segments. His plotting is tight but it is his characters who are so interesting and believable (even the bad guys) that readers will find themselves carried along by their actions and narrative as much as by the plot pacing. I now count Jack Keller among my must read protagonists that include Jack Reacher, Bob Lee Swagger, Doc Ford, and Dave Robicheaux. If you are a fan of the action thriller genre represented by Child, Hunter, Burke, and White, you owe it to yourself to explore the works of J.D. Rhoades and his signiture character, Jack Keller.

KILLER book!

I've been looking for a decent series since I stopped reading Spenser, and this is it. Read the first Keller, and was hesitant about the 2nd and now the 3rd, but in every one Rhoades has kept it up, kept Keller interesting, kept the past story as fascinating as the present, and moves everything along at a pace that won't let me put the book down. I've got my husband hooked on them, as well as my grandfather, and everyone I get to read them thanks me. I am ready for the 4th; bring it on, Rhoades!

Harriet the Spy Did NOT Read this Book

Anyone who can do basic math knows that Harriet Klausner can't possibly read all the books she "reviews." But for this one, she gets plot points wrong that are settled in chapter TWO, so there is no spoiler alert reason to give a red herring. She says Keller must rescue a little girl from her father, but the Delta Force dad is dead early in the book, in fact we see him being tortured by the bad guy in chapter ONE, so she couldn't have read much. She completely mischaracterizes his partners, too. And as for the political agenda she tries to impose on the story she doesn't know... At least she got the star rating right. Dusty Rhoades is better than Lee Child, and could be as good as Stephen Hunter if he keeps this up. This is a can't catch your breath thriller with really good characters, so good in fact, that most of the good guys-- and guys trying to be good guys again-- are more interesting than the bloodthirsty killer.

Not necessarily Safe and Sound

The third Jack Keller novel ups the ante on all levels. Action, villains, relationships. The villain this time is a South African killer on the trail of a fortune that slipped through his fingers in Afghanistan. No one or anything will stand in his way. Except Jack Keller. The added plus of scenes along The Blue Ridge Parkway in the North Carolina mountains, an area I have familiarity with, makes for a satisfying novel of suspense. The ending was totally unexpected, but seemed appropriate. I liked the dropping of a number of suspense writers names as FBI agents. Try this one. You will enjoy it.