Introducing Richard Cummings - to his wife, to readers, and (sadly for him) Charlie

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Some heroes have secret identities.  

Some put on glasses and straighten out a curly Q in their hair and that amazingly simple disguise has fooled everyone who knows Clark Kent for over 50 years now.

Richard Cummings doesn't hide his identity, he hides his second life - from everyone except a select few people.  Richard is a "professional" at what he does - and that is being a soldier in covert operations for his Queen and the United Kingdom.  That is great news for his country - and really, really bad news for a Somali pirate whom the SAS calls "Charlie".

Charlie is a pirate with a focus on moving up the career ladder, and that usually means a lot of dead bodies of people who are in positions above him start to appear.  What should be a routine kidnapping and ransom mission soon turns into a bloody mess which creates a chance for Charlie to meet the acquaintances of Richard Cummings.  Charlie's first impression that he gives Richard is not a good one and is not going to leave a lasting impression......

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Invictus - Part One - Introducing Richard is a fast paced, well written short book.  What I really like about the author doing his book this way is that you get to meet the main character - Richard Cummings - and learn all about what makes him tick in a book that has enough action to keep the reader satisfied, but at the same time keeps the focus on Richard.

I am sure the author has many more books coming down the pipe that will involve Richard Cummings.  The great part about those books should be that Andrew J Wilson should be able to devote much of the subsequent books to the plot, because his character has already been built up.

The more I think about it, the more genius I think this approach is.  Wilson doesn't lose his character development in a super complex plot that tries to impress the reader.  In future books, the readers will also already know the character and can just enjoy the ride that Wilson takes them on.

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(This review is my honest appraisal of the book.  The author has paid for an advertising package that gave him "head of the line" privileges to have the book reviewed more quickly instead of waiting months.  This does not influence the review given in any manner.)