I received a preview copy of this book from the author for an honest review. Here it is.
CIA Agent Sean McGee is normally a laid-back guy. Even on a mission, he takes things in stride and does his job. His latest mission is to set up cameras in the compound of a drug lord in Guatemala. It sounds simple. Then El Jefe, the drug lord of all drug lords in Guatemala, decides to kidnap Sean’s wife, Sport, to use against him. Sean changes his plans.
Read that paragraph and you miss the real story of El Tiburon.
- Thriller-YES
- CIA Agents-YES
- Covert Marines-YES
- Drug Lords and Double Agents-Check Check
One thing you also get is the inclusion of fleshed out roles for women as integral parts of the story, the mission, and more, not a plot device for the macho man to rescue.
Why do I make a point about women?
In many books, the writer throws a woman into a role that the reader can tell was written for a male, and the name was changed for some reason. The writer doesn’t do anything to make the character a woman except for that name change. Schussman goes through the process of creating parts and roles for each woman involved. Believe me; women are essential to the success or failure of McGee’s mission. (Writers, it’s not that difficult to write women. Even I can do it. If I can, anyone can.)
A thriller needs to have three qualities to make me happy.
Relationships
With any book I enjoy, it must have relationships. In a thriller, the action serves as the setting to relationships, and that is what H. Schussman does with El Tiburon.
This book isn’t about taking down a drug lord, it’s not even about taking down the king of the drug business of the Americas, El Tiburon, The Shark himself. This book is about not messing with family, friends, and loved ones.
Not only is their Sean’s wife Sport being put in danger, but his partner Gary develops feelings for a change. Dr. Janet McGee, Sport, ends up caring for a people group that no one else seems to bother with, ignores, or doesn’t even know exists.
Realism/Research
Two of my favorite authors are John Gardner and Clive Cussler: the first for his realistic handling of the spy genre of James Bond, Herbie Kruger, and Secret Generations, and the second for his research and attention to details. With El Tiburon all three of those aspects come together.
Learning
Schussman also does the third thing I enjoy in a book; she teaches or reveals something that I didn’t know about before in a culture or society. She’s definitely done her homework for this novel. There were certain parts I went to the search engines and did my own searching. She hadn’t made things up.
Recommendation
Given time I’ll read this book again. As I started to read I had a difficult time getting into the book. The prologue and the first few paragraphs of the first chapter are only a couple of pages long, so when you begin reading, keep reading. But once past those couple of pages and reading where the main characters begin I started enjoying things in a big way. The prologue does give some information that’s useful and maybe gives a sense of immediacy to the book, and the beginning of the first chapter lets you know about one of the characters involved.
RATING
Character Believability: 3.5
Flow and Pace: 4.5
Reader Engagement: 4
Reader Enrichment: 4.5
Reader Enjoyment: 4
Overall Rate: 4.1
Author: H. Schussman
Title: El Tiburon
File Size: 618 KB
Print Length: 315 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Vinspire Publishing (Dec. 31, 2015)
Publication Date: December 31, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B018ZVID8Q
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
Format: Kindle
Price: PRE ORDER $3.99
Lending: Enabled
ABOUT H. SCHUSSMAN
I am a writer living in Northern California. My husband and I travel about 8 weeks a year, and during that time I try to hunt down an internet cafe to tell my story. Usually twice a week . . . depends on where I am. I also am a physical therapist specializing in brain disorders and brain injuries . . . challenging! Anyway, I like to write, so if you like to read (and comment if you like) this is the blog for you. Check out my new espionage, full size novel titled ‘Counterpart’ available at http://www.smashwords.com. My newest novel, El Tiburon is now being published with Vinspire Publishing. It should be available next year sometime.
About the Reviewer
Ronovan Hester is an author, with his debut historical adventure novel Amber Wake: Gabriel Falling due out in Valentine’s Day of 2016. He shares his life as an amnesiac and Chronic Pain sufferer through his blog RonovanWrites.WordPress.com. His love of poetry, authors and community through his online world has lead to a growing Weekly Haiku Challenge, a Weekly Fiction Prompt Challenge, and the creation of a site dedicated to book reviews, interviews and author resources known as LitWorldInterviews.com.
© Copyright-All rights reserved by LitWorldInterviews.com 2015
Lit World Interviews 
Nice review Ronovan. Sounds interesting. I like how you picked up on and pointed out the tailor made women characters. I also find that sometimes, feminine roles that come across more masculine. Have a nice weekend.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are right, often female heroines are not feminine. I don’t know why though. As I wrote this it never occurred to me that toughness was a masculine quality. Thanks Ronovan for your insight.
LikeLike