Jet
Authors: Russell Blake
Jet
JET [1]
Russell Blake
Reprobatio Ltd (2012)
Rating: ★★★★☆
Code name: Jet
Twenty-eight-year-old Jet was once the Mossad's most lethal operative before faking her own death and burying that identity forever.
But the past doesn't give up on its secrets easily.
When her new life on a tranquil island is shattered by a brutal attack, Jet must return to a clandestine existence of savagery and deception to save herself and those she loves. A gritty, unflinching roller-coaster of high-stakes twists and shocking turns, JET features a new breed of protagonist that breaks the mold.
Fans of Lizbeth Sanders, SALT, and the Bourne trilogy will find themselves carried along at Lamborghini speed to a conclusion as jarring and surprising as the story's heroine is unconventional.
Q & A w/ Russell Blake
Q: How would you describe JET?
Russell: The elevator pitch? Kill Bill meets Bourne. The longer version would be that JET follows the saga of a young woman who thought she had left a brutal covert life behind her, but finds herself having to go back into that world when she is attacked by enemies from her past.
Q: How does JET differ from your other novels?
R: I've never written anything nearly as lightning-paced. It's completely and joyously over the top in the way a Bond film is. I wanted this to read like being in a scarab, slamming through the waves at ninety miles per hour - a rush that just doesn't stop. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and I'd say that fans of my Assassin series will find that this moves even faster, if that's possible. But having said that, what's weird about JET is that even though it's brimming with action, the use of language and artful description was a priority for me, and I think I struck a balance that's unusual and evocative. Whatever it is, it seems to work,
Q: JET's character is different than the other female protagonists you've written. What inspired her?
R: I got this idea when I was writing Silver Justice for a total kick-ass, take-no-prisoners, over the top female operative - sort of a female Jack Bauer crossed with James Bond, but way more deadly. From that idea came the seeds of an incredible story with more twists and surprises than I've ever tried for. But it also has a different sensibility. If there's such a thing as literary fiction action thrillers, I guess this might be it.
Q: Why the Mossad?
R: I wanted something that was exotic and had the reputation as highly effective, but wanted to avoid the usual CIA or KGB operative. And she's way too no-nonsense for MI6. That didn't leave a lot of choices. So the Mossad it was. I'd written an ex-Mossad operative once before in The Voynich Cypher & I think I sort of automatically leaned in that direction, and before I knew it the book was written.
Q: Your work has been described as cinematic. Why?
R: That's how I think. I see each episode or scene in my head, and then I write what I see. I try to provide enough depth so the reader is with me, but not so much that page flipping to get to the next good part is required. But I see each chapter as a scene - it's just how my brain works. I'm a creation of a modern world, raised on images and films, so I think that naturally affects my storytelling. Certainly the JET books are. Mission Impossible comes to mind.
Q: Will there be more JET?
R: Absolutely. JET II - Betrayal is in the can. JET III - Vengeance, will be released end of Oct/early Nov. I conceptualized the story like the Bourne series in that regard, but each novel is a real book - 80K-90K words, so full length novels with heft. Actually wrote em more like 100K but trimmed out anything that didn't drive the story.
Q: You mention Kill Bill and Bourne. How is this similar?
R: I loved Tarantino's take because it was so completely overblown in every way. Deliberately so. I wanted JET to read like that film played, but with a story more like Bourne. The idea of a female operative grappling with her past just captivated my imagination. You'll see why. It's one of my faves.
Review
"A sadistically good writer."
- The Kindle Book Review
"Russell Blake writes with a brisk intensity and pulse-pounding power. Jump in and hang on for a nonstop thrill ride."
- Scott Nicholson, Liquid Fear
"Blake at his best!"
- Steven Konkoly, Black Flagged Redux, Black Flagged, The Jakarta Pandemic
About the Author
Russell Blake was named one of the most popular indie novelists of 2012 and is the bestselling author of eighteen novels, including the thrillers
Fatal Exchange
,
The Geronimo Breach
,
Zero Sum
,
King of Swords
,
Night of the Assassin
,
Revenge of the Assassin,
Return of the Assassin, The Delphi Chronicle
trilogy,
The Voynich Cypher,
Silver Justice, JET
and
JET II - Betrayal
. Non-fiction includes the international bestseller
An Angel With Fur
(animal biography) and
How To Sell A Gazillion eBooks In No Time (even if drunk, high or incarcerated),
a parody of all things writing-related. Blake lives in Mexico and enjoys his dogs, fishing, boating, tequila and writing, while battling world domination by clowns.
JET
Russell Blake
Copyright 2012 by Russell Blake. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law, or in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, contact
[email protected]
.
CONTENTS
Excerpts from Silver Justice & JET II
About the Author
Russell Blake lives full time on the Pacific coast of Mexico. He is the acclaimed author of the thrillers:
Fatal Exchange
,
The Geronimo Breach
,
Zero Sum
,
The Delphi Chronicle
trilogy (
The Manuscript
,
The Tortoise and the Hare
, and
Phoenix Rising
),
King of Swords
,
Night of the Assassin
,
The Voynich Cypher
,
Revenge of the Assassin
,
Return of the Assassin
,
Silver Justice
,
JET
and
JET II - Betrayal.
Non-fiction novels include the international bestseller
An Angel With Fur
(animal biography) and
How To Sell A Gazillion eBooks (while drunk, high or incarcerated)
– a joyfully vicious parody of all things writing and self-publishing related.
“Capt.” Russell enjoys writing, fishing, playing with his dogs, collecting and sampling tequila, and waging an ongoing battle against world domination by clowns.
Visit Russell’s salient website for updates
Excerpts from Silver Justice & JET II
Silver Justice
Manhattan. A ruthless serial killer is butchering financial industry high rollers. FBI Special Agent Silver Cassidy, the head of a task force that's on a collision course with disaster, finds herself fighting impossible odds to stop the murderer before he can kill again. Struggling to balance the hunt for a savage predator with the challenges of being a single parent, Silver finds herself thrust into a nightmare of brutality that will demand every ounce of determination she possesses to survive.
An excerpt from
JET II – Betrayal
follows
Silver Justice
JET II - Betrayal
Twenty-eight year old Jet, the former Mossad operative from the eponymous novel JET, must battle insurmountable odds to protect those she loves in a deadly race that stretches from the heartland of Nebraska to the corridors of power in Washington, D.C., from the lurid streets of Bangkok to the deadly jungles of Laos and Myanmar. Fans of Kill Bill, The Bourne Trilogy and SALT will be delighted by this roller-coaster of action, intrigue and suspense.
From the Author
JET
is a work of fiction, and any resemblance between the characters in it and real people or organizations is purely coincidental or for literary effect. That’s my way of saying I have no idea whether the Mossad or CIA run assassination squads in the real world. I guess for my sake, I better hope they don’t. Likewise, the Mossad, CIA and KGB are probably stand-up organizations where everyone is honest and hardworking. I have no reason to believe otherwise, but the story plays better if everyone, everywhere, is suspect, crooked, and basically up to no good. So that is the literary leap I make. There are probably numerous things that are not one hundred percent accurate and real-world in these pages. That’s okay. It’s not intended to be an in-depth, hundred percent accurate tome. Hopefully you’ll excuse any literary license.
Likewise, I use dollars most of the time instead of the local currencies, for two reasons. First, to save everyone the trouble of looking up conversion tables, and second, because like it or not, the dollar is the world’s reserve currency, so it’s likely that any large sums or nefarious transactions are being conducted in greenbacks.
JET
uses flashbacks in the early chapters in order to convey information that is relevant later. Don’t be alarmed when it jumps around a bit – it will all make sense as you get further into the book. I promise.
JET
is the first in a series that came to me as I was writing
Silver Justice
. I envision four to five books in the series, but possibly as few as three or as many as six – depends on the story there is to tell. I hope you enjoy this first installment as much as I enjoyed writing it. JET is one of my favorite characters to date, a riddle wrapped in an enigma cloaked in a big helping of ass-kicking. As one of my author friends remarked when I described the high concept: “Tell me she wears black leather. I hope she wears black leather.” You’ll see where that idea took me.
Prologue
The rainy gray of the morning had grudgingly relented to a patchwork of blue peeking between the clouds. Moisture dripped from the dense vegetation onto the encroachment of asphalt, evaporating within seconds of contact. Humidity was a constant this far inland – the nation’s seat had been relocated to this position of relative safety following the hurricane that destroyed the seafront capital forty-something years before.