A New Hero! Meet Jake Mahegan in Foreign and Domestic by A. J. Tata! Top Personal Favorite for 2015!

Move over Talanov {and James Houston Turner} I've found a new hero! With the first book, I'm ready for the movie! And I've already picked the perfect main character to play Chayton Mahegan--Adam Beach! Only one slight problem in the selection, the character is written as a blond--but he's also Native American...Still, there are some things I'm willing to improvise on given the options (couldn't find any pics of blonds, even though I did verify there were some for Native Americans... Still, should we really pass up...this proven hero??? Actually, when I remembered he was also in Windtalkers, and many more movies, well, he seemed the perfect hero for me to admire!

  What do you say readers?

 Military Oath of Enlistment...

I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Foreign and Domestic

By A. J. Tata

OMG Readers, I am so blown away by this new book by well-loved author A. J. Tata. I was reading him from the very first book and loved every one of them. But I got so excited about this book, I even stopped shortly into the chapters and wrote the author that I was loving it! Never did that before! Just had to add it to this year's personal favorites! And check out the links to his other books provided at the end of the review...

Mahegan nodded, recalling how the Army psychiatrist had identified Mahegan's sometimes "impulsive, aggressive behavior," and recommended against inclusion in the elite force. Savage had stood firm and the "million-dollar man" was born. Oddly, Delta Force had been Mahegan's home, and he had left all that he loved.

"I just need time, sir," he told Savage, "Then, maybe I can do what you suggest."

Now, this morning, pulling hard through the black water, he wondered whether or not he should have accepted Savage's deal. The general had been right. Someone was looking for him and General Bream was gunning for a dishonorable discharge. He tried to push the black pickup truck and the Inspector General out of his mind.

His broad shoulders and powerful legs propelled him through the sound. After a shark incident while swimming off Wilmington's fabled Frying Pan Shoals, Mahegan was deterined to appear dominant in the water. He swam with purpose, as if he were the apex predator, some kind of savage beast on the prowl.

His mind drifted from Colgate to The American Taliban, Mullah Adham to his shoulder and to Martin Strel, who owned the world record for the longest continuous swim. Before beginning his swimming rehab, Mahegan had researched the sport. Strel swam 312 miles in the Danube River in 84 hours. Mahegan did the math. He was doing 5 miles max each way. Strel had cruised at a sustained rate of 3.7 miles an hour. Mahegan w3as doing something less than that, but not by much. Plus, Strel had a helping current while he was going cross-current. The tide was either coming in or going out, which was always perpendicular to his acts of advance. Mahegan knew he was doing the miles all at once, of course.

He swam that way for an hour and a half until, on a downward stroke, his hand hit sand,

touching the small beach of the mainland of North Carolina. He pulled himself up, strode through the knee-deep water, and sat on the jutting spit of land that was the easternmost point of the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.

He sat about twenty meters back from the water, facing east, and watched the dawn appear over the Atlantic Ocean, Outer Banks barrier islands, and roanoke Island. The sun cast an orange streak along the spreading vee of his swimming wake. The water rippled outward inviting the coming day. The vee eventually disappeared and he wondered about his life path. What was left in his wake so far? What more would there be? Would his trail simply blend back into the environment with no remaining signature?

As Mahegan stared at his diminishing path, he felt welcoming eyes surround him from behind. He smiled. They had learned to come to him, or perhaps he to them. The red wolves crept from their Alligator River Refuge and joined Mahegan as he watched the sun and wondered about life. Mahegan had researched the terraine of Dare County Mainland, and among other valuable lessons, he learned that at one time there had been only sixteen red wolves left in the United States. The National Wildlife Refuge had tried an experimental repopulation program by placing a few of the sixteen in the Alligator River National Park. Fierce hunters, the red wolves began to thrive on the abundant wildlife in the remote national park... Mahegan felt a comfort here, removed from even the sparsely populated Roanoke Island. Drifting up the Outer Bank of North Carolina for a year, he had worked the odd job for a couple of weeks before moving on...But a year was enough. The one-year anniversary of his failed mission in Nuristan Province was tomorrow and he was at the end of this particular trail. Plus they had found him. He needed solitude to finalize his plans. Today.

~~~

It had begun at his last military action. He had already lost many of his men and then, when his best friend, Colgate, was gone, Jake reacted. He had killed the target who was the reason they were there in the first place. When he got back, his remaining soldiers as well as his senior officer had supported it as a righteous shoot... but he had decided to retire from service, against the wishes of Savage, who knew what he had in the man who had been called the "million-dollar man" by many.

He had been out, keeping a low profile, moving from one place to another trading work for what he needed, a place to sleep and something to eat. He had been in North Carolina for about a year and had been working back to his top shape after his injuries, by swimming about 5 miles a day...

He was, at that time, unaware of those who had been watching him...

The first had been several  who had been at the site when Colgate was killed...

The second had been watching as he'd swum every day, sometimes even following him...

But his name had been spreading and, there in Dare County, it all came together and results in so much action that every page brings new dangers, new places...and death... Readers! Get prepared for the Ride of your Life! It may be a book, but if you follow the lead, just hang on... Jake Mahegan's got your back!

It all starts by Jake recovering a dead body that he'd bumped into while swimming...and bringing it back! No good deed goes unpunished, right? He was immediately arrested as the probable killer...Duh...

Mullah Adham was the nom de guerro 
of The American Taliban. Actually
Adham was an American citizen in 
his mid-twenties from Iowa named
Adam Wilhoyt who had gone native
with al-Qaeda.
HIS BACK STORY IS VERRRRY
INTERESTING!
~~~~

Fortunately, there was a young woman there who stated that she'd seen him swimming and finding the body...yes...his stalker! Who happens to be deputized by the County Sheriff, who is quickly brought in and takes control...at least on her behalf...LOL, because she's got a number of ideas for Jake, you might say... And she "seems" to be on the good side, although Jack openly admits he's not sure yet... And then there's "The American Taliban" who, while attacking military sites, uses Jake's name, telling the world, he is someone who's involved...
Jake had no idea why since he'd never met him!

Actually, there are many who want Jake dead, especially after he starts disrupting the many different, and simultaneous, activities being conducted by those seeking power and money--gold in this particular case!

Readers, there are so many cons and scams going on that they boggle the imagination. Anywhere an evil man lives, there he finds a way to make that work for him! And it reaches high into the military ranks as well as into powerful corporations...

I was particularly struck by the methods of electronics/computerization in making everything work for the criminals. Fortunately, Jack knew enough to fight fire with fire, even on a military bomb testing site which was now being cleaned out of...bombs that had not yet gone off... and into the deep oceans where he alone tangles with 3 different ships who are in the midst of trafficking of...just about everything...including ghosts! This latter issue was extremely disturbing to me and I'm hoping it was fictionally creative rather than based upon actual knowledge and experience of the author... although I doubt it, given today's world activities!

Who, by the way, is a retired Brigadier General, combat veteran and paratrooper... Anybody who wants the real deal in military thrillers, only has to pick one writer to be sure he knows the writing, adventure, and thrilling exercises are based upon superior knowledge in military tactics! You're right, I don't know them, but I can tell when a writer writes from knowledge and experience! Tata is the best that I've read for this genre!

Included in the book is historical information on Native Americans, the Lost Colony, Virginia Dare, from North Carolina... And all of it written seamlessly into the overall story, with no down time for readers in their page-turning hours with this one book. Tata has written what may be his giant step as a major military thriller writer!

This is a favorite author, and his books are must-reads for me... Surely, you've got to check him out!


GABixlerReviews

Read His Threat Series Reviews!
Mortal Threat
Hidden Threat
Rogue Threat
Sudden Threat

About the Author...

AJ Tata's releases in 2015 will include the beginning of a new series from Kensington Books/Pinnacle featuring Native American former Delta Force soldier Chayton Mahegan who is "outside the law, under the radar, out for vengeance..." Tony is also the author of the critically acclaimed, award winning, and Amazon bestselling Threat Series fiction novels featuring the Garrett Brothers, Matt and Zachary. The 4th in this series was published this year...

An avid supporter of veterans causes, Tony donates 100% of his Sudden Threat book proceeds to the USO Metro DC Hospital Services fund for wounded warriors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda National Naval Medical Center. He is the Chairman of the Board of the North Carolina Heroes Fund, a member of the Board of Directors of the US Military Veterans Foundation and a member of the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Military Order of the Purple Heart.

Retiring in 2009 as a Brigadier General, Tony has appeared frequently as a guest commentator on FoxNews' The O'Reilly Factor, America's Newsroom, Fox and Friends Weekday and Weekend Editions, The Daily Buzz, NBC's Today Show with Jane Pauley, The South Florida Today Show, The CBS Early Show, local television stations around the country, and scores of nationally syndicated and local station radio interviews.

Graduating from the United States Military Academy in 1981, his many assignments as a paratrooper and combat infantryman, include command of a paratrooper battalion in the 82nd Airborne Division and an air assault brigade in the 101st Airborne Division. His last combat assignment was as the deputy commanding general of the 10th Mountain Division and Combined/Joint Task Force-76 in Afghanistan. BG Tata has deployed on combat missions and operations in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia, Panama and the Philippines. He has been awarded the Combat Action Badge and Bronze Star, is a Master Parachutist and a graduate of the U.S. Army's Ranger School.

Tony served as a National Security Fellow at Harvard University's JFK School of Government, and earned an M.A. in International Relations from the Catholic University of America and a Master of Military Art and Science from the Army's School of Advanced Military Studies. Notably, he is listed as a distinguished member of the 502nd, 504th, and 505th Parachute Infantry Regiments. He is also a graduate of the Broad Superintendents Academy and served as the Chief Operating Officer of Washington, DC Public Schools during Michelle Rhee's tenure as Chancellor and went on to lead the Wake County (Raleigh), North Carolina public school system, the 16th largest in the nation.

Tony is an avid surfer and enjoys spending time with his wife, Jodi, and two children, Brooke and Zachary.