Dragon Games
Stephen Mertz
Five Star, May 7 2010, $25.95
ISBN: 9781594148729

Amberon Inc security chief Dan Price heads the private firm's security at the Beijing Olympics. Heeding the guidance of the Mistress, he kills a local security officer, a suspect and one of his team as he sets in motion a terrorist bloodbath scheme by a paramilitary group ready to devastate the country with violence to make 9/11 seem minor.

Tag McCall also works for Amberon as a security guard. He has fallen very far since his stint as Secret Service protection chief to the Vice President due to someone, namely him, needing to take the fall for a failed assassination attempt. He has a heart problem, became a drunk and drove his wife and teen daughter away. Now he is in China working grunt level security. When he finds something off kilter with what Price has done, he quietly investigates but is distracted when a teen gymnast vanishes. With help from Amberon dispatcher Rose being watched by Ministry of Internal Security investigator Mei, he soon fears something nightmarish is planned for the Games by his boss.

Over the top of The Great Wall, Dragon Games is a fast-paced thriller starring a wonderful hero who keeps on ticking in spite of setbacks in his professional and personal life and suffering from angina. Filled with action from the onset when Price brazenly assassinates three people and never slows down for a breather, readers will enjoy Stephen Mertz's exhilarating tale that is enhanced by his enchanting capture of the city's Olympic ambience.

Harriet Klausner