Deadlock
Series: Dez Limerick Novel #2
By: James Byrne
Narrator: John Keating
Macmillan Audio
ISBN: 9781250805782
Publication Date: 08/08/2023
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Format: Audiobook
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
In this sequel to the highly praised The Gatekeeper, Dez Limerick, one of the best new thriller heroes returns.
Desmond Aloysius Limerick ("Dez" to his friends and close personal enemies) is a man with a shadowy past, certain useful hard-won skills, and, if one digs deep enough, a reputation as a good man to have at your back. Now retired from his previous life, Dez is just a bloke with a winning smile, a bass guitar, and bullet wounds that paint a road map of past lives.
Jaleh Swann, a business journalist hot on the trail of an auditor who was mugged and killed, lands in the hospital just one day after her Portland apartment is ransacked. When Jaleh’s sister, Raziah, reaches out to an old friend for help, Dez has no choice but to answer. The Swann sisters have been pulled into a dizzying web of cover-ups and danger. At the center lies an insidious Oregon-based tech corporation, Clockjack, which has enough money and hired guns to silence just about anyone―including this rag-tag trio. Luckily, Dez’s speciality is not just to open doors, but keep them open―and protect those working to expose Clockjack’s secrets.
More stands in the way of the truth than just one corporation. When hired thugs come to the finish the job and attack the Swann sisters at the hospital, Dez does what he does best. Now, the two captured men (and the corpse Dez left behind) attract the attention of not just Clockjack, but of the Portland police, the D.E.A, and the U.S. Marshalls. Dez and the Swann sisters are on the run from powers beyond their control and means. Outnumbered, under resourced and outgunned, Dez must use all his skills to keep his friends safe and stand up to corporate conniving. After all, the one thing Clockjack didn’t count on? A good man with a simple job to do.
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My Review
James Byrne returns following The Gatekeeper with his second installment in his popular Dez Limerick series with DEADLOCK —another action-packed, witty thriller with an unstoppable main character.
A delicious taut nonstop hilarious, action-packed suspense thriller by James Byrne, with a leading man and hero you want by your side. With a sexy British/Irish accent to die for and all the dark humor, intelligence, and wit making DEZ, Desmond Aloysius Limerick, (the ultimate) THE GATEKEEPER.
A former mercenary, a musician, and a man who can open any door— physical or digital. He is not too tall, stocky, and bowlegged and buys his black tees from the one place that accommodates his broad shoulders and frame.
Dez must use his Gatekeeper skills and wit to save the Swann sisters and take down Clockjack.
In DEADLOCK, the Irish ex-mercenary Limerick is off to Oregon from California. Jaleh Swann, a business journalist hot on the trail of an auditor who was mugged and killed, lands in the hospital just one day after her Portland apartment is ransacked.
His friend Raziah Swann, sends out a personal SOS stating her journalist sister, Laleh, has been abducted and beaten by thugs while researching an article on accounting irregularities at Clockjack, a tech conglomerate whose tentacles stretch across entire industries and levels of government.
The Swann sisters have been pulled into a dizzying web of cover-ups and danger. At the center lies an insidious Oregon-based tech corporation, Clockjack, which has enough money and hired guns to silence just about anyone. Luckily, Dez’s specialty is not just to open doors but keep them open―and protect those working to expose Clockjack’s secrets.
He learns that Clockjack plans to use its technologies to acquire sensitive intelligence and topple foreign governments—so he infiltrates the company’s headquarters outside Portland, using every tool at his disposal to break up the scheme.
Dez and the Swann sisters are on the run from powers beyond their control and means. Outnumbered, under-resourced and outgunned, Dez must use all his skills to keep his friends safe and stand up to corporate conspiracy.
I love the humor and sarcasm of Dez and enjoyed the mission of helping the sisters while he becomes immersed in a corporate coverup and government conspiracies: murder and mayhem and a fun, zany thriller.
High-adrenaline suspense and twists, packed with action, clever dialogue, and some great laughs! Even though I did not enjoy this one as much as The Gatekeeper, I still found DEADLOCK entertaining and a great setup for #3.
For fans of Greg Hurwitz's Orphan X, David Baldacci, Janet Evanovich, and Elle Cosimano. I read the e-book and listened to the audiobook narrated by John Keating for an entertaining and fascinating thrill ride!
Thanks to Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for an ARC and ALC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInflueners
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pub Date: Aug 8, 2023
The Gatekeeper
Series: Dez Limerick Novel #1
By: James Byrne
ISBN: 978-1250805768
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: 06/07/2022
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: John Keating
Macmillan Audio
My Rating: 5 Stars
A highly entertaining audiobook.
A funny and refreshing new leading man!
A delicious taut nonstop hilarious action-packed suspense thriller by James Byrne, with a leading man and hero you want by your side. With a sexy British/Irish accent to die for and all the dark humor, intelligence, and wit making DEZ, Desmond Aloysius Limerick, (the ultimate) THE GATEKEEPER.
A former mercenary, a musician, and a man who can open any door— physical or digital. He is not too tall, stocky, and bowlegged and buys his black tees from the one place that makes them to accommodate fit his broad shoulders and frame. READ MY REVIEW
About the Author
JAMES BYRNE is the pseudonym for an author who has worked for more than twenty years as a journalist and in politics. A native of the Pacific Northwest, he lives in Portland, Oregon.
James Byrne lives and writes in one of the coolest cities on Earth: Portland, Oregon. Under various names, he has published nine other novels in the realm of thrillers and mysteries. Find out more about James and “The Gatekeeper” at jamesbyrnethriller.com.
