Tuesday, July 25, 2023

The Instructor Review

Author:  T.R. Hendricks
Series: Derek Harrington #1
Publisher: Forge Books
Release Date: April 11, 2023

4 Heated Hearts

Dive into The Instructor , former Army intelligence officer T. R. Hendricks' fast paced, action-packed debut thriller that's Jack Reacher meets Survivorman , the first novel in the Derek Harrington series!

Review:
THE INSTRUCTOR is the first book in a new military action thriller series by author T.R. Hendricks.  It tells the story of Derek Harrington, a retired Marine Force Recon and SERE instructor who's suffering from PTSD and having a hard time settling back into civilian life after twenty-two years in service that haunt him nightly.  He's barely making a living teaching wilderness survival class's while trying to convince his ex-wife not to take his son away.  Harrington is at the end of a very taut rope when a student makes him an offer he can't refuse.  Instruct a private group for thirty days for some serious cash.  Even though his gut tells him something's off, Derek can't afford to refuse the offer if he wants to keep his son.  He sends a coded message to a FBI friend and goes deep undercover infiltrating the cult-like group to find out what's really going on.  The story that ensues is a high action thriller that never slows down.

Hendricks has rendered a highly entertaining & atmospheric story in THE INSTRUCTOR.  Derek Harrington is a damaged character with anger and control issues that easily wins readers' empathy.  The wilderness setting is well represented, and I enjoyed the multitude of survival techniques incorporated into this charismatic story. From the early pages until the final paragraph, The Instructor is intense, explosive, riveting and extremely difficult to put down.  Highly recommended to fans of high action, tension laden thrillers.

Synopsis:
Derek Harrington, retired Marine Force Recon and SERE instructor, is barely scraping by teaching the basics of wilderness survival. His fledgling bushcraft school is on the cusp of going out of business and expenses are piling up fast. His only true mission these days? To get his ailing father into a full care facility and to support his ex-wife and their son.

When one of his students presents him with an opportunity too good to be true―$20,000 to instruct a private group for 30 days in upstate New York―Derek reluctantly takes the job, despite his reservations about the group's insistence on anonymity. But it isn't long before the training takes an unexpected turn―and a new offer is made.

Reaching out to an FBI contact to sound his concerns, Derek soon finds himself in deep cover, deep in the woods, embroiled with a fringe group led by a charismatic leader who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. When what he wants becomes Derek's head, the teacher is pitted against his students as Derek races against time to stop what could very well be the first attack by the domestic terrorist cell.

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