Ronie Kendig has done it again—written a series I don’t want to see end. Falcon is the last of The Quiet Professionals series following Raptor and Hawk. As a non-military background person, I am fascinated by the depth of knowledge and detail rife within her books. She has the ability to take us to the environment she writes about through explicit descriptions and fascinatingly complex characters.
Warrant Officer Sal (Falcon) Russo is furious. He thought he’d rid himself of Lieutenant Cassandra Walker and here she was back again where he couldn’t avoid her. Oh, well, he didn’t have to be nice to her or talk with her other than when duty required their interaction. Cassie wants more than anything to repair her relationship with Sal—but he has not—cannot forgive her for her part in the death of his fiancée, Vida.
The mole within the unit is still undiscovered. The unit is still being attacked and men killed. One of the first casualties is General Burnett—ambushed in a supposedly secured area. Raptor is mourning the death of the general and the other casualties—and perplexed how the enemy keeps getting into the compound. Finding the mole becomes a prime objective along with stopping the Osiris hacker, Meng-Li (Daniel) Jin.
As the cover copy says so eloquently, “The deeper Raptor digs for truth, the more betrayal seeps from the very fabric of their mission. Friends become spies and turncoats. Enemies morph into strange allies. As the tides turn and Sal rethinks his game plan, he is forced to trust Cassie again. And it might be the last time.”
My husband says this is the best Kendig book yet and I have to agree. My only problem with Falcon is you have to have read Raptor and Hawk to understand completely what’s going on in the story. Falcon does not fly as a stand-alone story without the reader having many unanswered questions about what’s happened in the previous books. If you’re the type who has to know everything, buy and read Raptor and Hawk first—you won’t be disappointed. However, despite not being “in the know,” Falcon is an exciting, dramatic read that you won’t want to put down until you finish. Five stars.
Shiloh Publishing (an imprint of Barbour Publishing) gave me a copy of Falcon in exchange for my candid review.