Tracker

I was so excited to get this short story. I first encountered Tucker and his canine partner, Kane, in the authors Sigma Force book, Bloodlines, another great series.

Tucker cant stand by when he sees a damsel in distress. Before he can say s**t storm, hes in one. Turns out the men following said damsel are after a treasure stolen by Nazis during World War II.

The action and danger are palpable. Theres hardly time to breathe. And theres no guarantees that Tucker or Kane will get through it unscathed.

This is an up close and personal introduction to Tucker and his mighty dog, Kane. They work as a team, their bond so strong it seems like they read each others minds. It didnt take me long to become attached to them, and it was fascinating to see them in action.

Tucker and Kane now have their own series and Im already reading the second book. These characters are larger than life and the action never stops.

I own a copy of this book. My review is voluntarily given.

Tracker by James Rollins is a Sigma Force novel that I gave four stars. It is a fast book to read with suspense-filled Tracker by James Rollins is a Sigma Force novel that I gave four stars. It is a fast book to read with suspense-filled moments.

Tucker worked with his hunting dog Kane. When he was wearing camera gear, he saw through the shepherd’s eyes. “The dog was as much an extension of his senses as he was a partner.”

“The army had trained him to maintain such diligence, to watch for the unusual amid the ordinary. When he’d been a captain with the army rangers, he and his partner had served as the unit’s trackers through two tours in Afghanistan-for search-and-rescue operations, for extraction, for hunting down targets of acquistion.”

I received a complimentary copy in an Amazon promotion. That did not change my opinion for this review.

Link to purchase:

Tracker: A Short Story Exclusive (Sigma Force Series)

This is a short story about how Tucker and Kane work together as a team. He is on an assignment to prevent a Russian business man from any attempt to kill him. With Jane’s help he gets both assassins and a big paycheck. This story also leads into two books — Blodline, where he works with Sigma and War Hawk, where he escorts someone out of Russia via back channels
The first part of this short story is about how Tucker and Kane help a woman find her father who was captured by rogue Hungarian government agents who found out that he had located a buried gold treasure that a former Nazi had buried under a Jewish cemetery in a cavern. These two are very effective together.

Captain Tucker Wayne and his highly trained military dog, Major Kane, left the military behind them rather abruptly and are now relaxing in Budapest. That is until Tucker notices a woman being followed and he and Kane jump in to help.

This short story introduces Tucker and Kane before they are brought into contact with Sigma Force.

I loved the sections about Belgian Malinois Kane, brilliant working dog. This story has killers and treasure involved and is worth the read.

Be warned that the actual story only takes up about half the space. The rest gives short previews of other Sigma Force adventures and background on the story.

I’m moving on now to read THE KILL SWITCH, full-length book with Tucker and Kane and Sigma Force.

James Rollins, author of a number of best selling action novels, introduces readers to a new pair of heroes, Tucker and Kane, in his fast paced, entertaining story “Tracker.” Tucker and Kane are a lot like any pair of action buddies– best friends who know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and form a well oiled, highly trained team. There’s one big difference, however between these two and every other pair you’ve read about: only one of them is human; the other is a very special dog.

“Tracker” doesn’t waste much time on character development or backstory, instead starting out with Tucker and Kane in the middle of a fast moving criminal plot. We do learn that Tucker was a former Army ranger in Afghanistan, who, along with Kane, served as trackers, either trying to rescue people or find unsavory characters. After Tucker gets out of the military, Kane is released with him and the two find themselves in Budapest, the how and why of which are never explained. While sitting at an outdoor caf, Tucker notices an attractive woman being followed by three unsavory characters and decides to help.

Tucker’s instincts prove correct and he has to rescue the woman, Aliza, from her pursuers. He soon discovers that Aliza holds the key to a fortune in treasure looted by the Nazis and hidden somewhere in the city during World War II. The pursuers and their boss want the treasure, and Tucker and Kane find themselves having to save Aliza and find the treasure as well.

Author Rollins has done his homework on the training and equipping of trackers like Tucker and Kane, and the story contains a good bit of fascinating detail without getting bogged down in rambling wonkish technicalities. It’s a story written by a military enthusiast but one told with general audiences in mind. He also manages to create a quite credible and interesting back story involving how the treasure came to be hidden somewhere in Budapest and why Aliza is so important.

“Tracker” is a very meat-and-potatoes type of story, lean and well written, but without a lot of character development or romantic interplay between Tucker and Aliza that one might expect in this type of story. However, although “Tracker” lacks the usual components that make a story interesting rather than mechanical for readers, it has a very unsual hook that gets readers’ interest… namely, the canine half of the team, Kane. Rollins details Kane’s training and the special equipment Tucker uses to keep in touch with Kane at a distance. Parts of the book are told from Kane’s point of view, so readers see how Kane overcomes danger and literally comes to Tucker’s rescue in the nick of time. Readers may not find Tucker all that unique or compelling a hero, but Kane is definitely memorable.

Although Rollins bills this book as a short story, it’s actually a novelette of roughly 40 pages (over half the book consists of excerpts from some of Rollins’ other novels). That extra length allows Rollins to let the action and suspense develop naturally and explain what’s going on so the readers can easily follow what’s happening. He’s also given readers quite an original hero in Kane. A story about Tucker would have been fairly routine and indistinguishable from lots of other action tales. However, a story about Tucker and Kane is one of a kind.

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