Follow Marc Dane in another quest against some bad guys with this fifth novel in the series.
This can be read as a stand-alone simply because characters and incidents from the previous four books are mentioned time and time again throughout Rogue. If you have read the other books, then the repetitive repeating of the back stories is tiresome.
Many of the old characters return in Rogue and they are looking to cause more trouble. While the previous novels have a good central plot, Rogue is a tale not unlike a turf war between rival drug gangs. There was no hacking or terrorist plot in Rogue and nothing really clever. I was very disappointed that Rogue lacked a unique plot and had no technical WOW! Factor. There was lots of fighting and guns discharged which made for a boring read. Even members of the AK-47 fan club would stifle a yawn. What is a gun first produced over 70 years ago doing in a modern day 2020 thriller?
Previous novels in this series have seen the relationship between Marc Dane and Lucy Keyes develop, slowly but surely. However, in Rogue their relationship does not move on from when they left off in Shadow.
I was disappointed with Rogue and I feel James Swallow has damaged his Marc Dane brand by having reduced character development and a shallow plot. If Rogue had been the first novel in the series, I would not have bought and read the others. James plans to publish book 6 next year but I shall not bother as we get enough bangs in the UK from fireworks, I do not wish to read about more discharges from an Avtomat Kalashnikova AK-47. I think Rogue is a POOR read, so it gets 2 stars from me.
Rogue was written in 2020 and is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook.
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