I came across this book, the 7th in a series by Jon Land about Caitlin Strong, a female, fifth-generation Texas Ranger heroin who has been praised by several New York Times bestselling authors including Lee Child, Steve Berry, and Nelson DeMille, figuring it must be worth reading, considering its author is the recipient of several impressive Best Book awards, with a total of 38 novels to his credit. I guess I picked the wrong book because I was unable to make it more than halfway through before I just couldn't take it anymore. Page after page of two or more persons, both "good" guys and "bad", talking trash to each other, back and forth, seemingly contributing nothing to the progress of the basic plot. And then the violence. OMG, the VIOLENCE! Like a guy beating a younger guy with a prosthetic leg by removing the guy's leg and using it to smash his "face reduced to what barely passed for pulp, flesh-colored splinters and shards protruding from it." Yes, that is a direct quote. Now I'm not opposed to a dose of explicit violence when it heightens the reality of what is happening in the story, but the kind as in this example goes beyond a limit I find difficult t cross. I'm surprised no one else seems to have been bothered by this and I sure hate to be the odd man out, but 2-stars is the best I can do on this one.

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