Wet Work (Duncan Hunter Thriller) - Book Review

 Mark A. Hewitt, will keep the reader unbalanced with his shockingly contemporary new novel, Wet Work. Whether a fictional prophecy or fictionalized exposé, Wet Work will challenge the reader’s political mindset. “The dark web is full of sordid stories just waiting to be used against an adversary.” Political warfare within the United States federal government and the author’s experience as a Marine Corps officer with top-secret security clearance and as a pilot lends credibility to his story of conducting counter-terrorism.

            Protagonist Duncan Hunter fights contemporary terrorists who have frightening, in the moment, agendas.  The reality of current events and news alerts coincide with the novel’s corrupt journalists, fake news, smoke screens, slander, and misinformation. Duncan is joined by strikingly beautiful Nazy Cunningham, who could have been a movie star or model but was a lawyer and analyst for the National Counter-Terrorism Center.  The pair becomes involved in the discovery of communist Russian and Islamic infiltration into the U. S. National government’s politics. A Democratic Party member tries to defect with evidence of party wrongdoing. He is murdered leading to investigations into the history of the previous president and his death. Was it natural or an assassination, wet work? “It’s all about power. It’s all about money.”

A character is introduced as “a distinguished, impeccably-dressed gentleman,…(with) a shaggy salt-and-pepper lumberjack beard the size and shape of a shovel and thick black glasses with tinted lenses…He was wearing an impeccable suit from one of the best tailors on Savile Row and handmade brown cap toes oxfords from New York City shoemakers where the billionaires and professional sports figures had their shoes made.  duck dynasty meets Donald Trump.”

            Defectors and espionage lead Duncan Hunter to eradicate terrorists using radical James Bond-like futuristic weaponry.  Frightening and horrifying detailed missions expose the use of modern technology such as drones and hints of the future. Unlike the small toys, helicopter drones are outfitted with artificial intelligence (AI) and facial recognition systems. Tiny, with the power of a smartphone and with multiple cameras, the four arms of the rotors, could hold very small contact-explosive charges.

            Demetrius Eastwood, an international war correspondent and journalist interviewed Bill McGee about law enforcement training in Texas. He learned schools could not screen for kids on the mental illness spectrum, for sexual or personality disorders.  “They’re not getting treatment or counseling.” Are those kids “with built-in stratospherically-high suicide” potential being actively recruited to commit violence? Are they being radicalized? Are they being indoctrinated with socialist and communist theology?

            The backstories of the characters introduced in Hewett’s previous novel, Blown Cover, are skillfully woven into the plot in the manner of epic writer Ken Follett. Expect Hewitt to gain notoriety as a political/suspense writer of technically detailed espionage similar to Tom Clancy.

Mark A. Hewitt is a 2018 PenCraft Award-winning author of political thrillers.  Hewitt taps current world situations and spins them into an exhilarating thriller of intricate and nerve-tingling tales of imminent dangers.