All The Big Ones Are Dead

CIA Operative Michael Bishop has been assigned to help a task force of U.S. officials and their Interpol counterparts track a dangerous West African poaching gang known as Powderhorn. There is a need to act fast since the gang’s illegal activities are helping fund international terror organizations. The problem is the lack of intelligence available. The criminals have access to sophisticated encryption technology allowing them to conceal their secret dealings, suggesting they have the support of influential contacts in Europe and the U.S.

Bishop is tasked with finding out more on the ground in West Africa. His sources lead him to a poaching expedition. He is supposed to observe and report back his findings, but on the spot he decides that a more direct approach is required to neutralize some of the gang. After his unsanctioned activities, Bishop’s instincts in the field tell him that it is time to start following the money, which will lead him right back to the U.S.

Other members of the task force are trying to figure out how encryption data developed by Professor John Logan at Columbia University has been stolen and used by international criminals. By following the money and the illegal shipments of ivory into the United States, the task force team hope to unlock a web of interconnected influential people.

All The Big Ones Are Dead is an exciting and entertaining thriller. The Prologue was good at setting the stage, and Chapter One, which saw Bishop going out against the Powderhorn gang, had me on the edge of my seat. After the exhilarating first chapter, I liked the transition to Chapter Two which focused on John Logan. This and the following section, which introduced Julius Coppola and Marc Dominican, gave me a detailed look at characters operating in totally different environments. All of which prepared me for an engaging read.

I liked how the authors kept me informed of everything that was going on and why the characters, especially the task force members, were performing particular actions. I thought the characters in the story were well developed, and each contributed something to the plot. But toward the end of the book in Chapter Twenty-five, Jorge Tudor is at the home of Senator Keaton with General Kaminski and Cormac McKellar; it’s in this chapter that a lot of background information is presented about their relationship to Marc Dominican. I would have preferred to have some or all of this presented earlier in the story. I felt it slowed down the scene and the ending somewhat. I was also a little disappointed with the editing. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the ability of the authors to handle complex subject matter with various characters and locations all while keeping it fast-paced and entertaining.