Anthony Riches

Nemesis by Anthony Riches

Sergeant Michael James Bale – “Mickey” – works as an Elite Close Protection Official for the Metropolitan Police force in Britain. He is happily married, enjoys his work, has good friends he meets with at the pub on Friday evenings, and stays fit boxing. He has one issue that bothers him and it is the niggling desire to get revenge for the “murder” of his sister so when that becomes an option, he seeks to mete out justice – vigilante justice. There is an unknown assistant he only knows as “Nemesis” that feeds him information that assists him in his endeavors. Will he be able to come through successful and unscathed or…not?

What I liked:
* Mickey: a good man with his own moral compass, sort of. He is professional, skilled, lethal, smart, and intriguing.
* Martin: Mickey’s friend from childhood, has a side business that comes in handy from time to time, and is a good friend to Mickey.
* The Friday night friends: a bit older than Mickey – seem to be true friends
* That there are two main storylines…with a third that might show up in future books. 1) the revenge against Jo and his gang 2) the protection job and threats encountered there 3) possible traitor in the govt with terrorist leanings
* The way the various threads of the story are brought together in the end
* That not all the good guys were totally good and the bad guys were totally bad
* Getting to read a new-to-me author
* Cavendish, Shaw, and Shaw’s team
* Being able to read the first book in a new series that has potential

What I didn’t like:
* Joe and his ruthless gang – they were evil and easy to detest
* Corrupt cops (there were a couple) and newspaper people
* Knowing that the evil in this book happens more often than we might think
* Roz didn’t seem the best fit as a spouse for Mickey but I am not sure why.

Did I enjoy this book? For the most part though I did skim parts of it to get to what I needed to know
Would I read more in this series? I think so

Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus-Aries for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars… (more)

Conclusion to the author's trilogy on the Batavian Revolt. Much of the novel was backstory. So much so I think you could read this installment as a standalone. First the Batavians are successful, then when Cerialis enters the picture, the Romans stalemate, then finally win. The book improved for me after he came into the story. On the whole, a letdown, but I did enjoy very much the interaction between Centurion Marius and Beran, the Germanic hunter. I also enjoyed Egilhard's coming-of-age and maturing.

Only recommended for those who want to finish up the story.… (more)

"Slow and steady wins the race."
This phrase describes my "relationships" with this book in the best way possible. It took me nine days to finish it.
I liked the book on the whole, but there were some problems that prevented me from enjoying it 100%.
The main problem of it - grammatical errors or the lack of editing. For me, as I'm not the native English speaker it was an obstacle. Sometimes, I had to re-read sentences or even passages, just to understand it.
Concerning main characters of the book - I liked almost all of them, except Senior Tribune Titus Tigidius Perennis.. And I was glad that in the end he was killed.… (more)

Progression of the Civilis Batavian Revolt. The Batavians are angered that Rome has broken a treaty with them and has committed outrages against their people. At first the Batavians win; in fact the novel opens with one of their victories and there we meet a strong Roman character, Centurion Aquillius, a ruthless man but a good tactician. The novel follows same format as previous novel, taking us from the different groups involved and we listen in on planning and progress of many battles. Finally, an independent Gallic nation together with an independent German nation is proposed, to squash the Romans in between the two. The novel is set against the background of the Year of the Four Emperors and there are proponents of both Vitellius and Vespasian on the Germania frontier. Decisions are often based on who the tribesmen and the legions want to eventually hold imperial power.

Enjoyable, but pretty gory. The author does have a real flair for writing vivid battle scenes; that seems to be his strong point. Research was well done and fiction filling in gaps was plausible. Outstanding was the Batavian siege on the Old Camp [Vetera]. I still don't like the author's anglicizing military terms and ranks, but, sigh, I guess that's the author's trademark and he has his logic.… (more)