Books & Poetry
Book review: Strong Enough to Die
By DAVID HOFSTEDE
Strong Enough to Die
Jon Land
www.tor-forge.com
EnlargeCaitlin Strong, a fifth-generation Texas Ranger, trades gunfire with the Mexican Mafia while trying to protect her gravely wounded partner; an American wanders the streets in Bahrain unable to remember who he is or how he got there; a crusading journalist investigates a government cover-up; and the head of a technology company coolly orders the murder of a former operative while lamenting that America's 9/11 death toll wasn't higher, as that would have been better for business.
That's just the prologue of acclaimed author Jon Land's latest novel, the action-packed Strong Enough to Die.
Land deftly links the disparate threads in subsequent chapters. As Strong follows a murky trail from what began as a simple drug bust near El Paso, she finds herself embroiled in an international conspiracy that would test the ingenuity of 24's Jack Bauer.
After resigning from the Rangers, she gains a resourceful and unlikely ally in Cort Wesley Masters, a ruthless outlaw she helped send to prison five years earlier.
Strong Enough to Die pits the old-school law enforcement of the Texas Rangers against high-tech operatives with limitless resources and connections. That kind of high concept just might have Hollywood calling. If it does, Cate Blanchett (with a Texas accent) would make a killer Caitlin Strong.
Issue: June 2009
