Ryan Decker: Book 1 - The Rescue

Brent White: The Rescue by Stephen Konkoly is an excellent beginning to a series of books. It has a perfect balance of intrigue and action. Ryan Decker is a strong vibrant protagonist with mad skills and a no nonsense sense of justice. Check it out. You’ll enjoy this ride. Keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times.

United States on Nov 23, 2023

Kindle Customer: I am a fan of Robert Ludlum. This book is not too far from Ludlum's style! Can't wait to read the rest of them in the series!

Australia on Nov 20, 2023

Sleepless in San Diego: Ryan Decker is lethal and probably a little "nuts"! The Rescue is a compelling page turner along the format of Jack Reacher or Jack Ryan! Ryan Decker is a revenge fueled, deadly killer willing to take on corrupt agencies, cartels or government untouchables!
I have had this book in my collection awhile, and it called to me! Wow, what a great choice! It was a creative plotline, well written and left me wanting more! If you haven't read Steven Konkoly, do yourself a favor and get started!

United States on Oct 30, 2023

Fjb: A good conspiracy thriller along the lines of Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum with a dash of James Elroy bolume2 beckons

United Kingdom on Aug 07, 2023

David Sherrington: Ryan Decker is a believable and likeable action hero engaged in a complex and credible political/criminal plot, accompanied by several equally likeable colleagues. The story moves along at a fast pace with just the right amount of action, description and often funny/clever dialogue. A very solid iteration of the genre.

United Kingdom on Jul 14, 2023

R. C. Seaton: A summer thriller. Short, keeps moving, not a lot of character development, not completely believable but who cares? It was a fun read, enough to distract one for a day or so. Given that i basically read it straight through without stopping it may actually be better than my somewhat half-hearted sounding review implies.

United States on Jul 08, 2023

Litercurious: AUTHOR
Steven Konkoly is a Naval veteran. He attended the US Naval Academy and served eight years on active duty. He earned his degree in English literature. He is a Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and USA Today bestselling author. His chosen genre for his work is thrillers.

SYNOPSIS
The Rescue is the first book in a trilogy. It is about a former CIA operative, Ryan Decker, that now runs an international mercenary force specializing in kidnap rescues. On this particular mission things go incredibly wrong. Ryan finds himself being incarcerated and in constant danger of being assassinated. Everyone he knows and their families, have been murdered in the most vicious of manners. His own wife and son are dead, and his daughter refuses to acknowledge his existence. He is all alone.

Somehow, he gets released from prison early and this is where the book really takes off. With the help of a private investigator, Harlow Mackenzie, he tries to unravel what happened years ago. Harlow just happens to be a girl his organization saved from the Russian Mafia’s child trafficking ring years ago; she never forgot the man who saved her. Chased by the Russian Mafia and...

United States on Jul 05, 2020

Amazon Customer: I loved all the twists and turns and red herrings. However there were a few things :
1/ why didn’t Reeves grab Harlow and crew before the potential massacre
2/ why didn’t the Senator agree to level the house? I guess she wanted to stay lawful but then why not organize an immediate grab of Harcourt?
3/ Reeves made it sound like it was his idea and it was really annoying to me.
4/ after sometimes a tedious description of events, the ending felt rushed. For instance, how did the final plan come about?
5/ what happened to Ross?
I liked Pierce’s and Ducker’s banter. It really help bring some levity to a very heavy situation. I’m glad he still have some strong friendships.
I also think that the senator and Reeves should have apologized to Decker to essentially ruining his life.
As an aside, why did the author point out that Reeves was a bald black man but didn’t describe anyone else?
I know it’s a series so I would love to have more details on their personal lives in the next installments. For instance, where did Harlow come from and how did she put together her team. Would love to read about Ryan and his surviving family.

United Kingdom on Feb 12, 2020

healthysean: OMG.... My first book by this author and i LOVED this book.

Steven Konkoly’s new Ryan Decker series is a triumph—an action-thriller master class in spy craft, tension, and suspense, one book but I will add this series on my list, awaiting book 2 out shortly.

Former CIA operative turned mercenary for hire Ryan Decker’s specialty is rescuing kidnap victims. Hired by an influential US senator to liberate her daughter from a human-trafficking ring, Decker never anticipated sabotage or that the assault could go so disastrously wrong. The hostage is dead. His team is wiped out, and so are their families, including Decker’s own wife and son—eliminated one by one by the Russian mafia. And he’s survived to take the fall.

When he’s inexplicably freed soon into a ten-year sentence in federal prison, Decker suspects another setup. And private investigator Harlow Mackenzie knows he’s right. She has evidence that a power greater than the Russian mob was behind the raid that ruined Decker’s life.

The next move in a nationwide cat-and-mouse game of high-level sedition is up to them. Fueled by revenge and an obsession to clear his name, Decker has only...

United Kingdom on Sep 16, 2019

Miles Rubicon: I finished this about 10 minutes ago, so I figured that I would strike while the iron was hot.

I've read some of Konkoly's work before (his Alex Fletcher series, and the first two "Fractured State" novels, as well as one of his "practical prepping" series) and I am admittedly a fan; he writes strong, face-paced, realistic novels, and for the most part blends prose and dialogue pretty realistically. I have noticed a tendency to deemphasize themes, or perhaps to get bored with his own concept, part way through a series - this may have to do with balancing a whole lot of things on his plate, as he seems to have quite a few works that I have not yet taken up. That weakness was not noticeable in this writing, however, and I enjoyed it more than the others. He continues to manage to somehow make a somewhat unrealistic Elite Super-Commando Main Character into an everyman, and I like that. While I was able to jump ahead and make some predictions as to the direction of his story, I thought his plot twists were well-crafted, and did not rely on Awkward Coincidence nearly as much as many authors do. His characters all stayed pretty much true to themselves throughout, made plans...

United States on Jul 07, 2019