There’s nothing like a little nuclear weapon to brighten an explosive ordnance officer’s day… especially when the EOD specialist is a hot Russian woman named Elke who really wants to blow something up!
Following up the exciting Better To Beg Forgiveness, Do Unto Others is a fast paced and explosive (no pun intended… wait, who are we kidding?) novel set in the early years of Michael Z. Williamson‘s “Freehold” universe. Following the team from Ripple Creek Security (think of the best hired security in existence… yeah, those guys) as they are tasked to protect the daughter of the wealthiest man in the universe, Do Unto Others starts off with a slow buildup of some back story and history.
It is not too long after the events of Better To Beg Forgiveness and Alex Marlowe, team leader, is meeting with the principal (person they are assigned to protect) for the first time. His team (same people from BTBF) are nervous about the assignment; an unknown threat is pressuring the Prescott family and, for all Marlowe and the rest of the Ripple Creek team know, danger is surrounding them.
Small incidences build up the drama quite nicely though the novel, and the tension between the principal and the rest of Marlowe’s team make for a nice initial conflict. Eventually, though, you really want to smack the principal (richest guy in the universe’s daughter, remember?) because even after she is abducted she is still a royal pain. The author does a great job showing a young girl who is annoyed at the protection and her subtle and non-subtle ways of trying to get rid of them. He also does a tremendous job showing just how seriously security teams take guarding their principal as her boyfriend is “energetically” frisked by the team.
More events within the book (including a poisoning and an attempted car bomb) drives the Prescott family to their industrial mine off-world, where Marlowe and Co survive an assassination attack on their team. A massive bomb disrupts the protective dome over the mines, killing the principal’s father and (presumably) the principal herself, leaving the uncle in charge of things. Naturally, the heiress to the Prescott fortune, having survived, is not too thrilled about this.
There are a few plot twists in the book that I didn’t enjoy, and I was able to figure out who the antagonist was within 60 pages, but all in all Do Unto Others is a fun romp in the woods. The characters are mostly enjoyable, and the story moves along at a decent clip. Some points drag, but thankfully these are few and far between. The ending is highly climactic and the justice served is cold and real, something we all dream about when someone wrongs us.
A great novel, and I for one am glad to see that another book in the Ripple Creek saga is being penned.
–Reviewed by Jason
Shiny Book Review 