Fade

I have read or listened to all of Kyle Mill's books and his newest book--Fade--is among the best! In Salam al Fayed (Fade) Mills has created an exciting, somewhat zany, and resourceful character. This is a book about revenge and the settling of old scores between men who were once partners and friends. Fade is the ex-seal and elite special ops agent whose been pushed too far, one too many times.

In the beginning of the book Fade's career comes to an abrupt halt when he is nearly killed while attempting the rescue of a young Arab girl. In a typical bureaucratic snafu (situation normal all "messed" up), the government denies him the complicated medical procedure that would have returned him to work and full health and as a result he is on his own with nothing to show for a life devoted to the most dangerous missions imaginable. Now, years later, the government has once again come calling for his unique services. Only this time it's Fade who has no desire to help. Threatened and pursued by the government and in turn the police (on trumped up government charges/lies), Fade does the only thing he was ever trained to do when attacked. He attacks back, and with all the skill and imagination that had at one time made him the very best in the business!

Thrilling and absorbing weekend end read!

After a brilliant debut novel, Kyle Mlls wrote three or four good but not great books. Not so for his last two. These are page turners deluxe. Three weeks ago I read and reviewed his tongue and cheek novel about big tobacco, called Smoke Screen and was extremely impressed. Now I've just finished his latest book, "Fade" and I am again impressed.

The title "Fade" is the name of the protagonist - Salem al Fayad, Fade for short - an ex CIA killing machine. Fade is a born and raised in the US, Christian Arab, who after being operational in the Middle East in the late nineties, found himself seriously wounded - a bullet near the spine - which threatened to paralyze him. There was an experimental operation which could remove the bullet and the danger but his friend and handler Matt Egan was unable to get anyone to pay for it.

Fast forward to present day; Matt is now working for Homeland Security and he and his boss, Hillel Strand have been tasked with setting up an overseas ongoing Middle Eastern operation and while reviewing the files of possible candidates, Matt's boss, to Matt's chagrin zeros in on Salem al Fayad, deciding he would be the perfect recruit. Matt tries to dissuade Strand but he is unyielding and insists on a visit to meet his new would be recruit.

Fade (Salem al Fayad) is bitter about his previous shoddy treatment by his country. When the government wouldn't pay for his operation, he went to work for a Columbian drug lord, in Columbia, helping him eliminate some of his competition, in order to raise enough money for the operation but alas, when he finally amassed the needed amount, it was too late as scar tissue, congregating around the bullet made the operation impossible. So when his old friend Matt and the imperious Hillel Strand showed up trying to enlist his services, they were sent packing in no uncertain terms.

Hillel Strand was not used to not getting his way, so he arranged for Fade to be arrested on some phony murder charge, wherein he would clear Fade, thereby making him indebted but as if in response to Murphy's Law, the worst case scenario ensues, putting Fade on the run and Strand hiding out from Fade, who now has promised to kill him. (This is the one weakness I found in the story - The sheriff sending out a SWAT team in the middle of the night to arrest a man on an anonymous phone tip)

Even though "Fade" is only 311 pages long, Kyle Mills manages to give the reader a good feel for his characters. Both Egan and Fade are likable as is Karen Manning, who enters the story as the head of a SWAT team sent to arrest Fade. The villain, of course, is the self important Hillel Strand, with runner-up honors to Manning's boss, Sheriff Pickering. Egan is put in the middle of the battle between Fade and Strand and you don't know which way he will jump.

As with Mill's previous six books the narrative is strong, smooth and fluid, without being wordy. As mentioned the book is only 311 pages and that is because he doesn't drag the reader into loquacious dialogue or go off in unnecessary directions. Instead he seems to reel the reader in by increasing the suspense on a chapter by chapter basis, in which the reader finds it difficult to take a break.

I'm further impressed that Mills seems to have an unending array of divergent plots. This is his seventh book and while some best selling writers seem to rehash different versions of the same plot, like Harlan Coben, Mills has not repeated any characters, nor has any of his wildly diverse plots have any similarities. So far, when you pick up a book by Mills, you are reading a fresh, new and well written story. Expect Kyle Mills to make the NY Times bestseller list in the future and eventually become a mainstay.

Where to begin, ok, there was a fair amount of tension and excitement in this novel. Some interesting situations. However, the whole idea of a former Seal trying to kill his best friend and vice versa was a little hard for me to take. I am wondering if K. Mills knows of any former Seals who would do such a thing. Men who become Navy Seals are so throughly trained, retrained and double checked that a emotionally troubled person such as Fade would never make it. The process is too well honed to turn out someone who would react as Fade did to his situation.

Also the whole idea of good guys fighting good guys was annoying to me. With the exception of Hillel Strand and Roy Bucker (another unrealistic character)the other main characters were honorable and to see them constantly trying to get the best of each other was silly.

I also didn't appreciate his political commentary in which he attempted to make our soliders look bad or ignorant for following orders to destroy an enemy. He diminished the sacrifice that hundreds of thousands of men and women have made for this country by suggesting many times that what they have done was not necessary or that it was useless.

Fade's character didn't make sense, he was presented as someone who was trying to kill his best friend, yet at the same time he joked around and seemed like a decent guy.

There are so many things I could talk about, but basically I found the novel's premise to be jarring and unrealistic. I won't even go in to the stupid Elise character who was angry at her husband for doing everything he could to protect her and their child and for serving our country faithfully as he had.

If you want to read something of this type where the good guys fight real bad guys, try Brad Thor, Victor O'Reilly, Matthew Reilly to name just a few. I won't be reading anymore of Kyle's books unless I am desperate for a way to pass some time.

When a book starts off with an early scene depicting the protagonist committing violent acts against other 'good guys,' you can be sure that you're not in for one of those stereotypical Baldacci book by numbers.

Kyle Mills delivers a fast-paced thriller in which many of the typical twists and turns and unbelieveable romantic side stories never appear. Hooray! This book delivered on the promises made on its jacket, and kept me reading far past my bed-time.

An excellent and exciting thriller.

While the title character seems a little too humorous at times to jive with his big, bad history I still enjoyed this quite a bit. It was the perfect blend of suspense and humor. Well done and I can't wait to read the next one!

A director of Homeland Security,Hillel Strand is trying to recruit agents for undercover work in the Middle East.Strand gets his second in command Matt Egan to approach his former

friend Salam al-Fayed better known as Fade.Fade is a former Navy

Seal who speaks Arabic and is the son of Middle East immigrants.

There is one problem.Fade was shot in the back in Iraq and the

American government denied him help.

He is now living a low income life with a bullet near his spine that could cause paralysis.Fade is bitter towards the

government and Matt Egan blaming both for his present situation.

He refuses to go back into government service.Strand convinces the local police to arrest Fade on false charges so he can attempt to strike a deal for Fade's cooperation.A police SWAT

team is killed by the former Navy Seal.He becomes a fugitive at

large because of this incident.A massive effort is launched to

arrest or assassinate Fade.There is nonstop action as the

authorities attempt to apprehend Fade.It has a very exciting finish.Be sure to read this book.

"Fade" has restored my faith in Mr. Mills. With none of the gratuitous sex and violence that marred his last couple works, he has managed to tell a compelling action story about an operative trained to deal with morally-ambiguous circumstances who is shamefully abandoned by his government. Do not misunderstand--I do not issue a blanket condemnation of sex and violence, we are all impacted by such and such themes have a place in literature. However, a fine writer can leave much to the imagination that a lesser writer will force his reader to wade through. I applaud Mr. Mills for having sufficient faith in his plot and prose to avoid unnecessarily explicit writing.

Even though the protagonist is a wonderfully-drawn complex character, I greatly enjoyed the skewering of a governmental weenie-type. The kind of fellow who masters office politics and rises far beyond his ability, Hillel Strand is the type of person who avoids ethical dilemmas by construing all situations in terms of self-interest.

Sure, Fade is an action story and there is plenty of fighting and high-end carrying on--but it is much more than that. The novel has a depth that was missing in earlier works precisely because it treats issues of deep moral import and resolves them with a measure of respectful ambiguity thereby leaving the reader to think about the story rather than merely turn the pages. It is about who issues orders, whether they should be followed and how such orders change the world.

I was gratified to find that Mr. Mills has, at least in this offering, abandoned much of the coarseness that pervades action thrillers. In so doing, he elevated both his prose and the power of his story. In a world where the sympathies of combatants in the battle of good vs. evil are no longer easily identifiable, it pays to think about the consequences of power and exercises thereof.

This is an exciting, can't-put-it-down, thriller, post 911, that asks some interesting if not ancient questions. But I'll get to that in a moment.

Salam al Fayad, Fade, is American born of Middle Eastern parents who finds solace in the service, the SEALs in particular, where he discovers what he is really good at: killing bad guys.

Matt Egan, also coming from humble beginnings, ends up in the SEALs but his forte is thinking the mission out. At the risk of a terribly cliched comment, Egan is the rifle, Fade is the trigger. The two become best of friends until a mission in the Gulf War gets fouled up and Fade takes a bullet in the back, the projectile ending up within a hair of his spinal column. No problem. There's a surgeon with a new procedure that can remove the bullet and Fade, we assume, would be at least mobile again.

But the government gets involved (reference Ruby Ridge and Katrina) and 'they' refuse to pay for the very expensive operation.

Karen Manning is a beautiful, educated, physically powerful SWAT team leader, hated by her colleagues because of her gender, threatened by her bosses who feel incompetant next to her, and, I guess my father would have said, additionally she 'has a mouth on her,' no doubt fueling the fires of resentment and envy.

The government (Homeland Security) now wants Fade back in service but Fade tells them . . . . well there are two words and the last one is 'no.'

So in order to pressure Fade who has buit is farmhouse into something akin to the gunfight at the OK corral, without telling Manning any important information like, Fade was the best they ever saw, they send her and her team to arrest Fade on trumped up charges. And man, that's just in the first 30 pages.

Very exciting novel. But it also asks the question of what we do for the men and women we train to do the hard jobs? Do we turn our backs on them when they are of no more use? That's my reference to Alan Ladd's Shane in the title. Gunfighters, the men of Easy Company, Vietnam veterans. We don't necessarily treat them well.

Mills writes a great story. Certainly one of his best if not the best. And he poses some uncomfortable questions along the way. 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury

Salam al Fayed is an assassin abandoned by his government after he is badly wounded while returning from a mission. The US government won't pay for the expensive, exotic surgery he needs. Known as Fate, he faces death or total paralysis from his wounds when an ambitious government bureaucrat, Hillel Strand, decides Fate is needed as part of a new counter-terrorism team. Strand is not dissuaded by the protestations of Matt Egan, Fate's one-time partner.

Strand makes a terrible mistake and tries to extort Fate into joining his team. Deadly tragedy ensues and Fate is now the subject of a manhunt. Karen Manning, a local police officer has been left to twist in the wind by her poltically ambitious boss. Soon her path with cross with Fate's in unanticipated ways.

Fate vows deadly revenge against Strand and Egan. After all, with a bullet lodged near his spine, Fate has little to lose. But Egan does: a loving, unconventional wife and his young daughter.

Mills winds up the plot beyond clockspring tightness. There isn't a page without often adrenaline producing action. Fate is a fearsome hunter. Strand is a craven coward who doesn't hesitate to lie and manipulate. Egan is a friend conflicted by what he should do about Fate, who has vowed to kill him. Other sharply drawn characters weave in and out of this tightly plotted thriller.

There's nary a missed beat in this novel. From start to finish, it is entirely engrossing, the characters jumping off the page and the action inventive and non-stop. Not a book to pick up when you're facing a deadline --- because you'll forget about work or anything else until the last page. And maybe not even then.

Jerry

A gripping tale very well written.

Very hard to put down.

Lost some sleep because I always had to see

the next chapter.

The ending is very satisfying

Guy Dombrowski