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American Assassin by Vince Flynn

I was a big fan of Vince Flynn early in his career bu the enthusiasm lessened until at about 2/3s of the way through the Mitch Rapp novels I stopped reading them. I always intended to get back to them but never did. I saw the trailer for the film adaptation and decided to look the novel up. Mostly I wanted to see where the Hollywood Leftists decided to muck with conservative Flynn's vision. Not too much from what I can tell in comparing the novel and trailer. BUT first, the novel is great. We get how Rapp entered the arena of international espionage. It is every bit as good as I remember from Flynn's earlier books. It has a nice lean story, well rounded characters, and good action. It a good read. If you haven't, do so. Back to the movie. the only comment I'm going to make short of seeing the movie is on the casting of Michael Keaton as Stan Hurley. I didn't see it at first. then I got the last quarter of the novel. no spoilers but Keaton is perfectly cast. If certain portions of the novel make it into the movies he's damned perfect.

Challenges of the Deeps by Ryk E. Spoor

This is the third in Spoor's Grand Central Arena series. It is a great book. I loved it and hope for more. If you liked the first two, you'll like these. If you haven't read the first two, you need to before you read this. The synopsis at the beginning tries to make up the difference, it isn't the same.