A Red Dotted Line by Simon Gervais

A Red Dotted Line by Simon Gervais (2016) – Mike Walton, his wife Lisa and the rest of the International Market Stabilization Institute are once again on the trail of the international terrorist known only as “The Sheik”.  It’s a very personal pursuit this time, since “The Sheik” kidnapped Mike father and nearly killed Lisa the last time they tangled.  Now it appears that he has teamed up with reactionary factions in the Russian government.  Their target is millions of Americans.

The International Market Stabilization Institute might sound like a boring economics think tank.  In reality, it is a privately funded organization working outside official channels to keep people from messing around with the American economic system.  Mike and Lisa Walton are two of its top operatives, as well as husband and wife.  They are both very good at what they do.  Add author Simon Gervais to the list of people who are very good at what they do as well.

I loved the feeling of “reality” that waits around every twist of this novel.  There’s an old military maxim that says “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy”.  Too often in thrillers that gets left by the wayside.  Early events in the operation go wrong regularly, when the climax comes everything usually goes according to plan. It’s also nice that things go wrong for the bad guys as well.

Gervais brings some real world grit to the story, and sometimes the smallest item trips up the operation.  That sense of reality comes from the author’s real life.  Gervais has worked as a federal agent for the Canadian government and protected important personages around the globe.  About half way through reading the book I realized there were footnotes!  At several points, the author had decided to do something that was going to raise eyebrows among certain readers.  He carefully lays out exactly why he told the story the way he did and the real life experience he drew upon for those items.

I have a quick and easy way of judging how much I like a book.  If I can set it down and come back to later without trouble, I may like the book but I don’t love it.  “A Red Dotted Line” falls into that category of books I can not wait to get back to reading.  The kind of book you sneak moments during work to read some more.  “A Red Dotted Line” is a book you won’t want to put down.  And you’ll be sorry when it’s over.

I didn’t want to put “A Red Dotted Line” down.  I didn’t want to go to sleep at night.  I can hardly wait to grab the other two pieces (a novel and a novella) in the series.

“A Red Dotted Line” is available for pre-order, and hits the shelves November 1, 2016.

Why I Liked It – An amazing sense of realism that you don’t always get in thrillers.


Why You Will Like It – An unrelenting story energy that just sweeps you along.

Rating – ****  Recommended

I received an ARC copy of this novel as part of the “Spread the Word” initiative by The Story Plant.  Please check my review policy for details on reviews and ARCs.