High Treason by John Gilstrap
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Number 5 in the series supports my view that the Jonathan Grave series is like a literary comic book. The plots are far fetched, especially this one.

First to first note: I read this in 2016 a month after the 2016 presidential election. An angle in this story is as if Gilstrap could see the future. It’s hard not to read this and imagine certain people involved.

Even though the story is wild, it is a fun one. This is hard not to read fast as I was trying to figure out if the story was as outrageous as it seemed and if the resolution fit the story or cheated the reader. It fit the story.

Characters are all very well written, with the exception of the hero. More below. As usual, though there is plenty of description, the settings are still hard to grasp at times. This entry in the series could have used a bunch of editing as some things are learned that don’t really matter and the settings are lacking. This is especially true at the end where the setting is critical to the story.

The ending is fun, but just ridiculous. This resolution stretches all points of credulity and I didn’t buy any of it. Especially that no character died in all that happened or even got seriously injured.

There are many drawbacks in consistency in #5. First: A certain character that had been part of the last few books has entirely vanished with no mention at all. That wouldn’t bother me but there is the re-re-retelling of who the main character is, his pals, the HQ, etc. If all of that is to be rehashed each time, finishing a plot line from the last book should have been done.

A serious drawback: This is really one of the worst cases of Gilstrap stumbling in his writing. I guess to make the book work and to fill the lost of a member of the team, he tossed in a few other characters as helpers. However, earlier versions of the Jonathan Graves would never had done that, nor should the character have done it here, either. This really caved the book for me. If all sorts of strategy is being explained throughout, Gilstrap should have tried to explain the decision to include the helpers in the resolution. Sappy dialogue doesn’t cut it. My further concern is that Gilstrap mentions at the end that two of the helpers are based on two real people. I’d like to hope Gilstrap didn’t sacrifice the story for little rewards. Because the inclusion did sacrifice the story.

As much fun as this one is, it is a loss for me, so….

Bottom line: i don’t recommend this book. 4 out of ten points.

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