Overwatch
by Matthew Betley has an action plot with non-stop shootouts,
exploding bombs, home invasions, drug cartels, and terrorists.
Having served in Iraq Betley uses his experiences to create
a gripping plot.
He commented to blackfive.net, “As a Marine junior officer
I commanded a scout sniper platoon. Although I had a lot of
tactical training my deployments were in a staff support function.
Unfortunately, mortars and rockets don’t care about
what capacity someone is in. When I was in Iraq US forces
took the most missile fire during the war. The locations,
settings, military units, and certain narrative components
are all very real, but the overall story is completely my
own. I decided to write this story because I read some bestsellers
that bored me. I wanted to write something I would personally
want to read, an action packed thriller. I created a modern
day action hero who had some issues going back to the origins
set in Iraq.”
The story begins when former Marine Recon Commander Logan
West attempts to get his life back on track and reconnect
with his wife before the divorce is finalized. As a relapsing
alcoholic and someone suffering from PTSD he must deal with
his demons. West has nightmares about the ambush that his
Force Recon unit suffered in Iraq during an insurgent attack
on a compound in Fallujah in 2004. But that is all put on
hold when someone tries to kill him and his wife. After answering
the dead killer’s phone West begins to connect the dots,
realizing that a terrorist attack is imminent. The key appears
to be an Iraqi flag that is currently owned by his friend
and fellow Marine, John Quick. The FBI hires both ex-Marines
as consultants to help thwart the attack that will draw the
US into a war with Iran. It becomes clear they must battle
ex-US military, now hired as mercenaries, by Calin Frost,
a private security consultant out for revenge.
Readers might be a bit skeptical how West can conduct himself
while still having re-occurring blackouts and alcoholic binges.
West’s withdrawal symptoms could have created problems
even if he seems to have a superhuman ability to lock into
the mission.
Because Betley is a recovering alcoholic, sober for seven
years, he told blackfive.net, he made those scenes very realistic.
He noted, “I was a highly functioning weekend alcoholic.
I would get hammered on the weekends. I thought about what
would happen if I were in a bender. I basically would not
stop drinking until I was hammered.”
Overwatch has the action taking place all over the
globe, from Mexico, to America, specifically the Alamo, to
the war torn Iraq Al-Anbar province. This debut novel has
non-stop action that has readers feeling the realities of
combat.
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