Book Description
A man forged by war, paramilitary operative Kevin Rhoads is recruited for a solo extraction mission deep inside Siberia. CIA analyst Whitney Skyler’s investigation into a Russian-backed bank on American soil leads to the President of the United States.
Director Cynthia King plays an audacious gambit, leveraging a thirty-year debt of honor to save a captured American agent. But in this world of shifting alliances, even the most careful plans can unravel. Skyler faces an impossible choice: expose her mentor’s dangerous game to protect national security or reveal the truth to Rhoads. Already shattered by loss, Rhoads discovers the devastating betrayal that will transform him into a force of vengeance, leaving death in his wake.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Beyond Honor by K. B. Brodsky (the pen name for the husband-and-wife team of Karen and Bill Brodsky) is a fabulous debut novel. It has everything that a Vince Flynn/Mitch Rapp novel had including action, great character development, and timely geopolitical scenarios with themes of loyalty, duty, sacrifice, and revenge.
There are multiple sub-plots in the book. Readers meet Kevin Rhoads in the first chapter as a 17-year-old Alaskan hunting guide and pilot who takes two US army veterans bear hunting. The veterans were so impressed with Kevin’s skills they told him to call when he finished school. He does just that, fast forwarding, to become a Delta working in the Special Activities Center. He and his team, joined by rising CIA analyst Whitney Skyler, are sent on an operation to accompany US technicians assisting Ukrainian forces. At the last-minute, Rhoads is pulled from the mission so that he can head to his father’s side, who has been hospitalized, and Skyler is called back to Washington. After hearing the team’s transport has been shot down by Russian forces with all dead, they both feel guilty for surviving.
The second plot line has real estate developer, Peter Michaels, being blackmailed by Russian spies who bailed him out of financial trouble. Whitney uncovers a financial trail that leads from Russia back to a Michaels, a close friend of the newly elected US President Kemp.
The third plot line has Skyler also discovering during her investigation that a CIA asset believed dead is alive in a Russian prison. Rhoads is asked to do a solo extraction. Cynthia King, CIA Director of Special Situations, is behind putting Skyler in charge of the investigation and choosing Rhoads for the extraction. Plus, she uncovers a financial trail that leads from Russia and connected to the failed op that killed Rhoads teammates.
The authors have hit the ball out of the park with this debut novel as they pit US and Russian intelligence agencies against each other. Readers will take an emotional journey with the characters as they deal with loss, grief, and complicated relationships. There is a lot of action as the characters are on a quest for vengeance.
Author Interview
Elise Cooper: What’s it like writing together?
K. Brodsky: I think we have a pretty good system where Bill wrote the first draft, and then invited me to join him in the rest of the process. I think we both bring different strengths to it and we have a good system where we write on a Google Doc. All our edits, all our changes, all our thoughts are sort of off to the side in comments and nobody changes anything unless the other person agrees. I think, we got it worked out. What do you think, Bill?
B. Brodsky: I think it’s super fun. You know, putting aside the technicalities of it, we talk about it, and we have a drink over it, and we have a lot of laughs on it.
EC: Idea for the story?
K. B. B: It organically grew, where the components became more complicated, more nuanced as we were going through the story writing process. But we always knew we wanted to make this story about honor and betrayal, and we kind of had the sense that the end of the book will have Kevin and Whitney separated in some way.
EC: What was the purpose of the hunting scene in chapter one?
K. B. B: We wanted to land our character, Kevin Rhodes, in an environment where he can display his talents. We wanted to also show his very deep relationship with his father and the lodge that they work in. The grizzly bears were just a vehicle to show his talents, whether it was the shooting or his resilience when he hurt his ankle, or his confidence in flying a little plane. Once a retired Delta Force and sent to Siberia, readers see a lot of those talents come back, including flying of the plane. So, it was kind of a consistent thing throughout the book. The two hunters he was a guide for were veterans of the army. At the end of the hunt, they were very impressed with him, and they gave him a card and said, ‘When you finish college, call this number, and, there’s a job. We’re in the Delta force.’
EC: How would you describe Kevin, the male lead?
K. B. B: Kevin is determined. A tracker, brave, family minded, calm, laser focused, and went on a mission. He kind of has two sides, one when he’s on a mission, and one when he’s a civilian. We really wanted to show in his character how he is compartmentalized.
EC: Do you think some of the settings was timely?
K. B. B: I think it’s timely, because we tried to paint a geopolitical picture, but we tried to keep it relatively simple and more from the individual’s perspective. In the Ukraine part of the book, while we don’t get into the politics of it, we get into the human cost of it, the people being killed, the toll that it takes on the soldiers, since some of them don’t make it. I think the goal is if you pick up this book 20 years from now, it would still feel relevant, regardless of what was happening in the geopolitical sphere. It would still feel relevant because it’s grounded in characters, versus what was happening in the world at that time. Which is why it wasn’t written to sort of be a rip from the headlines either.
EC: How would you describe Whitney?
K. B. B: She’s is incredibly responsible. I think she carries the weight of what happened to her brother with her, and she doesn’t want to let anybody down. Part of what we really wanted for Whitney was to see growth from her from the beginning to the end. She starts out, not naive, but very earnest, and we wanted her to sort of become more complicated than nuanced as she became more grounded in these situations. But we also made a point to make sure that she didn’t become like a superhero, picking up a gun and turning into a female version of Kevin. We wanted her to have her own skills, which were more of an analyst. She learns from her mentor, Cynthia King.
EC: How would you describe Cynthia King, CIA Director of Special Situations?
K. B. B: She’s willing to do things that go outside of what would be considered good. In all these characters is this concept of being pushed beyond honor. She is pushing people, taking advantage of the debt of honor with Somers, the CIA Director, to get what she believes is necessary.
EC: What role did Daniel Komoroff, CIA asset captured by Russia play in the story?
K. B. B: I think he’s a vehicle to get King really engaged, so that she uses her debt of honor that she feels Somers owes her. So that we really see King manipulating Somers who had no choice but to say yes because of what happened in Berlin 30 or 40 years ago. King pushes Somers beyond her comfort zone. And Komoroff provided a vehicle for King to get passionate, to try to manipulate everybody, because she saw herself in him.
EC: How would you describe President Kemp?
K. B. B: He’s a political animal. I think he’s smart. I think he’s a manipulator and impulsive. He’s a politician, and I think, for better or for worse, whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, he’s supposed to be kind of an amalgamation of lots of different politicians, really the worst of our politics. It’s hard to figure out exactly what they really believe in. They kind of blow with the wind, depending on their polling numbers. They are trying to manipulate people to get votes, to get money, and do not ask the right questions. I think what they believe in is power, period.
EC: What about Anya the Russian Agent?
K. B. B: We kind of set her up to be disillusioned but she does things to help Russia against the US.
EC: Next book?
K. B. B: We explore Anya more deeply in book two. We had a cliffhanger in book one because we are setting readers up for the next phase. Kevin and Whitney will be back. There is no official title yet. The setting is in Venezuela
THANK YOU!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
