Title: Whatever It Takes: When Duty Calls
Author: Harvey Cleggett
Publisher: XlibrisAU
ISBN: 97819845000038
Pages: 334
Genre: Adventure / Crime / Thriller
Reviewed by: Jake Bishop
Pacific Book Review
If you feel like you’re smack dab in the middle of something when you begin reading this book, it’s because you are. Terrorists have taken over Parliament House and have begun executing politicians. Australian police and the military are attempting a rescue. As if that wasn’t wild enough, before you know it, the apparent ringleader of the bad guys begins executing his own men. And did I mention that there are pregnant women involved. It won’t take you very long to start asking yourself just what have you gotten yourself into. The answer is Harvey Cleggett’s Whatever It Takes world of mile-a- minute-action with fists flying, bullets whizzing, and bombs ticking.
Never one to spare the adrenalin, author Cleggett propels readers into the world of Detective Inspector Michael Ballard as if said readers were shot out of a canon. In this particular instance the savvy inspector has come up with a way to potentially defuse this explosive situation. Of course his rescue attempt puts Ballard into even more peril. But such is the lot of this crime-fighting Aussie and his cadre of cohorts.
The hair-raising exploits of the beginning of this novel are only the first course. Soon to come are fire fights, hand-to-hand combat, car chases and more as Ballard’s compatriots are hot on the trail of the brutal Russian mercenary who led the assault on the government building; plus The Board, a secretly sinister crime organization seeking to spread their malevolent mischief all across the land down under.
Cleggett is a top-shelf storyteller. His action sequences come at you with the impact of a shoulder-fired missile. He also dazzles with his knowledge of police procedures and inter-agency operations. He puts muscle, bone, and heart into his characters whether they’re rousting suspects or soothing the fears of concerned loved ones. And there’s a lot of soothing to be done. The body count is high and rising as his protagonist, Ballard, is going from knee-deep to neck-deep in not-so-innocent bystanders, victims, suspects, and felons.
To his credit, the author keeps the crimes and the chaos credible without having to resort to totally over-the-top heroics. He also manages to adroitly create suspense as well as mayhem. One example is a nail-biting, late-night rendezvous between cops and crooks in an empty seaside parking lot where the only things totally visible are the red dot lasers spotting good guys who may soon become dead guys.
If you like action and adventure that doesn’t stop, even when you get to the end of the book, you’ll want to get Whatever It Takes, and the promised follow-up, Dead Man Walking.
