{"id":9957,"date":"2017-06-14T08:00:49","date_gmt":"2017-06-14T12:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=9957"},"modified":"2017-06-13T13:21:19","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T17:21:19","slug":"review-freedom-broker-k-j-howe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-freedom-broker-k-j-howe\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: &#8216;The Freedom Broker&#8217; by K.J. Howe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Freedom-Broker-Thea-Paris-Novel\/dp\/1681443104\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1494524941&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+freedom+broker+by+k.j.+howe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"9958\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-freedom-broker-k-j-howe\/freedombroker\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/freedombroker.jpg?fit=332%2C499&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"332,499\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"freedombroker\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/freedombroker.jpg?fit=332%2C499&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-9958\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/freedombroker.jpg?resize=233%2C350&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"233\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/freedombroker.jpg?resize=233%2C350&amp;ssl=1 233w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/freedombroker.jpg?w=332&amp;ssl=1 332w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 233px) 85vw, 233px\" \/>The Freedom Broker\u00a0<\/em>by K.J. Howe<\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>Quercus\u00a0(February 2017)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>400\u00a0pages; $17.79 hardback; $12.99 e-book<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Reviewed by Dave Simms<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Far too many times, a thriller fails to live up to its name. Formulaic, tired tropes, ripoffs of the same old &#8220;high concept&#8221; plots which circulate through the shelves as readers&#8217; minds numb to the repetition. Thankfully, a few push beyond the herd with something new now and then. Newcomer K.J. Howe has definitely brought something special to the table. \u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heroine Thea Paris works as a Kidnap and Rescue specialist for Quantum Security International, a &#8220;Freedom Broker.&#8221; \u00a0Kidnapping of Americans is a billion dollar industry in today&#8217;s world as tourists routinely go missing from resorts and overseas business trips. Many never return. Thankfully, those who can afford the freedom brokers or those whose governments care enough to save them might be saved from a grisly death.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The only female K&amp;R specialist finds that her father, Christos Paris, has disappeared from his boat off the coast of Santorini in a vicious kidnapping. Thea and her team know they have a small window to retrieve him before pieces of him are sent back as motivation to pay up. However, there are a few mind-boggling twists to this case, ones which help raise this tale above anything that&#8217;s typical.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Howe infuses the story with characters which bleed personality onto the pages, eschewing the tried and true for the most part. When Thea was a child, she witnessed her brother Nikos taken by a warlord. Years later, she still suffers from the ordeal, with some interesting flaws which keep her above the typical. But it&#8217;s her brother who winds up stealing the prize as the most fascinating character, but details would ruin the surprise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Howe might be a first time novelist, but the razor sharp writing is without an ounce of fat. With loads of technical explanations of weaponry and procedures, this story could easily have been downed in detail, but it only pushes the action forward. This will wind up becoming a contender for best thriller of the year. Easily.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Freedom Broker\u00a0by K.J. Howe Quercus\u00a0(February 2017) 400\u00a0pages; $17.79 hardback; $12.99 e-book Reviewed by Dave Simms Far too many times, a thriller fails to live up to its name. Formulaic, tired tropes, ripoffs of the same old &#8220;high concept&#8221; plots which circulate through the shelves as readers&#8217; minds numb to the repetition. Thankfully, a few &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-freedom-broker-k-j-howe\/\" class=\"more-link button bg-gold white\">Continue Reading!<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Review: &#8216;The Freedom Broker&#8217; by K.J. Howe&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80],"tags":[715,1171,79,1170],"class_list":["post-9957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-dave-simms","tag-k-j-howe","tag-reviews","tag-the-freedom-broker"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: &#039;The Freedom Broker&#039; by K.J. 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