Trained to Hunt (Pierce Hunt Book 2)

Veteran author Simon Gervais is back with his second Pierce Hunt thriller, Trained to Hunt. Gervais, a former infantry officer, turned federal LEO had an extensive career investigating illegal narcotics, then working along side elite anti-terrorism units from all over the world. After a rewarding career full of long hours, sacrifice, and constant training, Gervais turned to writing. He has three novels and one short novella in his international best-selling Mike Walton thriller series. His last, Hunt Them Down (2019) was the first in a new series with protagonist Pierce Hunt, a former Army Ranger (RLTW) and current DEA agent. That novel earned critical acclaim worldwide, having 4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon, with over a thousand customer reviews. Over five thousand ratings on Goodreads and earned itself a Blast Radius of a DIRTY BOMB! (9/10) from us. His follow up, Trained to Hunt is even better. With an established list of characters, very few had to be introduced from scratch, which left more room for killing bad guys, and Pierce Hunt is very good at dishing out death to those that deserve it, especially when he’s motivated to punish everyone involved in the events that took place in the last book.Trained to Hunt picks up roughly four months after the kidnapping and rescue of Hunt’s daughter Leila and her best friend Sophia. Due to the fact that Hunt waged an almost one-man war against the notorious Black Toska aka Valentina Mieles he was fired from the DEA, we learn later at the request of POTUS. The administrator of the DEA, Tom Hauer however hired Hunt and his team as contractors. This is actually one of the best written ways to keep an almost rogue type of agent in the game. He did disobey orders and waged his own war on the responsible cartel, but those actions also have consequences like they would in the real world. The reason this sat well with me is because the U.S. Government is notorious for outsourcing to contractors. The latest Gerard Butler movie currently in theaters, Angel Has Fallen actually revolves around military contractors. Also, as a veteran myself, I personally know how many contractors were being utilized in OIF and OEF. The ratio between contractors and troops at its peak was 3 to 1.After receiving a tip that one of the few living high ranking members of the Black Tosca’s cartel is in New Orleans, Pierce goes hunting. Conducting surveillance on his target alone isn’t easy and Hunt gets spotted, giving chase and of course catching up to the target. Unknown to Pierce at the time, he interrupted an ongoing CIA operation to recruit this guy. This creates an opportunity for the CIA and utilizing Hunt’s extensive knowledge on the said cartel, they end up mounting an operation together. During this operation, Pierce was part of a team, but when he heard a girl’s high-pitched scream, he abandoned all of his training and charged forward, saying to himself, “if it were Leila in that room screaming for her life, what would he expect a highly trained operator like himself to do?” This stuck out to me, specifically because I remembered reading very similar dialogue in Andrews and Wilson’s latest Tier One thriller, American Operator. There, the protagonist John Dempsey says, “if you were stuck in CONUS right now and that was your daughter being held inside that hellhole – what would you want the two operators on the X to do?” Andrews and Wilson are also veteran authors, this tells me these guys all strive to build characters who are rough, violent, and tough, but also good at their core. In my mind as the reader, they’re quite successful.Back home, Leila is still dealing with the trauma from being kidnapped a few months ago but is recovering quite well with the help of her supportive boyfriend and high school football star, with much potential. Until they’re at one of his games and he loses consciousness and ends up fighting an ultimate losing battle for his life. Along with him, over a hundred young athletes have all suffered a similar faith. Current DEA investigations have concluded that the Garcia crime family is responsible for distributing this new drug that hit the market early before proper tests were conducted. But Anna Garcia is the current head of the Garcia crime family and she struck a deal with Tom Hauer to clean up her vast family businesses and go legitimate. Was trusting Anna a mistake? Or is there more at play here? Her business is vast and not everyone that works for her is ready to give up their illegal activities and the big pay day it provides. Some would do anything to remain a criminal organization and others would really like to seize control of the business from Anna.The mission with the CIA Hunt participated in has led the authorities to more intel in where these drugs are being made. This gives Hunt and his team the wonderful opportunity to deploy to a war zone in Afghanistan to find where these labs are located. Coming up empty after weeks of searching, Hunt utilized an old contact and gets some intelligence while fighting off multiple attacks from the Taliban. At the same time, another undercover DEA agent is running for his life through the jungle of Venezuela. While back home, Anna Garcia is being targeted for assassination if she doesn’t willingly participate in distributing this new drug.Intense action, life threatening situations, gun fights on three continents, an assassin with no remorse, and a drug that threatens the nation’s youth. This thriller starts strong and does not let up. Pierce Hunt is as formidable as ever and targeting those he loves is a sure death sentence. Available on September 24, 2019. This Pierce Hunt thriller is a must-read.

This is a new author for myself just picked it up by chance and I've read his first two books and on my way to the Third. This book is so good well both books matter of fact that I haven't been able to get anything done just reading Audible and it's so exciting. This author is an excellent writer and he has you gripped from the first chapter I will check out his other books that he has written also. When reading his books you were right there you can feel it and see it. I thank him for such a marvelous read well done.

Trained To Hunt is a pedal to the metal fast paced action thriller with an ever evolving protagonist who’s twice as lethal in this thriller as the book before.The story picks up shortly after the events of book 1, with Pierce Hunt hunting down all the players of a crime syndicate that had even a pinky in the kidnapping of his daughter. The first chapter itself opens up with an entertaining foot pursuit, shootout, and fisticuffs in a bar. Pierce Hunt doesn’t mess around with his foes. The story takes on a new layer as Hunt is sent on the trail of new players in the drug trade who come up with a cocktail of amphetamine that kills hundreds of athletes all over US. With tensions swirling high, and discoveries leading to shocking developments of possible betrayal and threats hitting close to home for Hunt, he goes on a globe trotting mission from US to the deserts of Afghanistan and to the jungles of Venezuela to find out who’s responsible and how to stop them. The crazy part? The threat comes from highly placed officials of a struggling country. All the more dangerous.Pierce Hunt is an enjoyable and no nonsense lethal protagonist. This is shown abundantly clear through lots of well crafted and adrenaline pumping action sequences that are technically and tactically sound in nature from the weapons to the tactics employed in the field. Each action sequence drives the story forward without feeling like a filler sequence.The characters in Trained to Hunt feel relatable and well fleshed out. Each character goes through their own dilemmas in an interesting way that doesn’t detract from the narrative and instead adds to the driving force of the story. The character interactions feel natural and engaging for readers to get into. The motivations for the antagonists are described in a way that feel somewhat noble but executed harmfully. This engaged me even further as it kept me glued to the book to see how the evil plan would be thwarted.Trained To Hunt introduces Hunt to the world of espionage as he partakes in a CIA sanctioned operation and is drawn into the web of spy trade at the surprising end of the book. The ending promises the readers there is more of the story to come and I for one can not wait to read the third book. I enjoyed how the narrative wraps up just well enough to conclude most of the story for the book while leading directly into the third book as to not tie up everything too fast. I absolutely recommend this book for readers of the action thriller genre. It’s fun, it’s exciting, it’s viscous, and it’s brutal. Go for it!

This is the second book I have read from Simon Gervais. I previously read the first Pierce Hunt Novel - Hunt them down. Its been a while since I've found a new (to me) author of this calibre. He keeps the suspense going. I'd definitely recommend his books, and I'm pleased to find there are a number of his books I've yet to read!

Simon Gervais, sure can pen a gripping story. I couldn't put the book aside, I read it at every opportunity. I liked the way this story linked with the first book, I enjoy when you can follow the characters, and their development with each other. I can't wait for the next story about Pierce Hunt and Co.

One if those books you just can’t put down! The characters are intriguing and likeable. A mixture of dark and light.

Great family interaction as well as plenty of action. The author 's background shines through in this definite page turner. I can't wait to read book 3.

EXCELLENT STORY FROM BEGINNING TO END. THIS IS THE SECOND ONE I HAVE READ AND I HAVE ALREADY ORDERED THE NEXT ONE AND LOOKING FORWARD TO IT.