The Night Ranger: A John Wells Novel, Book 7

John Wells is human. He makes mistakes, he gets hurt, he kills in self defense and in defense of others. The storyline starts out with the plot leading up to when John gets drawn into it. You get a good feeling of who the characters are and the plot is very interesting and leaves you really wanting him to get involved and save the day.John Wells is former CIA, retired. He left the company years before out of disillusionment for the politics involved. An old friend, Shafer, who is close to mandatory retirement, still helps with whatever John needs. John is called on by the parents of one of the volunteers that went to East Africa to help with aid. She and three other volunteers are kidnapped and held for ransom. Until things go terribly sideways and they come to realize they have been betrayed.East Africa is a whole new ballgame for John. He's only been in the region very briefly, long ago, so things are different in the way they are handled. Money still talks, but you need a "fixer" to make things work.

The kids are working for a “Legitimate, charity with a director who pays himself nearly 1 million dollars per year in salary. In addition, he flies first class, stays in 5 star hotels, and had a luxury car all billed to,this charity. The white ten volunteers decide on a week vacation to a retreat spot. The director’s nephew goes along with them along with a “guard.” They take an alternate route to their vacation site and are kidnapped. John Wells is contacted by his estranged son to see if John can help as he knows these kids who are also from Montana. John works,his magic. ... This is a great read and hard to put down.

Berenson's character, John Wells, has had many roles over his career; assassin, special forces soldier, CIA operative and now hostage negotiator. In all of his roles the one constant has been the ever present guilt that Wells has bottled up; guilt over his estranged son, guilt over his chosen profession and guilt over consequences of his behavior and guilt over his inability to establish a new life free of guilt. It is this guilt that has Wells going to Kenya and Somalia to rescue friends of his son who were kidnapped and are being held hostage by Somalian war lords.It is at this point that this books begins to differ from the others in the John Wells series. The author seemed more intent on describing conditions in African refugee camps, the inadequacies of aid work and the inherent dangers of East Africa with the character of John Wells taking a back seat. Much of the plot is spent giving insight into aid workers, warring Somalian tribal warlords and corrupt Kenyan police officers. If this was the intent of the author then he succeeded. John Wells was not the central theme of this story.There were several parts of the story that seemed to be underdeveloped. The head of the aid group was a very shallow and very stereotypical "bad" guy. He added nothing to the story except as a convenient piece of the back story and providing a easy villain. The entire aid camp story just seemed contrived and, again, added nothing to the story.While I enjoyed catching up with Berenson's, John Wells, I did not find this book to be on the same level of many of the previous books in this series. John Wells seemed tired, his CIA cohorts just provided some necessary filler material and the story line was not that interesting. Never fear though, I will read the next book in the series because I find the character of John Wells to be an interesting character.

The biggest difference between a superior thriller and one that's just so-so lies in the degree to which the setting and circumstances are inherently interesting -- and in the research the author has done to bring them to life in a fully credible manner. Though others may best him in other ways, it's hard to find a thriller writer who is more diligent or more ingenious at research than Alex Berenson, who is a former New York Times correspondent.In The Night Ranger, the seventh novel in his John Wells series, Berenson casts a spotlight on one of the greatest tragedies on Earth, the plight of hundreds of thousands of refugees from the recurring drought and unending civil war in Somalia.In most respects, The Night Ranger is a conventional thriller, with the doughty hero taking action against great odds to save humanity from great evil. In this case, he even gets to rescue two beautiful young damsels in distress, all the while his actions prevent another ill-considered invasion of a distant country by the US military. The action is virtually non-stop, and tension builds steadily toward a shattering climax, making the book progressively more difficult to set aside.Wells, now ex-Army and ex-CIA, rushes to Dadaab, site of an enormous camp for Somali refugees in northeastern Kenya. There, four young American volunteers, working temporarily for a US charity, are kidnapped on their way to a nearby luxury vacation site. Having volunteered to attempt the young people's rescue without pay, Wells teams up with his former CIA boss, Ellis Shafer, to take advantage of the agency's electronic surveillance capabilities. As his search begins, Wells quickly learns that the situation is far more complex than he could have imagined.What sets aside The Night Ranger from other thrillers set in exotic locales is the abundance of credible detail Berenson offers up, from a snapshot of Kenyan bureaucracy and a portrayal of Somali bandit gangs to discussions of weaponry and the tactics of hand-to-hand fighting. Alex Berenson knows stuff that few of the rest of us do.The Night Ranger is a thoroughly enjoyable bit of escapist literature, with more than a dollop of education about the refugee crisis thrown in for good measure.

Having virtually binge read and enjoyed the first six John Wells novels (some to a lesser degree than others) I was looking forward to THE NIGHT RANGER due to its change of scene from the Middle East to Africa. There is no doubt that Mr Berenson can weave a plot and - as with his earlier offerings - he has researched the geography and local 'political' scenarios well. That said, this book been a disappointing experience: I found the characters weak and the dialogue almost childish in places with a plot that was too far-fetched to be remotely believable. All in all, a great letdown. I have already purchased #8 (THE COUNTERFEIT AGENT) and hope that with Wells' return to the Middle East the work will be as entertaining as the first six.

Having read all of Berenson's, Wells series, this is by the far the most disappointing for me. I had no empathy with the hostages, or our hero. Wells as a character is in danger of becoming a very real paradox. Either leave him to be the trained killer he is, without mentioning a dozen times how he doesn't want to kill this guy, or that guy, because they are not really his enemy, when clearly they are. He can't be a goody two shoes and a trained killer. It's just too confusing for the reader. The plot is really weak and drags by with the same story told as seen from several peoples perspective. Problem with this is that you already know the outcome as you have just read it from someone else's perspective. This leaves you feeling you are just going over the same ground time and time again.I paid more for this book than any other of Berenson's and feel I got the least value by some considerable distance.

As good if not better than usual . Great writing and enjoying the whole adventure with Wells. Next book come on in

Wells was good, believable story line, next one please can we have more brutal stories, no goody two shoes, just plain old nasty

Great book and hooked me into the whole series

Good read again for the night ranger obviously technically retained and keeping the reader engrossed in the book until the end

I wasn't sure at first whether this book would be a good as the others but once i got stuck into it, i was hooked. it had a great storyline and it made you want to read on until the end. A great read and well worth the wait. Definetly recomend it to those who have enjoyed the much loved Mitch Rapp series by the late Vince Flynn and enjoy a good thriller suspense. Give it 10/10!!

Although the book itself isn't terrible, it was definitely a couple of steps down from Alex Berenson's other novels. John Wells is out of his element and seems out of character in this book. Maybe that was the author's intent (being in Somalia vs. Afghanistan), but it just made reading the book feel like a slog. The bickering between Vinny Dutto and Schaefer got old after the first exchange.If you've never read any Alex Berenson books before then don't start with this one - go with The Faithful Spy or The Ghost War instead.

Once again Alex Berenson scores. I've now read all of the books in this series, and will be counting down the time until the next release (probably next year!). Good action and characters in unfamiliar (to me) settings mean I invariably am educated subconsciously about areas of the world and issues that I would only normally see on a News broadcast - whilst turning the pages at a fast rate. Gripping.

An easy read, which could have been developed from a short story. Nonetheless it was on the money for John Wells readers

It’s so exciting that I had to finish it while I sleep and hope it ends as I know it will Happy ever after!!!

very good

Perfect Story for the character, very well written, great action sequences, really interesting plot, just a perfect read for a wet weekend or a bright day at the beach, go get it, you will enjoy the time you spend with this book.

I've just finished reading A.Berenson latest and like the previous seven found it to be a good entertaining thriller.His characters are very strong and his dialogue is first class.My only problem now is having read books 1-8 in the last two months I have to wait at least nine months for his next novel a long pregnant pause.

Alex Berenson goes up in my estimation, every book I read. Somehow there seems to be more depth to his works than with other authors. Keep it up!