Deep Sleep

Steven Konkoly’s first book in the Devin Gray series is disconcerting, suspenseful, and action-packed. It has aspects of both political and military thrillers as well as a conspiracy thriller. Devin Gray is a counter surveillance expert and a former FBI agent.

When his mother, Helen Gray dies, she’s a disgraced former CIA officer and viewed as paranoid and unstable, even by Devin. However, when he finds what she has left behind, he enlists help from a long-time friend, Marnie Young, and a team of covert operatives. They need hard evidence before taking this shocking information to others. Devin’s mission becomes searching for a way to destroy a covert network in the United States and to prove his mother’s claims and clear her name.

As always, this author brings characters to life, especially Devin and Marnie. They’re intelligent, patriotic, self-confident, strong, and bold. However, they also have some shortcomings that readers find as the story progresses and their natures and backstories become known to readers. It was also great to visit with old friends from the Black Flagged series.

The prologue is a strong start to the novel with action, strength, and heartbreak. However, it took a while to determine how it fit into the rest of the story, which takes readers from Washington DC to multiple US states. This novel kept me captivated from the first page to its astonishing conclusion, which sets up the next book in the series but leaves several threads open that left me wanting more.

The plot is deeply involved with several twists to the story, although many of the activities are over-the-top. It was so full of action and excitement that it kept me turning the pages to find out what was going to happen next. I was kept fully invested in the mission becoming a success. But is that what happens?

Konkoly continues to bring great characters, entertaining story lines, and lots of action together in exhilarating novels. Certain aspects of Devin’s character were especially gratifying when compared to some of the covert operatives. The gripping scenes and great plot kept me on the edge of my seat. Konkoly has become one of my favorite authors and I look forward to reading more from him.

Overall, this book was suspenseful, riveting, fast-paced, action-oriented, and highly entertaining. It was an exhilarating first book in the series and I’m looking forward to reading the next book soon. If you enjoy intriguing action, military, and espionage thrillers that have strong male and female characters, then this may be the series for you.

Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date was February 1, 2022.