A Deeper Blue by John Ringo (2007, Hardcover)

The Kildar is sinking in grief and, with the help from one of the girls he saved in "Ghost" and a small girl in Orlando DOES get pulled out. Of course if you are following the series as I have been this is an ABSOLUTE must. It is also nowhere near "Kildar" itself nor "Into the Breach" where the Soul and character of the Keldara are examined in depth; then forged in fire. The basic plot of the Jihadists attacking Disney World with VX gas is stretching it just even a bit far for me. The resurrection of a character emphatically established in "Ghost" itself was a wonderful premised only to be shipwrecked on the shoals of 2-dimensional character explanation. While we fans can easily accept the "Valley of the Keldara" and the Keldara themselves and they awesome group of trainers and assistants he accumulates as the Kildar rounds out, this effort, while NOT falling flat, is a far cry from his earlier efforts. Many of the characters are two dimensional and have no significant impact at all. The martyrs to be lack the sincerity of evil-purpose found in earlier villans in the series; some of them aren't even TWO-dimensional; just one. The Columbian Drug Lord who is bought by the Jihadists to bring in the VX gas is portrayed as too stupid to have risen that high in ANY cabal. The arrangement between Katya and Kurt however is the high-point of the book, however brief. The moments with the Ford GT racing vehicle in Orlando (with Britney riding "shotgun") borders on bad taste when compared to earlier venues with the Kildar. Many of the funny vignettes, poking holes in pompous, self-important bureaucrats, are John Ringo at his VERY best and make the $26.00 I spent for this book a good buy but, lets face it, just like David Weber, John Ringo just CANNOT keep getting better and better each time out. It is a logical impossibility on the order of proving a negative. On this one, after "into the breach" he takes a step back but at the end........well, you'll just have to read it. Neilw43@yahoo.com