We have a special face for friends

I received a copy of this book in return for an honest review. It is a step out of my norm for reading preferences so I read it with that in mind.

Joe Ledger was a Baltimore cop who performed heroically in a raid against terrorists and was recruited into the DMS (Department of Military Sciences). This is an elite group of operatives who battle against terrorists or other threats to the U.S.

This is a book of short stories where Joe is in charge of the Echo Team. They go on various missions, often, against people who have been changed in some way and are not the humans they had been.

One of my favorite stories, "Zero Tolerance" where Joe is sent to Afghanistan. There is a woman, wife of a terrorist, who is a molecular biologist. She has developed a pathogen that turns infected people into a hard to kill, zombie like creatures. Joe comes face to face with the woman, Amirah, and it is a struggle for life. What I enjoy most about Joe's actions is that he shows compassion. A soldier infected with the virus is about to begin turning into one of the zombie like creatures. Joe asks the man if he'd like to end it now, before he turns and Joe puts the man out of his misery.

I also enjoyed "The Vault" where soldiers volunteered for a program on genetic enhancements and they were turned into killing creatures. One of the volunteers was a Marine named James Collins. Much like the situation in the previous story, Joe asks Collins if he'd like to be remembered as a Marine who died for his country or what he turned into. Then Joe takes action.

The reader could compare these stories with horror stories of the past. It is certainly a page turner book. There is some bleak reality but the plotting and writing are good and the stories original and interesting.