Power Down (Dewey Andreas #1)

Title: Power Down (Dewey Andreas #1)

Author: Ben Coes

Date Published: September 2010

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Pages: 449

★★★★★

A major North American hydroelectric dam is blown up and the largest off-shore oil field in this hemisphere is destroyed in a brutal, coordinated terrorist attack. But there was one factor that the terrorists didn't take into account when they struck the Capitana platform off the coast of Colombia—slaughtering much of the crew and blowing up the platform—and that was the Capitana crew chief Dewey Andreas. Dewey, former Army Ranger and Delta, survives the attack, rescuing as many of his men as possible. But the battle has just begun.

While the intelligence and law enforcement agencies scramble to untangle these events and find the people responsible, the mysterious figure of Alexander Fortuna—an agent embedded into the highest levels of American society and business—sets into play the second stage of these long-planned attacks. The only fly in the ointment is Dewey Andreas—who is using all his long-dormant skills to fight his way off the platform, then out of Colombia and back to the U.S., following the trail of terrorists and operatives sent to stop him. 

Power Down was one of the most amazing books I have read in a long time. I absolutely LOVE how Ben Coes tells a story. He tells it from one person's point of view, rewinds a few sentences and then goes to another character in the book and talks about how they view it or what they are going through during the same time period. This is Ben Coes' first book and I hope that there are many more to come, I am a dedicated fan now. In the synopsis for Power Down, they compare Ben Coes to Vince Flynn which I think is a grave injustice to both writers. Being a (major) fan of Flynn also, having read a lot of his books and then comparing it to Coes, the only similarities I see are that they focus on government issues and they are both great writers. Amazing. The way Coes developed the main character, Dewey Andreas, and made him so imperfect was also a big hit with me. I love it when the main hero is flawed and doesn't come out of gun battles unscathed and you don't see that too often. I am definitely impatiently waiting the next installment of Dewey Andreas ... hopefully there will be one! Great job, Coes!