Without Sanction: A Matt Drake Novel, Book 1

Debut author Don Bentley spent a decade as an Army Apache helicopter pilot, while deployed to OEF, he earned a Bronze Star Medal and the Air Medal with “V” for valor. After his stint in the Army, Don got out as a Captain and joined the FBI. There, Special Agent Bentley focused on foreign intelligence and counterintelligence, completing his career with the FBI as a member of their elite SWAT.Without Sanction introduces to the world Matt Drake, an Army Ranger (RLTW) veteran and analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency or DIA. When we meet Matt, he’s a broken man. Unsure of what is happening to him, he has quit his job and became a recluse. Battling his demons every day, trying and failing to find a way back into society, to his friends, to his wife. For months he battles the same battle of survivor’s guilt, post-traumatic stress disorder, tremors, nightmares, anxiety, and depression that many real-world veterans go through. An accurate type of description only an author that has been there and done that can express.Without Sanction has quite a bit of political drama, on par with a Vince Flynn novel, Bentley does a fantastic job giving these characters a purpose and meaning to where they think their way is the only way to handle a certain situation. Many are ambitious and use their power to get what most in politics want, more power. Amongst those characters is a politician that’s not a prick, President Jorge Gonzales. Nearing the end of his first term and trying to get re-elected. To shield him from all the chaos, Peter Redman, his Chief of Staff, is forced to deal with this mess created a mere few days before the Presidential election.A spy thriller, a political thriller, with a dose of espionage and hardcore military action, this novel has is it all. Some high praise worthy writing that deserve a mention is when Drake needs to insert himself into a denied area of operations without being detected by the many forces that call this battles space home, remnants of ISIS are everywhere, the Free Syrian Army, Assad’s Army, and of course the Russians to name a few. Drake enters this battlespace utilizing a unique method that will have you at the edge of your seat.Following the badassery there, the emotional surprises, the dangers, the determination of Drake to see this through, the humor, and the few allies Drake has left willing to help him complete his mission is few and far between. But when the Ranger Creed is driving you, the choice is an easy one, quitting is not an option. What we have is an absolute must-read debut novel from a very talented rising star. If I had to compare Without Sanction to prior debuts, I think Vince Flynn’s Term Limits and Jack Carr’s The Terminal List would be the most accurate comparison. As a new author, Don Bentley is standing out among the very best the thriller community has to offer. I very much look forward to more Matt Drake in the future. Earning itself a Lima Charlie Review rating of a DIRTY BOMB! A 9.25/10 Lima Charlie Rating.

This is Bentley's first book and it generally was an OK read. Lot's of action, although over the top at times. You don't need to outdo every author out there just to make a name for yourself. You walked the walk as an Apache pilot, so just talk the talk.My main gripe is one I have with many first-time authors - they don't know how to end the story. I enjoyed Without Sanction, but the ending left me meh.

This was my first Don Bentley read. If he does as God of job on this series as he picks up Mitch Rapp series. We will be in great hands. This book was excellent lot of intriguing plots and different plot lines. Matt went through hell but upheld the Ranger creed. 10 stars plus!!!!!! Thanks, Carl Clause

I was first introduced to this book by some other thriller writers and the site I follow that recommends thriller books. ( The Real Book Spy) Anyway, every one of the recommendations stressed how great the book was, a do not miss book. So I listened to them, and purchased the book. I am so glad I did. It was great read, a real page turner with such an appealing main character. I read a lot of books where the hero is larger than life, and that’s okay, they are fun books, but this main character was so human. Not above self doubt, not above being injured, not above needing help from fellow soldiers and support crews.Anyway, the story was so good. The writing did not feel like a debut, I was surprised how well it was written. I’m not a writer myself, not trying to sound condescending, but sometimes you can tell it is an author’s first or second book.This book read as if he has been writing and being published for a long time.I highly recommend this book to fellow thriller readers. This is a do not miss book, just like other writers have suggested.

This isn't supposed to be a mass market paperback... I thought it'd be a regular size paperback (easier to read and hold). It didn't say mass market paperback. Some sites tell you this clearly. Even seen it clearly on Amazon. Idk what happened with this book.

This story moved along at a fast pace. I read about 1/2 the book in less than a morning, so it kept me going. One reviewer called the story stereotypical, perhaps similar to the black ops/CIA/Ranger characters developed by Thor, Flynn and others. Yes, one can wonder just how Matt Drake could have survived all of the beatings and injuries he incurred in the book, but then again, he's a former Ranger. Again, perhaps stereotypical.My reason for 4 rather than 5 stars is that I would have liked more of closure to the Washington-based political drama that enveloped much of the book. Peter, Charles, Beverly, the President, and perhaps one or two more - these characters were not addressed in the Epilogue with the exception that Peter, the President's Chief of Staff, is handed a cryptic note in a bar. I may have missed it, but the cryptic nature remained in my mind. I read the info on book 2 provided at Amazon.com, but that info did not seem to relate at all to what I feel is still hanging. Thus, 4 stars.Update just after writing my review. As I thought about the lack of closure on the political front involving many characters, I began to wonder if the author, Don Bentley, was simply telling things as they are in Washington. The book concludes with military/DIA/CIA success, but nothing has changed in terms of politics.

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It is easy to say that Without Sanction is a riotous, thundering ride of pure exhilaration – it most definitely is, but stand back, and as a reader, it can be seen that this book is also so much more than just an military thriller action fest. The storylines are powerful, intense and rooted in an examination of the human condition. Part military action, part political suspense - Without Sanction doesn’t let up in its ability to pull you in and hold you captive amongst its pages.Mr Don Bentley has developed a suite of wonderful characters. Each one rounded and perfectly tuned to their actions. The lead character of Matt (Matty) Drake is crafted with an intrinsic understanding of this person, as if he existed. In fact, all the time I was reading (and listening to the brilliant audiobook) Matt Drake is there, in high-definition in my mind. I really warmed to Matt, and despite his ability to survive whatever the odds, there was never an element of him being superhuman. He is connected to his mortality, and questions how long he’s going to stay alive all the time. The way in which the reader is introduced to Matt is heart-breaking, and at first, seems slightly strange – a man haunted by a cherubic toddler and her dead mother, but all makes sense as the story flows.Without Sanction opens on a tense, sorrowful scene in Syria, with a Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) asset, his wife Yana and their young daughter Abir, all waiting for the ‘American’ to come and rescue them before the enemy sees to their demise. The American in question is Matt and their subsequent horrific deaths haunt for the following three months after the fateful exfil operation. In fact, so affected by their deaths and the horrendous mess the mission became, Matt defines his life as before and after. When Matt first sees Yana’s features on his own wife Laila’s face, he realizes that he's damaged, and he begins a self-imposed isolation to cure himself in the same vein as his father, a rancher did with animals he suspected of rabies, when he quarantined them for thirty days. He tells Laila he has an operation and she knows from experience not to expect any communication from her husband during the time he’s operational. Matt vanishes from her life for three months, and holes up in his old college stomping ground of Austin, Texas. From a shoe shine stall, Matt watches her from afar, every Friday, as she transits out to DC for the weekend. Each time, with a one-way ticket to the capital in his pocket, he waits to see if his wife’s features have returned. But on viewing, it’s the haunting face of Yana he sees instead.Mr Bentley invests in the character of Matt Drake a desperation unexpected in military action men. A vulnerability that is emotive and touching, and as a reader, you feel Matt’s tumultuous internal pain. The sense of utter denial to embrace again the life he had – he can’t continue as a DIA case officer, he can’t continue as a husband to Laila, he can’t experience happiness at any level. He is man who is just about existing, but he has deep-seated manifestation of guilt - that he should have died, or at least have come out of the mission with greater injuries, and that he could have saved the family. His chats with Jerome, the shone shine guy set the tone to launch the novel, as Matt realizes God still knows he has unfinished business. With the arrival of federal agents, Matt is pulled forcibly out of his self-created exile. From this moment, Without Sanction ramps up the adrenaline, and flies the reader into a non-stop whirlwind of white-knuckle, nerve-wracking action.Frodo, Matt’s partner, seconded from The Unit (Delta Force) to support Matt in his DIA asset recruitment field work, is a wonderful character. A man who balances Matt’s fiery temper with his calm, calculating demeanor. There is something intrinsically powerful about Frodo, who despite his life-changing injuries suffered in the exfil op gone wrong, he still stands tall mentally and continuously seeks out strategies and means to help his brother in arms, Matty. Ensuring that he is his right hand man, even from afar. Frodo issues a quiet confidence, intelligence and is unfazed by any event, even when head-locking with the US President, and he always but always has Matty’s back wherever he is.The DC contingent of Beverly Castle, CIA Director and White House Chief of Staff, Peter Redman with US President Jorge Gonzales are depicted as political survivalists, attuned to ‘the game’, knowing each others moves and deploying countermeasures. The political game-play between Beverly and Peter is poignant, biting and loaded. Their words - constant barbs of antagonism - is akin to a verbal jousting match, so prevalent within the upper echelons of the power elite when the worlds of intelligence and politics collide with incendiary results. Beverly’s attitude is nuanced, aligning to President Gonzales’ wavelength. She plays him once, succeeds, but feels his wrath with a warning she will not get out with her position intact, should she make a second attempt.Whilst reading, the visual I had of Beverly was of an ice-queen, supremely pronounced in her pursuit of perfection and a mistress of manipulation. Peter is often seen as being on the back foot, unable to hold up against Beverly and showing his vitriol too quickly, but his character holds cast-iron resilience, honed by a life time in DC and driven by his need to reduce military budgets and appropriate the funds into free college tuition, in honor of his sister who died on her first military tour. Despite his sensitive reasoning for his machinations and undermining Beverly, Peter at his heart is an insipid weasel, and every bit as conniving as the CIA Director.Charles Robinson, CIA’s liaison to the Directorate of National Intelligence is an evil snake, and a man put in the antagonists category. As soon as his presence graced the page, I loathed him completely. Other antagonists are equally as treacherous. A Pakistani chemical weapons creator, code-named Einstein, who sells his expertise to the highest bidder; Sayid – a ruthless, barbaric individual responsible for so much devastation and Mr Suave is a human life broker, the type of person comfortable doing deals with the devil, a middle man peddling death and pain at a price.Mr Bentley’s detailed exposition of operational approaches, tactics, military technologies and equipment employed is an absolute joy to read, and brings a further layer of realism to this formidable story. The dialog between all the characters is punchy, provocative and at times, humorous. Within the military op environment, its well known humor is essential to defuse tension, build camaraderie and maintain positivity. Throughout the book, Matt’s faith and continuous hope, even in his darkest hour, encapsulates a belief in one’s inner strength and a will to survive, ultimately to live another minute, for that minute may just be enough to turn around the situation and take down the hostiles.When the final chapter hits – not giving away any spoilers – but there is a renewed sense of justice, a ‘what had to be’ and those actions taken are completely in line with justified, final retribution. Without Sanction is an absolutely amazing read and one that I recommend at the very highest level.

Don Bentley hooked me from the first sentence and didn’t let go til the very end. In today‘s world of daily new spy thriller releases, it’s not easy for an author to stand out. Bentley pulls of this feat by a combination of four: first his eloquence. Second the engaging first-person-narrative. Third the protagonist’s dark sense of humor. And last but not least the emotional heart which permeates the whole story.Every character feels real and relatable - even the so-called bad guy, if you take the effort of putting yourself in his shoes. The heart-wrenching struggle of Matt Drake brought me goosebumps at times. And the author portrays it in a way that not only those how served get what drives this brave man.Through in a plot with relevance, surprising twists and breathtaking action and you have on of the best thrillers currently out there. Don Bentley is a name to watch!

アメリカ国防情報局の主人公が以前の作戦失敗に伴うPTSDの様な症状に悩まされる中、またシリアに戻り、満身創痍で新たな作戦遂行に奮闘します。数日後の大統領選挙で再選を狙うホワイトハウスの思惑等が絡むスケールの大きな話になっています。

I liked Matt Drake and the way Don Bentley built the story. To be fair it was a bit of a stretch to think that Matt could take so much punishment and respond as effectively in the end.Overall I enjoyed the ride.

I felt like I was being transported from US to Syria and back as the story unfolds. Seeing scenes play out in unexpected manner kept me guessing as it progressed. Matt and Frodo were both compelling characters that made me feel connected to their stories. I look forward to more adventures from Don Bentley.