Heroes and Villains Theme Week - Featuring Jonathan Grave

Today is the official beginning of one of my favorite annual events. The amazing Jen at Jen’s Book Thoughts hosts a Theme week every year that focuses on crime fiction. This year’s theme is Heroes and Villains.

The character I’ve chosen to feature this week is considered a hero by some and a villain by others. His name is Jonathan Grave and he’s featured in a series written by the highly talented John Gilstrap.

I first became a fan of John Gilstrap about twelve years ago when I read his first novel Nathan’s Run. This and his next several books were person or family in peril type thrillers. Although they were difficult to find I managed to hunt down copies and read all of them. For a long time there was no sign of a new book from Gilstrap and I wondered if there would be another one. He reappeared in the bookstores in 2009 with No Mercy. It was the first in a series featuring Hostage Rescue specialist Jonathan Grave.

I like Jonathan Grave, but he doesn’t exactly follow the rules. I’ll let his words to a rescued hostage tell a little more about the way he operates.

I work on the side of the angels, okay? I often find myself outside the law but never really on the wrong side of it. If people look at bad guys' bodies and see homicide, that doesn't change reality. My conscience is clean.

You think that the police are these efficiant do-gooders that you see on television. You think that they can chase bad guys with impunity, crash doors, and save the good guys. Well, that's not always true, because ridiculous rules get in the way. If i had to jump through all the hoops that police and prosecutors do to assemble the intelligence and put together a plan, you'd be dead now. And if they knew who I was, they'd put me in jail for saving you. Not because of the outcome, but because of the process.

There's a right way to do certain things. How many times have you heard people warn others about the dangers of 'taking the law into their own hands'? Everybody thinks that the police are the best investigators - until one of their own is taken, and they hear that threat to kill if anyone calls the police. After that, the law-abiding citizen crap goes out the window. When it's your own, you want action not process. That's precisely how I got involved. It was more important to your parents to bring you home than it was to construct a court case against your kidnappers.

I’ve reviewed the first two books in the series already. Those reviews can be read at the links below.

No Mercy

Hostage Zero

I have two more posts planned for this theme week. Tomorrow I’ll be talking more about Jonathan Grave and his history. I was able to find several interviews with John Gilstrap about his character and the series that I found interesting.

Threat Warning

Damage Control

On Thursday I’ll have a review of the third book in the series Threat Warning. The next book Damage Control will be released in June so now is a great time to get to know Jonathan Grave and his team.

Please head over to Jen's Book Thoughts for the full scoop and links to posts by other participants in the Heroes and Villains Theme Week.

Please note that Jen has said that people who leave comments on any Heroes and Villains post will be entered in a daily prize drawing.