DEPARTURE DAY - Biker 11

 

DEPARTURE DAY

Biker Book 11

By Mike Baron

Wolfpack Publishing

336 pgs

 

What we’ve always appreciated about Mike Baron, whether writing prose shorts, novels or comic scripts, is that he remains topical. It’s as if Baron assimilates the culture around him. He absorbs all its high points and in the same regard all its lunacy. That gift is on display in “Departure Day,” the eleventh book in his series featuring reformed biker, Josh Pratt. 

A summary history on the protagonist as follows. He grew up without a mother and a killer for a father. He got involved with biker gangs at a young age and ended up in prison. There he was saved by a charismatic pastor who brought him to Jesus and salvation. A pardon from the governor, at the pastor’s recommendation, then led to a free ex-con becoming a private investigator/summons server. Over the next nine books, Josh found himself making atonement for his early life by helping others; some of these souls in desperate straits. The stories were fast-paced thrillers and through them, Josh suffered victories and a few brutal loses. 

With this latest, and what feels like a finale, Josh is about to get married for the first time to his movie-making dancer fiancé. A few months prior a young man named Dolan appears on his doorstep claiming to be his son. Their physical resemblance is enough to convince Josh. Dolan’s mother was one of his old flames from his sordid past who has died leaving the seventeen-year-old an orphan. The second surprise is the lad is not only intelligent, he has maturity with a great deal of character and integrity. The more Josh gets to know his son, the more he is impressed and vows to be the best father he can be, whatever that entails. He has a lot to make up for. 

It's at this point when Dolan informs him that the apartment building he and his late mother resided, has been invaded by members of the Venezuelan outlaw, Tren de Aragua. They are driving out the regular tenants and using the building to sell their drugs and turn young girls into sex-slaves. Whereas Dolan managed to escape them, he left behind several old military veterans among the tenants held hostage. He worries for their safety. Can Josh help to get them out of that place? 

It seems like a simple enough question, but Josh knows better. Which is where Baron’s book launches off the narrative platform like a space-bound Nasa rocket. How Josh Pratt, not only manages to free these men and then later an entire building complex is an incredible and brilliantly told adventure. From start to finish, “Departure Day” is like nothing this reviewer has ever read before. The settings are real, the issues examined timely and the action non-stop. This may be the last Josh Pratt yarn. If that’s the case, then we want to tell you, it ends on a rousing, all cheering high note. Do not miss this one!