Deadline is a thriller about a special forces agent forced against his will to assassinate a foreign leader. The “Sons of Turkmenistan” abduct Owen Reed’s wife and daughter to compel him to carry out their will, and just to keep things interesting, they also plant a bomb in his head. The bomb isn’t just a bit of added insurance, either – the bomb is the method of assassination. So either way, Owen’s dead. It’s just a matter of whether or not he can trust the Sons to release his family as promised.
The premise is appealing in and of itself, but writers B. Clay Moore and Seth Peck pile on the twists and make it ever more complex. Owen’s not exactly an innocent, for example. In 1998, he was part of a team of federal agents who killed the previous President of Turkmenistan. I love that twist – it’s a bold move to make the guy with a bomb in his head less sympathetic. I also like the way that Owen isn’t a superman – he’s a badass, but he’s got some years under his belt and he’s not as fast or strong as he used to be.
