The Apostle by Brad Thor

Rounding out my time off with a military thriller seemed like a good idea so I grabbed Brad Thor's The Apostle off my "on deck" shelf and knocked it out in a couple days.  It was everything I wanted - an anti-terror shoot 'em up starring Thor's main man, Scot Harvath, former Secret Service agent, former terrorist hunter, current security contractor.

When the daughter of a powerful ally is kidnapped in Afghanistan, the newly elected U.S. President is compelled to work toward her recovery despite having campaigned on a platform calling for less of a military presence in that country.  Enter Harvath, now a contractor, who can apply his considerable skills directly for the ally allowing the U.S. government to remain hands-off.

What follows is a satisfying albeit rather linear sequence of events that brings Harvath closer to his prize.  There's a sub-plot here too, but it is so tenuously tangential to the main story that it'll be dropped for the TV movie.  Another thing that bothered me is that virtually every character is introduced as being good looking, especially the women.  I thought I was the only one surrounded by beautiful people all day.