Silent Creed by Alex Kava, a Mysterious Review.

Review: Ryder Creed had been a K-9 handler in Afghanistan and Iraq, and is now training dogs for search and rescue back in the US. He is called upon by his former squad leader, Lt. Col. Peter Logan on behalf of the Department of Defense, to go immediately to Haywood County, North Carolina, where a massive landslide has covered a covert government research facility that is testing biological and chemical warfare, and to recover whoever — and whatever — possible, in Silent Creed, the second mystery in this series by Alex Kava.

A private jet is standing by waiting to take Ryder and his dog Bolo to the disaster area. Upon arrival, he meets Maggie O'Dell, a Special Agent with the FBI, who has been sent to oversee the operation and make sure things are done correctly. She also advises him that a Senate investigation is on-going, delving into secret government experiments that may have been conducted at the damaged facility. Ryder notes that the building had slid off its foundation and buried under mud. What he didn't expect to find was the dead body of a scientist, killed not by the mudslide but a bullet hole to the head. And he isn't the only one found murdered. What could these men and women have been working on that someone entered their labs and shot them at point-blank range?

Silent Creed is an exciting, fast-paced mystery, with Ryder and Bolo experiencing one narrow escape after another. The narrative switches between that of Ryder, Maggie, and Senator Ellie Delanor in Washington D.C., giving the reader a perspective on what's going on from each viewpoint, but not completely filling in all the details until the end. The relationship Ryder has with Bolo and a Jack Russell named Grace in particular, and with dogs in general, is an engaging one, and the background about training dogs for search and rescue is fascinating, providing a good complement to the actual work being done onsite. Overall, a terrific read for fans of the Maggie O'Dell series (as she plays a significant, if not major role here) as well as for readers of what is shaping up to be a must-read series centered on Ryder Creed.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Silent Creed.

Reckless Creed
Putnam (Hardcover), September 2016
ISBN-13: 9780399170782; ISBN-10: 0399170782

Silent Creed

A Ryder Creed Mystery by Alex Kava