Dark Territory (Dan Morgan #5.5) by Leo J. Maloney

Dark Territory (Dan Morgan #5.5) Reviews

• 
  Matt

  First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Leo J. Maloney, Lyrical Underground, and Kensington Publishing Corp. for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.
  
  Leo J. Maloney has made a name for himself with his Dan Morgan thrillers, keeping readers enthralled and flipping pages well into the night. While Morgan may be a thrill seeker, he’s passed the passion along to his daughter, Alex, who plays a central role in this short story. Alex Morgan is a well-trained sniper and is sent to Russia to take care of a North Korean nuisance. After her mission, she needs to reach her exfil site, on the other side of the country, without being noticed. The most discreet way to make it there is a three day trip aboard the Trans-Siberian Railway. Unbeknownst to Alex, a few interesting characters are also aboard, each with their own agendas. Former Serbian mercenary, Maxim Kreesat has taken it upon himself to take possession of a Russian satellite, armed with nuclear warheads, ready to deploy at the push of a button. Kreesat is prepared to stand down for a massive sum of money, letting both the Americans and Russians know the timeline before he will obliterate their capitals. As the train continues its uneventful trip, Alex discovers the plan and that Kreesat has a hostage to ensure his play cannot go wrong. After being tipped off by American officials, Dan Morgan rushes to save his daughter and neutralise the threat, though must be covert and sneak onto the train at one of the scheduled stops. However, as soon becomes apparent, the Russians are not ready to roll over with a terrorist making threats in their own country. While locked on the train, Kreesat is surely a sitting duck for Special Forces... or is he? Maloney does well to ramp up the action in short order as he keeps series fans sated until the next full-length novel, though the protagonist remains in doubt, based on events above. Those who have followed Dan Morgan throughout the series will surely enjoy this piece, as well anyone with a passion for military thrillers.
  
  Maloney is always a wonderfully refreshing writer who has a firm handle on the thriller genre. Always finding a unique angle to his stories, Maloney utilises some interesting characters and locales to develop the series in remarkable ways. Handing the protagonist role to Alex Morgan, the story explores life through her eyes. Surely left to mature in her father’s shadow, Alex has much to offer and seems to be an entertaining character. Her determination and coolness under pressure have been seen before, but she has never been able to grow and learn on her own, until now. With Dan Morgan half a world away, the reader can see another side of him, panicked father, who chooses to rush to help Alex. While this does pose a slight ‘damsel in distress’ situation, I think Maloney was trying to exhibit a father who will move mountains rather than a means to save the lowly girl. Many of the other minor characters work well in this piece, though there is little room to develop effectively. The story is a wonderful mix of thrills and chills, as the setting is primarily aboard this massive train, waiting for it to cross the Siberian wasteland. Maloney does a wonderful job of pulling the reader into the setting and leaving them to feel as though they, too, are aboard and trying to stay one step ahead of the danger. This is a great series that is always entertaining and challenging in equal measure. Those with an interest should dive in at the start and see just how strong a writer Leo J. Maloney has become over time.
  
  Kudos, Mr. Maloney, for this wonderful piece. I loved the teaser to keep series fans excited and hope your next novel is on its way down the pipeline soon.
  
  Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
  
  http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
  
  A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge:
  https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
• 
  Todd Simpson

  This is another highly entertaining and fabulous novel by Leo J Maloney. There are some great action scenes throughout the story, and I quite enjoyed that Alex Morgan was the main character in this book, as she’s one hell of an operator. She definitely takes after her father, the ‘Cobra’. I also like how interesting and intense the plot was.
  The last thing the US needed was for a rouge nation like North Korea getting their hands on a tactical nuclear weapon. Luckily, they had skilled operators like Alex Morgan to intercept and hopefully stop anyone selling them one. However, anytime an operator was in a foreign country, carrying out a dangerous mission, they still had to get out in one piece. Alex thought she had managed that, once she boarded the train. Of course, she couldn’t expect to relax too much as this trip would certainly be a long one, until she could safely make it to the extraction point. It doesn’t take long for trouble to find her, and when a dead body turns up, she needs to find out what’s going on. Running into men with guns, isn’t what Alex was expecting, but they are certainly going to be in for a shock if they thought their weapons were going to make her afraid. If you enjoy Action Thrillers, then you will love this book. It’s easily worth the 5/5 Star Rating.
  
  I received this story for an unbiased review.
• 
  Stanley McShane

  Alex Morgan, the daughter of black ops specialist Dan Morgan, has just come off a sniper hit that took out a North Korean officer in Russia. Now the problem is to rendezvous with her extil site safely through the Trans-Siberian Railway.
  
  Leo J Maloney has given the protagonist reins to Morgan's daughter for this short interlude between the Morgan series full-length novels. She is a good student and remembers the lessons her father taught her. Shortly after boarding she notices a striking older gentleman and his companions and sends the picture of the old man to headquarters prior to entering "dark territory," that vast distance on the world's longest railway system where there is absolutely NO cell towers or communication coverage. She also extracts further information from Maxim Kreesat's private conversation. She knows she cannot wait for more seasoned agents to take control.
  
  This is not the first time the "cobra" (Dan Morgan) has confronted Maxim Kreesat, a.k.a., the Ghost. He is a Serbian mercenary gone rogue who has abducted Russian aerospace scientist Dmitry Kozlov. Kreesat's aim is to extort money from both the capitals of the U.S. and Russia before he obliterates them. Additionally, Kreesat holds Kozlov's daughter Svetlana, to ensure his success.
  
  Dan has not yet tested his daughter's abilities to this extent and, nervous, immediately makes plans to intersect the train and neutralize Kreesat and his crew. I love that Maloney shows a young woman as a chip off the old block and seemingly as capable. She is smart, intuitive, and engaging. The character of the train conductor is immediately sympathetic, as is Svetlana, who appears to hold her own once she has the opportunity to rise to the occasion.
  
  The train provides an interesting and unique backdrop and provides for a tight but powerful conflict. The tension telegraphs through the story-telling, keeping you glued to the well-crafted plot. Are we seeing the handing over of the Dan Morgan reins? I can see this as a thoroughly entertaining segue to the next full-length installment of the series. This fast pseudo-military thriller is short and sweet. I was allowed the download from the publisher and NetGalley and greatly appreciated the opportunity to read and review. Recommended for any who enjoy a fast-moving suspense thriller.
  
• 
  Bill Warden

  I'd like to thank #netgalley,
  Leo J. Maloney, and Kensington Publishing Corp. for providing me with a copy of this publication. #DarkTerritory was the first book I had read in this series, so I did not have any pre-dispositions about any of the characters or story-lines. Since this was the first in the series I had read, I had some amount of concern that I would be lost with the interactions and plots between characters; however, that was not the case. It was not a requirement to start reading this series at book 1.
  
  The first note I will say is that you should start this book when you have some time to sit down and read for a while. As soon as you read the first page, the action starts and it does not finish until the end of the book. I made the mistake of starting the book later in the afternoon on a weekend and did not want to put it down for sleep, nor put it down and go to work the following day.
  
  The story revolves around the character Alex Morgan who is the daughter of the main character in the series Dan Morgan. She is on a mission in Russia, and has to leave the mission site on the Trans-Siberian Railway. While on the train, she runs into some other not-so-nice people with their own agendas of what should be done in global politics. The intensity ratchets up as she has to get through different situations while keeping the innocent passengers safe.
  
  I won't get into the story much more than that, so that every reader gets to enjoy the story as it unfolds.
  
  I would highly encourage anyone who is a fan of Suspense / Action / Thriller books to read and enjoy this one. I will be adding Mr. Maloney's other books to my "To Read" list and look forward to enjoying them in the near future.
• 
  John Purvis

  "Dark Territory" eBook was published in 2018 and was written by Leo J. Maloney (
  http://leojmaloney.com). Mr. Maloney has published eight novels.
  
  I received an ARC of this novel through
  https://www.netgalley.com in return for a fair and honest review. I categorize this novella as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set mostly aboard the Trans-Siberian Railway. The primary character is young Alex Morgan.
  
  Morgan may be a very young woman, but she is also a very experienced and competent operative, for a very secret US organization. She is on her way home from a mission when she is inadvertently sucked into a plot to blackmail the US and Russian governments for millions. Will she be able to stop the plot before aircraft target her train?
  
  I thought that this was a pretty good 2.5 hour read for this thriller novella. While it is part of the "Dan Morgan" thriller series, it really focusses on his daughter, Alex. The cover art is OK, but I think something with the train would have been more appropriate. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.
  
  Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at
  https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
• 
  Ken Bour

  I picked up this book FREE from Amazon.com as part of a promotion. This is my first Leo Maloney novel and, though I rated it a 4 for overall entertainment value, the theme has been overused many times and is akin to something right out of a James Bond thriller, i.e., a nuclear missile targeted at Washington and Moscow being launched by an aging/feeble scientist held captive about a runaway train on the Trans-Siberian railroad with his daughter being threatened as a hostage. In this case, an operative named Alex Morgan (a young woman) comes to the rescue murdering the bad guys and saving the world from terror. It was a fun, short read and I will likely check out other novels in this series by Leo Maloney.
• 
  Kristine

  I really love this series.
  
  This was a great short story that showcases Alex and how much she has grown and flourished in her new capacity as an agent of Zeta. It also shows how difficult it is for her father - and now co-worker - to step back and give her room to either sink or swim. He is always going to be her dad and I think that just because he wants to catch her if she falls - that it does not mean that he does not know that she can handle herself. That is going to be a great new adventure as we watch the two of them find their footing.
  
  This is one of my favorite authors in this genre and I can now add Alex to "Cobra"( or Dan Morgan) as great protagonists :)
• 
  Marian

  Tense, I held my breath throughout
  
  I love this series and this novella didn't disappoint. Alex is at her best as she proves to Dan she can handle herself. I read it in one sitting.
• 
  Rich Bedgood

  Action packed from beginning to end, the only disappointment is the story coming to an end. I love the interaction between Alex & Dan as the typical parent - child dynamics present themselves in very atypical Adrenalin packed situations.
• 
  Joe

  Fast action
  
  Dana daughter is for sure a chip off the block. She fast and dangerous as her dad. You will like this book
• 
  Ashley McCabe

  Great!!
  
  Love this series!! Great charachters, plots, and storylines. Enjoyed every book in this series!! You will enjoy his stories too!!!!
• 
  Kerry Mann

  Love Alex is getting in it
• 
  Curt

  I didn’t realize this was a short story to get Alex Morgan introduced a little more into the “family business”.
  Quick read with fast-paced action - right in my wheelhouse.
• 
  Robert Nelson

  Great read, featuring Dan Morgan and his daughter . I thoroughly enjoyed this book and couldn’t put down until I finished. Leo, you rock with another great adventure. Keep up the good work!