My husband Dennis loved what he called “boom movies.” Anything with explosions and car chases (with subsequent crashes) could keep him entertained.

When we first got married, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal were two of his staples. Despite the fact that I thought the plot lines were…ummm…dumb and the dialogue was…ummm…dumb and the acting was…ummm…dumb, I watched with him. We were newlyweds, after all, and embracing each other’s interests is something that you do when you’re a newlywed. And Van Damme, at least, was easy on the eyes. Over time, Dennis acknowledged everything I felt about those movies, and I asked him why he continued to watch them. His attitude was that, even if the movie was dumb, you were guaranteed a good fight scene or a few big explosions so at least you knew you would be entertained. After a while, I started reading books while he enjoyed his movies. At least we were entertaining ourselves individually but together.

There were, however, a good number of action movies that we watched together because I genuinely wanted to enjoy a good boom movie, so Steven and Jean-Claude kind of fell by the wayside. I was a big fan of Tom Clancy books, so when those were made into movies, I sought them out. I loved The Hunt for Red October with Alec Baldwin playing Jack Ryan. The special effects for one of the end scenes on the submarine left a bit to be desired, but Alec Baldwin and Sean Connery were a great combination. Harrison Ford made for a great (albeit much different) Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. Dennis wasn’t a big reader, so he didn’t know Tom Clancy, but when The Sum of All Fears with Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan came out the same year we were married, I suggested that we watch it because I was pretty sure he would enjoy it. He did—enough to watch Chris Pine as Jack Ryan in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and John Krasinski in the TV series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. (For fans of The Office, this is a completely different John Krasinski. 😉)

While the Jack Ryan character was played by so many different but excellent leading men, the movies (and the TV show) had at least one thing in common—a lot of action, plenty of fight scenes, and great explosions. All of the things Dennis loved in a movie or TV show.

Another of my favorites was Robert Ludlum. (Can you see where this is going?) I read the first several Jason Bourne books in the series, so I suggested to Dennis that we watch the movies when they came out. He loved them! If there was a Bourne movie on television, he would watch it. When the original trilogy starring Matt Damon came out on DVD, I bought it for Dennis as a gift. When it was released on Blu-ray, he HAD to have the upgrade. And then came the next two movies in the series, so we, of course, replaced the trilogy with the five films in The Bourne Ultimate Collection. What do I still have in the entertainment center now? That’s right—the same exact collection in 4K because, well, 4K is better so he had to have it. 🙄

I would be willing to bet that Matthew FitzSimmons’ Gibson Vaughn series would be something that Dennis would have HAD to have on 4K. When I read the first book in the series, I knew. (It doesn’t hurt that FitzSimmons is a fellow Illinoisan. 😁) I wish they would make a TV or movie series about Gibson Vaughn. There are plenty of men in Hollywood who would be great options to play the lead.

Book Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for The Short Drop by Matthew FitzSimmons

399 pages
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: December 1, 2015

Publisher’s Description

A decade ago, 14-year-old Suzanne Lombard, the daughter of Benjamin Lombard—then a senator, now a powerful vice president running for the presidency—disappeared in the most sensational missing-person case in the nation’s history. Still unsolved, the mystery remains a national obsession.

For legendary hacker and marine Gibson Vaughn, the case is personal—Suzanne Lombard had been like a sister to him. On the tenth anniversary of her disappearance, the former head of Benjamin Lombard’s security asks for Gibson’s help in a covert investigation of the case, with new evidence in hand.

Haunted by tragic memories, he jumps at the chance to uncover what happened all those years ago. Using his military and technical prowess, he soon discovers multiple conspiracies surrounding the Lombard family—and he encounters powerful, ruthless political players who will do anything to silence him and his team. With new information surfacing that could threaten Lombard’s bid for the presidency, Gibson must stay one step ahead as he navigates a dangerous web to get to the truth.

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This won’t be a long review because I don’t want to give anything away. The characters in this book are well-written and have a lot of depth. The story itself is compelling and kept my interest from start to finish. And you never really know the good guys from the bad guys, with the exception of Gibson Vaughn, until everything plays out. This was an excellent read, and I will certainly be reading more.

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