I love the Sam Capra series but this one I couldn't get into as I did the previous novels. Jeff Abbott has created a guy that everyone would love to have as a friend. He is the laid back guy who jets to bars all over the world but in reality those bars are a cover for the guy you call to get things done. When his friend is murdered he is the guy to find out who did it and takes on a powerful crime family. Fans of the series will still enjoy this fast paced violent look at the secret life of the guy who owns the bar. ( )

The Sam Capra series is a hit and miss. Inside Man is a step up from the previous book in the series but still just off the mark a bit. Capra seems an ambivalent sort who always puts himself in harm's way even though he tells himself that he avoids danger so that his son will have a father. For a former intelligence agent Capra is always a mental step behind his adversaries and always ends up putting his colleagues, family, and himself in imminent danger. While he always ends up surviving it is always at someone's expense. I hope he wises up a bit in future volumes so that his son won't be raised without a blood relative. ( )

Title - Inside Man

Author - Jeff Abbott

Source - NetGalley

Summary -

Sam Capra is a bartender with bars across the globe. This is his cover. What he really is can be harder to define. What he is right now is trying not to get involved with his friend Steve and the beautiful young woman who just walked into his bar. The beautiful and scared young woman who just walked into his bar.

But things are about to get turned around in Sam's bar in Miami. Steve is going to be killed, the scared beautiful woman will disappear and there is the ten million dollars Sam overheard them talking about. Sam is about to get himself involved in something he didn't plan on, something he knows nothing about and his employers are not going to be happy with.

Sam is going to have to get involved with a family of traffickers from Puerto Rico, a family that feeds upon itself as much as any outside threat. Drugs or guns hidden in cargo holds, he can't be sure yet. Or are they trafficking in something else?

"...They'd killed my friend, the one friend I had in this town. Did I just let them walk away? Steve hadn't left our family in our moment of need; he didn't abandon us and call for help, he stayed with us, made sure the job was done..."

Sam must work sister against brother. Father against son. To find out what the family is shipping back and forth and why they need the ten million dollars to stay away from their normal business. Who were the Varelas? Who were their secret partners? What was the truth behind the people who Sam worked for and most of all, what was the secret hidden prison where no one ever came out of? Where the powerful were made weak. To find out Sam must become one of them. He must become the inside man.

Review -

I have read Jeff Abbott novels in the past, but this is my first in the Sam Capra series. To describe a Jeff Abbott novel is to say there is a speeding convertible coming toward you and you want to get in. The driver puts the top down but will not slow. So you run and leap into the car and just when you are grabbing hold of the seat to pull yourself in, the son of a bitch floors it!. So there you are. Hanging onto the top of a cushiony seat, legs flying out behind you, shoulders straining and you are laughing like an idiot! You are hanging on for dear life. Its exhilarating. Thrilling. And most of all, insanely dangerous. But what you know for sure is that its going to be one hell of a ride.

Good driving Jeff.

A very good read. ( )

Sam Capra runs a bar in the Coconut Grove section of Miami. One day, his good friend Steve, asks him questions that infer that Steve needs help. He's been providing security for Cori Varela who is afraid of something but won't say what it is.

Sam meets Cori and Steve and Cori talk for a while and leave the bar. Moments later, Steve is shot and killed and Cori runs away. Sam chases the shooters and the action mounts immediately.

Unable to get answers from the shooters but wanting to avenge his friend's murder, Sam goes to Cori. Reluctant to involve anyone else after Steve's murder, Sam persists. He learns that she is part of the Varela family which has criminal ties.Cori works with charities but the family has other interests.

Sam works for an organization referred to as the Round Table. This undercover group tries to correct wrongs and help people who have been victims. Sam is currently on leave from the group and they have given him a number of bars to run until his skills might be needed again.

The action moves to Puerto Rico and the Verela family compound. The head of the family, Rey Verela, is beginning to show early effects of dementia and wants to turn over the operation of his businesses to his family. His main business is a cargo company but he's been known as a weapons provider and has a secret part of the business which only a few people know about.

The story moves along nicely and Sam seems to be helping but something happens and this kicks up the suspense and tension by a couple of notches.

I enjoy the story which I found to be engrossing. Sam is a well described character who has an interesting group of friends from a hacker to his prior handler in the Round Table.

The author keeps the reader guessing and finally ties things together in a satisfactory conclusion. ( )

Why have I never read this author before? This is a page-turner from page 1. I understand why Abbott has been nominated for awards.

Sam Capra is a former CIA agent, in forced retirement, working as a bar/club owner in various cities. He takes occasional jobs from a secret organization, but maintains some contacts within the CIA. When his good friend, Steve, is gunned down outside his bar, Sam feels he must track down the killers. Who was the client Steve was meeting? Sam goes undercover to infiltrate the family business Steve was investigating.

Action, deception, twists, great characters kept the story moving. I am searching out other Sam Capra novels immediately. Recommend. ( )