A Good Thriller discussion

I received a free copy of this ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.

This book is simply incredible. I have never read such detailed combat description, and from a first-time author! The character depth, use of languages, and other details made me feel I was in the room watching these events unfold.

The 2026 setting had me wondering before I started reading, but while reading, I found the events of the story could happen now.

I look forward to more from this author!

Justin wrote: "Hi Adit,

Thanks for your review and your suggestion for the readers. Actually, I prefer the readers to read the chapters in sequence, but I'll just leave that up to the readers.

The one thing th..."

I would call it a military thriller. I consider Sarah a 'policewoman' in name only. Technically, even calling her a policewoman is a bit of a stretch. :)

Hi Corey,

Thank you for your review!

Sarah is a policewoman in a specialized unit, like a SWAT Team member or someone from SCO19. So she's a policewoman, but the plot forced her to become a soldier.

Justin

Justin wrote: "Hi Corey,

Thank you for your review!

Sarah is a policewoman in a specialized unit, like a SWAT Team member or someone from SCO19. So she's a policewoman, but the plot forced her to become a soldi..."


I understand that, but she scares the crap out of EVERYONE. The average policewoman (OR man) does not do that, SWAT or otherwise!

Haha... I know a couple of pretty & sexy girls who could scare anyone:

Lauren Young (soldier): https://www.facebook.com/misslaureNVy...

Her instagram has more pics: @_missss.lauren_

Alex Zedra (bikini model): @alex_zedra
There's a very funny picture of her where she looks uneasy carrying someone's baby, but looks comfortable holding an assault rifle.

Justin

Sarah was amazing and I don't normally like such strong female characters (that know how strong they are).

Sorry, I just wanted to butt into this conversation as its been a few weeks now since I read this but I still find myself thinkin about it :-)

Hi Kelly,

You've read the old version, right? Maybe you can skim through the new version to see if it's better?

Justin

I have just finished reading "The Policewoman". I really enjoyed it from start to finish. It is a very accomplished military thriller. I will write a review on Goodreads shortly.

While Roberts leans heavily on the strange argot of black ops, he seems compelled to explain everything repeatedly. When you add in the complexities of a multi-country Interpol operation, the majority of writing in the early stages of the book is explanatory of the language and places. Despite all the extra information, this story captures the reader and maintains a great level of suspense as a special Interpol task force battles a multi-national drug ring centered in Ireland. The character development is truly outstanding, and creates live images in the reader's mind. Whether the characters are good or evil, they are developed in depth and have diverse but realistic personalities. The details that seem worrisome at the beginning become essential by the ending and contribute to incredible imagery as the ending develops. Be prepared to be hooked by the action and suspense.

Hi Lauren/Jay,

Thank you very much for your review! I know you both read the old version and I'm glad that you could appreciate the seemingly non-essential details in the beginning of the book, but suddenly became important in the final chapters. That was the main challenge when I revised the book; if I edited the first few chapters, I would then have to edit other parts of the book because everything was eventually connected.

Justin

Hi

I read the old version and loved the book, and I hope those that read the old version and not enjoyed it, please do try the new version.

This book was one of my best reads this year.

Goodreads Giveaway for The Policewoman is now live! Available for readers in the UK, US, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and India. http://bit.ly/2nucdOH

hi, Am I too late to join in on this book? How do I get hold of a copy, please? I tried the link in post 16 but I guess it might have been deactivated??

Hi Ann,

Could you please PM me your email address so I can send you the ebook?

Justin

Unfortunately I was sick and had a family emergency so I'm pretty late and wasn't able to post anything earlier.

I'm not that fit today but don’t want to wait any longer. I just pour my thoughts together and don’t care for any order or mistakes. Hope you don’t mind. I’ll try to read the other comments tomorrow and add my thoughts if I can than.

All in all I really liked the story and the main characters (MCs) very much even if I was struggling with several issues pretty much. I didn’t mind the present tense at all.
+ I liked the thorough preparation and information about the law enforcement and military force ‘systems’ in UK, Ireland & Indonesia
- The many explanation within the story made it extremely difficult to follow the. After about half the book I wished there was an introduction chapter with all the data at the beginning followed by the actual story, especially since some of the explanations were provided not the first time the term or situation appeared and some were not explained at all.
+ I loved the international aspects of the story line.
- but struggled with the use of all the languages (not always with translation). I was working with two dictionaries while reading the book (English is not my native language) and plan to look up those I don't have on my reader which made it so much slower to read.
The local dialects (Geordie, Irish dialects) were an additional issue to follow the story even if I appreciated it because they made the book so much realistic.
+ The book appeared very realistic especially the ending (even if I was struggling with the development at the beginning but loved it in the end)
+ Most days I prefer romantic suspense (RS) to traditional thriller or mysteries and was very happy to realise this book was a blend of thriller and RS. I liked the development of the relationship between the MCs and the fact it was still so different from the 'plain' RS.
- Each time I went to the glossary and didn’t leave it the previous time at the beginning the formatting wasn’t working properly and the glossary became twice or three times as long (the words appeared in one instead of two columns and there were many additional blank lines.
- Violence: I thought the last two years I’m used to pretty much and I’m not that sensitive in this area, but wasn’t able to deal with the torture scenes and one or two of the fight scenes. I’m still not sure if the extent of those graphic descriptions was really necessary - I suppose it’s just personal preference.
+- The language: I’m aware many of the law enforcement and military members curse very much and don’t mind it at all, though I’m still not sure if it’s always necessary to use so much of those in books even if it’s adding reality.
-+ When I bought the book and read it’s set in the future my first though was: Perhaps it’s not really my cup of tea, do I really want to read it? Since I already committed to join the read along and had the book I decided to give it a chance. Now I’m really glad I’ve done it because it reminds me of one of my favourite series - the In Death series by J.D. Robb (set in the not so far future, the way the characters interact) and think with some additional work there is very much potential. I understand it’s a debut work and don’t expect the same high quality standard I would expect from an author with 200+ books ;-)
- Number of characters: At some point I stopped to care for the single characters (especially the members of the Irish drug cartel) because I wasn’t able anymore to follow who was already introduced and who appeared for the first time and started to wish for a list of characters with the main character data to be able to look it up. I know it’s very difficult to do it without reveal too much information and prevent spoilers but one can still hope and wish ;-)
+ I liked about Sarah especially how she used different languages for single areas of her life and had to chuckle or laugh several times because of this.
+ I liked that despite the tough topic(s) the book was written so fun.

That’s for now. If I think of anything else later, I post it in the next days.

Wow!! Where do I start? If, like me, you have read some of the reviews, you will have seen comments about the huge amount of detail in the writing. This is true, there is a lot of precision details that is included by the writer that is perhaps off putting to some people. But then again, if you are after an "easy reading" book with little substance and not needing to think whilst reading, then this book would never be the type you would pick up anyway!

The plot is very different, combining reality with a possible future. If you like the genre of thriller or military, then I think this book successfully combines them both. There is a huge amount of information that Justin has to get across, both at the beginning and throughout but I would say that it is worth persevering with. The storyline, along with the characters gives you an insight into the military world as well as the criminal world. Justin should be admired for the amount of research and precise detail that he has put into the plot, it is no mean feat! This book has taken a bit longer than normal to read due to its size and the need to focus more in order to soak in the details, but it is well worth reading. I certainly am richer in my knowledge of military terms!

Agnieszka,

Sorry to hear that you're not feeling well and that you had a family emergency. I'm sure everything will be okay.

Each time I went to the glossary and didn’t leave it the previous time at the beginning the formatting wasn’t working properly and the glossary became twice or three times as long (the words appeared in one instead of two columns and there were many additional blank lines.

Yes, I've noticed this too. In the MOBI version, if you go straight to the Glossary, it looks really messed up. However, if you go back a few pages and gradually go to the Glossary again, it will appear as it should be. This is because the original format is EPUB and the Amazon team converted it into MOBI without making any adjustments. The EPUB version is much better than the MOBI version.

The language: I’m aware many of the law enforcement and military members curse very much and don’t mind it at all, though I’m still not sure if it’s always necessary to use so much of those in books even if it’s adding reality.

I try to be as realistic as possible. Brits, especially soldiers, curse A LOT. I once read that they use curse words so much that not using them becomes more attention-grabbing and adds a sense of urgency. Consider these two orders:

"Grab your f*****g rifle!"

compared to:

"Grab your rifle!"

I'm sure you can feel the urgency of the second sentence compared to the first one. I hope you'll notice that the characters seldom use curse words in the middle of an operation.

... it reminds me of one of my favourite series - the In Death series by J.D. Robb...

I'll check it out. Thanks for the tip!

I liked about Sarah especially how she used different languages for single areas of her life and had to chuckle or laugh several times because of this.

When I read your profile, you remind me of Sarah with your multi-lingual abilities :-)

This is the most comprehensive feedback I've ever received and it's quite obvious that you've read this book from cover-to-cover. Thank you, I really appreciate this. That said, I won't mind any rating you give for this book.

Get well soon!

Justin

Hi Michelle,

Thank you very much for your review and I'm glad you enjoyed the book!

Justin

Agnieszka,

By the way, what do you think about the twists? Did any of them made you emotional?

Justin

I thought the twists that came I was not expecting..

And made this book so much better...

thanks, Justin. I'm away next week and taking my kindle with me so hope to get plenty of reading time

Thanks, Sean. You've read the old version. Maybe you can skim through the new version?

Justin

I will at some stage, as so many books to read !

Thanks Justin, and hope you will take part in other authors books.

hi Justin,

I'm 45% through the book and here are my thoughts so far -

I like Sarah. I think she's a great main character and really unusual.

You've got a complex story going on with the Irish Cartel, Indonesia, Interpol with multiple agencies working together - I enjoyed this mix of nationalities and military disciplines

You include a lot of detail about military tactics. When Sarah joins Michael and his SAS training team there is a very long chapter when it is solid military tactics.
I actually liked reading about these but from a story point of view the plot itself got swamped, so by the time it got on to the colour coding of zones in a house etc. my interest was waning a bit.

Other people have talked about accents and my take is that I was happy Sarah dropped her accent early on. Maybe the other characters could do so too?? Reading 'roight' too many times was beginning to annoy me (sorry)

Overall, this is a fun read so far.

I'll be carrying on this weekend, I hope, and will post again once I've finished.

Hi Ann,

Thanks for your feedback.

At the end of the chapter, I hope you noticed the words "What Al taught her was only a small fraction of CQB, but what she has learned was insightful, especially for Immediate Actions. However, no one in the room could ever imagine that within the next couple of months, Sarah would need to implement everything she’s learned these past couple of days when she fights against The Cartel."

I'm marketing this book as a crime fiction. I was afraid that most crime fiction readers wouldn't understand the military aspect of the book, hence the over-explanations. I've deleted most of it, but I've left in the most important ones.

The use of accents is somewhat important because you can identify someone based on their accent.

Justin

I read The Policewoman a bit ago. It was prior to the new cover. Enjoyable is a one word description. Here is the review that I wrote about it at the time: It is not often that one picks up a book from an unknown author with a funky cover and finds a diamond in the rough. This is that book. Download it to your Kindle or purchase it from another outlet. If you like Clancy/Greaney, you will enjoy this page turner. The story is about a talented policewoman that was working for the Indonesian Police and loaned to a diverse Interpol task force investigating narcoterrorism.
However, the bulk of the book story takes place in England and Ireland. Mr. Roberts does an excellent job at catching the accents and dialect of the members of the task force. All of this is refreshing to me, personally as I can’t remember a book that I read set in either Ireland or Indonesia.
The protagonist, Sarah Dharmawan leads the reader on a tale about the chase of a drug dealing Irish cartel specializing in ecstasy. The cartel is made up of ex-Irish military. They have the skills, the weapons and the ruthlessness. The descriptions of the SAS training, plan execution and traditions is fascinating. There are several battles/skirmishes with the cartel in the book and they are authentic and vicious. Mr. Roberts will take you on an emotional ride filled with twists and turns as Sarah runs into some fierce firefights that will forever change her life. She finds love, sadness, camaraderie among Interpol and the SAS teammates. She pushes herself beyond the limits to become one of the best of the best fighting the worst of the worst. The world would be better off with a lot more Sarahs.
Originally, I was contacted by Mr. Roberts to read his book. He offered me a free copy to read. I declined as I wasn’t sure how quickly that I could get to it. I decided to purchase my own copy and I am very happy that I did. As I said, it is a diamond in the rough. I just wish my review could reflect that. But then again, I am a reader not a writer. I have been keeping in touch with Mr. Roberts and he sent me a copy of a new cover for the book.........awesome! Looking forward to his next book.

Thanks Rick!

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that The Policewoman won the 2017 Gold Medal from Readers' Favorite International Book Awards. Here's the link: https://readersfavorite.com/2017-awar...

Thank you all for your support :-)

Justin

Congratulations

Thanks, Sean!

Justin wrote: "Hi everyone!

I just wanted to let you know that The Policewoman won the 2017 Gold Medal from Readers' Favorite International Book Awards. Here's the link: https://readersfavorite.c..."

That's great news - congratulations!

Thanks, Agnieszka!