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jdkinman wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:

jdkinman wrote:I myself am a former competitive swimmer

Don't know about you, but my knees and shoulders took a beating. Started swimming at age 5 in AAU. By the time I was in the TAGS 10-12 age group, I was swimming the 200IM and 100 butterfly half the meets, then in the 13-14 age group, started swimming the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle. Distance events and butterfly--that will wreck your shoulders and knees. Playing baseball (catcher) only exacerbated the damage.

I sound like a bad bown of Rick Crispies when I get out of bed (snap, crackle, pop).

JD

jdkinman wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote: Well, I've nearly finished the book, and there are some average ordinary Americans who have heroic roles in the story. Dillon Cole is some kind of ninja god, but there are a few regular folks with concealed carry licenses who acquit themselves very well with a number of different kinds of handguns and a 12 gauge pump gun in one case. They just don't have as prominent a role as Cole does as the primary protagonist.

Hi Annoyed Man and fellow DFW-metro-madness inhabiter,

Dillon's not really a ninja-god as he only has two physical encounters in the book (the second one being in the very last chapter). In the back-county pool hall/beer joint, his opening two moves are actually moves taught to us in SERE school way back in the late 70's. The third move is just an old fashioned bar-brawl move, and the last is a basic arm-bar hold/submission hold and one of the first submission holds I learned in judo back when I was in junior high.

His other physical encounter is in the water and trust me, even an old competitive swimmer like myself can't do karate moves in the water--that is a whole nother environment! We used to play water-polo in the off-season and you learn every dirty trick in the book and I DID employ a couple of those in the final scene.

The main character is a good shot, however, but gives credence to the old line of "Excuse me, how do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

"Practice, son. Practice."

MOA wrote:

jdkinman wrote:Above Reproach is a thriller set throughout the United States, but unlike typical thrillers written by my favorite authors (Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, et al), my thriller does not have a CIA/SEAL/Delta/Recon Marine super-hero bullet-proof antagonist as its hero who saves the day and saves America.

Instead, the hero is the average ordinary American who exercises their Second Amendment rights, and in particular by being a CHL holder.

Cool!

Dillon Cole is a combat veteran and former U.S. Marshal who became a legend in the law enforcement community.

I thought you said average ordinary American.