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THE SPY DEVILS

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Full Name: Trowbridge 'Bridger' Hall
Series Name: The Spy Devils
Nationality: American
Organization: CIA
Occupation Agent

Creator: Joe Goldberg
Time Span: 2021 - 2022

ABOUT THE SERIES

Trowbridge 'Bridger' Hall is an agent with the CIA.

He is the head of a small group of Agency operatives known as the Spy Devils.

He has been for several years already by the time we meet him in the first recorded adventure. In those years he had been on numerous missions such that he was quite used to the excitement and the danger, as we are told in the second paragraph: "He had been on operations like this so many times over the last half-decade his pulse never wavered. It was the waiting that distracted him, and the fact he allowed it to distract him, even briefly, distracted him even more." As shown above, Hall is known to friends and associates as 'Bridger' which, considering his unusual first name, is quite understandable.

Hall is described as having "the kind of looks that allowed him to morph into invisibility. Even at thirty-nine-years-old, he was still Brad Pitt handsome. Five feet eleven. Toned, lean, muscular body. Sandy brownish hair that appeared to alter its tint with the sun, or the angle of his head. His eyes took on the nearest color. Hazel. Not brown. Not green. His complexion was just a permanent shade below a light summer tan. No moles, scars, dimples, or unusual features. His voice was neutral American Midwest, but accents of any kind were not an issue." All this made one fact very true: "He was a clean canvas for disguise kits".

Three interesting facts exist that make Hall quite unique in the world of clandestine operations.

The first is that he was trained to be an operative from the time he was old enough to understand such things. His teacher was May Currier, Senior Advisor, Special Projects, to the Deputy Director of Operations for the CIA; a woman who knew a thing or two about being in the field and how to not only survive there but also make sure the job got down. The training she gave him, beautifully described in some detail, is well worth the reading. what it boiled down to, though, was the Hall, trained from when he was aroung 10, was not only an exceptional operative, he pretty much had no choice in the matter. "Espionage was his life's work and ingrained in half his DNA as much as the genetic code that assured him his hair was sort of blonde, or his eyes were sort of hazel."

The second is that financially he did not have to put his life on the line like he constantly did. His father, who passed when Hall was around seven, had been "a successful early tech pioneer" and had left his son a $37 million trust fund; half was his when he turned twenty-one, the rest three years after he graduated from college. His place of residence and refuge is a 2700-acre Texas ranch halfway between Austin and El Paso he named Abaddon ("Place of Destruction"). 

The third is that Hall has chosen to make his group's activities well known to the public. Rather than dealing with the troubles in a covert manner hoping to accomplish a job without being discovered, Hall has purposefully pronouced the activities of his group on every major social media outlet he could - Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Snapchat, and so on. "Greetings from the Spy Devils" was the heading of each of the segments he released. Mind you, he did not promote any particular member, or apparently even identify anyone by their real name; their missions and their successes were the focus of the announcements. The purpose behind this publicity was to make the Spy Devils known and feared to all the groups that had the potential of getting their interest.

Oh, one other fact that is not quite on 'par' with the others is that Hall has one real passion, outside of work, and that is golf. He is obsessed with it and when not in the field risking his life, he can usually be found on the links, especially the special-made course on his ranch.

A handful of those associates work under his direction in the covert team "now known worldwide as the Spy Devils". They are:

Snake - a man with a love of accents, even though not his own. "He looked like a cop. Acted like a cop. Talked like a cop. That made sense since he had spent ten years on the NYPD. The last few in the Intel and Counterterrorism Bureau - until he got shot. The seasoned street-wise investigator turned into a spy.
Beast - in his mid-30s, he was "broad-shouldered and tall at a few inches over six feet. His bushy beard needed a trim in contrast to his head of dirty brown hair that was short and neatly combed over".
Demon - likely the oldest of the group being 70 years old, his eyes still told people it was best to not mess with him.
Imp - "a twenty-something with bloodshot eyes behind thick tortoise shell-framed glasses" is the tech geek.
Milton - a 'tinkering' genius who creates an interesting assortment of unusual weapons, especially the 'Stick' (which I would love to have).
Beatrice - a talented actress who worked as a paralegal to make ends meet, she is 28 years old and "a knock-out". "Bridger rescued her from a life in law so she could use her many talents in makeup, acting, and research for the Spy Devil's benefit".

BOOKS

Number of Books:2
First Appearance:2021
Last Appearance:2022

1 The Spy Devils The Spy Devils
Written by Joe Goldberg
Copyright: 2021

"When his infamous CIA controller and mother assigns his crew an unusual off-books operation, his finely tuned senses scream danger. Hunting a stolen briefcase across the world, his instincts proven lethally correct when one of his men ends up dead. And with potentially ruthless maternal betrayal and treacherous enemies closing in, it’s play or be played in a vicious game of death…"
buy from Amazon

2 Rebellious Son Rebellious Son
Written by Joe Goldberg
Copyright: 2022

"After bombs explode across Europe, the evidence proves Specter—the infamous and legendary bomb maker—has come out of retirement. The CIA’s former terrorist-hunter Wes Henslow pleads with Bridger to help find the only terrorist he never caught. Bridger agrees, but May, his mother and CIA handler, orders Bridger not to assist their friend. Why?"
buy from Amazon

MY COMMENTS

The skilled author who crafted these two thrillers, Joe Goldberg, certainly knows how to throw danger and excitement at his heroes and then give us the chance to follow them as they fight to survive. We know, of course, they will persevere but how is the question. The answer to that is - with a lot of fun.

I liked the idea of making the Spy Devils a known entity, willing to let their actions be attributed to them. That was a new twist.

This series has a pulp-feel to it that is very welcome and a blast to read. I look forward to more Spy Devil adventures.

GRADE

My Grade: B+

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