Scarcity: A Jack Randall Thriller

Let me first say that this story has a great pace. My interest was hooked early on for several reasons, for one, I wanted to know what major assignment was going to land on Jack Randall’s desk next. Second, I was interested in seeing the continued development of the characters, including the bad guys. Third, as the story progressed and people were put in impossible situations, it made me question if I would cross the line to save some I loved if I had the means to do such a thing.Throughout the story, there are several subplots happening at once but they all strategically come together to support the overall plot. The author doesn’t overdo it. Each character has a credible purpose.What I love about this series as a whole is that (so far) each book holds up great as a stand-alone story even though it contains an ongoing storyline with the same group of main characters. However, I am a sucker for a well-woven storyline. I love in-depth series. Wood does a great job with the character dynamics. As a reader, I can see the growth and change in the characters based on their choices in response to the situations that have occurred in the past books.I don’t want to give too much of the story away but I will say my favorite scene takes place three-quarters of the way into the story. I appreciate the in-depth detail the author gives to the medical aspects of this story. Some readers may not care for this high level of scene detail but there are some readers who love it and I am one such reader. I feel this comes down to personal preference. How deep do you want the author to go? Do you want the author to just fluff over the details of a surgery? Do you want the author to go just beneath the surface of the scene and share a few character thoughts? Or do you want the author to go in depth, using medical terminology and deep characters? With the latter, I felt like I was right in the operating room.However, I do feel led to warn readers who follow this series. Jack Randall doesn’t make as much of an appearance as he has done in the first two books. For readers who are just coming into the series, this won’t be an issue. New readers won’t be as vested in Jack like the veteran readers of the series may be.Another point I want to add is that Wood does a great job of building bridges. Although there were no significant loose ends once I reached the end of the story, I still wanted more from the epilogue. The end happened more quickly than I expected it to, given the nature of the story.Overall, I really enjoyed this story. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

In Randall Wood's Scarcity, the third installment in the Jack Randall thriller series, this installment deals with organ transplantation across the board. It all started when Anita Ruiz was kidnapped in Mexico City, and Tessa Lamar crashed her car in Washington D.C.--one loses her life and another gets one from Mexico--those two were among other senseless tragedies when one life was stolen for another, when it was scarce for seriously ill patients get a new organ around the world. For FBI Jack Randall, he's on the case when he learned about a secret operation that deals with drug smuggling from Mexico to the USA and a black market sting to procure hearts. And how one notorious drug carter leader is the next victim to get a new heart on the transplant list. That's when Jack and Interpol Agent Lenny Hill deals with serious matters on where these new hearts came from. For two heart surgeons, they deal with two patients whose lives were in their hands and how they kept the hearts freshly going with a POPS machine, a new device for the medical world. In a matter of life and death, this fast-pace thriller would keep you guessing right to the end on how it came to a head and a heartbeat away..

I enjoyed the first two books in this series immensely. The story was great, I liked the characters and I even managed to learn quite a bit.My one complaint (and this covers all three books so far) is that the author uses way too much jargon which leaves me unable to visualize the scene. I'm not medically trained not was I in the military as the author was and he tends to gloss over technical terms and medical bits as if I'm supposed to know all the ins and outs of medical procedures and the tools used. You lost me Mr Wood. If you'd explained it a little better or 'shown' the procedure without lecturing I might have caught on. It didn't take away from the plot, but the books could have been superb.This third book, Scarcity, was my least favourite. Jack Randall hardly makes an appearance. The very long, tedious and detailed account of the heart operation made my eyes cross over and quite honestly I just glossed over the pages after a while to get to the bits that mattered. Too technical, too long and too many unknown medical terms for me. A med student or surgeon would no doubt love it. I was left feeling that I'd lost half a book.The typos and grammatical errors are few and far between. I feel it's important these days to mention this because of the many books which are riddled with errors on every page and although this is a series, each book stands alone...no cliffhangers. Hooray!

Another good one by Wood.This one starts with kidnapping of sixteen year old Anita Perez in Mexico city and a traffic accident in the US. A traffic accident with one victim. The driver.The driver is Tessa Lamar, the daugher of US Senator Remington Lamar of Maryland.The accident was purely her fault. She was driving with her knees, texting on her phone and had her hair in her face via her mustang convertable with the top down. She was one stupid, irresonsible idiot. Thank God she was the only victim. An idiot victim who's needs result in the murder of Anita Perez. A very painfull murder.So begins one fine read.This one has Jack Randall, Lenny Hill a member of Interpol, Angel a witness Hill is protecting, Oscar Hernandez the leader of a Mexican drug cartel, Jimmy and Manuel who are hitters for that cartel, an bomb, Jessica, Cody, a dog named Sam, Dayo and Fong two heart surgeons, the Major in Afghanistan, murder, organs for sale, the Senators wife who trades info for a heart for her daughter, a heart that was removed from a living Anita Perez, the negotiator, his plans, crooked Mexican cops, honest Mexican cops and one damnend fine read.Five Stars and then some.

This is the first book I've read by this author, so obviously didn't know what to expect or have anything to compare it too. I did sway between giving it 2 stars or 3 stars, but in the end I was a bit too underwhelmed by it to give it more than 2.Despite being billed as a Jack Randall story, he barely features in it at all. The conclusions of the various parts of the story are too short compared to the build up, it just all seems to be tied up very quickly with very little intrigue or excitement. Some of it is fairly obvious based on how other parts of it conclude, but then there's one part which isn't really addressed at all which feels out of place.All in all, I wouldn't recommend it and it does put me off reading any more of the authors books, even though many of the other reviews have praise for them.

Maybe to my discredit, I usually content myself with a quick scan of the story's synopsis, rather than considering what others have said. Jack R is restricted to mere cameo appearances and, for at least two thirds of the book, I had no idea who was what. I further doubt whether more than 2% of the readership could follow the interminable ramblings through graphic heart transplant operations.In terms of the amount of reading material one gets from Randall Wood books, they are indisputably good value. I shall therefore invest in Book 4 - but it may be my last.

I loved the first two Jack Randall books and felt I had got to know Jack. his wife and the team, however I was disappointed in this book for two reasons:1. Where was Jack and the team? they only played a very minor role.2. The storyline did not grip my attention as much.I feel this was most definately not a Jack Randall mystery and did not link to the other two books very well however I will purchas the 4th book in the hope that it was a blip as I loved the other two books so much.

The first was pretty good if somewhat convoluted, the second was not quite there in both cases - but - compared to the first two books this one was quite a boring read. Not only disjointed in the plot at times, with the continual jumping from continent to continent the content itself was either too involved or superficially described - almost as if (to quote that oft used TV cop phrase) the Mr Wood "was using his own product". Indeed of all the characters in the first two books the 'hero' is the only one of the original team that makes more than a cursory mention.

The first two books were excellent which is why I bought this book.I was very disappointed as this book is supposed to be part of the Jack Randall series yet Jack Randall and his team are scarcely mentioned. It would be better not to advertise as part of the series.It was not as well written as the first two books as the book jumped back and forth between the different scenarios and characters.I have already bought the 4th book based on the first two, hope it is better than the third.