Book Review: Burn Notice - The End Game by Tod Goldberg (Burn Notice #2)

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Wonderful characters true to their TV selves

Cons: A couple jumps in the plot that I really had to think about

The Bottom Line:

Notice: fans will not

Get burned while reading this book

They will enjoy it

Can Michael Figure Out the End Game?

When a tie in novel is well done, it feels just like an extended episode of your favorite TV show.  That's the case with The End Game, the second novel based on USA Network's show Burn Notice.

If you aren't familiar with the show, it revolves around Michael Westen.  He loved his life as a covert operative until he was burned (translation: fired) and dumped in Miami.  While trying to get to the bottom of his burn notice, he takes on jobs for people who are in dangerous situations and can't go to the cops.  Helping him along the way are Sam Axe (former Navy Seal and FBI agent) and Fiona Glenanne (former IRA agent/girlfriend/current gun dealer).

The Hurricane Cup, a yacht race of the rich, has come to Miami.  Normally, Michael would just ignore it, but this year, a friend of Sam's needs Michael's help.  Gennaro Stefania, who will be piloting the family yacht in the race, is being told to throw the race or his wife and daughter will be killed.

When Michael begins poking around, he quickly finds things are more complicated than he imagined.  Suddenly, figuring out who is behind the threats might not be enough.  Can he stay alive long enough to solve the problem?

This book captures everything I love about the TV show perfect, starting with the characters.  The series regulars are perfectly captured here.  I was hearing the actors say the lines as I read them.  Plus their mannerisms came through as well.  The show makes ample use of voice overs as Michael explains something technical about the spy business or the contraption they are building to us.  Those are even here in the form of Michael's first person narration.  And again, they sound like the show.

Several recurring characters from the series also show up here.  I don't have quite the attachment to them I do the others, but they fit the part as well.  And the new characters are interesting.

The series is basically a spy thriller, and the plot of the novel captures that as well.  As things got more and more complicated, all I could do was keep reading to find out how Michael would figure it all out.  There were a couple times when the plot made a jump that confused me.  I'd go back and reread portions and think things through.  When I did, I could figure out how it got there, so I was probably just being dense again.  Frankly, I've occasionally felt the TV show made a couple of quick leaps as well.

I also love this show for its humor.  Michael is quite sarcastic, and his interactions with Fiona and Sam are often quite funny.  That element is captured here as well.  In fact, I think this book had some of the funniest lines I've seen in the Burn Notice franchise.

About the only thing that was different here than in the series was the burn notice sub-plot.  It was mentioned a few times in a general way, but for the most part, it was ignored.  Frankly, by allowing the book to focus on the kidnapping and race, I felt it was stronger.  Plus, with how quickly things change on the TV show, there is no way the author could put anything specific in here that wouldn't be out of date by the time we read it.  So this was worth noting only in passing.

The End Game will entertain fans of the TV series Burn Notice.  And those new to the franchise just might find this novel a good introduction to one of the most fun hours of TV.