Goldblood

Downloaded this for a long flight and didn't look up once. Not even for the drinks cart. The pacing is insane — once you're in, you're in. What I loved most was how the book handles John Martin's transformation. He doesn't just become powerful overnight. The jungle breaks him first. The shaman rebuilds him. Then Joanna gives him something to fight for. By the time he's running an empire you actually understand how he got there. It earns it. The writing is clean and simple in the best way — no wasted words. Five stars easy. Already telling everyone at book club about it and yes we are a mixed group, this isn't just for blokes.

I don't understand how this isn't a TV show yet. The plane crash, the jungle survival, the rise to power through drugs and diamonds and sheer willpower — it's made for the screen. Joanna's introduction is awesome. A former militia fighter from the Amazon who becomes John Martin's wife and the operational backbone of his empire. She's not decoration, she runs things. The Brazil setting feels authentic, not like someone googled it. The author clearly knows the country. Five stars, no hesitation. Arrived in Belgium in about two weeks. Already bought Alien AI.

Read The Feeder first and kept wondering how John Martin became who he is. Goldblood answers everything. The 1970s setting is perfect — raw, lawless, dangerous. The Goldblood tribe sequences feel almost mythical, like you're reading something ancient mixed with a crime thriller. Lene Hagen is a standout — a Norwegian diplomat spying on the man she falls for. That tension between duty and love is really well done. Four stars only because I felt the middle section with the cartel politics dragged slightly. But the final act is explosive. Worth it.

This book put me in the jungle. I could feel the rain, the mud, the danger. John Martin's plane going down loaded with cocaine and him crawling out of the wreckage into the unknown — what a way to start. The shaman and the tribeswoman who save him aren't just plot devices either, they're proper characters with their own weight. Watching John go from a broken man in the dirt to the most powerful person on the planet is a hell of a ride. The writing doesn't mess about. Short, sharp sentences when the tension ramps up. Loved every page. Shipping to Scotland took 11 days.

I've read a lot of thriller series — Reacher, Bourne, Gabriel Allon — and The Feeder Series is genuinely different. It's got the action and the conspiracy stuff but wrapped in this world of extreme wealth, fashion, sex, and power that you don't see in other thrillers. JFK calls it Luxe Noir and honestly it fits perfectly. Each book can be read on its own which is nice. My favourite is probably Goldblood because the origin story is just epic. Bruce and Camilla Martin's backstory is hinted at and I'm dying to know more.

Picked up Goldblood first because the 1970s Brazil setting caught my eye. It reads like a movie. The crash scene, the jungle survival, the rise to power — the pacing is relentless. When the action starts, the sentences get shorter and everything moves faster. You can feel the author shifting gears deliberately. The Goldblood tribe sequences were fascinating. My only small complaint is that some of the luxury descriptions slowed things down a bit for me, but I think that's intentional — it's the style. Four stars. Will read The Feeder next.

Goldblood blew my mind. A cocaine plane crashing in Brazil in 1970, a shaman, a tribe — and somehow that becomes the origin story of the most powerful man in the world? The writing is simple and direct when it needs to be, especially during the action sequences, but then shifts into this rich, luxurious style when describing the settings and the lifestyle. You can tell the author knows Brazil. Ordered the paperback and it arrived in about two weeks to the US. Quality is solid. Going to read Alien AI next even though sci-fi isn't usually my thing.