Library Journal
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"Skwerl" and ace pilot "Cheese" (real names: Jay and Aziz) were paramilitaries for the CIA until a raid went dramatically bad in Afghanistan. Now down on their luck, they accept a gig repossessing a private jet stranded in Africa. Their fee for the heist is a cool million dollars. But when Skwerl and Cheese find their money man dead in his hotel room in Marseilles, they steal the jet again, fly it to a survivalist's hidden airfield in Colorado, and try to contact their unknown employer, "Sheepdog." Meanwhile, a homicidal Afghani is hunting Skwerl to avenge his brother's death in a botched air strike. Off-track characters enter the story in profusion. An excommunicated Amish man repairs their jet, but where to go next? There's also Skwerl's dominatrix girlfriend, Sinead, and Cheese's pregnant wife, Fareeda, who is kidnapped to put pressure on him to hand over the plane. Behind everything is "Uncle Tony," the least trustworthy agent in the CIA. Surprises abound as the action moves from Kampala to Marseilles to the States and back again overseas. VERDICT Ackerman (Halcyon; The Fifth Act: America's End in Afghanistan) crafts a fast-paced spy-ish story that offers frisson and humor in equal doses. Fans of Carl Hiaasen will enjoy.—David Keymer

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

After the intriguing Halcyon (2023), Ackerman returns to his more familiar territory of America’s seemingly unlimited global military influence, focusing here on the ripple effects of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the war in Ukraine, and the secretive operations of the CIA’s elite paramilitary wing. Skwerl, once a member of this wing, has been hung out to dry, and his career is over. To pay his debts, he accepts a lucrative if mysterious job from “Sheepdog”—to steal a plane in Kampala to take to Marseille. He enlists the help of legendary Afghan pilot Cheese (real name Aziz), who, since the fall of Kabul, supports his pregnant wife by working in a gas station. Sweeping across the globe, Ackerman introduces an array of superb characters: Big Tony and the White Russian, who are trying to control things; Ephraim, an excommunicated Amish man; J. S. (for Just Shane), a prepper in Colorado; and Skwerl’s fascinating girlfriend, Sinéad, a dominatrix with congressional connections. Gripping and stylishly conveyed, this thriller is also a fascinating portrayal of the interconnectedness of contemporary global conflicts.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Sheepdogs boost a jet in the service of America’s off-the-books armies. What’s in a name? asked Shakespeare. Quite a bit, apparently. Take sheepdogs, for example. As a man named Cheese explains to his wife, there are three types of people in the world: sheep, who don’t believe in evil; wolves, who prey upon them, and sheepdogs, who “understand violence, except they use that understanding to protect others.” He’s a sheepdog: an Afghan and a skilled pilot who works for a shadowy organization known as the Office and hopes to settle with his pregnant wife in America. He partners with Skwerl, an ex-Marine whose name would be Squirrel except that “Marines can’t spell for shit.” Nicknames are all assigned to them, and their real names don’t much matter anyway. The capitalS Sheepdog hires them to go to Uganda and repossess—or steal, depending on one’s viewpoint—a Challenger 600 luxury jet and fly it to Marseille in exchange for a $1 million commission. Strangely, the main characters don’t know Sheepdog’s identity. Plenty of action ensues, of course, but the story is more caper than thriller, and protecting innocent lambs hardly seems the main thrust here. Don’t expect lots of gore or high body counts, even though the Russia-Ukraine war lurks in the background. A grizzly bear, a dominatrix named Mistress S, and a set of plates commissioned by Marie Antoinette keep the tone relatively light. Those fancy plates might be worth more than the plane even after they’ve broken a few, but not everyone is motivated by money. All Cheese really wants is not to have to work at the Esso station anymore. All that Ali Safi wants is to find the man responsible for his brother’s death. There are vivid images: “Just Shane” comes out of a shower wearing just a towel and a ski mask; Mistress S has tattoos on her wrist that record—ahem—how far she’s gone with clients. Author Ackerman is a skilled storyteller, weaving an unlikely set of details and making them look like they belong together. Compare this to the deadly serious2034, which he co-authored with Admiral James Stavridis in 2021. A fun read, loony in spots. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly
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International intrigue, classic heist tropes, and gonzo humor collide in this bruising page-turner from Ackerman (2054). Jay Manning, better known as “Skwerl,” was a member of an elite CIA unit before one of his missions went FUBAR and he was fired. His old friend Aziz “Big Cheese” Iqbal is an Afghan pilot renowned for his ability to fly any kind of plane. Adrift without a war to fight, the two take to operating as mercenaries-for-hire. As the novel opens, Skwerl has persuaded Cheese to travel to Africa and “repossess” a luxury jet on behalf of an anonymous client. Things go south fast when they walk into an ambush, barely escaping in Cheese’s plane to a hangar in rural Pennsylvania. They regroup and—with the help of a memorable supporting cast including Skwerl’s dominatrix wife Sinead, an excommunicated Amish mechanic named Ephraim, and a former soldier nicknamed “Just Shane” who’s gone off the grid in Colorado—try to determine who might have set them up. When Cheese’s pregnant wife is kidnapped, things get more urgent. Ackerman, a former Marine, holds a funhouse mirror up to classic grizzled-soldier narratives while grounding the loopy proceedings with real stakes for his characters. The result is a riotous entertainment. Agent: PJ Mark, Janklow & Nesbit. (Aug.)