Thank you NetGalley and Troubador Publishing Limited for this arc.

I found this to be a nice fast mindless read. Just what I needed for a quick temporary escape. While the story started plausibly enough, it quickly faded into typical action movie stuff.... complete with a whole lot of supermen, bad-asses and stuntmen.

The "good guys" were likeable enough with their quick repartee. Mostly seemed to be overly romanticized ex-Special Forces with unlimited resources available to them just for the wishing. The "bad guys" were as expected... vile, venal and vicious with apparently only 7 live brain cells between them to share. The "syndicate" backing the bad guys provided them the assets needed to fight the good guys, but the bad guys had to scramble a bit more to get the resources they needed.

As expected, there was no character development. Who needs that with mindless entertainment? Some popcorn would have been nice though.

I would like to thank Troubador Publishing Limited, Matador and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Trashed’ by Norman Townsend in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Ex-Special Forces Major Paul Stafford runs Andover Recycling which has control of five waste recycling stations. Lithuanian Ayman Runihura who’s involved in a number of illegal activities such as bringing immigrants into the UK and using the women for prostitution, drugs, bombs, weapons and murder, makes his money from the electronic waste and either wants Stafford to join them or wants him dead. Stafford enlists the help of the police to bring down Runihura and his gang and they lend him PC Lee Gibson and acting WPS Nicole Martin.
When I started reading ‘Trashed’ I thought it would be written for the male readers but how wrong I was! I became deeply engrossed in the plot which is well-written and researched making me wonder if Townsend has some prior knowledge of the Special Forces. It’s fast-paced and gripping, sometimes gruesome, but it’s kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. I thought it ended a bit abruptly but nevertheless it’s an excellent thriller, exciting and entertaining. I can thoroughly recommend it.