Strategies for getting a review of Vette Head's Not Dead

I just published Vette Head's Not Dead by Lee A. Sweetapple. The books is a
short action novel that includes corvettes, Aikido, hunting and lots of
military intelligence background. The novel can easily be adapted to a
screenplay due to the extensive dialog. The book is selling OK on Amazon,
Barnes&Noble, Booksamillion and eCampus, but to get it to take off I need
to get a review in a major newspaper or trade journal. Is the process really
so corrupt that I will need to pay someone to "place" the book in the hands
of a reviewer or is there another option. Has anyone had luck mailing books
to newspapers cold?

Thanks,
Lee