Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Terminal List by Jack Carr

6 reviews

beltari's profile picture

beltari's review

2.0
adventurous mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I was very impressed by the writing. Intricate plot and lots of action. I'll never truly understand the impact of war on the human psyche. 

This was a heavy read and took way longer than expected...not that war and post-war are bubble gum topics. And even as Reece exacted his revenge, I found myself wanting him to "win." A little too gory for me at times, but overall, well done.

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mgorham's profile picture

mgorham's review

4.0
challenging emotional inspiring tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Boy oh boy.  Where to start?

The lack of subtlety hits you like a train.  Everything is over the top.  What was promised was a story of revenge but you barely see any grief beyond rage at the injustice.
(I think the main character shed one tear looking at his daughter's precious drawing at the very end of the book before dropping it in the ocean)


This is an alpha male/man-on-a-mission power fantasy at it's worst.  Misogyny is abundant where the good female characters are described as pretty/fit/beautiful/hot/looking exactly as they should..  Basically how bangable they are.  The politics are so overtly biased towards conservatism to a fault and it reads like an attempt to indoctrinate someone to their beliefs. 
(The evil Madame Secretary with a future presidential bid has a husband who ruined his political career with his infidelity and the mention of Benghazi...  Wonder who that could be..)


In addition to all of that, there is blatant homophobia, racism, xenophobia.  Violence is the only acceptable answer to wrongdoing.  Torture might come first but death is the planned result.  There are so many conveniences (the main character certainly isn't a pro, but luckily he took a basic training course so he knows enough to get the job done) and coincidences that it is ridiculous.  I am not sure why I bothered to continue reading beyond the 10% mark because I was already feeling pretty meh about it but I had hoped that as the action picked up it would improve.

Lastly, it deserves a mention because it was so jarring: the fucking product placement.  Was this book sponsored?  The pacing was already a mess and dropping name brands constantly made it worse.

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A tense and riveting read about a navy SEAL who is forced to confront the evil of the big and over-powerful American government. Overall I enjoyed the story and the plot flowed well. I sympathized with the main character though he takes actions that made me balk a little bit. It was realistic to his character though. The ending was mostly satisfying with one tiny detail left not quite satisfied. I liked the way the plot progressed. I could tell the book was written by a politically conservative author and I appreciated some of the topics and ideas he explored. It definitely pushed you to question some more mainstream agendas. 

My biggest issue with the book would be graphic violence (very explicit descriptions of gore and stomach-turning violence) some  language (though not excessive) and a few brief mentions of sexual elements. No sex scenes or anything graphic but there were a few sensual elements. 

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emotional fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I do not normally read books of this genre, but I truly enjoyed every second of it!  The topic was quite heavy and emotional, but I was looking for a book with more substance, and this one turned out to be a gem. I highly recommend it to anyone, even if a military thriller is not the usual read. 

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