Reviews

A good yarn, some bits stretched plausibility a little. For example the star crossed lovers leading to an international terrorist cabal, the idea of a random witness being trained in CIA and Delta Force tactics, the utter senselessness of the CIA, it was just a bit silly. Scot's constant wisecracking is a little annoying as well. But it was suitably interesting and engaging enough that I'm interested to see where it goes next.

r_lind's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

nklosty's review against another edition

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5.0

Listened to. I like the set up and pace of this novel. After listening to others, I liked going back and hearing how some of the events mentioned in others took place. 94

wendylady101's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

jwillis81's review against another edition

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3.0

I really enjoyed the first Scot Harvath book, but this one fell a little flat for me. The story went to the "Scot knows better than everyone, he goes rogue and then is proven to have made the right call" well a few too many times, and it felt a little old-fashioned in the way it handled the relationship between the two leads. Meg Cassidy is strong and confident and capable... except when she needs Scot Harvath to save her. Overall, I thought the quality of the writing was good, but the story and the characters were pretty weak and predictable.

ericbuscemi's review against another edition

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3.0

The plot of the novel was acceptable, if unspectacular, but seemed like a series of discarded Bond plot ideas more than anything else -- specifically, having to repeatedly read about the antagonist's silver eyes that turn black hammered home that bad Bond villain feel. There is also a good amount of jet setting, with most of the locations already forgotten.

As for the protagonist, Secret Service agent Scot Harvath is tasked down with hunting down terrorists, but without the sense of urgency from the kidnapping in the first book, [b:The Lions Of Lucerne|206196|The Lions Of Lucerne (Scot Harvath, #1)|Brad Thor|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1172679048s/206196.jpg|2164503], Harvath's behavior comes off as an arrogant and boorish. To every other character in the book except the president, he acts like a prima-donna, and he flat out refuses to play nice with any other government agencies or their agents. While he is naturally always right, it did not make him any more endearing, and his habit of making snide remarks to everyone that questions him gets old fast. Also, it is mentioned multiple times how magnetic Harvath's personality is, especially to women, but it is not really shown, at least not believably.

The most thrilling segment of this thriller was the plane hijacking scenes. It seemed to be written as a form of 9/11 therapy for Thor -- which makes sense, giving that the book was published in late 2002 -- and, for that supposed reason, it is not surprising that this segment rises a level above the rest of the book. Although, of course, Harvath does get his girl-of-the-week from the survivors of the hijacking, checking off another Bond trope check-box.

Hopefully, this book was only a let-down because [a:Brad Thor|5088|Brad Thor|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1201288917p2/5088.jpg] struggled to transition his first Scot Harvath book into a series, or with the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the next book in the series, [b:State Of The Union|206195|State Of The Union (Scot Harvath, #3)|Brad Thor|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1172679048s/206195.jpg|702577], is an improvement.

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