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katemoxie's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. Surprising twists - a real adrenaline rush. Do not read the last 30 pages before wanting to go to sleep.
petersenftleben's review against another edition
4.0
More like 3.5 stars, and that's probably more about me than the book, so I'll round up. I read the first chunk quickly, but the rest I had to read in bits and pieces, and I think that took me out of the momentum of the story.
I thought that the premise of this was great and the execution of that premise was pretty damn good, too. But I couldn't help feel that the plot could have used some streamlining, especially in the Amsterdam portion. I felt like the story was its strongest when Sam was looking for Lucy, and I thought he lost sight of that for a majority of the time he was trying to save Yasmin. Yes, it all eventually came together, but he didn't know they were as related as we did, and I didn't get the sense that he was using the job to find the guy with the scar as much as he could have. And without that personal motivation, it slowed down a bit for me. Add the convoluted channels to get to Edward and it started to feel a bit bloated and hard to follow all the double crossing.
I think this might have been more focused if it stuck to Sam's first person narrative as well. With such short chapters, cutting to Mila and the bad guys often felt intrusive to me rather than suspenseful. And if they were all cut, it might have been a more taut thriller.
I also kind of wanted more of Sam's parkour skills to come into use.
But then the end really picked up again, and the question of who and what to trust brought it home. I also really liked the reveal of the weapon; I was ready to be let down by something standard for the genre, but the author's imagination came up with something frighteningly realistic and feasible that I never would have expected.
I'll probably check out the next book, though I'm slightly worried this might get too episodic and try to stretch the personal motivation too thin.
Also, for those who've read:
I thought that the premise of this was great and the execution of that premise was pretty damn good, too. But I couldn't help feel that the plot could have used some streamlining, especially in the Amsterdam portion. I felt like the story was its strongest when Sam was looking for Lucy, and I thought he lost sight of that for a majority of the time he was trying to save Yasmin. Yes, it all eventually came together, but he didn't know they were as related as we did, and I didn't get the sense that he was using the job to find the guy with the scar as much as he could have. And without that personal motivation, it slowed down a bit for me. Add the convoluted channels to get to Edward and it started to feel a bit bloated and hard to follow all the double crossing.
I think this might have been more focused if it stuck to Sam's first person narrative as well. With such short chapters, cutting to Mila and the bad guys often felt intrusive to me rather than suspenseful. And if they were all cut, it might have been a more taut thriller.
I also kind of wanted more of Sam's parkour skills to come into use.
But then the end really picked up again, and the question of who and what to trust brought it home. I also really liked the reveal of the weapon; I was ready to be let down by something standard for the genre, but the author's imagination came up with something frighteningly realistic and feasible that I never would have expected.
I'll probably check out the next book, though I'm slightly worried this might get too episodic and try to stretch the personal motivation too thin.
Also, for those who've read:
Spoiler
Does anyone know if August knew what Howell was up to since he worked for him? Sam never really addressed that or distrusted him, even in the end, but I'm curious as to his involvement.cmbohn's review against another edition
3.0
Sam works for the CIA. His wife is expecting their first baby. She also works for the Company. One day Sam goes to work and receives a call to from her to come outside right this second. As soon as he does a bomb goes off in the building and she disappears.
Sam is now the only survivor and the chief suspect. He only wants to escape custody and find his wife and baby. To do that he has to make some new allies and go on the run.
I love a good thriller and this one sounded really exciting. It has a great premise, as who doesn't identify with wanting to find your family and keep them safe? The bad guys were pretty bad,the pace was goos. But the writing kept me from giving it more than 3.5 stars. Also I don't enjoy political thrillers as much, so it wasn't quite what I expected.
Sam is now the only survivor and the chief suspect. He only wants to escape custody and find his wife and baby. To do that he has to make some new allies and go on the run.
I love a good thriller and this one sounded really exciting. It has a great premise, as who doesn't identify with wanting to find your family and keep them safe? The bad guys were pretty bad,the pace was goos. But the writing kept me from giving it more than 3.5 stars. Also I don't enjoy political thrillers as much, so it wasn't quite what I expected.
barbi312's review against another edition
2.0
"Adrenaline" is the first novel written by Jeff Abbott that I've read. The premise of the book sounded promising, the beginning chapters were exciting, and then the story simply ran out of steam. In fact, it was about 100 pages too long. I read a fair amount of mysteries and spy thrillers, most of them more suspenseful and better written than "Adrenaline". In my opinion, this book deserves a C+ to B rating.
Without warning, CIA operative Sam Capra's happy life and the world as he knows it are blasted to smithereens, his family is torn apart, and he is accused of being a traitor. Sam spends the rest of the book tracking down and ultimately triumphing over a legion of bad guys using his wits, athleticism, guns, bare fists, flying feet and whatever objects happen to be handy.
About midway through the book, I became aware that the near misses were too numerous, the twists were too tangled and implausible, and the turns too numerous to count. Notwithstanding my overall disappointment, it's likely that I'll give the sequel a try in the hope that the author's next book will deliver more punch and less drag.
Without warning, CIA operative Sam Capra's happy life and the world as he knows it are blasted to smithereens, his family is torn apart, and he is accused of being a traitor. Sam spends the rest of the book tracking down and ultimately triumphing over a legion of bad guys using his wits, athleticism, guns, bare fists, flying feet and whatever objects happen to be handy.
About midway through the book, I became aware that the near misses were too numerous, the twists were too tangled and implausible, and the turns too numerous to count. Notwithstanding my overall disappointment, it's likely that I'll give the sequel a try in the hope that the author's next book will deliver more punch and less drag.
maureenmccombs's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
If you are a fan of Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series than you will enjoy this book. I almost gave up at the very beginning because the protagonist (Sam Capra) is someone who is in the practice of parkour (Google it) and I had a tough time keeping my mind from thinking about the episode of The Office when Michael, Dwight and Andy are practicing their parkour skills and Andy jumps into an empty refrigerator box! It was hard for me to take that part of Capra's character seriously but the rest of the book was pretty well put together with some interesting twists and turns. The ending is obviously set up for the next in the series. The final 150 pages or so fly by and this was worth the read.
If you are a fan of Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series than you will enjoy this book. I almost gave up at the very beginning because the protagonist (Sam Capra) is someone who is in the practice of parkour (Google it) and I had a tough time keeping my mind from thinking about the episode of The Office when Michael, Dwight and Andy are practicing their parkour skills and Andy jumps into an empty refrigerator box! It was hard for me to take that part of Capra's character seriously but the rest of the book was pretty well put together with some interesting twists and turns. The ending is obviously set up for the next in the series. The final 150 pages or so fly by and this was worth the read.
aschwennsen's review against another edition
3.0
I would ideally like to give this book a 3.5 but that's not an option. I wish "whelmed" was a word, like I don't feel over or underwhelmed by this book. Basically, it was as good as it could be as a novel that features a CIA agent who does parkour. Like I could have done without every single one of those scenes.
clockless's review against another edition
4.0
Decent thriller. Moderately generic, but non-offensive. Wonderfully short chapters made for easy dip in/dip out reading. Nothing world changing by any means, but it did everything it set out to do. I know none of this is exactly high praise, but it's not my favorite genre and I've read a lot worse. If I know someone is looking for something within the genre, I'd recommend it without a second thought.
lindagreen's review against another edition
1.0
Word of mouth caused me to read this book, otherwise I might have passed on it. Unfortunately, it is a standard mainstream book. The characters were flat, the plot like almost every other one in this genre and the plodding along wasn't suspenseful at all. Completely forgettable but if you are looking for mindless way to pass time without investing yourself in a story or characters, this may be the choice for you.
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