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A review by usbsticky
Warning Light by David Ricciardi
5.0
My first book by this author. I'm giving this book 5 stars because the writing is really easy to read and the action is fast and non-stop. There are some credulity issues but it's that kind of book so I won't downgrade the rating. The plot is also a little out of the box (for me) as it didn't turn in the direction I thought it would. It ended up being a road-trip kind of plot. The characters were likeable when they needed to be and the villains were cliched but it didn't stop me from liking the book. This is the first book I've read deep into the night and couldn't stop for a very long time.
Summary/spoilers:
Zac Miller is on an British Airways jet on the way to Singapore. He's a desk jockey for the CIA. The plane is forced to emergency land in Iran due to engine trouble. The plane lands near an Iranian nuclear complex and they catch him taking pictures with his phone.
The Iranian security apparatus detains him for torture and extreme questioning while sending a double to take his place on the plane which continues its journey. Miller breaks out after killing several guards. He escapes into the arid landscape and avoids being captured due to the area being inhospitable to both him and the searchers. After several run ins with the Iranians he meets up with some nomads. They shelter him for a few days because he has saved one of their children.
When the nomads go to town to sell their produce he goes with them. The town is on the Persian Gulf and he steals a sailboat and sails to Dubai. He is captured by a rogue Dubai police officer who plans to send him back to Iran but he escapes and contacts his boss. His pick up is compromised and he steals onboard a French container ship going to Marseilles. He avoids being discovered on the ship which eventually goes through the Suez Canal and arrives in Marseilles.
Once in Marseilles he calls his boss but his pick up is compromised again and he gets a friend to drive him all the way across France to Dieppe on the Channel. At Dieppe he steals a sailboard that almost gets sunk several times by merchant ships and finally swims ashore half drowned. He is saved by morning walkers and put into an ICU.
Meanwhile the Iranian security officer who has been trying to capture him all this time flies to England to kidnap him but is thwarted by the police and the CIA. Miller's boss loses his job due to internal CIA political infighting and his enemy is now his new boss who orders him to be a field agent due to his performance.
End spoilers.
There is a lot of violence and the enemy gets killed left and right so some readers might not like it. There is the obligatory romance subplot and the protagonist does have to get injured here and there but not too much for the sake of verisimilitude.
I like the descriptions of the scenery/setting a lot. From the rugged mountains of Iran to the desert of Dubai to the water scenes to France, all of it was very well done and made me feel like I was there. Also the depictions of all the secondary and bit characters wee also well written and life like. In a fast action book you don't want to be bogged down by long winding scenes and everything was put together just right and just enough.
So plot + action + verisimilitude = 5 stars.
I'm currently on the second book and it's more of the same.
Summary/spoilers:
Zac Miller is on an British Airways jet on the way to Singapore. He's a desk jockey for the CIA. The plane is forced to emergency land in Iran due to engine trouble. The plane lands near an Iranian nuclear complex and they catch him taking pictures with his phone.
The Iranian security apparatus detains him for torture and extreme questioning while sending a double to take his place on the plane which continues its journey. Miller breaks out after killing several guards. He escapes into the arid landscape and avoids being captured due to the area being inhospitable to both him and the searchers. After several run ins with the Iranians he meets up with some nomads. They shelter him for a few days because he has saved one of their children.
When the nomads go to town to sell their produce he goes with them. The town is on the Persian Gulf and he steals a sailboat and sails to Dubai. He is captured by a rogue Dubai police officer who plans to send him back to Iran but he escapes and contacts his boss. His pick up is compromised and he steals onboard a French container ship going to Marseilles. He avoids being discovered on the ship which eventually goes through the Suez Canal and arrives in Marseilles.
Once in Marseilles he calls his boss but his pick up is compromised again and he gets a friend to drive him all the way across France to Dieppe on the Channel. At Dieppe he steals a sailboard that almost gets sunk several times by merchant ships and finally swims ashore half drowned. He is saved by morning walkers and put into an ICU.
Meanwhile the Iranian security officer who has been trying to capture him all this time flies to England to kidnap him but is thwarted by the police and the CIA. Miller's boss loses his job due to internal CIA political infighting and his enemy is now his new boss who orders him to be a field agent due to his performance.
End spoilers.
There is a lot of violence and the enemy gets killed left and right so some readers might not like it. There is the obligatory romance subplot and the protagonist does have to get injured here and there but not too much for the sake of verisimilitude.
I like the descriptions of the scenery/setting a lot. From the rugged mountains of Iran to the desert of Dubai to the water scenes to France, all of it was very well done and made me feel like I was there. Also the depictions of all the secondary and bit characters wee also well written and life like. In a fast action book you don't want to be bogged down by long winding scenes and everything was put together just right and just enough.
So plot + action + verisimilitude = 5 stars.
I'm currently on the second book and it's more of the same.