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A review by professorfate
Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston
3.0
I am a fan of Preston and Child’s Agent Pendergast series (although I will admit that I am a few books behind and will try to catch up someday). In a way, they are like the Repairman Jack series: action mysteries, usually with a slight supernatural flavor to them. So when I saw that they were starting a new series, I was eager to try it out.
Gideon Crew, as a young boy, sees his father, a brilliant mathematician, accused of treason and gunned down. Later, when his mother is dying, he learns from her that his father was actually framed for a treasonous act by a military leader and is deliberately killed. Gideon spends the next years going to school and concocting a plan to get back at the official who got his father slaughtered. His plan is eventually successful.
He is then brought to a group who claim to be a subcontractor for the Department of Homeland Security and given a mission to help a Chinese scientist who appears to be trying to defect to the United States. The head of this group also shows him xrays showing that he has a rare disease and has only a year or so to live. Gideon takes the mission and adventure ensues.
This series is not as “cerebral”—in the words of Preston/Child—as the Pendergast series; it is straight-up action/adventure ala Gabriel Hunt or The Destroyer. In that, it succeeds—it is a quick, fun read that you are drawn into and compelled to complete.
My problem is the setup. This boy has no formal training, concocts a plan of vengeance, carries it out and suddenly he is qualified to be a spy? Really? I can accept the disease portion, since it basically takes away the fear of dying on the mission, but I would think it would be impossible for somebody with no training to be a master spy. For me, it was a HUGE suspension of disbelief.
If you can buy (or at least rent) the setup, you’ll enjoy the book. If that is going to stop you, don’t try.
Gideon Crew, as a young boy, sees his father, a brilliant mathematician, accused of treason and gunned down. Later, when his mother is dying, he learns from her that his father was actually framed for a treasonous act by a military leader and is deliberately killed. Gideon spends the next years going to school and concocting a plan to get back at the official who got his father slaughtered. His plan is eventually successful.
He is then brought to a group who claim to be a subcontractor for the Department of Homeland Security and given a mission to help a Chinese scientist who appears to be trying to defect to the United States. The head of this group also shows him xrays showing that he has a rare disease and has only a year or so to live. Gideon takes the mission and adventure ensues.
This series is not as “cerebral”—in the words of Preston/Child—as the Pendergast series; it is straight-up action/adventure ala Gabriel Hunt or The Destroyer. In that, it succeeds—it is a quick, fun read that you are drawn into and compelled to complete.
My problem is the setup. This boy has no formal training, concocts a plan of vengeance, carries it out and suddenly he is qualified to be a spy? Really? I can accept the disease portion, since it basically takes away the fear of dying on the mission, but I would think it would be impossible for somebody with no training to be a master spy. For me, it was a HUGE suspension of disbelief.
If you can buy (or at least rent) the setup, you’ll enjoy the book. If that is going to stop you, don’t try.