State of the Union: A Thriller by Brad Thor
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Book Reviews of State of the Union: A Thriller
Book Review: A fun book
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm not a secret agent, police officer or Secret Serviceman, so I am unable to comment on tactics, weaponry or jargon, but I found this book to be a lot of fun to read. It drew me in and kept me turning pages.Book Review: A spy novel that you'll read in 2 days!
Summary: 4 Stars
Brad Thor's depiction of a Ex-Special Forces/Ex-Secret Service/CIA Agent is hard to put down. Enough realism to capture your mind and make you lose track of time....Book Review: Fast paced, but unintentionally funny at times
Summary: 3 Stars
This book is enjoyable. It delivers good action, an exciting plot, and interesting settings (Germany, Russia, Norway, as well as Washington D.C.). However, I'm only giving it three stars because of a number of drawbacks. Poor dialogue, cardboard characters, and military technology is thrown in as if quoting from a catalog. Perhaps Thor has no military experience himself, because although his weapons information seems well researched, his military characters act in ways that no U.S. soldier would act (for instance, when speaking on a tactical military radio, you never, ever address an officer by his rank, as it gives information to the enemy that will get the officer killed).
Some elements in the plot are so absurd they become unintentionally funny. Several times characters say or do things so unbelievable or so contrary to human nature as to be laughable. Some examples I can't give away without spoiling the story, but here are a couple that won't give anything away you don't know.
When Russians blackmail the U.S. with nuclear weapons, threatening to kill millions of Americans in 19 cities, they could ask for ANYTHING (total surrender, billions of dollars, top secret U.S. technology, exclusive trade deals, etc.), but instead, they ask for things most Americans would gladly give them for nothing! Their demands: America quietly leave the United Nations, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund (60% of Americans would agree with that, and it would make CONSERVATIVES overjoyed), and withdraw U.S. troops from places they don't belong anyway (60% of Americans would agree with that too, and LIBERALS would be overjoyed).
An even more absurd example, in post-Katrina America, requires me to quote from the book. At the beginning of Chapter 43, p. 418, the President says, "If they hit more than four of our major metropolitan areas, our emergency response capabilities are going to be stretched to the max... Can you imagine UN planes and helicopters being shown on TV bringing in food and medicine because America's infrastructure has been so badly decimated we can't take care of our own citizens? We absolutely can't let that happen." Shortly after Thor wrote this, Hurricane Katrina showed us that even when the U.S. government is given the time and place of a disaster in advance, all it takes is ONE emergency hitting ONE of America's cities, and the U.S. government is unable to take care of its own citizens, with a real-life President staying on vacation, playing guitar on stage, while New Orleans drowned and his FEMA director worried about his own dinner reservations.
Book Review: Okay action thriller
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a fast moving action thriller. Although Mr Thor has not quite maintained the high standards of his first book, this is not bad. A previous reviewer is right that these novels are getting very close to those by Vince Flynn and his character Mitch Rapp and while entertaining, this did feel that it was treading a well worn path.
Having said that, if you enjoyed the previous ones, you will probably enjoy this too. It suffers from a strong start, a weaker middle, and a good close much like the previous novels but it entertains well enough.
If you like this kind of stuff and want a fresh take on it, I strongly recommend the British author, James Barrington.
Book Review: Ouch, not as good as the prior two...but still fun.
Summary: 3 Stars
Looking for light Kindle reading this summer and discovered Brad Thor. I gobbled up the first two of his Scot Harvath series. Really enjoyed them and immediately downloaded State of the Union. Was delighted at the beginning...but golly things went wrong fast (IMHO). Choppy writing, too much requirement for me to suspend disbelief, unsatisfying ending of bad guys, rushed sense to it. I could almost feel the editor breathing down Brad's neck to hurry this one out the door. I'll take a break now, maybe read deeper into the reviews before I invest time in another one. Still like his action writing though, some of the best I've read.