State of the Union: A Thriller by Brad Thor
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Book Reviews of State of the Union: A Thriller
Book Review: Not a thrill
Summary: 3 Stars
This is the first Thor book I have read. This book was too hard to become involved and it dragged. I thought I would never get to the end. But, I read another one of his books, The First Commandment and now am a fan.Book Review: Timely Topic
Summary: 3 Stars
Good book for a quiet evening. Action packed and interesting. I am finding that his story lines closely imulate Vince Flynn's in character and content. Otherwise, would have rated it higher.Book Review: Brad Thor "State of the Union"
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought these books for my husband, he liked tehm, but not as much as the Vince Flynn books.Book Review: Didn't finish it
Summary: 2 Stars
I took this on vacation and was looking forward to reading it. But I could only get about 1/2 way through. It was a little slow, with standard plot lines, nothing new here.
If I didn't have a couple of other books, I would probably have finished it, so who knows, maybe the 2nd half is better.
Book Review: One of the worst-written books I have ever read
Summary: 1 Stars
First the good news: the book has an interesting plot, the author keeps things moving at a brisk pace, and the technical details are well researched.
Now the bad news, and there's a lot of it. Brad Thor's writing style is incredibly clunky and awkward. His descriptions are clumsy, full of clichés, and loaded with superfluous references. I just picked up the book and opened to a random page to find an example. Here's one: "The message had come down loud and clear: Harvath and Alexandra were in a hurry and there was no time to waste." Really? Eight hours before the nation is incinerated in a nuclear inferno, and they're in a hurry? You don't say. An obvious reference, a punctuation error, and four clichés in ONE SENTENCE. Every page has at least one clunker like that. Techno-thrillers aren't known for brilliant prose, but even by the standards of the genre, this is just terrible writing.
Thor goes into exhaustive detail about every single weapon and gadget his characters use, at great expense to the development of the story and the characters themselves. At times the book reads like a Special Forces equipment catalog. I like techno-thrillers, and I like tactical hardware, but please, give us a story. I can look technical specs up on Wikipedia.
Finally, the dialog is completely implausible. People just don't talk like Brad Thor's characters. How did this guy become a best-selling author?
It typically takes me 3-4 days to devour a book of this size and type. "State Of The Union" took me two weeks. I would get so frustrated and annoyed by the writing that I couldn't continue reading for more than a few minutes at a time. Having finished it, I'm not sure if I should be proud of my persistence, or angry with myself for wasting so much time on this awful book.