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Loading... Hoke: A Fly-On-The-Wall Thriller (Volume 1)by Vivien Braslau
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Settled into a life of power and influence, Hoke Brennan is one of the most respected men in the country. He's a good man who has it all. As leader of the powerful United States Senate Finance Committee, Hoke also has a target on his back: for years, a team of deadly foreign operatives has been watching him, manipulating his circumstances to achieve their own goals. Now they're ready to set their plans in motion.Hoke won't see them coming. He'll trust the wrong people. And when his enemies strike, they'll test him in every way imaginable. Giving in will risk the security of the United States, confidence in the U.S. dollar, and prices in the oil market. Fighting back will cost even more.What's a good man to do?"...an easy book to just pick up and dive into!" --Goodreads No library descriptions found. |
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Hoke is a well developed, exciting thriller. It has to do with politics and finance (I won't say more, upon request from the author by a note at the end of the book), and Braslau does a good job of educating the ignorants like me, while keeping those in the know still entertained. The plot is the sell for this book. It slowly picks up and snowballs into an exciting what-will-happen-next and what-will-he-decide-to-do in a steadily increasing pace.
With that said, the writing could be better. The narration often tends to tell rather than show. At times, the attention to every movement of a character gives the narration a noir feel, while at others, it makes the read tedious and awkward. Some words are used in ways that made me raise an eyebrow; they seemed too strong or too mild for the situation being described (e.g., "Hoke stood woodenly..." a legitimate use of the word, but just does not work here.) And some character reactions are things that happen in films (like someone grabbing and holding the back of a chair because they are so upset, or [not in the book, but in films] crying as they slide down a wall onto the floor, etc.), which stand awkwardly in the middle of seemingly realistic political, financial, and personal events. On the other hand, the one nightmare that Hoke has is so normal and realistic, it is hard to believe. Also, there is a lot of "looking up" in the book. He looks up at... and she looks up at... and everyone is looking up at something or someone. Perhaps too much description, again, a result of telling and not showing.
Nevertheless, Hoke is a capturing read. It asks some fundamental questions about being human, being an adult with responsibilities that go beyond the physical boundaries of one's material existence, and the state of international affairs as a whole.
Recommended for those who like politics, behavior of trapped animals, and conspiracy theories. ( )