I'm not the best audience for this genre -- the conspiracy action-suspense novel. This one involves Nazis, Palestinians, and American oil men in the 1930s when the Germans want to get their hands on the methodology for manufacturing high octane gasoline for their warplanes and the Americans want to prevent them and get their hands on it, too. The major subplot involves an unbelievable female Palestinian freedom fighter who admires American history but prefers contemporary German intentions that she feels will further her political interests.

Suitable amounts of gruesome violence interrupt episodes of people getting beaten up. People transport themselves and the reader is transported to numerous geographical locations with breakneck speed that is dizzying. I suppose the frequent flyer miles are intended to keep the pace of the novel at breakneck speed, too. But it just made me airsick.

Anyway, I abandoned the story somewhere in the desert, or maybe in the middle of a body-rendering explosion, or it could have been a European capital, no -- I think it was in an oil field somewhere, either Texas, or Oklahoma, or the Middle East. Wish I could remember. I do remember I was rendered incapable of finishing the book.

Readers who like their red meat fiction raw will want to pick this novel for their next read. There are some interesting bits about catalytic cracking of crude and pre-WWII Middle Eastern politics, but those subjects didn't hold much interest for me when covered in blood. ( )