State of the Union

After two books about the expected terrorists of the time (the series started shortly after 9/11 and in these years, terrorist meant only one thing for most Americans), the third novel in the series goes back to the familiar enemy - the Russians.

Nuclear suitcases placed in a few American cities, a defense system over Russia which makes them invulnerable to attack and an old US program which was designed to deal with such situations being compromised end up being just the opening salvo of what may easily become the prelude to WWIII. When the president of the United States receives a letter asking him to announce the withdrawal of USA from international politics and economy during his State of the Union address (or the bombs will be show more detonated), it is time for some more unorthodox methods in trying to solve the problem. Meanwhile the Russians are denying any official involvement and Gary Lawlor, the newly appointed head of the counter-terrorism organization Scot Harvath ended up at the end of the last book, is missing. As it turns out, Gary was the head of that now compromised defense operation as well so his disappearing, in the wake of most of the old operatives being killed, raises more than one question.

Of course the reader knows a bit more about the situation than most of the players as we get to see the plotting of the Russian generals and at least some of what happens to Gary. Scot is asked to not just figure out what happened but also to prevent things from escalating even more so he is off to Berlin (and later to Russia with some stops along the way to pick a nuke and a few other essentials). As it turns out there is a brilliant and very beautiful woman involved (last time that happened Scot picked up a new girlfriend - and as of the start of the novel they were still together), a few trips around the frozen parts of Russia and a lot of guns, fires and other calamities including a few ships getting down to the bottom of a sea.

Thor tends to be overly wordy and detailed when talking about technology and guns: it is not just a gun or a Beretta, it is a "Beretta .40-caliber 96 Stock pistol" unless we had seen that specific weapon before; every time a new technology or tool shows up, you get a catalog level specification of it, complete with a one sentence history of its development sometimes - it almost feels like he is so proud of having done his research that he must show off (or set the record straight where it differs from the real world I guess) and he peppers the story with all kinds of acronyms of agencies, processes, tools and what's not (explained at regular intervals but half of the time, they feel unnecessary). Thankfully these do not slow down the action too much so they do not become a problem but they are noticeable (and I suspect for some readers, these may be a reason to like the style even more).

It is a decent thriller. While the plot may be a little out there, that's not unusual in the genre and the story works. The writing may be a bit clunky in places and I really hope Thor will outgrow his penchant of having a beautiful woman in every novel (it works in action B-movies, not as much in the written thriller counterpart) but at least for now, I plan to continue with the series. show less

Unfortunately, the weakest of the Scot Harvath books. The plot seemed to be thrown together without the author having asked a lot of important "what if" questions before proceeding with plot developments. The latter portions of the book also seemed to lack the detail of the earlier portions, which gave me the feeling that the author hurried to get through the book, rather than taking his time to fully develop the story and characters. I kept feeling that I needed to read the "director's cut" to see what I'd missed.

In his third offering of the Scot Harvath saga, Brad Thor finally gets around to placing Harvath in his element: counter-terrorism. In the first offering, "The Lions of Lucerne," the former Navy Seal is featured in his role of Secret Service agent. In "Path of the Assassin," he ties up loose ends from book one and transitions away from Secret Service work and into the field he was so obviously made for. Harvath has to be one of the most highly trained individuals in history, and in "State of the Union," he will need every bit to make it out alive and save millions of innocent lives.

The story really starts in the early 1980's when the Cold War was at its peak. Both the Soviets and Americans had placed sleeper agents with suitcase nukes show more in position to detonate them in major cities. However, mutually assured destruction (MAD) was keeping both countries at bay. Fast forward 20 years to the present (this book was published in 2004) and we meet General Sergei Stavropol. The General has waited patiently for his plan to come together, and with the completion of the Soviet missile defense system, the concept of mutually assured destruction no longer applies. The first thing Stavropol does is try to eliminate the US sleeper agents with their suitcase nukes. Almost all are killed and Gary Lawlor, formerly of the FBI and currently Scot's boss at the Office of International Investigative Assistance (OIIA), the counter-terrorism branch of the government, has gone missing.

Stavropol, operating from a position of dominance, holds the US president hostage. His ultimatum: either the US retreats from the world stage both financially and militarily and the President announces this during his state of the union address, or his sleeper agents will set off the nearly two dozen suitcase nukes spread around the country in strategic cities. Even one of the nukes could kill millions, and leaving the world stage would be devastating for the US economy. Things look bleak for President Jack Rutledge and Stavropol seems to be holding all of the cards, but Rutledge has an ace in the hole - Scot Harvath. With only one week to work miracles, Harvath sets out to do the improbable. With help from some of the CIA operatives from the previous book, as well as beautiful but deadly Soviet agent Alexandra Ivanova, who's loyalty is in question, Harvath must disable the missile defense system and find the suitcase nukes before it's too late.If one reads enough of these books, the outcome is not in question. The interesting thing is to see how Harvath goes about accomplishing his task. With equal part skill and luck, Harvath doesn't have a moment to spare when we finally reach the climax.

This book is full of action and the scenario is definitely plausible. Just like the James Bond books, Scot Harvath has a tendency to get into tight spots, and also an uncanny ability to get out of them. I enjoyed this book more than the previous two, as counter-terrorism is Harvath's niche. I liked his involvement with Meg Cassidy from the last book, but she barely makes an appearance in this one. I guess Scot's career doesn't leave much room for a personal life. Nevertheless, I rate this 5-stars as the action kept the pages turning for me. I am looking forward to book 4 in the series. show less

Mother Russia is back with a vengeance. Thor spins quite the yarn with this story - while everyone else is telling tales of Islamic terrorists around every corner, Thor does a 180 and dips back into the Cold War to dust off Russia as America's primary nemesis. With Russia armed to the teeth with suitcase nukes ready to go off on US soil, America v. Russia in the 21st Century makes for quite the read. Although I could do without the Hollywood-esq last couple of pages, the overall storyline is strong and keeps you churning through the story at a wicked pace. Seems like his books get better as the series goes on.

This is what I have excepted from the Russians since the Wall came down, I don't know if it was my time in the Army but I have never trusted the Russians and I may give them more credit they deserve, but this was how I envisioned the next conflict between us starting. Brad Thor is a very good writer not only does he know and understand his subject he keeps your attention from start to finish never slowing down and always keeping you on edge. I hope the rest of Mr. Thors books are as good as State of the Union. Damn fine writing!

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: State of the Union Series: Scot Harvath Author: Brad Thor Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Thriller Pages: 560 Format: Kindle digital edition Synopsis: Those damn Ruskies have been playing us for decades. Suddenly, Communism is about to take over and Russia is going to suitcase nuke 20 of our cities. At the same time, they have developed a super secret air defense so show more that no missiles can get into their airspace. ONLY Scot Harvath, hunk o' burning love macho secret agent man, can save the United States. Nobody else. My Thoughts: This was a huge step up from the previous book, but I think that was because Harvath keeps his trap shut and just goes around shooting people and blowing things up and being all manly. This time around he's not a completely arrogant ass hat. But don't worry, he tries. These books are totally unbelievable and this is coming from a guy who reads mainly science fiction and fantasy. For example, nobody knows where the suitcase nukes are at the beginning of the book. By the end, they know where they are and they roll up the people and the nukes without one going off. This was the kind of book, and probably will be that kind of series until I quit, that I just enjoy to pick apart and make fun of. I consider this to be the man's version of Harlequin romances for woman. Sickening fluff with no substance that you hate even while you're reading it and yet you keep coming back for more after an appropriate break. I feel dirty now, like a garbage disposal. But my goodness, the action, THE ACTION!!!! I am not a big fan of pictures in reviews, but I feel the following is true to this series. " show less

I really like the character of Scott Harvath. I like to think there are more men with his qualities protecting the United States of America than we could possibly imagine.
I do however, find it a little more difficult, each time I read one of Brad Thor's novels to enjoy all the acronyms shared and all of the definitions. Please don't misunderstand me, Brad Thor is definitely one of my favorite authors. But as the novels continue, sometimes all the acronyms and definitions so carefully shared in the midst of the story seem to stop the flow for me. It makes me wonder if it happens to other readers too.