Takedown

An excellent story, highlighting the nightmare that terrorism has become and the despicable means employed to stop it, but never becoming either cheerleader or preacher. The story threads are well developed, but it is the ending that made this book for me.

How can one really outright enjoy the first Die Hard movie then absolutely hate the sequel(s)? How can one ignore the unlikely premise/s and focus on the truly senseless but highly entertaining onscreen mayhem? The answers to these questions are important, aren't they? They relate to how one will feel about this book by [a:Brad Thor|5088|Brad Thor|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1201288917p2/5088.jpg]. This was my first Thor book. First, the aspects of it that I liked: the action, the armaments and , er, the action. Ok, this a short list, but there was a lot of it in various permutations and repetitions. The unlikables: war, unrepentant killing, skimpy character development, non-sequiturs. There's enough of that, too. Enough that the show more good and the bad balance out. What tips this to one side for me is the unrelenting world view espoused by the author through the characters and the story, that everything can be painted in black or white, that conflict can only be resolved by the mighty quashing everyone else. There was just too much of this for me to be ignored, and ultimately to truly enjoy this book. An important lesson for me as a writer is to understand how much of my own opinions to infuse into stories, another step on the road to understanding what true story-telling is about. Such a long road still ahead. show less

Holy cow, what an ending! Brad Thor has never really done cliffhanger endings before, so this one was a fantastic surprise. I can't wait for his next installment. This was most certainly Thor's best book yet and exceedingly scary in its potential reality--urban warfare in New York City between American Special Ops and radical Muslims (and not just Arabs, at that!). As a big Vince Flynn fan, I was reluctant to read Brad Thor as I didn't want a "copy-cat" author to preempt my enjoyment of Flynn. I'm finding, however, that my enjoyment of Thor's novels is surpassing my love of Flynn's. The stories are so relevant to today's terrorism and the "big picture" of cross-national threats that radical Islam, secretive governments, and mercenary show more billionaires make up. Another great thriller. show less

Holy cow, what an ending! Brad Thor has never really done cliffhanger endings before, so this one was a fantastic surprise. I can't wait for his next installment. This was most certainly Thor's best book yet and exceedingly scary in its potential reality--urban warfare in New York City between American Special Ops and radical Muslims (and not just Arabs, at that!). As a big Vince Flynn fan, I was reluctant to read Brad Thor as I didn't want a "copy-cat" author to preempt my enjoyment of Flynn. I'm finding, however, that my enjoyment of Thor's novels is surpassing my love of Flynn's. The stories are so relevant to today's terrorism and the "big picture" of cross-national threats that radical Islam, secretive governments, and mercenary show more billionaires make up. Another great thriller. show less

Has great potential

This story had a boatload of potential and I believe it could have been better. I only wish Scot Harvath had more scenes earlier in the book. Brad's writing is so good it's hard not to rate it higher. But in all honesty, the emotional resonance was lower in this one compared with the other books. Not completely absent, just lower.

A solid entry to the Harvath series and to the thriller genre, but it really doesn't offer anything new or memorable. Strong on pacing, weak on character development, and more than a bit pornographic in its fascination with unusual methods of torture.

I'm sure this story is the nightmare scenario of most Manhattanites - that one day terrorists will figure out a way to simultaneously knock out all the bridges and tunnels leaving the Island Completely stranded. While I'll reserve complete judgement until after I've read the next book in the Scot Harvath Series - this was Brad Thor's best work yet. Just nonstop action from the word go, along with some real trials, both mental and physical for the main character. And a nasty cliffhanger ending to boot. One recurring theme in all of Thor's book - Scot Harvath is a man who takes a licking and keeps on ticking. The amount of abuse he endures in each book is astounding and is painful just to think about, let alone experience.