Foreign Influence

Navy SEAL turned covert operative works for a new spy agency secretly created by the DoD to target enemies foreign and domestic without interference from politicians and the public. Harvath's objective is to discover the jihadi cell behind a series of mass bombings targeting Americans in Europe, knowing that there are even more being planned for America.

Substance: Unabashedly opposed to the current administration's policy on "man caused disasters" and "work-place violence" (it predates the Boston Marathon bombing, but could be considered prescient). Harvath is not bound by any rules except those imposed by his handler and his conscience, and not much by those; what he does to his opponents is unquestionably torture. Is it reprehensible show more or necessary? Harvath seems to say "both". The fates of several individuals - good, evil and in-between - are bound together in bringing the chase to a semi-successful conclusion. (It is unclear if a "hard truth" or a a sequel is intended; I haven't read any others in the series).
The rough action is graphic and not for the squeamish; the foul language is kept to a minimum; and the few sexual episodes are mostly indirectly described. NSFW if your office-mates are Democrats.

Style: Thor used the currently fashionable structure of "dating" chapters as Today, Last Week, Three Months Later, etc, which is okay and avoids tying a contemporary narrative to a particular point in history; however, I really dislike "back-stitching" with chapters labelled Yesterday, Last Month, Three Hours Before, etc. (this is not the same as flash-backs, which are perfectly acceptable). Thor shares this offending habit with other current writers and it never fails to irritate me. I prefer the advice from Lewis Carroll's KIng of Hearts: `Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end: then stop.'
However, other than that, the various narratives, of people caught up in different parts of the terrorist's plans, are brought together satisfactorily; the big "surprise" at the end isn't, simply because we expect that sort of surprise, although the plot points are well constructed. The writing is clear and the characters sufficiently 3-dimensional (at least to the tv-movie level). show less

Thankfully, this was a decent story that didn't involve anywhere near as much political preaching as Thor (and Vince Flynn) have become prone to. That said, parts of the book can almost be described as 'torture porn' as Thor looks for new and inventive ways for his hero to torture the bad guys. I like the character of the Troll and hope to see more of him. I'm not sad to see a slow departure from the series for a certain female character, and I understand Harvath's reasons, but the writing on the subject (I'm trying to avoid spoilers) has not been Thor's strongest work.

Another solid thriller from Brad Thor.

Like most books in this genre, you must suspend some belief in terms of the technology used and the punishment characters can withstand. But if you like Vince Flynn, Thor's books will be right up your ally.

In this one, Scot Harvath must help stop a string of terrorist attacks that have already hit Rome and are coming to other European countries as well as the United States. Meanwhile, we follow an attorney and Chicago cop who are looking for a hit-and-run suspect who severely hurt the lawyer's client. Needless to say, the two plot lines are intertwined.

This time around, Harvath has a group of black op women (all beautiful, of course) helping him out. If nothing else, this is a nice change of pace show more from the standard male-driven narratives of this genre. show less

In looking back over my reading list, I was surprised that I had not read a novel from the Scot Harvath series since 2013.

As mentioned in my last review...I definitely am a Scot Harvath fan as his love of country, his moral compass, his personal value system, and especially his heart march to the beat of the best of American men and women who protect us each day and the best of them never receiving an ounce of recognition for their service. The author seems without a doubt to have the soul of Scot Harvath as he shares this character and all the people that Scot represents flawlessly.

Brad Thor's novels provide a very realistic behind-the-scenes of the men and women who truly protect Americans on a day-to-day basis and the very real show more sacrifices that affect them, their families and loved ones. show less

Nothing really new…lots of killing….lots of bad guys…questionable purist ideas for the good guys doing really bad things! It’s a fast read…holds interest…all characters-especially the women are gloriously beautiful…

Wow! I really enjoyed this one and I'm extremely happy to have discovered another new writer (for me, at least). Some of the things he describes in the book about what kinds of benefits foreigners receive from our country is a little frightening. The sad thing is that I believe him. I recommend this book highly.

This was one of Brad Thor's better books and I have read them all. The continuing adventures of Scott Harvath keep the pages turning until the very end. The only let down was that the story wasn't wrapped up by the end of the book. After going on the author's web page, I learned that the story continues in his latest book, Full Black.