Holy War has an interesting premise, and Mike Bond seems to have a much stronger understanding of the region, both through the lens of understanding terrorism and the understanding the culture in general, than most of the thrillers set in the Middle East that I have read previously. The story structure is one that I’ve seen before in more general fiction, but not nearly as often in Thrillers. The jumping between protagonists or in some cases antagonist and not just giving you their POV but presenting it in a way that is sympathetic to that character is something I enjoyed. I should give a word warning that some of the characters and viewpoints might turn off some readers. I, however, read a lot of thrillers and was happy to get characters outside the usual cookie cutter mold. I should also say that the structure, while interesting, has its issues. The… Read more »
Tag: Terrorism
Rise of the Phoenix
Rise of the Phoenix is a fairly standard action thriller that, while it has issues, gets a lot of things right. You have the two main characters, both excellent in their field, mixing humor and action as they seek to stop a terrorist threat. Formulaic? Sure, but it’s a formula that works, so why mess with it. The action is what this book gets right. Once you get past the setup and introduction, which I will address in a moment, the action is high paced. For the lovers of adrenaline fueled thriller action, Gibbs hits the right marks. The main characters are also well developed, but as individuals and with their interaction with each other. They are believable as characters with enough backstory to keep them from being just stereotypical stand-ins, which is a problem in many books in this genre. I do have two issues with the book, one… Read more »
The Polaris Protocol
Review by Travis Starnes The Polaris Protocol is the 4th book in the Pike Logan series, not counting the large number of short stories Taylor has put out, and has Pike and Jennifer headed south of the border to stop a plan to interfere with the GPS infrastructure while trying to rescue Jennifer’s brother from the hands of the Cartels. If that sounds like a lot of stuff happening in one book, it is. But it also works. This is the first book I have read in this series and Taylor does really good job onboarding new readers before setting off on high adventure. The prolog to the book has Pike and Jennifer, and the rest of the taskforce team, finishing up a mission. Much like the start to a James Bond film this works really well as a device to introduce the characters and give a sense of their… Read more »