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Alpha

3.7 of 5 stars 3.70 · rating details · 454 ratings · 98 reviews

For the visitors to Wilsonville, the largest theme park in the world, the day begins with a smile. But, by the end, they start to wonder: will they escape with their lives? Undercover Delta Force operator, Master Sergeant Jonathan “Jad” Bell has been deployed to act as Wilsonville’s lead undercover security officer. The threat begins with the announcement of a hidden dirty...more

Hardcover, 292 pages

Published May 22nd 2012 by Mulholland Books

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Year's Best Thrillers (2012)

11th out of 12 books — 13 voters

The Valley of Unknowing by Philip Sington

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Underdog Literature: 2012

176th out of 212 books — 47 voters

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Jul 23, 2012 Simon Mcdonald rated it 3 of 5 stars

In both his prose and comics work, Greg Rucka's strength has always been his masterful characterization of the broad range of protagonists he's played with, regardless of whether they're company-owned or his own creations. Not taking anything away from his precise plotting and meticulous research, but those things count for naught if your characters are one-dimensional, cardboard cutouts of the genre. When Rucka signed a book deal with Mulholland Books, I was genuinely excited to jump on board R...more In both his prose and comics work, Greg Rucka's strength has always been his masterful characterization of the broad range of protagonists he's played with, regardless of whether they're company-owned or his own creations. Not taking anything away from his precise plotting and meticulous research, but those things count for naught if your characters are one-dimensional, cardboard cutouts of the genre. When Rucka signed a book deal with Mulholland Books, I was genuinely excited to jump on board Rucka's new prose series from its first installment; his previous novels haven't been widely released in Australia, which isn't a major problem in these days of Amazon, but as an advocate of brick and mortar stores, I very much lamented my inability to snatch a copy off the shelves at my local, and I thusly read the Kodiak series out of order; not a major problem, because each reads perfectly as separate entities, but ALPHA clearly does not, and this inaugural Jad Bell series establishes a new precedent for Rucka. This is, quite literally, the beginning of a series which must be read consecutively. Don't go buying BRAVO in eighteen months time without having read ALPHA, because this novel feels very much like an Act One of a Three Act structure, which is both its strength and its weakness. As a standalone, this isn't one of Rucka's best, and there's no way of judging it entirely until the series has reached its climax.

Jad Bell feels a rather uninspired protagonist, especially for Rucka, whose character work I've already lauded. Rucka has written about secret agents before - see Tara Chace of the Queen & Country novels - and made them interesting characters, with flaws aplenty, and plenty of quirks that underlined their complexity. Bell feels very familiar; a mishmash of tropes we've all read before, who was involved in a mission that went bad, and now lives alone, separated from his wife and daughter, occasionally bedding beautiful women, and still working for the military. It was a little bizarre to learn more of the antagonist, a sleeper agent working for WilsonVille (think Disney World) than the hero himself, though this feels a consequences of the structure of the series. Ideally, we'll dissect Bell and his past through books one and two. It's not that hel is a bad character; it just reads a little oddly, to focus in on the life of the sleeper agent, and divulge his likes and dislikes, his wants and desires, and leave Bell's so shrouded.

The plot is simple, but effective; a bio-terrorist attack in a family theme park; where Bell's ex-wife and daughter conveniently happen to be visiting that very day. Some of the scenes play out rather ludicrously - good guys and bad guys dressed as cartoon characters, involved in hectic shoot 'em ups - but the tone never shifts from downright serious. Rucka's the master at fast-paced, realistic action scenes, and Alpha is peppered with plenty of memorable conflicts throughout. The added element of Bell's daughter's deafness adds extra spice to shoot-outs, and the scenes played out from her perspective are wonderfully depicted. When the guns are blazing, nobody writes better than Rucka; it's just a shame the novel fails to adequately stand on its own feet. It needs the support of its two sequels, both of which are months - more likely, years - away from publication. As such, we're left with a protagonist in desperate need of deeper exploration, and a powerful villain lurking in the shadows, still unidentified, but with plans for future chaos.

ALPHA is a Part One, and if you're happy to read it knowing every loose end won't be tied up, you'll close it satisfied. If you're after a done-in-one standalone thriller, maybe skip this one and grab a Kodiak novel; maybe come back in a little while, when all three novels are done. I've little doubt you'll be in for a fun ride, but alas, until then, I can't guarantee it.(less)

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May 27, 2012 Glenj rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: hard-boiled

Read this in one sitting, its the perfect summer book if you're looking for a good new action series. It doesn't reinvent the wheel nor does Rucka try to. The book is essentially Die Hard in an amusement park, in place of John McClaine is Jad Bell, former special forces hired to take over security for the largest amusement park in the country which if course, happens to be the site of a terrorist attack. Yeah, that doesn't sound too original but Rucka's moves the plot along like a speeding bulle...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Amy rated it 2 of 5 stars

If the plot involves a theme park, I am going to read it, but I have been continually disappointed in the books so far. This is my first Rucka book and I was not enamored. I felt like I had been dropped into the middle of a series and was not reading the first one of the series. Bottom line, I found it confusing. So many characters that were not fleshed out, so they remained one diminsional and I had problems relating to them. Rucka tried to hard in making WilsonVille come alive but it became an...more

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Mar 20, 2013 Julian rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

This is a very average, formulaic and predictable thriller. It had the usual story, the main guy is a hardcore super operative inserted into an undercover position at a theme park, with intelligence that there is going to be some sort of impending terrorist incident. He has a broken marriage (thanks to "the job") and an estranged deaf daughter (who can of course read lips at important points in the story). Sounds familiar right? But I hear you say that "as long as the story and the characters ar...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Pete rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not my favorite Rucka book, but not a bad read either.

This does contain one of my absolute favorite action movie moments, which is the part where two dudes in an office have this argument regarding embedded agents (paraphrased):

"If those men make a move, the terrorists will start shooting! The hostages won't have a chance!

"Those men are the only chance those hostages have!"

I feel that, as a society, we should make a decision regarding this situation now, in the sober light of day, before our fri...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Shannon Appelcline rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

Now personally, I'd have preferred to see another Queen & Country novel or another Atticus Kodiak novel, but instead Greg Rucka decided to start another series, starring Jad Bell, an aging military kickass.

Despite my preferences, this was a terrific book. Totally action-adventure, without a lot of depth to it, but very compelling action-adventure. It kept me reading at a very quick pace and I'll definitely pick up the sequel which is obviously coming (assuming the book does well enough, one...more

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Jun 09, 2012 Alison Dellit rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: crime, fiction, spy, favorites

Now this is a really good thriller. All the right doses of tension, characters who unravel slowly enough that you care about them and what happens, and enough intrigue to keep the plot interesting. The theme park setting is a bonus as well - there is real pleasure for me in detailed descriptions and explanations about the workings of arcane worlds in fiction, and getting behind the scenes in a theme park is just interesting.

It's just one of those books that makes me wish authors could write roug...more

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Jul 17, 2012 ***Dave Hill rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: text

There are many places -- even most places -- where "Alpha" is a fast-paced, taut, gripping, violently brutal novel that captures the eyes and imagination. And whenever the action is on-screen, that's the case.

Setting a thriller in an amusement park is not completely new (that I was just reading "Dream Park" brought that home to me), but Rucka makes the setting and the contrasts between manipulated cheer and gut-level violence work well.

The book is hampered in the end by being a little too cute...more

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Jul 05, 2012 Tamahome rated it 3 of 5 stars

34/292 - Ex military guy takes over security at a Disney-like theme park. 'Diehard at Disney'? Seems very authentic or researched. Rucka also writes for DC comics.

91/292 - Moving along swimmingly. I'm not too interested in a lot of villain details. Not much action yet except for a flashback.

171/292 - Shots fired. In the thick of it now. I've found I'm a sucker for military slang. ('Alpha' is code for 1st floor.) Succinct prose. Sometimes I get a little confused. Would make a smart action movie....more

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Jun 13, 2012 Jeffrey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, thriller

Greg Rucka's Alpha rachets up the tension and thrills by having terrorist seize a world famous amusement park and threaten a group of hostages with instant death and the country as a whole with the detonation of a dirty bomb. The terrorists are convincing led by a deep sleeper agent, Gabriel Fuller, a former Odessan gangster, who was planted in the United States seven years previously. After stints in the US Army and a college education, Fuller, once activated swiftly obeys the commands of his h...more Greg Rucka's Alpha rachets up the tension and thrills by having terrorist seize a world famous amusement park and threaten a group of hostages with instant death and the country as a whole with the detonation of a dirty bomb. The terrorists are convincing led by a deep sleeper agent, Gabriel Fuller, a former Odessan gangster, who was planted in the United States seven years previously. After stints in the US Army and a college education, Fuller, once activated swiftly obeys the commands of his handler, the murderous Uzbek, who recruited him 7 years before.

Fuller has been working at Wilsonville, Rucka's fictional theme park, as a character. Dressed in the character outfit he is able to glide around the park without suspicion of his plan. Playing the family friend he is deviously laying the groundwork for his plot by planting biological devises and the dirty bomb. Fuller is confident but harbors reservations about the plot especially as his American girlfriend is also working at Wilsonville at the time the plot will go down. Meanwhile he is going to be joined by his former colleagues in the Odessa mob. Although nominally in charge, Uzbek has recruited one of Fuller's former gang members as his guy and has ensured that Fuller will cooperate by having his girlfriend be captured by the terrorists.

Opposing Fuller and his colleagues is Jad Bell, an undercover Delta Forces operative, who has been sent to the park to pose as the head security officer because of anonymous threats the US has received about a terrorist attack at an unknown American amusement park. He is joined there by an undercover CIA agent. Bell is especially concerned about an attack at Wilsonville because his young deaf daughter, her classmates, and his ex-wife are visiting the park when the terrorists strike. Inevitably, they are the grabbed by the terrorists as hostages.

After the set up of these elements, the action is unrelenting. The terrorists quickly kill a hostage and Bell strikes back.

Fuller must face his own allegiance to his girlfriend and his handler and decide who he will obey, while Bell must face his fears about his young daughter.

This realistic thriller soon devolves into a cat and mouse game as Fuller splits the hostages and Bell and other members of his unit strike at other parts of Fuller's group. There is a clever plot by Fuller to escape as all of the hostages and terrorists are dressed as characters from the park, and the ultimate confrontation between Fuller and Bell is riveting.

Its a thrill ride and although its pretty clear how it will turn out, Rucka keeps the action fast paced and exciting.

(less)

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Jul 12, 2012 Michael Sherer rated it 5 of 5 stars

ALPHA is an adrenaline-fueled rocket-sled ride through a Southern California amusement park that has become a terrorist target. Former soldier Jonathan "Jad" Bell is trying to start a new life in Alaska after his divorce when his commanding officer shows up to offer him a job as deputy director of park safety in a Disney-esque amusement park near L.A. As soon as he takes the job, Bell senses that something will happen, and when his deaf daughter Athena calls him via computer to tell him she and...more

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Jun 09, 2012 Jacob rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've mentioned before how Greg Rucka makes me re-evaluate the quality of my own writing because he makes it seem so easy. His level of dedication to detail and pacing makes me sit in wonder. With Alpha, he starts the first installment of a planned new trilogy centered around aging military operative Jad Bell in a somewhat absurd setting, telling the story of a terrorist plot set within the confines of a Disneyland analog called WilsonVille where armed terrorists take over the park and make the u...more

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Mar 24, 2013 Lianne Burwell rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: library, thriller

Much like another book I read recently (The Third Gate by Lincoln Child) Alpha reads like the middle book in a series, but in fact is the first book (although the subtitle of 'A Jad Bell Novel' indicates that there will be more books to come). You figure out along the way that Jad Bell is a special forces type operative, and he is divorced with a deaf teenaged daughter. He has a team, that you don't really get to know well, although one of them at least is 'Uncle' to the daughter.

The book starts...more

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Sep 25, 2012 Jason Bergman rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Alpha is an enjoyable book. It's a great little novel to read on an airplane. Calling it "Die Hard in Disneyland" is pretty much a perfect description.

My one complaint is that it's almost too straightforward. There's no real shockers here, and even the ultimate plot that comes out in the end is not particularly surprising.

Also, the fact that it's labeled, "A Jad Bell Novel" implies we can look forward to more books featuring this protagonist. Which is fine, because as I said, I liked the book,...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Jinksb rated it 4 of 5 stars

Normally, a jacket blurb with the words, "Undercover Delta Force operative ..." is my signal to close the book and walk away. Military or ex-military covert operations fiction is a genre that just does not appeal to me. But I saw "Alpha" highly recommended (and I wish I could remember where!), so I put it on reserve at the library before I saw that cautionary phrase. Good thing, because I really enjoyed it.

Rucka's prose goes by quickly, describing action sequences with not an extra word, but it'...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Miles rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

This is a fast paced thriller that gets the job done nicely. I read it mostly to study the art of building a story. If you're going to write, you have to pay attention to the craft.

As a reader I found it difficult to follow this book (like many that I read) in terms of the spatial relationships and the visual appearance of the cartoon characters. Clearly Rucka had a map of his world (the theme park) in his mind and was moving his charcters around it. I never had the slightest sense that I knew...more This is a fast paced thriller that gets the job done nicely. I read it mostly to study the art of building a story. If you're going to write, you have to pay attention to the craft.

As a reader I found it difficult to follow this book (like many that I read) in terms of the spatial relationships and the visual appearance of the cartoon characters. Clearly Rucka had a map of his world (the theme park) in his mind and was moving his charcters around it. I never had the slightest sense that I knew where the action was taking place within the theme park. This is perhaps my limitation as a reader. If I were writing, I would not be able to, or try to, write a story in which the map mattered.

Likewise, Rucka introduces a world of psuedo-Disney-esque characters and costumes. I could not keep them straight in my head. Indeed, the whole commercialized myth of this psuedo-Disney world eluded me. I couldn't visualize the characters or their costumes. Again, this is my limitation as a reader. I imagined the author, with sketches of the cartoon characters taped to his monitor, knowing exactly what they looked like, but I couldn't grok it, no matter how many times he told me. I felt it almost cried out for a graphic novel or comic book to capture the visual diversity that he was working with.

None of this is intended as a criticism of the book, which although conventional in form, was gripping. I was able to read through and past the stuff I can't imagine. The most interesting moment in the book came toward the end, when Rucka introduced just a small doubt in my mind about whether the hero inevitably would conquer the villain. For a few pages I thought that this might turn out instead to be the story of a successful villainy, and found myself rooting for the bad guy, not so much because of the plot, but because the bad guy was revealed as a human being with yearnings for normalcy. Had it gone in this direction, succesful escape following mass scale terrorism, we would have had a much more provocative story. But the anti-protaganist's success would have defied the convention of the genre, and it quickly became clear that such delights were not to be. Oh well. It was a fun ride anyway.(less)

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Jun 07, 2012 Jake rated it 2 of 5 stars

FFFFFFFTTTTTTT. That's the sound of ALPHA entering and leaving my consciousness. It's like a mind-fart, but without the stink. You'd remember the stink.

Rucka's first four Atticus Kodiak books and his Queen & Country comics bought him enough goodwill that I'll always read his stuff. But, man, it's been a while since a Rucka novel slapped me in the heartplace like SHOOTING AT MIDNIGHT or A GENTLEMEN'S GAME did. It's not that ALPHA was bad. It just...was. Fun enough, I guess, despite the fact t...more

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Jul 25, 2012 Toni Osborne rated it 4 of 5 stars

This novel is a fantastic start to a new series, a lean and mean thriller featuring protagonist Jonathan “Jad” Bel, a former master sergeant in the U.S. Army’s Delta Force counterterrorism unit and now employed as a lead undercover security officer at an amusement park. Rumour has it terrorists with nuclear capability are plotting to target Wilsonville, a theme park in Southern California similar to Disneyland.

The story is tight, the action is well written, fast paced and it all takes place in...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Ctgt rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: action

I have read all the books in the Atticus Kodiak series and really enjoyed Walking Dead. So I had high hopes for this new series/character. I did like the book , but it didn't blow me away. I thought the character development for Jad was a little thin. I'm not sure if that was done on purpose and Rucka will flesh him out in later novels or if he intended to leave things vague. I know a certain amount of mystery about a character's past can be intriguing, but I found myself wishing the book had be...more

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May 19, 2012 Jodi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Whiling away time in Skagway, Alaska, Master Sergeant Jonathan “Jad” Bell, a Delta Force operative finds himself in a conversation with Colonel Daniel Ruiz and being offered a job. He’s back in action. An undercover operative has been murdered in the world’s largest theme park, placed there after rumors surface of a possible action against the U. S.

Hired on as Deputy Director of Wilsonville Park Security, Jad has access to the technology required to keep an eye on the park and any hint of hinky...more

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Jun 21, 2012 Laz the Sailor rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-thriller

I love Greg Rucka books! But not this one. Aside from some very clever bits in some of the scenes, this was very straight-forward. You pretty much knew who was going to die and who was the bad guy. As always the technical details were just right, without being annoying. The emotional content of the characters was very limited. A fun summer romp, but not up to the high Rucka standard.

PS: This was published well after A Deeper Blue which shares the theme park setting. I kept waiting for the Keldar...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Adam Hegg rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-reviewed-2013

This is a particularly taught thriller that I was compelled to read once I started. I love Rucka's comics writing but have not read his prose. Jad Bell is a particularly strong character in the mold of so many other hyper-competent ex-military dudes. The thing that really made me like Jad was his ability to live both in his heart and his head. Of course I would love to be more like Jad...this is what makes aspirational characters so compelling. The adventure was clearly constructed and the world...more

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Sep 08, 2012 Jeff rated it 4 of 5 stars

Alpha takes more time to get into than other books of its ilk but that time ends up being well worth it. At first, I couldn't help thinking the book lacked focus and clarity. As a fan of Greg Rucka's prior work, I was almost disappointed. But as a Rucka fan I should have known better. After the first 100 pages or so, Rucka hits his stride and Alpha becomes a thrill ride moving at breakneck speed, with non-stop action and intrigue and attention to detail on a level that is frankly inconceivable....more

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Mar 12, 2013 Erik Dewey rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really like Rucka's writing and that continues in this novel. What impressed me most was the creation of an entire theme park and media empire that is both believable and makes sense.

I enojyed how the pace of the book kept up, as did the tension, once the attack started. The tradecraft felt authentic and while the main character was not real sympathetic, he was pretty emotionally void, you could relate to the choices he made.

I only had two real quibbles with the book. First, the sheer amount o...more

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May 28, 2012 Dave rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was 12 years old in the summer of 1988, but early into it I remember seeing TV commercials for a movie that looked pretty interesting. It was an action movie that looked intense, but it had the guy from “Moonlighting” in it, so that was a little weird. I still wanted to see it though and several weeks later I did. That movie was of course “Die Hard,” which spawned an almost whole new sub-genre of action films. The original of that genre is still the best though. I loved “Die Hard” and to this...more
I was 12 years old in the summer of 1988, but early into it I remember seeing TV commercials for a movie that looked pretty interesting. It was an action movie that looked intense, but it had the guy from “Moonlighting” in it, so that was a little weird. I still wanted to see it though and several weeks later I did. That movie was of course “Die Hard,” which spawned an almost whole new sub-genre of action films. The original of that genre is still the best though. I loved “Die Hard” and to this day it remains, in my opinion, one of the best action films ever made. Last summer I read “Nothing Lasts Forever” by Roderick Thorp, the novel that inspired “Die Hard.” I found it to be just as exciting as the film and in certain ways more emotionally powerful.

So the bar was set pretty high for writers who tell action stories about terrorists taking over locations and the heroes that fight back against them. Well I just finished Greg Rucka’s latest novel, “Alpha” and I’m happy to report that with “Alpha” Rucka does a gold medal winning high jump over that bar and tells a story equal in power, excitement, and heart to both “Die Hard” and “Nothing Lasts Forever.”

In “Alpha” terrorists take over a fictional amusement park known as “Wilsonville.” So what Rucka does in the story is much richer than simply taking the established “Die Hard” formula of terrorists+small location. In having the action take place in “Wilsonville” Rucka is building an entire new world from scratch. It’s not something you often get to see in action thrillers, because usually they unfold in some real world location. Rucka does amazing job building the world of Wilsonville though. You’re given a detailed map of the park at the front of the book, and in the beginning of the book Rucka gives you the history of the company that founded the park and it’s library of characters that populate it. You’re also given glimpses of how the park runs and work. The result is a believable and exciting back drop for the action. Rucka makes Wilsonville feel as real as any of the Disney theme parks I’ve visited.

You need great characters to populate fictional worlds though and “Alpha” has several great characters, the greatest of which has to be its protagonist Master Sergeant Jonathan “Jad” Bell. Bell is a Delta Force operator and a veteran of several violent missions. When we first meet him it appears he’s done with the service, but he’s still haunted by the action he saw and trying to make the most of of a confusing civilian life. So with Jad, Rucka has a protagonist that’s both an every man and extraordinary man. We identify with Jad because he’s a likeable guy with family problems. We also see though that he’s a very dangerous, dedicated and dutiful man. That means watching Jad doing what he does best is thrilling and exciting, but Rucka never lets readers lose sight of the fact that to become a special forces soldier Jad had to sacrifice a part of himself, the part that makes him able to understand and navigate a normal life. That makes Jad a pretty compelling and identifiable hero.

Jad comes to Wilsonville early on as part of an undercover mission. His old colonel, Daniel Ruiz recruits him to take a job as Wilsonville’s top security officer. Ruiz has heard rumblings that terrorists are going to make a major strike at an American amusement park. Unfortunately for him he’s right. And unfortunately for Jad, they choose Wilsonville on the same day his daughter and ex-wife are visiting the park. So for Jad the situation in Wilsonville is both personal and professional, which heightens the tension.

When the attack happens Jad and his allies, a CIA agent and one of the Delta Force operators from his former unit who are also working undercover in Wilsonville, must scramble and stop it. They’re out numbered, out gunned and up against a force that’s taken a number of park employees and guests hostage. Those hostages include Jad’s ex-wife and daughter. Complicating things even further is the fact that these terrorists claim to have a dirty bomb.

So not only do Jad and his allies have to liberate the park and the hostages; they also have to investigate and uncover the true motives of the terrorists who have taken over the park. That means “Alpha” is more than just a slam bang action thriller. It’s also a mystery, and it’s a pretty compelling one too. Throughout the book you’re given clues as to the true nature of the terrorists behind the Wilsonville takeover, but you don’t find out what exactly is happening until the book’s final pages. The solution is both plausible and frightening.

As Jad and his allies try to uncover what’s really going on in Wilsonville and stop it they bump up against an interesting and eclectic supporting cast. The ones I found most interesting included the lead terrorist, who thanks to a compelling characterization by Rucka I couldn’t quite bring myself to hate even though I wanted to. I also really liked Jad’s teenage daughter Athena. Being the teenage daughter of divorced parents means Athena has a pretty interesting perspective. That perspective is made much more interesting by the fact that Athena is deaf. Rucka does a great job of capturing her view point and the way she looks at the world.

“Alpha” is of course more than just great character moments and mystery. It’s also a masterfully paced story full of epic and realistic action scenes. I’m a slow reader, but I read the book in two days and would have read it one if I could have stayed up later the previous night. The fact that these action packed scenes took place in the colorful and fully fleshed out environment of Wilsonville made them even more fascinating.

So this Memorial Day weekend I got to visit a lavish theme park, experience some pretty intense action, and meet some really interesting people thanks to Greg Rucka’s “Alpha.” It was a great way to spend a holiday weekend, and best of all the final pages set up Rucka’s next Jad Bell novel which I’m now eagerly awaiting.(less)

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Mar 30, 2013 Gordon rated it 4 of 5 stars

It feels weird to say 'typical Rucka', but that's essentially what this book is. Tight action sequences, suspenseful interactions between heroes and villains, and generally compelling (if damaged) characters. After so many years of writing Atticus Kodiak and Tara Chace, it is interesting to see a different protagonist from Rucka, even if he's probably the least-fleshed out I've seen him present.

Overall, a quick read and decent thriller for those who like Rucka's other novel work.

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Jul 01, 2012 Jason Seaver rated it 3 of 5 stars

A fun thriller that takes a fairly straight-ahead premise ("Die Hard" in an amusement park) and runs pretty nice with its multiple perspectives on the incident, with Rucka doing especially well when it comes time for action. My only complaint is that for a novel, it feels a lot like the start of a new comic series, with more concern in establishing a villain for future entries than providing motivation for this one, and a fairly generic supporting cast to go with Jad Bell.

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Jul 04, 2012 Andrew Neal rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the first Rucka novel I've read. I've read a decent amount of his comics and never really gone for them, but I liked this one.

This was a popcorn thriller, really well paced for the most part. Stuff happened, and then more stuff happened, and then more stuff happened. I appreciate that. The dick-swinging bad-assitude got a little old, and I was ready for the wrap-up several chapters before it happened, but at least more stuff happened in those chapters.

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Jul 29, 2012 Donovan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-thrillers, fiction-mysteries

Loved it! Not sure what it was, but this is now one of my favorite Rucka novels (and I've read all of his books) and I can't wait for the next one in the series. Maybe it was the non-stop action that kept me glued to the edge of my plane seat as I flew across the country or maybe it was believability of the characters that kept me rooting for them and hoping they'd get out alive (that takes a lot of faith, considering Rucka has never had a problem letting the good guys die). No matter what it wa...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Mitch Gerads rated it 4 of 5 stars

While the style with which this book was written took some getting used to, Rucka writes a damn good military thriller with ALPHA. The amusement park scene in Tom Clancy's RAINBOW SIX has been one of my all-time favorite settings of any thriller and ALPHA essentially expands it into a whole novel. Rucka continues to excite me in both comics and prose.

-Mitch Gerads
Co-Creator/Illustrator of "The ACTIVITY" from IMAGE Comics

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About Greg Rucka

Greg Rucka, is an American comic book writer and novelist, known for his work on such comics as Action Comics, Batwoman: Detective Comics, and the miniseries Superman: World of New Krypton for DC Comics, and for novels such as his Queen & Country series.

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title link	preview: Alpha
avg rating	preview: Alpha Goodreads rating: 3.70 (454 ratings)
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Alpha

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