** spoiler alert ** In Brad Thor’s book, *Takedown*, the world is once again set on fire in an attack that makes 9/11 “look like choir practice” to quote the series’ protagonist, Scot Harvath. Once again, as in earlier books, the fact that Scot Harvath and his allies work *outside* of the normal governmental channels and away from the beauracracy enables them to get the job done.

The book begins with two radical Muslims who are expert bomb makers for al Qaeda being captured. One of the men is more “high-priority” for the bad guys than the other one. So much so that the terrorists are willing to mount a vicious campaign against New York, to rescue him. It is made clear that al Qaeda has the ability to attack us on this scale, but only hasn’t done so out of the fact that it would risk their best operatives and equipment. Our superior strengths and resources would ensure that they would suffer such losses. In other words, a defeat could cost them the ability to mount further future attacks. Even a victory could lead to such costs that it could end up being Pyrrhic in nature.

The title is aptly entitled *Takedown*, because the heroes and evil guys spend the whole book *taking each other down* and often enough *out*. In the end, it is the determination of the main character, Scot Harvath, to not accept defeat, and emerge victorious, that allows the good guys to win. Even so, with the incredible carnage that the terrorists wreak on the United States, one might be tempted to wonder if it was even worth it to win.

The answer, as revealed in the book, is a resounding yes! One must accept the fact that evil does happen, and as Edmund Burke noted, the only way to stave off evil is to stand firm for good. In the end, good does triumph, and the evils that happen are not the final word. To quote Sam from the film *The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers*, “there is still good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for”.

I believe that this book will be regarded eventually as the equivalent for the War on Terror of what Tom Clancy’s *Red Storm Rising* was for the Cold War. It is a prescient, informed, and realistic book that details the all-too-possible chance of a massively successful terrorist attack on our country, and how we might just fail to prevent it due to our own bungling, and beauracratic incompetence. The same areas that harmed us so on 9/11 could do so once again. I close with the same quote I did for the last Brad Thor book review.

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People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. – George Orwell