Threatcon Delta (Ryan Kealey, #7) in SSG: Spy/Spec-Ops Group

Jan 01, 2015 Samuel rated it did not like it

THREATCON BOREDOM

Andrew Britton was a rising star in the spy thriller world. I found his books like a deconstruction of Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp, where the main protagonist suffers the consequences of his cowboy antics painfully like any real life Intelligence Officer would if they went off the reservation. Tragically, come book 3, he passed away from a heart disorder. Soon after, his estate arranged for a ghost writer to polish up book 4 and then continue the series. Book 5 barring 2 minor det THREATCON BOREDOM

Andrew Britton was a rising star in the spy thriller world. I found his books like a deconstruction of Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp, where the main protagonist suffers the consequences of his cowboy antics painfully like any real life Intelligence Officer would if they went off the reservation. Tragically, come book 3, he passed away from a heart disorder. Soon after, his estate arranged for a ghost writer to polish up book 4 and then continue the series. Book 5 barring 2 minor details matched and at times surpassed the first books in thrills and the main threat of the novel is something I hope doesn't ever get into the wrong hands.

Unfortunately, the quality of book 6 dropped. The ghost-writer forgot about pacing and while there was some decent action and technology, it was slower than "The Operative". But that pales in comparison to book 7, a case-study in how not to write a counter-terrorist thriller, or a thriller for that matter. Threatcon Delta. A good alternate title could be the longest con. This book has hardly any action, a plot that is frankly a bloody mess and was so overdrawn with padding that I had to fight the urge not to skim read. Now to the review. What would happen if terrorists acquired one of the deadliest religious relics in existence.

The novel begins in 2014 near Christmas time. In what is the best section of the book (and one of the two things that got it the one star) A DEA agent staking out a drug smuggling route in the California desert gets killed by a South African mercenary armed with a tricked out crossbow. The next day, she travels to San Antonio Texas and instigates a mass casualty incident, leaving timed explosives in the vehicle she hitched hiked with and using her crossbow to conduct a political assassination. Half a year later, Ryan Kealey, the main protagonist whose attempts to retire from the company have been constantly thwarted by his so-called friend Director John Harper gets assigned to a seemingly minor assignment. A Egyptian Unit 777 soldier conducting a surveillance op in eastern Egypt films footage of what appears to be the Staff Of Moses making a reappearance in the hands of mysterious group of men. What starts as a somewhat boring investigation turns into a race to stop a conspiracy hatched in the highest levels of Egypt's Counter-terrorism establishment.

First things first. The plot. Slow is an understatement. If it had been literary espionage like Le Carre or Charles Cummings, I would let it pass. If the author had put in more action and less padding, this book would have been decent. If the structure had been logically planned out, Threatcon Delta had the potential to take this series into a unique direction. But no. It was not to be. Since there was too much padding, the plot began to drag like a snail and the storyline seemed to jump pedantically. Since there was little action, a must-have for any counter-terrorist thriller, the novel was unable to hold my attention. To write a good counter-terrorist/espionage thriller, you have to plot methodically, and make use of the violent situations and nature of the subject matter to hold the reader's interest. Vince Flynn, Stephen England and Brad Taylor are prime examples of authors who get it right.

Characters. Only two standouts (and the second thing which got the one star). Because they're secondary characters who probably won't appear in any future installments. The South African mercenary in the first part of the book is fantastic and seeing her plan and perfectly execute a killing harks back to the days of Yasmin Ransim and Whilliam Vanderveen, the late Andrew Britton's two best antagonists. Unfortunately, she makes no other appearance after the first section of the novel.

Standout number two is Bassam Aljo, the Unit 777 soldier whose surveillance op kicks off the events of the main storyline. Highly competent he averts many stereotypes about most Middle Eastern armed services. He's also a lot more likable than the main protagonist and for me, stole the show from Ryan Kealey. The book would have been much better if it focused on Aljo. He's the man in the field and unlike Kealey who sits safe back in the states for most of the book, Aljo is risking life and limb like any fictional counter-terrorist operative worth his salt should.

Finally, we have the main threat of the novel. It's biological warfare. But the way the plot is executed is one of the most convoluted and needlessly complicated fictional terrorist attacks I have ever read about. The plotters attempt to use a con man trick on a massive scale, manufacturing a religious event in order to lure in potential hosts to get infected with the biological weapon and spread it across the middle east. Highly time consuming and so agonizingly implausible, there are other counter-terrorist thrillers which have been far more plausible when it comes to biological weapons. Stephen England and Brad Taylor for instance have used the much more simple, achievable and horrifying method of an infected suicide bomber in their books (Pandora's Grave and The Widow's Strike respectively).

Overall, it's rather sad to see a good series lose its way. Books 1-5 will always be hits in my opinion. This one however is a miss, and ended up with me because I broke the rule of only buying the books with solid amazon reviews. Threatcon Delta. It's a threat to your time, money and sanity. Wait for something better or buy something better.

NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL. ...more

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Mar 24, 2018 Mark rated it really liked it

Shelves: current-affairs, spy-thriller, political-thriller, history-world, tech-thriller, military

Don’t know who the Britton estate’s “legacy author” is, but the author has caught a major part of Britton’s style in keeping Ryan Keeley alive & working sub Rosa to keep the US & the World from incineration...Keeley is
pulled into an operation involving ancient relics, former Nazi’s, a Mid-East canal & germ warfare...along the way we have some introspection from Keeley as the morality of his missions in his relationship with an AWOL Army chaplain...Decent read!

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