Vektor (Black Flagged, #4) in SSG: Spy/Spec-Ops Group

Aug 05, 2013 Samuel rated it it was amazing

BLACK SWAN DIVE

[4.89 stars rounded up to five. Together the arc gets the proper full five stars]

James Angleton, one of the CIA's founding fathers likened the espionage business to a hall of mirrors. That metaphor sums up Steven Konkoly's Black Flagged series perfectly. It's a world where one's usefulness is only determined by how many bullets have been dodged and where what's right and wrong is irrelevant, to what works. In the concluding act of the "core story arc", these two principles are d BLACK SWAN DIVE

[4.89 stars rounded up to five. Together the arc gets the proper full five stars]

James Angleton, one of the CIA's founding fathers likened the espionage business to a hall of mirrors. That metaphor sums up Steven Konkoly's Black Flagged series perfectly. It's a world where one's usefulness is only determined by how many bullets have been dodged and where what's right and wrong is irrelevant, to what works. In the concluding act of the "core story arc", these two principles are displayed fully, as the formidable, pathologically pragmatic operators of the Black Flagged program travel to Central Asia and go on one of the most bloody road trips ever undertaken in the spy thriller genre. Bullets will fly, friendships will be tested and while emerging victorious, the final pieces of a perfect storm come together in this book. Now to the review. What happens when those that protect us reach their limits?

We start the story in a luxurious facility in Vermont, Karl Berg the Assistant Deputy Director of the CIA NCS visits the scientist who was renditioned in book 2. Berg interrogates him about the biological weapons program which he was working on. After hashing out some initial terms, Berg leaves, both he and the scientist thinking they have played each other. Meanwhile in the suburb of Viggbyholm Sweeden, a team of Zaslon Spetsnaz officers storm into a CIA safe house and find nothing but a camera recording them. The video gets back to Langley Virginia and a warning is sent to Stockholm Station that the SVR has declared open season on them. The warning gets to them too late and a CIA officer gets taken for a ride. In Moscow, a mole hunt is instigated and the asset who provided the intel with book 2 begins to make plans to save himself and everyone involved in the operation. And in Germany one of the Black Flagged operators gets taken. All these threads converge in a high stakes chess game across central Russia where the might of the Russian Armed Forces contends with the most ruthless paramilitary operators produced by the American Department Of Defense.

In terms of plot, Black Flagged VEKTOR does perfectly as the curtain call for the "core story arc". The plotting is a little slow at the beginning but like Jaws the shark, it slowly gets faster and faster before it's blazing an exciting, destructive, blood soaked trail to the conclusion. From the SVR's own black site torture chamber in the Sweedish countryside, a complex shell game used to infiltrate into the Russian federation and a epic race to the border where it all comes down to three men in a souped up SUV trying to outrun the armed forces of the Russian Federation, Black Flagged Redux is even more fun and violent than the previous three books put together. The research is also a highlight. One of the ways Konkoly distinguishes himself is the focus he manages when dealing with the Military/Intelligence communities of the Russian federation, which in other books, get lumped together in some formless mass. From the inter-service rivalry between the FSB and the SVR, to the equipment and capabilities of ZASLON, and their granddaddy, VYMPEL, Konkoly manages to give readers the closest "insider" look into a group of organizations which are increasingly becoming more important for the Russian Federation and its efforts to further its foreign policy.

Now for characters. Only a few standouts this time around, and the Petroviche's take a well earned break, coming in to consult once again on the killing of a man. Instead, the decisive star of the show is Richard Farrington. One of the coolest secondary characters I've seen in spy fiction, this time around he takes point and gets to show off his combat abilities during the operation which this book revolves around. Snarky, professional and a stone cold badass who doesn't let the enormity of his task get to him, he dives into the hellish mission assigned to him with gusto and it's his ability to constantly adapt to the changing tactical environment which keeps the mission aloft despite taking casualties. Next standout is Karl Berg. In this book he's put to the test in scheming, dealing and generally harnessing the political capital necessary to get the mission going before the politicians change their minds prematurely. He's developed as a character and is firmly on the side of our anti-heroes, even if they force him to tax his friends and resources to breaking point. Finally, we have Alexi Kaparov, FSB Officer and asset of Karl Berg. Likable, funny and very sharp, when the mole hunt begins, he doesn't panic and instead, on his own initiative, comes up with a plan that saves himself and his subordinates from termination.

Overall, the Black Flagged "Core Story Arc" has been fantastic. Konkoly takes Flynn, Forsyth and Ludlum, blends these influences together and what results is a unique, fascinating spy thriller saga where the principal of whatever it takes sometimes means selling your soul one day at a time to keep the rabid wolves at the door from blowing the house down. Well plotted, extraordinarily well researched and willing to go into places where other spy thrillers wouldn't dare. The Black Flagged series has just concluded its first story arc. Alliances have been made. Enemies foreign and domestic are on the prowl. And when "the empire strikes back", I'll be waiting.

TOTALLY RECOMMENDED. ...more

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