Rogue Threat (Threat, #2) in SSG: Spy/Spec-Ops Group

Jan 15, 2015 Samuel rated it it was ok

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. (2.2 stars rounded up to three)

An experiment with a short review format which I may use some of my future reviews:

Military thriller concerning a true axis of evil who, in partnership with a French-Iraqi terrorist try to destroy the USA. Standing in their way are a CIA shooter and a Army Special Forces soldier. This is the first book I've read in the "Threat" series. The author has impressive credentials and the amazon reviews appeared to be overwhelmingly positive. It wasn't what I expected to (2.2 stars rounded up to three)

An experiment with a short review format which I may use some of my future reviews:

Military thriller concerning a true axis of evil who, in partnership with a French-Iraqi terrorist try to destroy the USA. Standing in their way are a CIA shooter and a Army Special Forces soldier. This is the first book I've read in the "Threat" series. The author has impressive credentials and the amazon reviews appeared to be overwhelmingly positive. It wasn't what I expected to be honest. This book was decently researched, I will give it that. But that alone does not make a good thriller as some of the earlier Brad Thor books demonstrated, before he began to mature as a writer. Far from being written by the next Tom Clancy, the plot of this thriller appeared to be more akin to a Roger Moore era James Bond film updated for the Post 9/11 era and with none of the zany laughs. While the first section of the book is somewhat well executed, and down to earth, the second part goes off the rails to put it bluntly. The terrorist attack which the climax is built around is over the top and highly unrealistic, compared to what other authors like Brad Taylor have come up with. Chemical weapons, UAV's, enough manpower to take over the Eastern Seaboard and topped off with two nuclear bombs, in a genre which requires plausibility, the plot for "Rouge Threat" had none.
Characters? Really hope I would find something good to say but nope, sadly not. The cast in this book is let down with some bad execution of standard tropes and conventions. The main antagonist makes the outdated, Bond villain mistake of gloating too long at the wrong moment despite being one step ahead and doesn't take the practical route of gutting the first main protagonist when he has a chance. The female characters aren't much better, fulfilling roles/character traits which have become stale. The main female characters, either incompetent, have the stock hysterical breakdown (where the male character is the one to reassure them), are just plain in over their heads and torture themselves over lusting after the main protagonists. Speaking of the main protagonists, I found their characterization rather unsatisfactory. First Matt Garrett. Full of machismo and a lot of arrogance, he makes some pretty elementary mistakes which complicate his efforts in the book and seemed a touch immature. As for his brother, the secondary protagonist, he didn't have enough defining traits to make him stand out. "Zac" came off as rather bland and a bit of a footnote.
Overall, a disappointment. Maybe the other books will be better but this is way out of the league of Thor, Flynn and Taylor. The plot/narrative may be well researched but is laughably ludicrous most of the time and I've seen much more likable, sympathetic characters in other books.
Is this by the next Tom Clancy? I think not.
NOT RECOMMENDED.

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Feb 28, 2013 Mark rated it liked it

Shelves: military, tech-thriller, spy-thriller, political-thriller

Another "stop-the-terrorist" novel...included in this one is the involvement of an organization that reaches the highest levels of government that's OK with the terrorist attacks...the Garrett Brothers heroes must stop the terrorists & ferret out the internal threats as well...decent, but not top notch in this genre ...more

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