August 2019 Techno-Thriller Group Read: Alpha by Stephen Konkoly *Spoilers*

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

Alpha is our August group read. Dive in, read and discuss. Post thoughts and comments as you go. If you'd like to post discussion questions for other participants, feel free to post them in bold (check the tab that says "some html is okay"), and it will explain how to use bold html code.

[Agnieszka]

I started at the end and read last night the prequel recently added to the first book in series - so now I'm pretty glad I didn't read it earlier.

From what I read about the main character somewhere on the author's page I expected someting entirely different. It was said the MC is a pretty nomal everyday man without military backgroud - so I was a little surprised the novel starts at a navy war ship.

After reading how he got into this 'program' I'm now even less sure what to expect from the novel though that's good since I hope to go rather open-mined into it.

Even if the prequel has low level on graphic violence it's more than I'm feeling comfortable right due to my current health situation. So I'm no more expecting to finish it within a couple of days rather couple of weeks, though I see here no issues since I managed to start pretty early in the month and hope to continue with the actual novel tomorrow.

[Agnieszka]

I continued much later than expected and read so far 18 chapters and it's very different from the prequel and therefore not what I expected but I love it.
I'm still confused about who's the good guys and with all these many characters and locations it's getting a little confusing for me at times. Still I'm looking forward to the next hours of reading.

[Agnieszka]

Just finished chapter 30 (out of 51)/ ~50% of the book and I still like the basic story line though think some of the fringe parts are not really necessary (view spoiler)[e.g. Chapter 23: it's interesting but apart from the first and the last two paragraphs I thought it superfluous. (hide spoiler)]

Thoughts about some of the characters/groups:

Daniel Petrovich (view spoiler)[I'm still not sure about this guy. The two personalities described don't fit together and somehow the entire picture doesn't make sense (yet). His moral codex and his actions (especially the way he killed Ghani) don't fit into one picture - again. I understand the situation with the off-duty police officer and the guys from Brown River Security, but still don't get it why he's following the Sanderson when he's so bend on distancing himself from his machinations - despite the need to 'clean up' the situation after Jeffrey Munoz's 'captivity' (hide spoiler)]
Gen. Terence Sanderson (ret.) (view spoiler)[ I didn't like him very much in the prequel which didn't change so far. Still I think it's a genius move to call attention to the Black Flag program with the simultanous killings of the eight arabs and deliberate 'sacrifice' of one of his operatives so he can destroy the remining files about that programm - at least that's what I'm convinced it's all about (hide spoiler)]
James Parker (view spoiler)[ At first I disliked him strongly but now I'm starting to like him more and more with each appearance of this character (hide spoiler)]
SA Justin Edwards (view spoiler)[ I disliked him from the very beginning but now I despise him and thought several times during chapter 30 'Is he for real?' I really hope he'll be the biggest loser in this disaster of a multilayered conspiracy. (hide spoiler)]
Jessica Petrovich (view spoiler)[aka Zorana Zekulic aka Nicole Erak I'm not sure if she's just playing Edwards to get information or if it's another case of real and cover personalities diverging so much it's unrealistic. (hide spoiler)]

SAC Ryan Sharpe (view spoiler)[ For such a vital character he's too pale character. I'm curious how the situation with SA O'Rilly's INTERPOL search will play out. (hide spoiler)]
SA Dana O'Reilly (view spoiler)[ One of my favorite (FBI) characters so far. She appears to be intelligent, likeable, hard working and more vital for the story than the number of situations she's depicted so far. (hide spoiler)]
SA Heather Olson (view spoiler)[ I'm wondering if she'll have any siginicance for the story line or if she'll disapear now. Somehow I like her. Depending on the plot development I think her character should either get much more space within the story or her part should be replace with one of the many characters already floating around. (hide spoiler)]
Randy Keller (view spoiler)[ I liked the twist with his photographic memory and am curious about his further part. (hide spoiler)]
Karl Berg (view spoiler)[ I don't like him at all and don't get all the machinations he started. As soon as he discovered Daniels cover personality I'd expect him to disclose it and that way lay additional pressure on the MC. I just don't like these on the sly actions that lead to the death or harm of uninvolved parties - even if it happens way too often in reality and fition to be disregarded. (hide spoiler)]
Julio Mendez (view spoiler)[ That's the character I'm most curious about and how his actions will affect the outcome. I really like the fact that a janitor is going to wreck havoc somewhere in the future :-) (hide spoiler)]

Task Force HYDRA (view spoiler)[ I don't get the story behind and the implications of the eight deaths. I'm not sure if the vital information to undestand it is just missing, will be revealed at a later point (though doesn't make sense to me that way) or if I just missed the details? So far I only understood that the death of eight high ranking finance people within the arab community could be an indicator for an immiment big scale attac.
Still I don't understand why is there an entire department tasked with the surveilance of eight people only? I'd expect if there were such an task force in reality it would look into all of the terror financiers of a country. If these people were so important why was there no surveilance in place? How can it be all of them are killed at once and how can it be they all live in one part of the country? Either the author tried to simplify this part and therefore decided to go for a regional proximity (and failed here in my opinion), there's something missing in the background information or it's just me.
Still even if all the above could be explained I'd still expect a senior agent/department (responsible for the entire US) would lead this investigation/operation) would deal with such sensitive information as those regarding the Black Flagged program. I hope it makes sense what I try to comminicate in this part. Some days I feel my English skills are not good enough to express myself. (hide spoiler)]

[Agnieszka]

I finished the book yesterday and liked it enough I consider to continue this series - especially since I already own the 2nd book in series.
I hope the writting style will improve with the next book.
I'm still willing to discuss the book if there's any interest.

[Danielle The Book Huntress , Literary Adrenaline Junkie]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Agnieszka. I'm afraid that I've been too busy with work and school to read this month. I hope I am able to participate in future reads.

[Agnieszka]

Danielle The Book Huntress (Back to the Books) wrote: "Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Agnieszka. I'm afraid that I've been too busy with work and school to read this month. I hope I am able to participate in future reads."

That's life - it comes sometimes in-between our reading :-)