Brad Thor

[Worm]

Has anyone yet read his books ?
I've heard that his 'State Of Union' is good.

 

[Rogue]

So that everyone knows what you're talking about:

State of the Union by Brad Thor

Fortunately for America, series hero Scot Harvath (The Lions of Lucerne; Path of the Assassin) possesses almost superhuman abilities and an equal amount of fantastic luck in this blistering, testosterone-fueled espionage thriller.

Making use of an innovative plot device, Thor resuscitates that old Cold War bugbear, Russia, as a credible threat to our country's very existence. Twenty years before the story's start, Russian agents hide at least 19 suitcase nuclear devices in secret locations throughout the United States.

As the book opens, President Jack Rutledge is ordered by the Russians to inform the American people in his State of the Union address that America will withdraw forthwith from world affairs, remove its troops from all foreign countries, surrender its seat in the United Nations and divest itself of all involvement with the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the G-8. If he does not do as he is commanded, sleeper agents will set off the hidden nuclear weapons, and millions of Americans will die.

Harvath-former SEAL, former Secret Service agent and special agent with the Office of International Investigative Assistance-is assigned the job of thwarting this nefarious plan, and he's got seven days to do it. Assisting him are many stalwarts drawn from elite military and other government agencies, all armed with the most techno of weapons, each lovingly described. As the clock ticks down, the battle takes Harvath around the globe, from a brothel in Berlin to the frigid waters of the Baltic Sea and back to the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

It's a complex plot, but Thor keeps everyone in line and trotting briskly ahead. Readers of the genre will understand that Harvath's triumph is a foregone conclusion and will marvel at the canny plan and clever devices he employs to succeed.

Is it just me or does this plot sound a bit overused? You know all that good Americans/ bad Russians stuff?

 

[Tai_Mai_Shu]

I think I'm going to read my first Brad Thor book next. I've read that Lions of Lucerne is being turned into a movie so I'm going to read it before the movie is release.

 

[SFG75]

Is it just me or does this plot sound a bit overused? You know all that good Americans/ bad Russians stuff?

To me, it may have been a plot, but it has evolved over time to become its own genre. The question is this-can a writer use it to come up with an original story that is not predictable? Tom Clancy basically created this genre if you ask me. The Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising are classics in that regard to me. This storyline does not appeal to me personally. Stephen Coonts was another good writer along these lines.

After reading this thread a few days ago, I started The Last Patriot by Thor. He likes to bill Scot Harvath as the guy for the war on terror what Jason Bourne was to the cold war, at least, that is what is published on the jacket.:whistling: The basic gist of this story is that some academics have discovered an ancient manuscript that would undermine fundamentalist Islam, and an American cleric wants a professor dead so the truth would not get out. I'm 70 pages into the book and I have to say that it is just one terrible cliche after another. The seasoned but disillusioned secret-ops guy stumbling upon an operation he isn't in on, the bad dialogue when it comes to the target explaining to Harvath why he is being targeted, and the macho-swagger-John-Wayne character dialogue that is over baked, over done, and simply over the top. What disturbs me most about this book is that it reeks of Islamophobia. Just as Ludlum created stereotype character dialogue for Asian characters, ludlum does not have "good" Muslims in his book. Other than the professor, the characters are hard to come by. At worst, this book perpetuates the myth that every Muslim is a terrorist.

 

[jimrada]

Best Brad Thor book to start with?

I'm thinking about reading one of Brad Thor's books. Which one would you recommend that I start with?

 

[Tai_Mai_Shu]

I'm thinking about reading one of Brad Thor's books. Which one would you recommend that I start with?

I would start with Lions of Lucerne

 

[canuck]

Just finished Brad Thor's The Athena Project - enjoyed it - an all woman team were the 'good guys' in this book and it worked well.