- Thor, Brad.
Act of War.
New York: Pocket Books, 2014.
ISBN 978-1-4767-1713-5.
-
This is the fourteenth in the author's
Scot
Harvath series, which began with
The Lions of Lucerne (October 2010). In this
novel the author returns to the techno-thriller genre and places
his characters, this time backed by a newly-elected U.S. president who
is actually interested in defending the country, in the position of
figuring out a complicated yet potentially devastating attack mounted by
a nation state adversary following the doctrine of
unrestricted
warfare, and covering its actions by operating through non-state
parties apparently unrelated to the aggressor.
The trail goes through Pakistan, North Korea, and Nashville, Tennessee, with
multiple parties trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle while
the clock is ticking. Intelligence missions are launched into North Korea
and the Arab Emirates to try to figure out what is going on. Finally,
as the nature of the plot becomes clear, Nicholas (the Troll) brings
the tools of Big Data to bear on the mystery to avert disaster.
This is a workmanlike thriller and a fine “airplane book”.
There is less shoot-em-up action than in other novels in the series, and
a part of the suspense is supposed to be the reader's trying to figure
out, along with the characters, the nature of the impending attack.
Unfortunately, at least for me, it was obvious well before the half
way point in the story the answer to the puzzle, and knowing this was
a substantial spoiler for the rest of the book. I've thought and written
quite a bit about this scenario, so I may have been more attuned to
the clues than the average reader.
The author invokes the tired canard about NASA's priorities having
been redirected toward reinforcing Muslim self-esteem. This is
irritating (because it's false), but plays no major part in the
story. Still, it's a good read, and I'll be looking forward to the
next book in the series.
May 2015 