Review: Smartly Wrought Thriller
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 14, 2012
When Raffel had this book offered free on Kindle, I recommended it to many friends - after all, I paid for my copy! I'm a fan of his previous books, a local and he writes accurately and well about Silicon Valley.Drop by Drop hit me hard initially. Raffel had already endeared me to his smart protagonist and his overachieving, successful wife when tragedy strikes. I identified w/main character Rockman so much that I wanted to show up at his house with coffee and bagels, followed by a walk out on the local baylands, then a session plotting revenge.It was easy to understand how Rockman had changes during this story. When he goes to DC, you see through his eyes into the parade of politicians, policy makers, military leaders and spooks their various ambitious posturing, power plays and machinations. So of course the reader starts wondering about what they don't know - what doesn't make it into the news. Raffel's insider's knowledge of DC and grasp of current politicking in these tense times (when sophisticated PR is the real name of the game) keeps this story taut and made me temporarily a tad paranoid. The perfect contrast to all of that was how much I enjoyed Rockman's understated approachability and intelligence. His character was flawed and human, and perfectly crafted for this story, which has many twists, turns and unexpected angles.This is a book to be enjoyed by both men and women, which is another of Raffel's talents - and not one that I take for granted. I do hope that he avoids the trap a lot of male authors get into - writing unbelievable female characters who are formulaic projections from the author as well as predictable foils for the hero. It's all too common with this genre. Thus far, Mr. Raffel has avoided this, so I hope that continues! His writing reminds me a bit of Greg Iles, and I love his books.My bottom line about this book? It's a bargain at the price, and you'll enjoy it more than anything else of the same cost.I'd love to read more from Raffel of these main characters, and perhaps they'd have an adventure with the main characters from his other stories - Ian Michaels and his wife?