Review: Fast action sometimes unbelievable escapism
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 5, 2012
This is an over-the-top fast-action global and political conspiracy with scores of assassins on the side of the goodies and the baddies. If you like such escapism then this is a great page-turner for you. If you like a bit of a reality check then this may be too far fetched for you.Scott (no surname, no passport) is wrongly arrested in the UK for rape. Scott grew up as a shipwrecked orphan on a small island near Borneo, not knowing the identity of both of his parents.  He is now nearly 25 years old (a key age in the plot) and has become a highly connected and dangerous undercover international government assassin.  What he doesn't realise is that his whole life is closely connected to one of the biggest power grabbing conspiracies on the globe.I enjoyed "Divide and Conquer" and "Critical Error" but felt that the plot in this book was not only a bit over-the-top but there were so many different characters (especially on the baddie side) that it was hard to keep track of them. The action was frequently too unreal with the baddies being able to do so many things and influence so many people at the drop of a hat. On the other hand when the goodies got stuck into the baddies, less than half a dozen of them were able to take down dozens of well organised and highly dangerous baddies. Probably one of the best parts of the plot was the twist in the tale right at the end that I didn't anticipate.This is one of the hardest books to rate. My head says that it should be 2.5 stars, my heart says that it should be 3.5 stars, and I know that thriller junkies would give it 4+ stars. On balance I settled on 3 stars.