Review: Crescent Rising is a rising star among techno-thrillers.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 2, 2010
Storyline:  It is a complex tale of international terror in which an off-the-radar operative name Ryan starts off serenely enough on a holiday, trying to rid himself of a ghost from his past by climbing the east face of Mount McKinley (a hair-raising endeavor worthy of a book all its own in my opinion).  Just as he reaches the top and tries to relax, he is suddenly plunged back into the world of hi-tech, super secret intelligence operations when an unexpected visitor shows up on the summit with him.The plot goes global ranging from California to the Middle East to the Arctic Coast of Russia as terrorists plan to carry out a super plot right under the noses of the United States government.Only Ryan's personal happenstance romantic involvement with a beautiful woman who, along with her father, turns out to be victims of the terrorists' victims spurs him on to solve the crime before it happens.Grammar/Spelling: Very well written.  Very few grammatical, spelling and punctuation errors, if any, were noted.Character Development:  All of the characters with major parts and some with very minor parts in the story were extremely well-developed and believable.  Backstory information and motivations were more than adequately presented throughout the book.  Bad guys and good guys both had believable reasons for doing what they were doing.  The actions of the characters clearly displayed the dangerous world of terrorism and counter-terrorism and the reason why so many innocent bystanders are often caught up in the ruthless business on both ends.Writing Style: Mr. Hamrick is very colorful and descriptive in all areas of the work from romantic scenes to brutal murders.  His characters interact easily with each other like old friends and/or professional associates should.  He displays extensive knowledge of nautical subjects and employs them with great skill, explaining things that ordinary people might not normally understand or even think about.  He also takes the reader on an odyssey of activities from manning a super-surveillance attack boat to climbing a sheer rock face to operating a rust-bucket tug in Russian waters.Continuity:  I did not notice anything out of sequence or unbelievable as far as timeframe or continuity.Overall Rating: 5-The story was energetic, fast-paced and interesting. A surprisingly understandable techno-thriller with overtones of romance on the back burner.  My only complaints, if you can call them complaints or simply preferences, is that some of the good guys seemed a bit over the top and James Bond-like, bigger than life and their names matched them.  I personally would have liked to see a bit more of their 'feminine sides'. Ha! I can say that because I'm a girl!  What I mean is that I like a little more sensitivity and less brawn in my heroes, but I understand that the majority of techno-thriller fans are male and so they might not agree.  Great book.Some sexual content, violence, graphic language.