Review: An Explosive Thriller
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 30, 2013
Velocity took me a bit by surprise. I don't know what I was expecting but it definitely wasn't what I encountered on that first page. Reading a new (to me) author, I try to go in with an open mind ... no prejudgements or expectations. You get thrown into the story right away. There's no ... meet this character or here's some background info. No, you are right there in the middle of things immediately. And while it felt like being pushed into the deep end, I found it pretty refreshing.You don't know from one paragraph to the next what the end result is going to be with Velocity. Just when you think you know what is going on or whose side someone is on ... oh, no you don't. You're wrong. I grew attached to a few of the characters pretty early in the book ... I don't know why ... but there was this one bad guy that I was actually rooting for when he met an untimely demise. That was a bit shocking. I had to put the book down for the rest of the day on that one. And the kicker is that he wasn't even this super important character! I think it may be because Worland writes these ... lifelike ... characters.I really found myself getting wrapped up in this book. It reads like a movie and by that, I mean that it reads in such an explosive and animated way that it's really brought to life as you read. The main character is named Judd and I have to read more about him. Man, is he messed up. Such a perfectly flawed character and I can't wait to see what he gets into in the next installment.So why didn't this awesome novel get five stars, you may be asking. Well, first of all, this is an amazing book. I'll definitely read it again and I'll be reading the remainder of the series. It only fell short because the first couple of chapters were a bit confusing with all of the technicalities of all this equipment that was being used and the large number of characters in the beginning ... there were quite a few and I did have a hard time keeping up with them. Was the book hard to understand? No. With all of the info that was given, you would think that it would read like a manual but it doesn't, it was just a little overwhelming at first.But that's it. A great read - especially if you like the whole astronaut/pilot/military-esque book. Which I happen to love. I thought that I was going to have a huge hole in my future library where these types of books reside because on of my top 3 favorite authors passed away this year ... Vince Flynn. But it looks like Worland novels will fit right in. Sigh. Such a good book!!