Review: Action and adventure in Pakistan
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 14, 2013
This is an action-adventure novel for those who like Bob Mayer style tough-guy action stories. In this case, Tom, the head of the Secretary of State's diplomatic security detail, strikes out on his own in Pakistan to discover who has kidnapped the Secretary, code named Lyric, while she was visiting Islamabad. State Department security types aren't the usual action heroes, so this is a nice twist and the author does a good job in keeping his main character authentic. Other notable characters include a scheming CIA officer and a British soldier of fortune. There are wheels-within-wheels as the action takes us inside Pakistan's corrupt intelligence agency as well as to a power-hungry regional radical group which may or not be calling the shots.While the writing style suited the action, with alot of weaponry details and close-in fighting descriptions, a few descriptions were awkward, such as when something was described as the color of "hacked strawberries." There was a bit of lapses into British-isms that didn't belong, for example, when the American hero reflects on his weight in stones--an American would have given it in pounds. But these were relatively minor and didn't retract from the action or the nicely complex plot.Recommended for those who like contemporary action thrillers with military overtones.