Review: Fast Action, Futuristic Technology Mixed Plot
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 25, 2014
This book blasts you with small two or three page chapters - almost like vignettes, one after another without end. You have to keep your wits about you to follow along.This is a political thriller, a terrorist thriller, a techno-thriller and a spy story all rolled into one book. There is action, double agents,  nanotechnology, kidnapping, torture, murder, interrogation, radical new quantum physics weapons, hallucinogens, explosions plus a whole lot more.There are really three story arcs going on here. We have the evil mastermind and his organization which is successfully trying to take over the world. There is the U.S. President who needs to regain his super power status while defeating the mastermind and will do anything do get there. There is also MI6 and especially Dr. Sam Noor who works for them. Their main priority is to bring down the mastermind. No one is having any real success or making progress. Some small inroads are made, but the evil dudes are smart, and upgrade quickly.Medhat has a vivid imagination. There are some great ideas in this book. The way the mastermind put together his organization was brilliant. The technology was superb. I especially liked the nanobombs. That was a very nice touch. Those short chapters blasting at you give you a heightened sense of motion and speed throughout the story. The way the spies are written is very credible. When it is all put together it has the same feel as 24 does, where you feel you are under the gun and bad things will happen if you don't do anything about the problem quickly.The characterization was quite good in this story as well. Since we are dealing with intelligence types who are trained as human life detectors, it is always interesting perceiving dialogue from their point of view. There are some strong characters in this book. Sam and Ellie Noor are very strong and likable characters.And now the down side:What I don't understand about the book is why it left the U.S. story arc DOA after 1/3 of the book. It also left the mastermind story arc DOA after 2/3 of the book, and the remaining 1/3 of the book was a paranoid fantasy of some high level MI6 gentleman that runs amok. Does this sound like a tightly plotted book to you? The end wasn't even a cliffhanger (sigh), it was what I call a moment in time ending, where the book just stops. I really hate those endings. I always wonder what makes an author cut off a story at what appears to be a random point. Beats the heck out of me.The Bottom Line: At the half way point, I was thrilled with the book, it was fast-paced, exciting, and high tech and then somehow everything went off the rails with the last third of the book. I realize this was done for a purpose, and I can see where it is going, but it seems to me like Ms Medhat could not make up her mind about which story she was going to write and got lost somewhere in the middle where things go awry. Either story would have been wonderful, because her writing talents are excellent, but one is better than two.