Review: Great plot, hot topic, vibrant characters
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 14, 2013
What more can you ask for? The book starts with a bang, literally! The bombing of an ATF building by an extreme right-wing group in which the infant son of central character Josette Horvath is caught. From there the plot strands spread out, involving a raid on an ex-KGB building to get vital documents to blackmail the Vice-President, while at Oxford University Josette's brother Bernard is in a political studies class where a key topic under debate is US gun control.The author handles all of this skilfully by at all times seeing it through the eyes of the characters. So the Oxford scenes as you'd expect have a strong anti-gun slant, but many of the later lobbying scenes are pro-gun - or at least spotlight the humongous problem faced trying to make any changes to the 2nd Amendment. One Senator raises the point that many of the militia groups in his State are in fact very patriotic and would never dream of turning a gun on a fellow man. So the point is made clearly that most of these groups are miles apart from the extreme right wing group responsible for the bombing.Sadly I think the right-wing reaction to this book supports rather than defeats the points it makes: that reactions on gun control are often extreme and volatile and some will go to any lengths to protect those rights. It is though first and foremost a highly intense and exciting thriller with a great plot and strong characters which doesn't take its foot of the gas for a second. Which makes me suspect those readers saying otherwise. More right-wingers in sheeps clothing perhaps?This review covers book #1 and #2. My copy of both was editorially clean and perfect with no spelling or grammar errors.