Review: Well crafted spy yarn - credible tale, credible characters
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 1, 2014
This book was well-written, had a solid and credible plot and offered plastic characters whose personalities developed/matured over the life of the book. So why only 4 stars? Protagonist Patrick Lacher was too flawed as  hero to evoke sufficient sympathy on my part to make the novel a page-turner. Instead, I plodded through it over the course of a week.However, I appreciated the juxtapositioning of Patrick and his immediate superior officer, Workman, who is flawless in his integrity and becomes as excessive and single-minded in his effort to bring down Patrick, as Inspector Javert in  Les Misérables. Patrick has an excuse for stealing fuel, whether acceptable or not. He also has an excuse for a clandestine affair with a married woman....While Workman served as a positive mirror to Patrick's negative one in the early part of the novel, they actually changed places later on. As pressure from terrorists forced Patrick to choose integrity, Workman became so obsessed with proving Patrick a villain that he  ignored extenuating circumstances, turning into a negative character himself.