Review: A really good and realistic terrorist thriller
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 16, 2012
The Valley of the Shadows is one of the best and most realistic page turning terrorist thrillers I have read this year with rapid fire action from start to finish. The scary part is that this terrorist scenario could so easily happen.There are no fantasy scenarios or super heroes so common in other anti terrorism novels. The characters are realistic and believable. All of the major players on both sides have their flaws and make serious mistakes.A raid on an Al Queda safe house in Pakistan discovers a plan for a series of simultaneous suicide bombings in major cities throughout the US.  Dr. Derek Stillwater, an agent with homeland security, joins one of several teams  of anti-terrorist specialists across the US who are assigned to make urgent needle in a haystack searches to find the explosives and stop the terrorists.The team that Stillwater joins is a dsyfunctional mix of agents, most of whom have never worked together before. Stillwater is not a good team player and a really loose cannon who likes to work on his own. His team participation is even harder because he once had a personal relationship with the female agent assigned to head the team.Stillwater's team soon discover that they have more than one plot to stop because the terrorist leader has his own agenda which could have a more serious impact on the US than the planned bombings. The chase turns into a roller coaster ride of action on a par to some of the earlier Vince Flynn and Tom Clancy thrillers - so sit back and enjoy the ride.My only criticism was the extra line breaks at the end of each paragraph which left large gaps between paragraphs on my Kindle which made it harder to read. A small amount of editing could remedy this.