Genre: Fiction—Thriller
Completed: 1 November 2010
Summary & Review:
A small band of Islamists infiltrate a Russian nuclear weapons depot and manage to steal two functional bombs. With the help of John Wells, the CIA must track down the bombs before disaster happens.
My dad is a pretty big fan of Berenson’s three novels. I think he may be a little biased since they share the same alma mater, but I agree that Berenson is a talented thriller writer. The plot was fast and entertaining and Berenson’s writing was deft and clean. Personally, I don’t find John Wells to really be that intriguing of a protagonist, but the stories he has been featured in have made up for that shortfall.
I do have one complaint about this novel. Throughout the book, the Islamist characters ranted about the supposed “evils” and “sins” of America. The writing took shots at the Iraq war from the point of view of a Islamist extremist, but, there was never a counter argument from any of the “good guy” characters defending the actions of America. This caused a lot of the novel to read like an anti-American tirade. While these statements were put forth by the terrorist characters, the fact that there was never any countering point of view leads the reader to feel that those disparaging opinions must be those of the author as well.
Rating: 7.0
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