Book Review - Full Black by Brad Thor

In this day and age, the exciting tales of spying between the United States and the Soviet Union have given way to fighting terrorism instead. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, many authors are reluctant to explore these untold stories, which could include a wealth of breath-taking action.

Brad Thor, however, tackles the subject full-on in his series about former Navy SEAL Scot Harvath. Harvath is now part of a super-secret organization that takes on the anti-terror jobs that the CIA and other government organizations won't do. In Thor's world, the government just isn't getting it done, and thus these people are there to take care of the free world in their places.

I haven't followed this series before, but Full Black is the 10th book in it, and I would assume the previous books are much like this one, at least in tone. It's set in the current day, with the same type of history as the real world has. Only the names have changed. There were terrorist attacks on 9/11 in New York City. While the names have changed, the world hasn't. Basically, pseudo-Bush was president for eight years, and now pseudo-Obama is president. The previous president would do whatever it takes to keep America safe. The current president is softer and more likely to want to negotiate (hence this super-secret agency).

Anyway, my review of Full Black is up on Curled Up With a Good Book now, and you can check it out.

From the review:

Scot Harvath is a fomer Navy SEAL and former Secret Service agent who has been recruited to join a secret group of ex-spies and other military operatives to do the jobs that the CIA won't to combat radical Islamic terrorism. They take on missions that are so sensitive that they aren't just classified; they don't exist. This time, Harvath and his team are tasked with infiltrating a terrorist cell in Sweden to find out what major attacks the network is planning. Meanwhile, a foreign wet works team attempts to kill movie producer Larry Salomon, who is working on a documentary that will expose one of the world's richest men (James Standing) as the man who will take down America and plunge it into chaos. Good thing that Salomon is buddies with another ex-Special Forces guy who is able to help him. Can Harvath stop the inevitable wave of attacks that will be sparked across the United States?

The problem is, and the reason for this doesn't really come out in my review because the editor understandably omitted when I got a little bit personal, I basically agree with Thor about a lot of things that he says in this book. Yet the way Thor presents his viewpoints in the novel drag it to a screeching halt every time the book threatens to start getting good again.

I like my politics in political books. Or at least illustrated by events in a novel. I don't want the characters to start spouting off political theories when I want to see them stop the bad guy.

Check out the review for the rest of my thoughts on the book, though. I did ultimately enjoy the book. Just not as much as I really wanted to.