Oh Dear, 14 Sep 2008
At long last I have found a novel that actualy made me laugh out loud. This author has obviously watched too many bad spy movies and decided to put pen to paper (kudos for that) but someone should have told him that there is more to writng a good book than a superhuman character, a believable plot for one thing. This just fell down in all departments especially the drawn out descriptions of the hardware being used and the 'action' sequences which were comical in the extreme. Still, Iam sure the makers of the movie 'Hot Shot' will snap this up as it is already a parody in itself

Gripping from beginning to end, 14 Oct 2006
Brad Thor is a name to be reckoned with in the genre of political thrillers and this book lives up to expectations. Secret Service Agent Scott Harvarth finds himself in more than enough trouble when the President of the United States is kidnapped, and from there the plot moves along thick and fast. I found myself reading long after I should have put the book down and finished it in record time. I would recommend anyone to buy this, or any other Brad Thor book as you will not be disappointed.

Suffocating Tension Brilliant Read, 25 Aug 2006
Ok whilst Matthew Reilly has the edge on excitement this guy hits you square on with the tension from chapter one. This is Thor's greatest novel and his first novel. The hero is cross between James Bond, Indianna Jones and John McLane. With an early chapter starting with the kidnapping of the presidents daughter with amazing ski-sets and shoot outs that wipe out near enough every special force commando but one this book really makes you chilly, the scenes running upto the end are so breathtaking that you feel that any minute you are going to fall off a mountain yourself. This is just amazing writing and anyone who loved the movie of the Eiger Sanction on the edge of the mountain should snap this up. Jack Ryan EAT YOUR HEART OUT.
If you liked this then get Takedown too.

Nothing original but still a well written page turner, 20 Jul 2004
Lone survivor of Secret Service team hunts down the kidnappers who have got away with the US President while he himself is framed and hunted....
Quite like a Ludlum book this, and I did keep thinking that there were many elements of the story that I have read elsewhere, but having said that..
This is a very well told action thriller and while it is not overly original in concept, it is delivered very well, has a good pace to it and it is action packed.
Brad Thor will be a name to watch out for I suspect.

Oh Dear, 14 Sep 2008
At long last I have found a novel that actualy made me laugh out loud. This author has obviously watched too many bad spy movies and decided to put pen to paper (kudos for that) but someone should have told him that there is more to writng a good book than a superhuman character, a believable plot for one thing. This just fell down in all departments especially the drawn out descriptions of the hardware being used and the 'action' sequences which were comical in the extreme. Still, Iam sure the makers of the movie 'Hot Shot' will snap this up as it is already a parody in itself

Gripping from beginning to end, 14 Oct 2006
Brad Thor is a name to be reckoned with in the genre of political thrillers and this book lives up to expectations. Secret Service Agent Scott Harvarth finds himself in more than enough trouble when the President of the United States is kidnapped, and from there the plot moves along thick and fast. I found myself reading long after I should have put the book down and finished it in record time. I would recommend anyone to buy this, or any other Brad Thor book as you will not be disappointed.

Suffocating Tension Brilliant Read, 25 Aug 2006
Ok whilst Matthew Reilly has the edge on excitement this guy hits you square on with the tension from chapter one. This is Thor's greatest novel and his first novel. The hero is cross between James Bond, Indianna Jones and John McLane. With an early chapter starting with the kidnapping of the presidents daughter with amazing ski-sets and shoot outs that wipe out near enough every special force commando but one this book really makes you chilly, the scenes running upto the end are so breathtaking that you feel that any minute you are going to fall off a mountain yourself. This is just amazing writing and anyone who loved the movie of the Eiger Sanction on the edge of the mountain should snap this up. Jack Ryan EAT YOUR HEART OUT.
If you liked this then get Takedown too.

Nothing original but still a well written page turner, 20 Jul 2004
Lone survivor of Secret Service team hunts down the kidnappers who have got away with the US President while he himself is framed and hunted....
Quite like a Ludlum book this, and I did keep thinking that there were many elements of the story that I have read elsewhere, but having said that..
This is a very well told action thriller and while it is not overly original in concept, it is delivered very well, has a good pace to it and it is action packed.
Brad Thor will be a name to watch out for I suspect.

A slick thriller from the new master, 06 Oct 2008
Another great thriller from Brad Thor, this time tackling a very touchy subject but he pulls it of with some very good twists and continues development of the Scott Harvath character.

Only negative is the ending which literally just ended, no clues to whats coming next or resolution of what has just happened.

If you like Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan or Vince Flynn's books then this is a most enjoyable series to start reading. All the books are very good and very enjoyable.

Brilliant Islamic thriller, 30 Aug 2008
Thriller authors generally need a real world enemy to wrap their story around. Few are like Michael Chrichton and Lee Child who invent everything. No, for most thriller authors, it is the threat of the moment that matters. Nazism and Communism have had their day although some horror writers still use them, James Herbert and Sean Hutson, but today belongs to radical Islam. You only have to read the Soft Target thrillers by Conrad Jones to realise how some thriler writers can bring contempory Islamic issues into violent action fantasy.

Brad Thor has cranked out several very good thrillers, but "The Last Patriot" is one of his best.

Former Navy SEAL, Secret Service agent and Presidential troubleshooter Scot (with one "t") Harvath is in Paris with his girlfriend Tracy Hastings, who is still recovering from injuries received in her job as a Naval demolitions specialist. Scot observes a car being stolen and another car pulling into the vacated parking space. His intuitive sense of action is aroused and he pulls Tracy away from the cafe where they were sitting. Passing a bookstore, a stranger in a hurry bumps into them and starts crossing the street. Scot senses trouble and covers the stanger with his own body as a car bomb goes off.

Borrowing liberally from Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code", Thor plunges Harvath into a labybrinth of clues, assasins, plots and counter-plots as a search for the prophet Mohammed's rumored last revelation which has the potential to change the nature of Islam.

The action never stops. A former CIA assassin, Matthew Dowd, now a dedicated convert to Islam and a stone-cold killer is murdering his way toward the secret. The President's man is looking for the secret. Soon the CIA and FBI are involved. Thomas Jefferson's 1805 war against the Barbary pirates is invoked as other aspects of Jefferson's wide ranging interests and genius. The plot moves from one bit of violence to another, with nary a thoughtful moment in between. In other words, this a perfectly satisfying thriller, an American flag waver.

Thor's characters have a bit of depth. Scot Harvath's exploits just make you want to stand up and cheer (provided you support the United States and its goals). Thor is particularly aggressive in his views of radical Islam and the poltically correct multiculturalists in the United States and elsewhere who are yielding democracy to a theocracy.

As noted, the plot borrows heavily from "The DaVinci Code" with the protagonist having to piece together bits of a puzzle while the bad guys are trying to kill the good guys. From time to time, Thor asks the reader to accept a jump in logic or an implausible happening, such as hairbreadth escapes. But Thor is a strong enough writer to carry the reader over the occasional chasm.

The ending, however, is on the weak side and a real stretch. I don't know if Thor ran out of time or ideas, but the last few pages weren't nearly as satisfying as those that went before.

Still, for thriller fans, "The Last Patriot" is a wonderfully jingoistic, red, white and blue story, filled with All-American heroes and nasty bad guys. Great fun reading!

Oh Dear, 14 Sep 2008
At long last I have found a novel that actualy made me laugh out loud. This author has obviously watched too many bad spy movies and decided to put pen to paper (kudos for that) but someone should have told him that there is more to writng a good book than a superhuman character, a believable plot for one thing. This just fell down in all departments especially the drawn out descriptions of the hardware being used and the 'action' sequences which were comical in the extreme. Still, Iam sure the makers of the movie 'Hot Shot' will snap this up as it is already a parody in itself

Gripping from beginning to end, 14 Oct 2006
Brad Thor is a name to be reckoned with in the genre of political thrillers and this book lives up to expectations. Secret Service Agent Scott Harvarth finds himself in more than enough trouble when the President of the United States is kidnapped, and from there the plot moves along thick and fast. I found myself reading long after I should have put the book down and finished it in record time. I would recommend anyone to buy this, or any other Brad Thor book as you will not be disappointed.

Suffocating Tension Brilliant Read, 25 Aug 2006
Ok whilst Matthew Reilly has the edge on excitement this guy hits you square on with the tension from chapter one. This is Thor's greatest novel and his first novel. The hero is cross between James Bond, Indianna Jones and John McLane. With an early chapter starting with the kidnapping of the presidents daughter with amazing ski-sets and shoot outs that wipe out near enough every special force commando but one this book really makes you chilly, the scenes running upto the end are so breathtaking that you feel that any minute you are going to fall off a mountain yourself. This is just amazing writing and anyone who loved the movie of the Eiger Sanction on the edge of the mountain should snap this up. Jack Ryan EAT YOUR HEART OUT.
If you liked this then get Takedown too.

Nothing original but still a well written page turner, 20 Jul 2004
Lone survivor of Secret Service team hunts down the kidnappers who have got away with the US President while he himself is framed and hunted....
Quite like a Ludlum book this, and I did keep thinking that there were many elements of the story that I have read elsewhere, but having said that..
This is a very well told action thriller and while it is not overly original in concept, it is delivered very well, has a good pace to it and it is action packed.
Brad Thor will be a name to watch out for I suspect.

A slick thriller from the new master, 06 Oct 2008
Another great thriller from Brad Thor, this time tackling a very touchy subject but he pulls it of with some very good twists and continues development of the Scott Harvath character.

Only negative is the ending which literally just ended, no clues to whats coming next or resolution of what has just happened.

If you like Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan or Vince Flynn's books then this is a most enjoyable series to start reading. All the books are very good and very enjoyable.

Brilliant Islamic thriller, 30 Aug 2008
Thriller authors generally need a real world enemy to wrap their story around. Few are like Michael Chrichton and Lee Child who invent everything. No, for most thriller authors, it is the threat of the moment that matters. Nazism and Communism have had their day although some horror writers still use them, James Herbert and Sean Hutson, but today belongs to radical Islam. You only have to read the Soft Target thrillers by Conrad Jones to realise how some thriler writers can bring contempory Islamic issues into violent action fantasy.

Brad Thor has cranked out several very good thrillers, but "The Last Patriot" is one of his best.

Former Navy SEAL, Secret Service agent and Presidential troubleshooter Scot (with one "t") Harvath is in Paris with his girlfriend Tracy Hastings, who is still recovering from injuries received in her job as a Naval demolitions specialist. Scot observes a car being stolen and another car pulling into the vacated parking space. His intuitive sense of action is aroused and he pulls Tracy away from the cafe where they were sitting. Passing a bookstore, a stranger in a hurry bumps into them and starts crossing the street. Scot senses trouble and covers the stanger with his own body as a car bomb goes off.

Borrowing liberally from Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code", Thor plunges Harvath into a labybrinth of clues, assasins, plots and counter-plots as a search for the prophet Mohammed's rumored last revelation which has the potential to change the nature of Islam.

The action never stops. A former CIA assassin, Matthew Dowd, now a dedicated convert to Islam and a stone-cold killer is murdering his way toward the secret. The President's man is looking for the secret. Soon the CIA and FBI are involved. Thomas Jefferson's 1805 war against the Barbary pirates is invoked as other aspects of Jefferson's wide ranging interests and genius. The plot moves from one bit of violence to another, with nary a thoughtful moment in between. In other words, this a perfectly satisfying thriller, an American flag waver.

Thor's characters have a bit of depth. Scot Harvath's exploits just make you want to stand up and cheer (provided you support the United States and its goals). Thor is particularly aggressive in his views of radical Islam and the poltically correct multiculturalists in the United States and elsewhere who are yielding democracy to a theocracy.

As noted, the plot borrows heavily from "The DaVinci Code" with the protagonist having to piece together bits of a puzzle while the bad guys are trying to kill the good guys. From time to time, Thor asks the reader to accept a jump in logic or an implausible happening, such as hairbreadth escapes. But Thor is a strong enough writer to carry the reader over the occasional chasm.

The ending, however, is on the weak side and a real stretch. I don't know if Thor ran out of time or ideas, but the last few pages weren't nearly as satisfying as those that went before.

Still, for thriller fans, "The Last Patriot" is a wonderfully jingoistic, red, white and blue story, filled with All-American heroes and nasty bad guys. Great fun reading!



THE JUNGLE, 18 Oct 2005
I had never heard of Upton Sinclair until I stumbled on this book in a charity shop. I found it rivettingly horrible with it's graphic descriptions of a slaughterhouse and the conditions of the meat packing industry in Chicago around 1910. The book goes off the boil later but it's still a great read and like all great books it ushered in change when Theodore Roosevelt read it. I immediately bought another book called OIL! but I didn't find this in the same class as The Jungle. Sinclair seems to carefully research the industry he is writing about and this is what makes the Jungle a great book.

Laissez-faire exposed., 15 Mar 2005
There are without a doubt better novels than "The Jungle". A great novel was not Sinclair's aim however. His aim was to point out the vile conditions that existed among working Americans in the early twentieth century. Conditions that were so awful that a visit to some workers in New York a few years before this book came out began to change young Theodore Roosevelt from a conservative to a progressive. Along the way Sinclair shocked the American public with the filth they were buying as quality meat.

Sinclair heaps horror after horror on Jurgis and his family. Almost to the point of overkill but again this was ment to be a work that shocked America and like "Uncle Tom's Cabin" before it "The Jungle" painted a worse case picture. Unregulated capitalism was exposed as the beast it was and still to an extent is with words like, "there was no place in it where a man counted for anything against a dollar." Sinclair was not out to improve the quality of food but that is what this book is most credited with. His real intent was to promote Socialism and in that to some extent he failed. However fear of the radical change Sinclair was after prompted many progressive reforms. Better a little change than a revolution.

In short, if you are looking for a great novel look elsewhere. Still, one needs to read this book for a look at where unregulated laissez-faire capitalism leads. As the calls increase to do away with government involvement in the regulation of business this book becomes more and more something that every American should read. Greed is a powerful thing and this book shows just how far some people will go in the quest for money. Powerful at times and sometimes a little off course this work by Upton Sinclair should always serve as a reminder of what was and what might be again.

grim grim grim grim grim, 15 Mar 2004
This has got to be the most depressing book I've EVER read. Mind you, it is quite good.

Passionate and heart breaking, 03 Dec 2000
After writing this book Sinclair himself remarked he had aimed for the public's hearts but instead hit their stomacks. This statement is still very relevent today. This book is a condemnation of the cruel and oppressive nature of the capitalist system. At a time when the U.S. was said to be a place full of prosperity, on its way to becoming the leading capitalist nation in the world, the domestic casualties of this are witnessed. The corruption that keeps the wealth in the hands of the rich is also vividly exposed. America "a beacon of democracy", is shown to be instead a ruthless, heartless land where those who are unfortunate are left no alternative but live a life of extreme poverty serving their oppressive masters. Sinclaire allows us to see the hell experienced by the hard working immigrants and then offers an alternative in socialism. I would argue this is not a radical conclusion but the realisation that capitalism has many contradictions which leave most of the world in hellish poverty whilst those with power, using oppressive methods defend ther privilidged position.

Relentless exploitation...unfortunately polemic conclusion, 26 Oct 2000
I was staggered that such conditions existed in any industry even at the time in which the book was set. It strikes me nonetheless, that it was very much a template for the foundation of the wealth of many industrialised and economically powerful nations. Loses a star as the last section has little of the crushing narrative that raises the rest of the book to such eye watering levels.

Oh Dear, 14 Sep 2008
At long last I have found a novel that actualy made me laugh out loud. This author has obviously watched too many bad spy movies and decided to put pen to paper (kudos for that) but someone should have told him that there is more to writng a good book than a superhuman character, a believable plot for one thing. This just fell down in all departments especially the drawn out descriptions of the hardware being used and the 'action' sequences which were comical in the extreme. Still, Iam sure the makers of the movie 'Hot Shot' will snap this up as it is already a parody in itself

Gripping from beginning to end, 14 Oct 2006
Brad Thor is a name to be reckoned with in the genre of political thrillers and this book lives up to expectations. Secret Service Agent Scott Harvarth finds himself in more than enough trouble when the President of the United States is kidnapped, and from there the plot moves along thick and fast. I found myself reading long after I should have put the book down and finished it in record time. I would recommend anyone to buy this, or any other Brad Thor book as you will not be disappointed.

Suffocating Tension Brilliant Read, 25 Aug 2006
Ok whilst Matthew Reilly has the edge on excitement this guy hits you square on with the tension from chapter one. This is Thor's greatest novel and his first novel. The hero is cross between James Bond, Indianna Jones and John McLane. With an early chapter starting with the kidnapping of the presidents daughter with amazing ski-sets and shoot outs that wipe out near enough every special force commando but one this book really makes you chilly, the scenes running upto the end are so breathtaking that you feel that any minute you are going to fall off a mountain yourself. This is just amazing writing and anyone who loved the movie of the Eiger Sanction on the edge of the mountain should snap this up. Jack Ryan EAT YOUR HEART OUT.
If you liked this then get Takedown too.

Nothing original but still a well written page turner, 20 Jul 2004
Lone survivor of Secret Service team hunts down the kidnappers who have got away with the US President while he himself is framed and hunted....
Quite like a Ludlum book this, and I did keep thinking that there were many elements of the story that I have read elsewhere, but having said that..
This is a very well told action thriller and while it is not overly original in concept, it is delivered very well, has a good pace to it and it is action packed.
Brad Thor will be a name to watch out for I suspect.

A slick thriller from the new master, 06 Oct 2008
Another great thriller from Brad Thor, this time tackling a very touchy subject but he pulls it of with some very good twists and continues development of the Scott Harvath character.

Only negative is the ending which literally just ended, no clues to whats coming next or resolution of what has just happened.

If you like Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan or Vince Flynn's books then this is a most enjoyable series to start reading. All the books are very good and very enjoyable.

Brilliant Islamic thriller, 30 Aug 2008
Thriller authors generally need a real world enemy to wrap their story around. Few are like Michael Chrichton and Lee Child who invent everything. No, for most thriller authors, it is the threat of the moment that matters. Nazism and Communism have had their day although some horror writers still use them, James Herbert and Sean Hutson, but today belongs to radical Islam. You only have to read the Soft Target thrillers by Conrad Jones to realise how some thriler writers can bring contempory Islamic issues into violent action fantasy.

Brad Thor has cranked out several very good thrillers, but "The Last Patriot" is one of his best.

Former Navy SEAL, Secret Service agent and Presidential troubleshooter Scot (with one "t") Harvath is in Paris with his girlfriend Tracy Hastings, who is still recovering from injuries received in her job as a Naval demolitions specialist. Scot observes a car being stolen and another car pulling into the vacated parking space. His intuitive sense of action is aroused and he pulls Tracy away from the cafe where they were sitting. Passing a bookstore, a stranger in a hurry bumps into them and starts crossing the street. Scot senses trouble and covers the stanger with his own body as a car bomb goes off.

Borrowing liberally from Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code", Thor plunges Harvath into a labybrinth of clues, assasins, plots and counter-plots as a search for the prophet Mohammed's rumored last revelation which has the potential to change the nature of Islam.

The action never stops. A former CIA assassin, Matthew Dowd, now a dedicated convert to Islam and a stone-cold killer is murdering his way toward the secret. The President's man is looking for the secret. Soon the CIA and FBI are involved. Thomas Jefferson's 1805 war against the Barbary pirates is invoked as other aspects of Jefferson's wide ranging interests and genius. The plot moves from one bit of violence to another, with nary a thoughtful moment in between. In other words, this a perfectly satisfying thriller, an American flag waver.

Thor's characters have a bit of depth. Scot Harvath's exploits just make you want to stand up and cheer (provided you support the United States and its goals). Thor is particularly aggressive in his views of radical Islam and the poltically correct multiculturalists in the United States and elsewhere who are yielding democracy to a theocracy.

As noted, the plot borrows heavily from "The DaVinci Code" with the protagonist having to piece together bits of a puzzle while the bad guys are trying to kill the good guys. From time to time, Thor asks the reader to accept a jump in logic or an implausible happening, such as hairbreadth escapes. But Thor is a strong enough writer to carry the reader over the occasional chasm.

The ending, however, is on the weak side and a real stretch. I don't know if Thor ran out of time or ideas, but the last few pages weren't nearly as satisfying as those that went before.

Still, for thriller fans, "The Last Patriot" is a wonderfully jingoistic, red, white and blue story, filled with All-American heroes and nasty bad guys. Great fun reading!



THE JUNGLE, 18 Oct 2005
I had never heard of Upton Sinclair until I stumbled on this book in a charity shop. I found it rivettingly horrible with it's graphic descriptions of a slaughterhouse and the conditions of the meat packing industry in Chicago around 1910. The book goes off the boil later but it's still a great read and like all great books it ushered in change when Theodore Roosevelt read it. I immediately bought another book called OIL! but I didn't find this in the same class as The Jungle. Sinclair seems to carefully research the industry he is writing about and this is what makes the Jungle a great book.

Laissez-faire exposed., 15 Mar 2005
There are without a doubt better novels than "The Jungle". A great novel was not Sinclair's aim however. His aim was to point out the vile conditions that existed among working Americans in the early twentieth century. Conditions that were so awful that a visit to some workers in New York a few years before this book came out began to change young Theodore Roosevelt from a conservative to a progressive. Along the way Sinclair shocked the American public with the filth they were buying as quality meat.

Sinclair heaps horror after horror on Jurgis and his family. Almost to the point of overkill but again this was ment to be a work that shocked America and like "Uncle Tom's Cabin" before it "The Jungle" painted a worse case picture. Unregulated capitalism was exposed as the beast it was and still to an extent is with words like, "there was no place in it where a man counted for anything against a dollar." Sinclair was not out to improve the quality of food but that is what this book is most credited with. His real intent was to promote Socialism and in that to some extent he failed. However fear of the radical change Sinclair was after prompted many progressive reforms. Better a little change than a revolution.

In short, if you are looking for a great novel look elsewhere. Still, one needs to read this book for a look at where unregulated laissez-faire capitalism leads. As the calls increase to do away with government involvement in the regulation of business this book becomes more and more something that every American should read. Greed is a powerful thing and this book shows just how far some people will go in the quest for money. Powerful at times and sometimes a little off course this work by Upton Sinclair should always serve as a reminder of what was and what might be again.

grim grim grim grim grim, 15 Mar 2004
This has got to be the most depressing book I've EVER read. Mind you, it is quite good.

Passionate and heart breaking, 03 Dec 2000
After writing this book Sinclair himself remarked he had aimed for the public's hearts but instead hit their stomacks. This statement is still very relevent today. This book is a condemnation of the cruel and oppressive nature of the capitalist system. At a time when the U.S. was said to be a place full of prosperity, on its way to becoming the leading capitalist nation in the world, the domestic casualties of this are witnessed. The corruption that keeps the wealth in the hands of the rich is also vividly exposed. America "a beacon of democracy", is shown to be instead a ruthless, heartless land where those who are unfortunate are left no alternative but live a life of extreme poverty serving their oppressive masters. Sinclaire allows us to see the hell experienced by the hard working immigrants and then offers an alternative in socialism. I would argue this is not a radical conclusion but the realisation that capitalism has many contradictions which leave most of the world in hellish poverty whilst those with power, using oppressive methods defend ther privilidged position.

Relentless exploitation...unfortunately polemic conclusion, 26 Oct 2000
I was staggered that such conditions existed in any industry even at the time in which the book was set. It strikes me nonetheless, that it was very much a template for the foundation of the wealth of many industrialised and economically powerful nations. Loses a star as the last section has little of the crushing narrative that raises the rest of the book to such eye watering levels.

The Most Exciting Suspensful Book of the decade, 08 Oct 2008
This is Ted Bell at his best the action never stops and the attack on an airship is quite amazing. If movie houses did'nt mess books to films up so much then I would say this would leave 007 standing.

The story involves a mad Russian who wants to take over the world with installing small explosive devices in computers that are sold all over the world for very small fees and then blowing everyone to bits if they react when Russia takes back her territories, slightly simillar to a Bond plot.

Hawke is as heroic as ever falling in love with the madmans daughter and getting her pregnant only adds to the suspense.

This is a fabulous book I would recommend for anyone.

Oh Dear, 14 Sep 2008
At long last I have found a novel that actualy made me laugh out loud. This author has obviously watched too many bad spy movies and decided to put pen to paper (kudos for that) but someone should have told him that there is more to writng a good book than a superhuman character, a believable plot for one thing. This just fell down in all departments especially the drawn out descriptions of the hardware being used and the 'action' sequences which were comical in the extreme. Still, Iam sure the makers of the movie 'Hot Shot' will snap this up as it is already a parody in itself

Gripping from beginning to end, 14 Oct 2006
Brad Thor is a name to be reckoned with in the genre of political thrillers and this book lives up to expectations. Secret Service Agent Scott Harvarth finds himself in more than enough trouble when the President of the United States is kidnapped, and from there the plot moves along thick and fast. I found myself reading long after I should have put the book down and finished it in record time. I would recommend anyone to buy this, or any other Brad Thor book as you will not be disappointed.

Suffocating Tension Brilliant Read, 25 Aug 2006
Ok whilst Matthew Reilly has the edge on excitement this guy hits you square on with the tension from chapter one. This is Thor's greatest novel and his first novel. The hero is cross between James Bond, Indianna Jones and John McLane. With an early chapter starting with the kidnapping of the presidents daughter with amazing ski-sets and shoot outs that wipe out near enough every special force commando but one this book really makes you chilly, the scenes running upto the end are so breathtaking that you feel that any minute you are going to fall off a mountain yourself. This is just amazing writing and anyone who loved the movie of the Eiger Sanction on the edge of the mountain should snap this up. Jack Ryan EAT YOUR HEART OUT.
If you liked this then get Takedown too.

Nothing original but still a well written page turner, 20 Jul 2004
Lone survivor of Secret Service team hunts down the kidnappers who have got away with the US President while he himself is framed and hunted....
Quite like a Ludlum book this, and I did keep thinking that there were many elements of the story that I have read elsewhere, but having said that..
This is a very well told action thriller and while it is not overly original in concept, it is delivered very well, has a good pace to it and it is action packed.
Brad Thor will be a name to watch out for I suspect.

A slick thriller from the new master, 06 Oct 2008
Another great thriller from Brad Thor, this time tackling a very touchy subject but he pulls it of with some very good twists and continues development of the Scott Harvath character.

Only negative is the ending which literally just ended, no clues to whats coming next or resolution of what has just happened.

If you like Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan or Vince Flynn's books then this is a most enjoyable series to start reading. All the books are very good and very enjoyable.

Brilliant Islamic thriller, 30 Aug 2008
Thriller authors generally need a real world enemy to wrap their story around. Few are like Michael Chrichton and Lee Child who invent everything. No, for most thriller authors, it is the threat of the moment that matters. Nazism and Communism have had their day although some horror writers still use them, James Herbert and Sean Hutson, but today belongs to radical Islam. You only have to read the Soft Target thrillers by Conrad Jones to realise how some thriler writers can bring contempory Islamic issues into violent action fantasy.

Brad Thor has cranked out several very good thrillers, but "The Last Patriot" is one of his best.

Former Navy SEAL, Secret Service agent and Presidential troubleshooter Scot (with one "t") Harvath is in Paris with his girlfriend Tracy Hastings, who is still recovering from injuries received in her job as a Naval demolitions specialist. Scot observes a car being stolen and another car pulling into the vacated parking space. His intuitive sense of action is aroused and he pulls Tracy away from the cafe where they were sitting. Passing a bookstore, a stranger in a hurry bumps into them and starts crossing the street. Scot senses trouble and covers the stanger with his own body as a car bomb goes off.

Borrowing liberally from Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code", Thor plunges Harvath into a labybrinth of clues, assasins, plots and counter-plots as a search for the prophet Mohammed's rumored last revelation which has the potential to change the nature of Islam.

The action never stops. A former CIA assassin, Matthew Dowd, now a dedicated convert to Islam and a stone-cold killer is murdering his way toward the secret. The President's man is looking for the secret. Soon the CIA and FBI are involved. Thomas Jefferson's 1805 war against the Barbary pirates is invoked as other aspects of Jefferson's wide ranging interests and genius. The plot moves from one bit of violence to another, with nary a thoughtful moment in between. In other words, this a perfectly satisfying thriller, an American flag waver.

Thor's characters have a bit of depth. Scot Harvath's exploits just make you want to stand up and cheer (provided you support the United States and its goals). Thor is particularly aggressive in his views of radical Islam and the poltically correct multiculturalists in the United States and elsewhere who are yielding democracy to a theocracy.

As noted, the plot borrows heavily from "The DaVinci Code" with the protagonist having to piece together bits of a puzzle while the bad guys are trying to kill the good guys. From time to time, Thor asks the reader to accept a jump in logic or an implausible happening, such as hairbreadth escapes. But Thor is a strong enough writer to carry the reader over the occasional chasm.

The ending, however, is on the weak side and a real stretch. I don't know if Thor ran out of time or ideas, but the last few pages weren't nearly as satisfying as those that went before.

Still, for thriller fans, "The Last Patriot" is a wonderfully jingoistic, red, white and blue story, filled with All-American heroes and nasty bad guys. Great fun reading!



THE JUNGLE, 18 Oct 2005
I had never heard of Upton Sinclair until I stumbled on this book in a charity shop. I found it rivettingly horrible with it's graphic descriptions of a slaughterhouse and the conditions of the meat packing industry in Chicago around 1910. The book goes off the boil later but it's still a great read and like all great books it ushered in change when Theodore Roosevelt read it. I immediately bought another book called OIL! but I didn't find this in the same class as The Jungle. Sinclair seems to carefully research the industry he is writing about and this is what makes the Jungle a great book.

Laissez-faire exposed., 15 Mar 2005
There are without a doubt better novels than "The Jungle". A great novel was not Sinclair's aim however. His aim was to point out the vile conditions that existed among working Americans in the early twentieth century. Conditions that were so awful that a visit to some workers in New York a few years before this book came out began to change young Theodore Roosevelt from a conservative to a progressive. Along the way Sinclair shocked the American public with the filth they were buying as quality meat.

Sinclair heaps horror after horror on Jurgis and his family. Almost to the point of overkill but again this was ment to be a work that shocked America and like "Uncle Tom's Cabin" before it "The Jungle" painted a worse case picture. Unregulated capitalism was exposed as the beast it was and still to an extent is with words like, "there was no place in it where a man counted for anything against a dollar." Sinclair was not out to improve the quality of food but that is what this book is most credited with. His real intent was to promote Socialism and in that to some extent he failed. However fear of the radical change Sinclair was after prompted many progressive reforms. Better a little change than a revolution.

In short, if you are looking for a great novel look elsewhere. Still, one needs to read this book for a look at where unregulated laissez-faire capitalism leads. As the calls increase to do away with government involvement in the regulation of business this book becomes more and more something that every American should read. Greed is a powerful thing and this book shows just how far some people will go in the quest for money. Powerful at times and sometimes a little off course this work by Upton Sinclair should always serve as a reminder of what was and what might be again.

grim grim grim grim grim, 15 Mar 2004
This has got to be the most depressing book I've EVER read. Mind you, it is quite good.

Passionate and heart breaking, 03 Dec 2000
After writing this book Sinclair himself remarked he had aimed for the public's hearts but instead hit their stomacks. This statement is still very relevent today. This book is a condemnation of the cruel and oppressive nature of the capitalist system. At a time when the U.S. was said to be a place full of prosperity, on its way to becoming the leading capitalist nation in the world, the domestic casualties of this are witnessed. The corruption that keeps the wealth in the hands of the rich is also vividly exposed. America "a beacon of democracy", is shown to be instead a ruthless, heartless land where those who are unfortunate are left no alternative but live a life of extreme poverty serving their oppressive masters. Sinclaire allows us to see the hell experienced by the hard working immigrants and then offers an alternative in socialism. I would argue this is not a radical conclusion but the realisation that capitalism has many contradictions which leave most of the world in hellish poverty whilst those with power, using oppressive methods defend ther privilidged position.

Relentless exploitation...unfortunately polemic conclusion, 26 Oct 2000
I was staggered that such conditions existed in any industry even at the time in which the book was set. It strikes me nonetheless, that it was very much a template for the foundation of the wealth of many industrialised and economically powerful nations. Loses a star as the last section has little of the crushing narrative that raises the rest of the book to such eye watering levels.

The Most Exciting Suspensful Book of the decade, 08 Oct 2008
This is Ted Bell at his best the action never stops and the attack on an airship is quite amazing. If movie houses did'nt mess books to films up so much then I would say this would leave 007 standing.

The story involves a mad Russian who wants to take over the world with installing small explosive devices in computers that are sold all over the world for very small fees and then blowing everyone to bits if they react when Russia takes back her territories, slightly simillar to a Bond plot.

Hawke is as heroic as ever falling in love with the madmans daughter and getting her pregnant only adds to the suspense.

This is a fabulous book I would recommend for anyone.

BEWARE FOR SPANISH READERS ONLY, 10 May 2008
Being a Dan Brown convert, I was really looking forward to reading this one. Imagine my horror when I received my purchase and it was in Spanish.

Oh Dear, 14 Sep 2008
At long last I have found a novel that actualy made me laugh out loud. This author has obviously watched too many bad spy movies and decided to put pen to paper (kudos for that) but someone should have told him that there is more to writng a good book than a superhuman character, a believable plot for one thing. This just fell down in all departments especially the drawn out descriptions of the hardware being used and the 'action' sequences which were comical in the extreme. Still, Iam sure the makers of the movie 'Hot Shot' will snap this up as it is already a parody in itself

Gripping from beginning to end, 14 Oct 2006
Brad Thor is a name to be reckoned with in the genre of political thrillers and this book lives up to expectations. Secret Service Agent Scott Harvarth finds himself in more than enough trouble when the President of the United States is kidnapped, and from there the plot moves along thick and fast. I found myself reading long after I should have put the book down and finished it in record time. I would recommend anyone to buy this, or any other Brad Thor book as you will not be disappointed.

Suffocating Tension Brilliant Read, 25 Aug 2006
Ok whilst Matthew Reilly has the edge on excitement this guy hits you square on with the tension from chapter one. This is Thor's greatest novel and his first novel. The hero is cross between James Bond, Indianna Jones and John McLane. With an early chapter starting with the kidnapping of the presidents daughter with amazing ski-sets and shoot outs that wipe out near enough every special force commando but one this book really makes you chilly, the scenes running upto the end are so breathtaking that you feel that any minute you are going to fall off a mountain yourself. This is just amazing writing and anyone who loved the movie of the Eiger Sanction on the edge of the mountain should snap this up. Jack Ryan EAT YOUR HEART OUT.
If you liked this then get Takedown too.

Nothing original but still a well written page turner, 20 Jul 2004
Lone survivor of Secret Service team hunts down the kidnappers who have got away with the US President while he himself is framed and hunted....
Quite like a Ludlum book this, and I did keep thinking that there were many elements of the story that I have read elsewhere, but having said that..
This is a very well told action thriller and while it is not overly original in concept, it is delivered very well, has a good pace to it and it is action packed.
Brad Thor will be a name to watch out for I suspect.

A slick thriller from the new master, 06 Oct 2008
Another great thriller from Brad Thor, this time tackling a very touchy subject but he pulls it of with some very good twists and continues development of the Scott Harvath character.

Only negative is the ending which literally just ended, no clues to whats coming next or resolution of what has just happened.

If you like Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan or Vince Flynn's books then this is a most enjoyable series to start reading. All the books are very good and very enjoyable.

Brilliant Islamic thriller, 30 Aug 2008
Thriller authors generally need a real world enemy to wrap their story around. Few are like Michael Chrichton and Lee Child who invent everything. No, for most thriller authors, it is the threat of the moment that matters. Nazism and Communism have had their day although some horror writers still use them, James Herbert and Sean Hutson, but today belongs to radical Islam. You only have to read the Soft Target thrillers by Conrad Jones to realise how some thriler writers can bring contempory Islamic issues into violent action fantasy.

Brad Thor has cranked out several very good thrillers, but "The Last Patriot" is one of his best.

Former Navy SEAL, Secret Service agent and Presidential troubleshooter Scot (with one "t") Harvath is in Paris with his girlfriend Tracy Hastings, who is still recovering from injuries received in her job as a Naval demolitions specialist. Scot observes a car being stolen and another car pulling into the vacated parking space. His intuitive sense of action is aroused and he pulls Tracy away from the cafe where they were sitting. Passing a bookstore, a stranger in a hurry bumps into them and starts crossing the street. Scot senses trouble and covers the stanger with his own body as a car bomb goes off.

Borrowing liberally from Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code", Thor plunges Harvath into a labybrinth of clues, assasins, plots and counter-plots as a search for the prophet Mohammed's rumored last revelation which has the potential to change the nature of Islam.

The action never stops. A former CIA assassin, Matthew Dowd, now a dedicated convert to Islam and a stone-cold killer is murdering his way toward the secret. The President's man is looking for the secret. Soon the CIA and FBI are involved. Thomas Jefferson's 1805 war against the Barbary pirates is invoked as other aspects of Jefferson's wide ranging interests and genius. The plot moves from one bit of violence to another, with nary a thoughtful moment in between. In other words, this a perfectly satisfying thriller, an American flag waver.

Thor's characters have a bit of depth. Scot Harvath's exploits just make you want to stand up and cheer (provided you support the United States and its goals). Thor is particularly aggressive in his views of radical Islam and the poltically correct multiculturalists in the United States and elsewhere who are yielding democracy to a theocracy.

As noted, the plot borrows heavily from "The DaVinci Code" with the protagonist having to piece together bits of a puzzle while the bad guys are trying to kill the good guys. From time to time, Thor asks the reader to accept a jump in logic or an implausible happening, such as hairbreadth escapes. But Thor is a strong enough writer to carry the reader over the occasional chasm.

The ending, however, is on the weak side and a real stretch. I don't know if Thor ran out of time or ideas, but the last few pages weren't nearly as satisfying as those that went before.

Still, for thriller fans, "The Last Patriot" is a wonderfully jingoistic, red, white and blue story, filled with All-American heroes and nasty bad guys. Great fun reading!



THE JUNGLE, 18 Oct 2005
I had never heard of Upton Sinclair until I stumbled on this book in a charity shop. I found it rivettingly horrible with it's graphic descriptions of a slaughterhouse and the conditions of the meat packing industry in Chicago around 1910. The book goes off the boil later but it's still a great read and like all great books it ushered in change when Theodore Roosevelt read it. I immediately bought another book called OIL! but I didn't find this in the same class as The Jungle. Sinclair seems to carefully research the industry he is writing about and this is what makes the Jungle a great book.

Laissez-faire exposed., 15 Mar 2005
There are without a doubt better novels than "The Jungle". A great novel was not Sinclair's aim however. His aim was to point out the vile conditions that existed among working Americans in the early twentieth century. Conditions that were so awful that a visit to some workers in New York a few years before this book came out began to change young Theodore Roosevelt from a conservative to a progressive. Along the way Sinclair shocked the American public with the filth they were buying as quality meat.

Sinclair heaps horror after horror on Jurgis and his family. Almost to the point of overkill but again this was ment to be a work that shocked America and like "Uncle Tom's Cabin" before it "The Jungle" painted a worse case picture. Unregulated capitalism was exposed as the beast it was and still to an extent is with words like, "there was no place in it where a man counted for anything against a dollar." Sinclair was not out to improve the quality of food but that is what this book is most credited with. His real intent was to promote Socialism and in that to some extent he failed. However fear of the radical change Sinclair was after prompted many progressive reforms. Better a little change than a revolution.

In short, if you are looking for a great novel look elsewhere. Still, one needs to read this book for a look at where unregulated laissez-faire capitalism leads. As the calls increase to do away with government involvement in the regulation of business this book becomes more and more something that every American should read. Greed is a powerful thing and this book shows just how far some people will go in the quest for money. Powerful at times and sometimes a little off course this work by Upton Sinclair should always serve as a reminder of what was and what might be again.

grim grim grim grim grim, 15 Mar 2004
This has got to be the most depressing book I've EVER read. Mind you, it is quite good.

Passionate and heart breaking, 03 Dec 2000
After writing this book Sinclair himself remarked he had aimed for the public's hearts but instead hit their stomacks. This statement is still very relevent today. This book is a condemnation of the cruel and oppressive nature of the capitalist system. At a time when the U.S. was said to be a place full of prosperity, on its way to becoming the leading capitalist nation in the world, the domestic casualties of this are witnessed. The corruption that keeps the wealth in the hands of the rich is also vividly exposed. America "a beacon of democracy", is shown to be instead a ruthless, heartless land where those who are unfortunate are left no alternative but live a life of extreme poverty serving their oppressive masters. Sinclaire allows us to see the hell experienced by the hard working immigrants and then offers an alternative in socialism. I would argue this is not a radical conclusion but the realisation that capitalism has many contradictions which leave most of the world in hellish poverty whilst those with power, using oppressive methods defend ther privilidged position.

Relentless exploitation...unfortunately polemic conclusion, 26 Oct 2000
I was staggered that such conditions existed in any industry even at the time in which the book was set. It strikes me nonetheless, that it was very much a template for the foundation of the wealth of many industrialised and economically powerful nations. Loses a star as the last section has little of the crushing narrative that raises the rest of the book to such eye watering levels.

The Most Exciting Suspensful Book of the decade, 08 Oct 2008
This is Ted Bell at his best the action never stops and the attack on an airship is quite amazing. If movie houses did'nt mess books to films up so much then I would say this would leave 007 standing.

The story involves a mad Russian who wants to take over the world with installing small explosive devices in computers that are sold all over the world for very small fees and then blowing everyone to bits if they react when Russia takes back her territories, slightly simillar to a Bond plot.

Hawke is as heroic as ever falling in love with the madmans daughter and getting her pregnant only adds to the suspense.

This is a fabulous book I would recommend for anyone.

BEWARE FOR SPANISH READERS ONLY, 10 May 2008
Being a Dan Brown convert, I was really looking forward to reading this one. Imagine my horror when I received my purchase and it was in Spanish.

Something rotten in the kingdom of Victoria, 27 Aug 2008
Let me start right of by saying that this, the fourth novel in Trollope's Palliser-series, is to my mind the best in the series so far (I still have the last 2 to read of course). It is on the one hand everything one comes to expect from a good Trollope-novel, and on the other hand is clearly different.

At the start of the story Phineas is living a respectable but uneventful life in Dublin, working as a lawyer. His wife Mary has died giving birth to their still-born child, and Phineas must acknowledge to himself that he misses the thrill of his earlier career as an MP in London. So when he is asked if he will stand again in the elections he jumps to the opportunity, although fully aware that his money will soon run out unless he can obtain a job in some or other government office.

Phineas is elected and finds himself back in Parliament, full of high hopes and grand ideas (misguided, as he will duly learn) to participate in the democratic government of the country. But before long, things start to fall apart: in his election campaign Phineas pleaded for church disestablishment, only to find that his party opposes the very same measure, which leaves but two alternatives for Phineas,neither of them very attractive: either to vote with his party (in other words go back on the promises he made in his election campaign), or to vote against his party (which would probably keep his conscience clear but ruin his chances of obtaining a government post).

In his private life too, not all is as it should be. Whereas his easy charm used to make him the favorite of all the noble ladies in London society, his relations with them now seem to have become difficult and awkward. Lady Laura Kennedy (whom he once proposed to) is living separated from her husband and Phineas, though he is aware that she loves him passionately, also feels he cannot answer her love. Simultaneously, Phineas himself comes to realize that he loves Madame Max Goesler but is afraid to speak out because a few years earlier he rejected her offer of marriage.

And then, to top things of, Phineas' political rival Mr. Bonteen is murdered and the (circumstancial) evidence all points to Phineas who finds himself on trial for his life...

As I said in the beginning, 'Phineas Redux' has all the characteristics of a typical Trollope-novel: the easy, colloquial style, the amazing 'credibility' of the characters' emotions, feelings and actions, the immaculate way in which the plot is constructed, always wanting you to learn what 'happened next'. However, it is also very different in tone from earlier novels (most of all 'Phineas Finn', the second novel in the series). Whereas in 'Phineas Finn' our hero is overjoyed when he fulfills his dream of becoming an MP and basks in the political life, he now very soon becomes disillusioned with it all when he comes to realize that politics (also) equals petty scheming, power play and a rat race for well-paid jobs.

The ultimate blow to Phineas' belief in the entire political and judicial system comes when, innocent as he knows himself to be, he must face a murder-charge and feels that people he once considered friends now all of a sudden regard him with suspicion. As Phineas' outlook on the world becomes much gloomier, so does the novel's tone. In a way, this is the reverse situation of Josiah Crawley in 'The Last Chronicle of Barset': he doubts his own innocence (and, at times, even sanity) while his friends never do, whereas Phineas knows himself to be innocent but sees the suspicion building all around him.

In short, this is a tremendously good book with plenty of food for thought about honesty, truth, frustrated love, thwarted ambitions... It's the sort of book I would (and will) recommend ad nauseam to friends and acquaintances, and will definitely read again myself in the future. But first it's on to part five in the Palliser-novels, 'The Prime Minister'!

Darker than Phineas Phinn, 29 Jul 2006
This is the sequel to Phineas Phinn and part of the Pallisers series, but can still be read alone. Phineas - attractive, passionate and ambitious - faces his worst trial when his enemy is murdered and he himself is accused of the crime which he could so nearly have committed.

Excellent on Victorian society, politics and law, with fabulous female characters, this is one of Trollope's best, most emotional and under-rated novels.

Tremendous, 01 Feb 2001
Having followed Phineas Finn through his earlier ups and downs it is a real pleasure to see him again. I love his quirkiness. He is such an unlikely hero, in that he moves in the world of politics and power but always tries to remain true to himself and his struggles are fascinating. He is so human because you can see how tempted he is and how many demons he has to fight. This novel has a fitting end to his struggles with love blossoming with the equally unconvential Madame Max. The characters in this series get better and better and my favourite, Lady Glencora, gets a great role in this book.

Oh Dear, 14 Sep 2008
At long last I have found a novel that actualy made me laugh out loud. This author has obviously watched too many bad spy movies and decided to put pen to paper (kudos for that) but someone should have told him that there is more to writng a good book than a superhuman character, a believable plot for one thing. This just fell down in all departments especially the drawn out descriptions of the hardware being used and the 'action' sequences which were comical in the extreme. Still, Iam sure the makers of the movie 'Hot Shot' will snap this up as it is already a parody in itself

Gripping from beginning to end, 14 Oct 2006
Brad Thor is a name to be reckoned with in the genre of political thrillers and this book lives up to expectations. Secret Service Agent Scott Harvarth finds himself in more than enough trouble when the President of the United States is kidnapped, and from there the plot moves along thick and fast. I found myself reading long after I should have put the book down and finished it in record time. I would recommend anyone to buy this, or any other Brad Thor book as you will not be disappointed.

Suffocating Tension Brilliant Read, 25 Aug 2006
Ok whilst Matthew Reilly has the edge on excitement this guy hits you square on with the tension from chapter one. This is Thor's greatest novel and his first novel. The hero is cross between James Bond, Indianna Jones and John McLane. With an early chapter starting with the kidnapping of the presidents daughter with amazing ski-sets and shoot outs that wipe out near enough every special force commando but one this book really makes you chilly, the scenes running upto the end are so breathtaking that you feel that any minute you are going to fall off a mountain yourself. This is just amazing writing and anyone who loved the movie of the Eiger Sanction on the edge of the mountain should snap this up. Jack Ryan EAT YOUR HEART OUT.
If you liked this then get Takedown too.

Nothing original but still a well written page turner, 20 Jul 2004
Lone survivor of Secret Service team hunts down the kidnappers who have got away with the US President while he himself is framed and hunted....
Quite like a Ludlum book this, and I did keep thinking that there were many elements of the story that I have read elsewhere, but having said that..
This is a very well told action thriller and while it is not overly original in concept, it is delivered very well, has a good pace to it and it is action packed.
Brad Thor will be a name to watch out for I suspect.

A slick thriller from the new master, 06 Oct 2008
Another great thriller from Brad Thor, this time tackling a very touchy subject but he pulls it of with some very good twists and continues development of the Scott Harvath character.

Only negative is the ending which literally just ended, no clues to whats coming next or resolution of what has just happened.

If you like Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan or Vince Flynn's books then this is a most enjoyable series to start reading. All the books are very good and very enjoyable.

Brilliant Islamic thriller, 30 Aug 2008
Thriller authors generally need a real world enemy to wrap their story around. Few are like Michael Chrichton and Lee Child who invent everything. No, for most thriller authors, it is the threat of the moment that matters. Nazism and Communism have had their day although some horror writers still use them, James Herbert and Sean Hutson, but today belongs to radical Islam. You only have to read the Soft Target thrillers by Conrad Jones to realise how some thriler writers can bring contempory Islamic issues into violent action fantasy.

Brad Thor has cranked out several very good thrillers, but "The Last Patriot" is one of his best.

Former Navy SEAL, Secret Service agent and Presidential troubleshooter Scot (with one "t") Harvath is in Paris with his girlfriend Tracy Hastings, who is still recovering from injuries received in her job as a Naval demolitions specialist. Scot observes a car being stolen and another car pulling into the vacated parking space. His intuitive sense of action is aroused and he pulls Tracy away from the cafe where they were sitting. Passing a bookstore, a stranger in a hurry bumps into them and starts crossing the street. Scot senses trouble and covers the stanger with his own body as a car bomb goes off.

Borrowing liberally from Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code", Thor plunges Harvath into a labybrinth of clues, assasins, plots and counter-plots as a search for the prophet Mohammed's rumored last revelation which has the potential to change the nature of Islam.

The action never stops. A former CIA assassin, Matthew Dowd, now a dedicated convert to Islam and a stone-cold killer is murdering his way toward the secret. The President's man is looking for the secret. Soon the CIA and FBI are involved. Thomas Jefferson's 1805 war against the Barbary pirates is invoked as other aspects of Jefferson's wide ranging interests and genius. The plot moves from one bit of violence to another, with nary a thoughtful moment in between. In other words, this a perfectly satisfying thriller, an American flag waver.

Thor's characters have a bit of depth. Scot Harvath's exploits just make you want to stand up and cheer (provided you support the United States and its goals). Thor is particularly aggressive in his views of radical Islam and the poltically correct multiculturalists in the United States and elsewhere who are yielding democracy to a theocracy.

As noted, the plot borrows heavily from "The DaVinci Code" with the protagonist having to piece together bits of a puzzle while the bad guys are trying to kill the good guys. From time to time, Thor asks the reader to accept a jump in logic or an implausible happening, such as hairbreadth escapes. But Thor is a strong enough writer to carry the reader over the occasional chasm.

The ending, however, is on the weak side and a real stretch. I don't know if Thor ran out of time or ideas, but the last few pages weren't nearly as satisfying as those that went before.

Still, for thriller fans, "The Last Patriot" is a wonderfully jingoistic, red, white and blue story, filled with All-American heroes and nasty bad guys. Great fun reading!



THE JUNGLE, 18 Oct 2005
I had never heard of Upton Sinclair until I stumbled on this book in a charity shop. I found it rivettingly horrible with it's graphic descriptions of a slaughterhouse and the conditions of the meat packing industry in Chicago around 1910. The book goes off the boil later but it's still a great read and like all great books it ushered in change when Theodore Roosevelt read it. I immediately bought another book called OIL! but I didn't find this in the same class as The Jungle. Sinclair seems to carefully research the industry he is writing about and this is what makes the Jungle a great book.

Laissez-faire exposed., 15 Mar 2005
There are without a doubt better novels than "The Jungle". A great novel was not Sinclair's aim however. His aim was to point out the vile conditions that existed among working Americans in the early twentieth century. Conditions that were so awful that a visit to some workers in New York a few years before this book came out began to change young Theodore Roosevelt from a conservative to a progressive. Along the way Sinclair shocked the American public with the filth they were buying as quality meat.

Sinclair heaps horror after horror on Jurgis and his family. Almost to the point of overkill but again this was ment to be a work that shocked America and like "Uncle Tom's Cabin" before it "The Jungle" painted a worse case picture. Unregulated capitalism was exposed as the beast it was and still to an extent is with words like, "there was no place in it where a man counted for anything against a dollar." Sinclair was not out to improve the quality of food but that is what this book is most credited with. His real intent was to promote Socialism and in that to some extent he failed. However fear of the radical change Sinclair was after prompted many progressive reforms. Better a little change than a revolution.

In short, if you are looking for a great novel look elsewhere. Still, one needs to read this book for a look at where unregulated laissez-faire capitalism leads. As the calls increase to do away with government involvement in the regulation of business this book becomes more and more something that every American should read. Greed is a powerful thing and this book shows just how far some people will go in the quest for money. Powerful at times and sometimes a little off course this work by Upton Sinclair should always serve as a reminder of what was and what might be again.

grim grim grim grim grim, 15 Mar 2004
This has got to be the most depressing book I've EVER read. Mind you, it is quite good.

Passionate and heart breaking, 03 Dec 2000
After writing this book Sinclair himself remarked he had aimed for the public's hearts but instead hit their stomacks. This statement is still very relevent today. This book is a condemnation of the cruel and oppressive nature of the capitalist system. At a time when the U.S. was said to be a place full of prosperity, on its way to becoming the leading capitalist nation in the world, the domestic casualties of this are witnessed. The corruption that keeps the wealth in the hands of the rich is also vividly exposed. America "a beacon of democracy", is shown to be instead a ruthless, heartless land where those who are unfortunate are left no alternative but live a life of extreme poverty serving their oppressive masters. Sinclaire allows us to see the hell experienced by the hard working immigrants and then offers an alternative in socialism. I would argue this is not a radical conclusion but the realisation that capitalism has many contradictions which leave most of the world in hellish poverty whilst those with power, using oppressive methods defend ther privilidged position.

Relentless exploitation...unfortunately polemic conclusion, 26 Oct 2000
I was staggered that such conditions existed in any industry even at the time in which the book was set. It strikes me nonetheless, that it was very much a template for the foundation of the wealth of many industrialised and economically powerful nations. Loses a star as the last section has little of the crushing narrative that raises the rest of the book to such eye watering levels.

The Most Exciting Suspensful Book of the decade, 08 Oct 2008
This is Ted Bell at his best the action never stops and the attack on an airship is quite amazing. If movie houses did'nt mess books to films up so much then I would say this would leave 007 standing.

The story involves a mad Russian who wants to take over the world with installing small explosive devices in computers that are sold all over the world for very small fees and then blowing everyone to bits if they react when Russia takes back her territories, slightly simillar to a Bond plot.

Hawke is as heroic as ever falling in love with the madmans daughter and getting her pregnant only adds to the suspense.

This is a fabulous book I would recommend for anyone.

BEWARE FOR SPANISH READERS ONLY, 10 May 2008
Being a Dan Brown convert, I was really looking forward to reading this one. Imagine my horror when I received my purchase and it was in Spanish.

Something rotten in the kingdom of Victoria, 27 Aug 2008
Let me start right of by saying that this, the fourth novel in Trollope's Palliser-series, is to my mind the best in the series so far (I still have the last 2 to read of course). It is on the one hand everything one comes to expect from a good Trollope-novel, and on the other hand is clearly different.

At the start of the story Phineas is living a respectable but uneventful life in Dublin, working as a lawyer. His wife Mary has died giving birth to their still-born child, and Phineas must acknowledge to himself that he misses the thrill of his earlier career as an MP in London. So when he is asked if he will stand again in the elections he jumps to the opportunity, although fully aware that his money will soon run out unless he can obtain a job in some or other government office.

Phineas is elected and finds himself back in Parliament, full of high hopes and grand ideas (misguided, as he will duly learn) to participate in the democratic government of the country. But before long, things start to fall apart: in his election campaign Phineas pleaded for church disestablishment, only to find that his party opposes the very same measure, which leaves but two alternatives for Phineas,neither of them very attractive: either to vote with his party (in other words go back on the promises he made in his election campaign), or to vote against his party (which would probably keep his conscience clear but ruin his chances of obtaining a government post).

In his private life too, not all is as it should be. Whereas his easy charm used to make him the favorite of all the noble ladies in London society, his relations with them now seem to have become difficult and awkward. Lady Laura Kennedy (whom he once proposed to) is living separated from her husband and Phineas, though he is aware that she loves him passionately, also feels he cannot answer her love. Simultaneously, Phineas himself comes to realize that he loves Madame Max Goesler but is afraid to speak out because a few years earlier he rejected her offer of marriage.

And then, to top things of, Phineas' political rival Mr. Bonteen is murdered and the (circumstancial) evidence all points to Phineas who finds himself on trial for his life...

As I said in the beginning, 'Phineas Redux' has all the characteristics of a typical Trollope-novel: the easy, colloquial style, the amazing 'credibility' of the characters' emotions, feelings and actions, the immaculate way in which the plot is constructed, always wanting you to learn what 'happened next'. However, it is also very different in tone from earlier novels (most of all 'Phineas Finn', the second novel in the series). Whereas in 'Phineas Finn' our hero is overjoyed when he fulfills his dream of becoming an MP and basks in the political life, he now very soon becomes disillusioned with it all when he comes to realize that politics (also) equals petty scheming, power play and a rat race for well-paid jobs.

The ultimate blow to Phineas' belief in the entire political and judicial system comes when, innocent as he knows himself to be, he must face a murder-charge and feels that people he once considered friends now all of a sudden regard him with suspicion. As Phineas' outlook on the world becomes much gloomier, so does the novel's tone. In a way, this is the reverse situation of Josiah Crawley in 'The Last Chronicle of Barset': he doubts his own innocence (and, at times, even sanity) while his friends never do, whereas Phineas knows himself to be innocent but sees the suspicion building all around him.

In short, this is a tremendously good book with plenty of food for thought about honesty, truth, frustrated love, thwarted ambitions... It's the sort of book I would (and will) recommend ad nauseam to friends and acquaintances, and will definitely read again myself in the future. But first it's on to part five in the Palliser-novels, 'The Prime Minister'!

Darker than Phineas Phinn, 29 Jul 2006
This is the sequel to Phineas Phinn and part of the Pallisers series, but can still be read alone. Phineas - attractive, passionate and ambitious - faces his worst trial when his enemy is murdered and he himself is accused of the crime which he could so nearly have committed.

Excellent on Victorian society, politics and law, with fabulous female characters, this is one of Trollope's best, most emotional and under-rated novels.

Tremendous, 01 Feb 2001
Having followed Phineas Finn through his earlier ups and downs it is a real pleasure to see him again. I love his quirkiness. He is such an unlikely hero, in that he moves in the world of politics and power but always tries to remain true to himself and his struggles are fascinating. He is so human because you can see how tempted he is and how many demons he has to fight. This novel has a fitting end to his struggles with love blossoming with the equally unconvential Madame Max. The characters in this series get better and better and my favourite, Lady Glencora, gets a great role in this book.

Margolin's best to date!, 16 Jun 2008
Pageturner (cliché), blockbuster (cliché), fastpaced (cliché)! Right. You won't get many hours sleep once you have started this one. In my opinion, the best book Pillip Margolin has ever written.

The idea of this story almost made me catch my breath, so far-fetched did it seem, when it finally hit me what was going on. I thought I was reading a really good, although nothing out of the "ordinary really good", thriller, until I realized to which extremes the author has gone with this book.

Down through the history, Kings and Presidents have been murdered. Also, as during the French Revolution in 1789, Kings and Queens have been charged with horrible crimes and executed. The latter, however, may seem a bit different and/or difficult to compare with a modern times President of the United States being under suspicion for murder.

And so cleverly has the web in this story been woven, that it takes the reader (at least it did me) until the very last pages in order to find out "who did it, and why"! In fact, I did NOT find out, but had to wait impatiently until it was all finally explained to me in great detail.

I will not reveal more of the story and spoil new readers' fun. It's simply the most terrific read. A sophisticated, fascinating, horrible fairytale for grownups. Or is it? Could something like this really happen?

The idea sounds daunting, and neither is the solution what you may be tempted to guess according to the synopsis.

Nevertheless, Mr. Margolin has written an amazing book. Buy it!!

Oh Dear, 14 Sep 2008
At long last I have found a novel that actualy made me laugh out loud. This author has obviously watched too many bad spy movies and decided to put pen to paper (kudos for that) but someone should have told him that there is more to writng a good book than a superhuman character, a believable plot for one thing. This just fell down in all departments especially the drawn out descriptions of the hardware being used and the 'action' sequences which were comical in the extreme. Still, Iam sure the makers of the movie 'Hot Shot' will snap this up as it is already a parody in itself

Gripping from beginning to end, 14 Oct 2006
Brad Thor is a name to be reckoned with in the genre of political thrillers and this book lives up to expectations. Secret Service Agent Scott Harvarth finds himself in more than enough trouble when the President of the United States is kidnapped, and from there the plot moves along thick and fast. I found myself reading long after I should have put the book down and finished it in record time. I would recommend anyone to buy this, or any other Brad Thor book as you will not be disappointed.

Suffocating Tension Brilliant Read, 25 Aug 2006
Ok whilst Matthew Reilly has the edge on excitement this guy hits you square on with the tension from chapter one. This is Thor's greatest novel and his first novel. The hero is cross between James Bond, Indianna Jones and John McLane. With an early chapter starting with the kidnapping of the presidents daughter with amazing ski-sets and shoot outs that wipe out near enough every special force commando but one this book really makes you chilly, the scenes running upto the end are so breathtaking that you feel that any minute you are going to fall off a mountain yourself. This is just amazing writing and anyone who loved the movie of the Eiger Sanction on the edge of the mountain should snap this up. Jack Ryan EAT YOUR HEART OUT.
If you liked this then get Takedown too.

Nothing original but still a well written page turner, 20 Jul 2004
Lone survivor of Secret Service team hunts down the kidnappers who have got away with the US President while he himself is framed and hunted....
Quite like a Ludlum book this, and I did keep thinking that there were many elements of the story that I have read elsewhere, but having said that..
This is a very well told action thriller and while it is not overly original in concept, it is delivered very well, has a good pace to it and it is action packed.
Brad Thor will be a name to watch out for I suspect.

A slick thriller from the new master, 06 Oct 2008
Another great thriller from Brad Thor, this time tackling a very touchy subject but he pulls it of with some very good twists and continues development of the Scott Harvath character.

Only negative is the ending which literally just ended, no clues to whats coming next or resolution of what has just happened.

If you like Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan or Vince Flynn's books then this is a most enjoyable series to start reading. All the books are very good and very enjoyable.

Brilliant Islamic thriller, 30 Aug 2008
Thriller authors generally need a real world enemy to wrap their story around. Few are like Michael Chrichton and Lee Child who invent everything. No, for most thriller authors, it is the threat of the moment that matters. Nazism and Communism have had their day although some horror writers still use them, James Herbert and Sean Hutson, but today belongs to radical Islam. You only have to read the Soft Target thrillers by Conrad Jones to realise how some thriler writers can bring contempory Islamic issues into violent action fantasy.

Brad Thor has cranked out several very good thrillers, but "The Last Patriot" is one of his best.

Former Navy SEAL, Secret Service agent and Presidential troubleshooter Scot (with one "t") Harvath is in Paris with his girlfriend Tracy Hastings, who is still recovering from injuries received in her job as a Naval demolitions specialist. Scot observes a car being stolen and another car pulling into the vacated parking space. His intuitive sense of action is aroused and he pulls Tracy away from the cafe where they were sitting. Passing a bookstore, a stranger in a hurry bumps into them and starts crossing the street. Scot senses trouble and covers the stanger with his own body as a car bomb goes off.

Borrowing liberally from Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code", Thor plunges Harvath into a labybrinth of clues, assasins, plots and counter-plots as a search for the prophet Mohammed's rumored last revelation which has the potential to change the nature of Islam.

The action never stops. A former CIA assassin, Matthew Dowd, now a dedicated convert to Islam and a stone-cold killer is murdering his way toward the secret. The President's man is looking for the secret. Soon the CIA and FBI are involved. Thomas Jefferson's 1805 war against the Barbary pirates is invoked as other aspects of Jefferson's wide ranging interests and genius. The plot moves from one bit of violence to another, with nary a thoughtful moment in between. In other words, this a perfectly satisfying thriller, an American flag waver.

Thor's characters have a bit of depth. Scot Harvath's exploits just make you want to stand up and cheer (provided you support the United States and its goals). Thor is particularly aggressive in his views of radical Islam and the poltically correct multiculturalists in the United States and elsewhere who are yielding democracy to a theocracy.

As noted, the plot borrows heavily from "The DaVinci Code" with the protagonist having to piece together bits of a puzzle while the bad guys are trying to kill the good guys. From time to time, Thor asks the reader to accept a jump in logic or an implausible happening, such as hairbreadth escapes. But Thor is a strong enough writer to carry the reader over the occasional chasm.

The ending, however, is on the weak side and a real stretch. I don't know if Thor ran out of time or ideas, but the last few pages weren't nearly as satisfying as those that went before.

Still, for thriller fans, "The Last Patriot" is a wonderfully jingoistic, red, white and blue story, filled with All-American heroes and nasty bad guys. Great fun reading!



THE JUNGLE, 18 Oct 2005
I had never heard of Upton Sinclair until I stumbled on this book in a charity shop. I found it rivettingly horrible with it's graphic descriptions of a slaughterhouse and the conditions of the meat packing industry in Chicago around 1910. The book goes off the boil later but it's still a great read and like all great books it ushered in change when Theodore Roosevelt read it. I immediately bought another book called OIL! but I didn't find this in the same class as The Jungle. Sinclair seems to carefully research the industry he is writing about and this is what makes the Jungle a great book.

Laissez-faire exposed., 15 Mar 2005
There are without a doubt better novels than "The Jungle". A great novel was not Sinclair's aim however. His aim was to point out the vile conditions that existed among working Americans in the early twentieth century. Conditions that were so awful that a visit to some workers in New York a few years before this book came out began to change young Theodore Roosevelt from a conservative to a progressive. Along the way Sinclair shocked the American public with the filth they were buying as quality meat.

Sinclair heaps horror after horror on Jurgis and his family. Almost to the point of overkill but again this was ment to be a work that shocked America and like "Uncle Tom's Cabin" before it "The Jungle" painted a worse case picture. Unregulated capitalism was exposed as the beast it was and still to an extent is with words like, "there was no place in it where a man counted for anything against a dollar." Sinclair was not out to improve the quality of food but that is what this book is most credited with. His real intent was to promote Socialism and in that to some extent he failed. However fear of the radical change Sinclair was after prompted many progressive reforms. Better a little change than a revolution.

In short, if you are looking for a great novel look elsewhere. Still, one needs to read this book for a look at where unregulated laissez-faire capitalism leads. As the calls increase to do away with government involvement in the regulation of business this book becomes more and more something that every American should read. Greed is a powerful thing and this book shows just how far some people will go in the quest for money. Powerful at times and sometimes a little off course this work by Upton Sinclair should always serve as a reminder of what was and what might be again.

grim grim grim grim grim, 15 Mar 2004
This has got to be the most depressing book I've EVER read. Mind you, it is quite good.

Passionate and heart breaking, 03 Dec 2000
After writing this book Sinclair himself remarked he had aimed for the public's hearts but instead hit their stomacks. This statement is still very relevent today. This book is a condemnation of the cruel and oppressive nature of the capitalist system. At a time when the U.S. was said to be a place full of prosperity, on its way to becoming the leading capitalist nation in the world, the domestic casualties of this are witnessed. The corruption that keeps the wealth in the hands of the rich is also vividly exposed. America "a beacon of democracy", is shown to be instead a ruthless, heartless land where those who are unfortunate are left no alternative but live a life of extreme poverty serving their oppressive masters. Sinclaire allows us to see the hell experienced by the hard working immigrants and then offers an alternative in socialism. I would argue this is not a radical conclusion but the realisation that capitalism has many contradictions which leave most of the world in hellish poverty whilst those with power, using oppressive methods defend ther privilidged position.

Relentless exploitation...unfortunately polemic conclusion, 26 Oct 2000
I was staggered that such conditions existed in any industry even at the time in which the book was set. It strikes me nonetheless, that it was very much a template for the foundation of the wealth of many industrialised and economically powerful nations. Loses a star as the last section has little of the crushing narrative that raises the rest of the book to such eye watering levels.

The Most Exciting Suspensful Book of the decade, 08 Oct 2008
This is Ted Bell at his best the action never stops and the attack on an airship is quite amazing. If movie houses did'nt mess books to films up so much then I would say this would leave 007 standing.

The story involves a mad Russian who wants to take over the world with installing small explosive devices in computers that are sold all over the world for very small fees and then blowing everyone to bits if they react when Russia takes back her territories, slightly simillar to a Bond plot.

Hawke is as heroic as ever falling in love with the madmans daughter and getting her pregnant only adds to the suspense.

This is a fabulous book I would recommend for anyone.

BEWARE FOR SPANISH READERS ONLY, 10 May 2008
Being a Dan Brown convert, I was really looking forward to reading this one. Imagine my horror when I received my purchase and it was in Spanish.

Something rotten in the kingdom of Victoria, 27 Aug 2008
Let me start right of by saying that this, the fourth novel in Trollope's Palliser-series, is to my mind the best in the series so far (I still have the last 2 to read of course). It is on the one hand everything one comes to expect from a good Trollope-novel, and on the other hand is clearly different.

At the start of the story Phineas is living a respectable but uneventful life in Dublin, working as a lawyer. His wife Mary has died giving birth to their still-born child, and Phineas must acknowledge to himself that he misses the thrill of his earlier career as an MP in London. So when he is asked if he will stand again in the elections he jumps to the opportunity, although fully aware that his money will soon run out unless he can obtain a job in some or other government office.

Phineas is elected and finds himself back in Parliament, full of high hopes and grand ideas (misguided, as he will duly learn) to participate in the democratic government of the country. But before long, things start to fall apart: in his election campaign Phineas pleaded for church disestablishment, only to find that his party opposes the very same measure, which leaves but two alternatives for Phineas,neither of them very attractive: either to vote with his party (in other words go back on the promises he made in his election campaign), or to vote against his party (which would probably keep his conscience clear but ruin his chances of obtaining a government post).

In his private life too, not all is as it should be. Whereas his easy charm used to make him the favorite of all the noble ladies in London society, his relations with them now seem to have become difficult and awkward. Lady Laura Kennedy (whom he once proposed to) is living separated from her husband and Phineas, though he is aware that she loves him passionately, also feels he cannot answer her love. Simultaneously, Phineas himself comes to realize that he loves Madame Max Goesler but is afraid to speak out because a few years earlier he rejected her offer of marriage.

And then, to top things of, Phineas' political rival Mr. Bonteen is murdered and the (circumstancial) evidence all points to Phineas who finds himself on trial for his life...

As I said in the beginning, 'Phineas Redux' has all the characteristics of a typical Trollope-novel: the easy, colloquial style, the amazing 'credibility' of the characters' emotions, feelings and actions, the immaculate way in which the plot is constructed, always wanting you to learn what 'happened next'. However, it is also very different in tone from earlier novels (most of all 'Phineas Finn', the second novel in the series). Whereas in 'Phineas Finn' our hero is overjoyed when he fulfills his dream of becoming an MP and basks in the political life, he now very soon becomes disillusioned with it all when he comes to realize that politics (also) equals petty scheming, power play and a rat race for well-paid jobs.

The ultimate blow to Phineas' belief in the entire political and judicial system comes when, innocent as he knows himself to be, he must face a murder-charge and feels that people he once considered friends now all of a sudden regard him with suspicion. As Phineas' outlook on the world becomes much gloomier, so does the novel's tone. In a way, this is the reverse situation of Josiah Crawley in 'The Last Chronicle of Barset': he doubts his own innocence (and, at times, even sanity) while his friends never do, whereas Phineas knows himself to be innocent but sees the suspicion building all around him.

In short, this is a tremendously good book with plenty of food for thought about honesty, truth, frustrated love, thwarted ambitions... It's the sort of book I would (and will) recommend ad nauseam to friends and acquaintances, and will definitely read again myself in the future. But first it's on to part five in the Palliser-novels, 'The Prime Minister'!

Darker than Phineas Phinn, 29 Jul 2006
This is the sequel to Phineas Phinn and part of the Pallisers series, but can still be read alone. Phineas - attractive, passionate and ambitious - faces his worst trial when his enemy is murdered and he himself is accused of the crime which he could so nearly have committed.

Excellent on Victorian society, politics and law, with fabulous female characters, this is one of Trollope's best, most emotional and under-rated novels.

Tremendous, 01 Feb 2001
Having followed Phineas Finn through his earlier ups and downs it is a real pleasure to see him again. I love his quirkiness. He is such an unlikely hero, in that he moves in the world of politics and power but always tries to remain true to himself and his struggles are fascinating. He is so human because you can see how tempted he is and how many demons he has to fight. This novel has a fitting end to his struggles with love blossoming with the equally unconvential Madame Max. The characters in this series get better and better and my favourite, Lady Glencora, gets a great role in this book.

Margolin's best to date!, 16 Jun 2008
Pageturner (cliché), blockbuster (cliché), fastpaced (cliché)! Right. You won't get many hours sleep once you have started this one. In my opinion, the best book Pillip Margolin has ever written.

The idea of this story almost made me catch my breath, so far-fetched did it seem, when it finally hit me what was going on. I thought