State of the Union: A Thriller
by Brad Thor
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Book Reviews of State of the Union: A Thriller
Book Review: Fast paced, but unintentionally funny at times
Summary: 3 Stars
This book is enjoyable. It delivers good action, an exciting plot, and interesting settings (Germany, Russia, Norway, as well as Washington D.C.). However, I'm only giving it three stars because of a number of drawbacks. Poor dialogue, cardboard characters, and military technology is thrown in as if quoting from a catalog. Perhaps Thor has no military experience himself, because although his weapons information seems well researched, his military characters act in ways that no U.S. soldier would act (for instance, when speaking on a tactical military radio, you never, ever address an officer by his rank, as it gives information to the enemy that will get the officer killed).
Some elements in the plot are so absurd they become unintentionally funny. Several times characters say or do things so unbelievable or so contrary to human nature as to be laughable. Some examples I can't give away without spoiling the story, but here are a couple that won't give anything away you don't know.
When Russians blackmail the U.S. with nuclear weapons, threatening to kill millions of Americans in 19 cities, they could ask for ANYTHING (total surrender, billions of dollars, top secret U.S. technology, exclusive trade deals, etc.), but instead, they ask for things most Americans would gladly give them for nothing! Their demands: America quietly leave the United Nations, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund (60% of Americans would agree with that, and it would make CONSERVATIVES overjoyed), and withdraw U.S. troops from places they don't belong anyway (60% of Americans would agree with that too, and LIBERALS would be overjoyed).
An even more absurd example, in post-Katrina America, requires me to quote from the book. At the beginning of Chapter 43, p. 418, the President says, "If they hit more than four of our major metropolitan areas, our emergency response capabilities are going to be stretched to the max... Can you imagine UN planes and helicopters being shown on TV bringing in food and medicine because America's infrastructure has been so badly decimated we can't take care of our own citizens? We absolutely can't let that happen." Shortly after Thor wrote this, Hurricane Katrina showed us that even when the U.S. government is given the time and place of a disaster in advance, all it takes is ONE emergency hitting ONE of America's cities, and the U.S. government is unable to take care of its own citizens, with a real-life President staying on vacation, playing guitar on stage, while New Orleans drowned and his FEMA director worried about his own dinner reservations.
Book Review: One of the worst-written books I have ever read
Summary: 1 Stars
First the good news: the book has an interesting plot, the author keeps things moving at a brisk pace, and the technical details are well researched.
Now the bad news, and there's a lot of it. Brad Thor's writing style is incredibly clunky and awkward. His descriptions are clumsy, full of clichés, and loaded with superfluous references. I just picked up the book and opened to a random page to find an example. Here's one: "The message had come down loud and clear: Harvath and Alexandra were in a hurry and there was no time to waste." Really? Eight hours before the nation is incinerated in a nuclear inferno, and they're in a hurry? You don't say. An obvious reference, a punctuation error, and four clichés in ONE SENTENCE. Every page has at least one clunker like that. Techno-thrillers aren't known for brilliant prose, but even by the standards of the genre, this is just terrible writing.
Thor goes into exhaustive detail about every single weapon and gadget his characters use, at great expense to the development of the story and the characters themselves. At times the book reads like a Special Forces equipment catalog. I like techno-thrillers, and I like tactical hardware, but please, give us a story. I can look technical specs up on Wikipedia.
Finally, the dialog is completely implausible. People just don't talk like Brad Thor's characters. How did this guy become a best-selling author?
It typically takes me 3-4 days to devour a book of this size and type. "State Of The Union" took me two weeks. I would get so frustrated and annoyed by the writing that I couldn't continue reading for more than a few minutes at a time. Having finished it, I'm not sure if I should be proud of my persistence, or angry with myself for wasting so much time on this awful book.
Book Review: The best in the series so far.
Summary: 4 Stars
I've read the preceeding books in Brad Thor's Scot Harvath series. They usually read like they were meant to be easily adapted to silly Hollywood action films--except they are too patriotic to be made by Hollywood. And if I have to read about Scot Harvath's rugged good looks and muscular 5'10" frame, with sandy brown hair and piercing blue eyes one more time I'm going to barf. Enjoyable for a fun read, but not really too believable.
State of The Union was much better. Scot even began to feel run down and tired, rather than superhuman like usual. I really liked the plot twists and turns and the insight into Russian culture and current events. It kept me hooked and guessing. Good stuff. The next one, Blowback, not so much. Kind of ridiculous and a little tedious. But I did enjoy State of the Union. I'm taking a break from the Scot Harvath books for a bit. At some point I'll go back to them because I've heard good things about Take Down, The First Commandment and The Last Patriot.
Book Review: Just like Old Faithful...
Summary: 5 Stars
OK seriously... my praise of Brad Thor is almost getting to the point of being repetitiously nauseating. I mean this man just does not miss! To be fair, this one did have a slight speed bump in the beginning that I wasn't accustomed to by Brad Thor... but it passed. The evil morons in this story is Russia and they have put into motion a terrorist act to grand that I *almost* thought this would be one mission that that Scot wouldn't be able to complete. Stupid assumption... I really should know better.
`State of the Union' is classic Brad Thor. "Classic" in this case meaning, "a creation of the highest excellence". Not the traditional "classic; it has to be around for twenty years before we can call it that" definition. Rack up another winner for Brad!
Book Review: Okay action thriller
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a fast moving action thriller. Although Mr Thor has not quite maintained the high standards of his first book, this is not bad. A previous reviewer is right that these novels are getting very close to those by Vince Flynn and his character Mitch Rapp and while entertaining, this did feel that it was treading a well worn path.
Having said that, if you enjoyed the previous ones, you will probably enjoy this too. It suffers from a strong start, a weaker middle, and a good close much like the previous novels but it entertains well enough.
If you like this kind of stuff and want a fresh take on it, I strongly recommend the British author, James Barrington.