The First Commandment: A Thriller
by Brad Thor
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Book Reviews of The First Commandment: A Thriller
Book Review: "The First Commandment" by Brad Thor
Summary: 3 Stars
Rating: 3 Water Towers
The action picks up in "The First Commandment" where it left off in "Takedown".
Scot Harvath is in the hospital taking care of Tracy when his boss Gary Lawlor visits with some news on the attack on Tracy. Some of the blood smeared on Scot's door was lambs blood and it contained a radioactive substance. Scot wants to hunt down the person responsible but Gary says he can't and after a visit to the White House.....President Rutledge says the same thing.
Scot is not to get involved. Period.
Six months before the attack on Tracy five prisoners were released from Guantanamo. These five were known terrorists and were guaranteed freedom by the U.S.A. even though "The First Commandment" of terrorism is to never deal with a terrorist. The U.S. did, and it is backfiring big time.
One of the released prisoners is on a quest to kill relatives and friends of Scot's. After making Scot suffer all these losses.......he will kill Scot. Good luck with that....
Luckily, Scot does not listen to the President (not a good thing to do by the way) and starts hunting down those who he knows were released (and he suspects of being the killer). He was given the list of four prisoners that were released by the Troll....notice I said four. The Troll kept one person off the list for reasons you will find out when you read the book.
As the attacks against Scot's friends and family continue, Scot tracks down the prisoners and does away with them one by one. This puts President Rutledge in an awkward position since he promised safe passage for the prisoners to keep a terrorist attack of unimaginable horror from happening--ooops, way to go Scot. (But then again...you never deal with a terrorist.)
President Rutledge decides that Scot needs to be stopped...dead or alive.
Scot is branded a traitor, and is being chased by his old friend Rick Morrell and his band of Special Ops soldiers. The action intensifies as Scot races to find the killer before he commits the final act of revenge on Scot's ex-girlfriend Meg Cassidy.
Although I enjoyed "The First Commandment" it is not, in my opinion, up to par for Brad Thor. The reason for letting the prisoners go is weak and trusting a known felon (the Troll) is surprising for Scot Harvath. There are other issues that were bothersome for me, but, maybe I'm being an overly critical engineer.
This much I can say: When the action begins in earnest, Brad Thor shines, leaving the reader ready for the next book in the series "The Last Patriot".
Book Review: the best of the bunch!
Summary: 5 Stars
i've read all of brad thor's books, and the first commandment is the best of the lot, so far! i've read a few flynn thrillers, and although i find them entertaining and such, i prefer thor's books.
i like his writing, plus i find "scot harvath" a more interesting characater than "mitch rapp" but that's just my opinion,
that being said, i highly recommend this book if you like action with a political slant.
Book Review: Awful, waste of time
Summary: 1 Stars
This book was a complete waste of my time. Thor was recommended to me by my cousin who thought I would like it because I'm a big Daniel Silva fan. Thor absolutely cannot compete with Silva. Silva's writing is much more compelling and his Gabriel Allon character so much more interesting than Scot Harvath. Thor's writing is just plain terrible. There are too many cringe-inducing parts to list here, but I'll provide one example:
"One was rarely given second chances in life. He'd managed to get his second chance at happiness put on a life support system. It was an ironic metaphor, as his love life had always been in critical condition".
Are you serious? How can someone write this? My recommendation is to skip Thor all together and stick with Daniel Silva.
Book Review: Baldacci and Flynn are better
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this book based on an NY Times Book Review. It sounded interesting and in the same genre as the Vince Flynn and David Baldacci books I've read. The book starts out well and builds a credible story, but doesn't hold the interest as well all the way through.
Thor's protagonist is a likable guy that anyone would want to root for on the post 9-11 era but his character is not as well developed as some of Flynn's, Baldacci's or Nelson DeMille's characters. You may feel for the people in the story who have been struck by various tragedies of the (Harvath's girlfriend and friends particularly) but Thor does not develop them or their backgrounds well enough for the story line to be credible.
This was mediocre beach reading but I was expecting more. I may give Thor another try again, not with my $ but with my library card instead.
Book Review: The Last Patriot by Brad Thor
Summary: 4 Stars
The first sentence of this book reminded me of Angels & Demons. I haven't finished it yet, but so far I like it.