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(More customer reviews)This is the second book that I have read by this author. At heart it is basically a political-conspiracy type thriller. It pits the Japanese against the Americans in control of an airplane manufacturing company. A group of very powerful Japanese businessmen plot to restore the glory of the former Japanese empire by trying to gain control of an American aircraft manufacturing company that is developing a hypersonic commercial airplane. But that goal is only part of a larger plan that aims to control the western Pacific so that Japan can have access to natural resources in south east Asia. This group of Japanese, with the help of a few "loyal" military men, plans to execute a mini war against the Russian and they manipulate the American government in order to achieve their ultimate goal.
The American aircraft manufacturing company counters the potential Japanese hostile takeover by hiring a former CIA assassin to help them stop the Japanese plot. At the same time a former Undersecretary of State has his own agenda. He wants to warn the administration and the American public that Japan is getting too powerful. He wants to avoid another Pearl Harbor. He teams up with a former East German spy/assassin and a couple of American weirdos to blow up eight airplanes and blame these terrorist acts on the Japanese.
If I had to write this review with one word, it would be: Unbelievable! This is definitely not one of my favorite novels.
*Character Development: Hagberg hardly spends any effort in developing the characters. I don't have any feeling for the main character, the CIA assassin, nor the villains, the East German assassin and the former Undersecretary of the State. This novel is definitely not character driven. On top of that, the author has created a hero who happens to be an assassin. It makes it more difficult for me to accept the hero. Score: 1.
*Pacing: The author did an okay job in pacing the novel. The pace is relatively fast and that may be the only reason that I was willing to finish reading this book. However, this novel is not exactly a page-turner. Score: 3.5.
*Plot: The plot follows three main parties. The Japanese manipulators, the American conspirator (the former Undersecretary of State), and our hero, the former CIA assassin.
The author wants us to believe that this Japanese group is powerful enough to control their own government and military and, at the same time, that the Japanese military is strong enough to start a mini-war against Russia and the United States. Additionally, I had a hard time accepting the idea that the Japan wants to control the western Pacific just to make sure that they have access to natural resources. When the story opens, there is no threat to Japan. Furthermore, the author never explains why controlling the American aircraft manufacturing company would help the Japanese achieve their goal. On top of that, the author hopes that the readers will forget that the State Department would have to authorize any foreign company that took control of a strategic industry.
The American conspirator (the former Undersecretary of State) is a character that is hard for me to accept. I sure hope that our political system is doing a much better job of selecting personnel in public office. A former Undersecretary of the State intends and actually sacrifices two thousand American lives by blowing up eight commercial airplanes just to warn the administration and the American public of the threat of Japan. Unbelievable!
The list of unconvincing events and unbelievable characters just goes on and on. The author believes that the combined efforts of the FBI and the CIA organizations are no match for a former CIA assassin, our hero. It is very clear that the author ignores a lot of well known facts. The CIA is not allowed to operate inside our country and the top brass, like the deputy director of operations and intelligence, do not run around like a field agent. Well, I think I have beaten this dead horse enough. Score: 1.
*Storytelling: I liked the author's writing style, though he may not be top of my favorites list. The chapters are broken down into manageable subsections. This was very helpful to me because I only spent half-an-hour to read for each sitting. However, this book is 200 to 300 pages too long. Score: 3.5.
*Reviewer's Lean: I'm very critical of this book. I have read other novels where the plot was also very unquestionable but I was willing to look over it. Novel like Matthew Reilly's Ice Station is so fact-faced that I don't have time to slow down and think about the plot holes while I am reading. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed reading portions of this book. Therefore, I'm willing to add half a point to make the overall score 2.7.
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