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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
Meltzer is back! His legal background helps him with weaving this exciting political thriller.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An interesting story about staffers at the United States capitol hunting down answers to a conspiracy that wound up getting people killed. The first death in this story, the friend that was mentioned in the book's description, is a genuine surprise, and from there the story continues to keep you wanting to know more while the main characters do their best to outwit and avoid an assassin who is always one step from killing them. I enjoyed the ride the whole way through.
I do have one problem, though. A major question is left dangling throughout the entire story, and then is answered way too late in the epilogue. This makes the answer seem tacked on because Brad forgot to put it in the main story itself. If this answer had been revealed partway through the story, it would have been amazing, but because it was left until the epilogue, it just kinda ruins the reveal. It's not something that ruins the entire book, just that one question.
I picked this up because a friend recommended it to me, and I'm gonna pass on that recommendation on to anyone else looking for a good thriller. I'm very much looking forward to the next Brad Meltzer book I get to read.
I do have one problem, though. A major question is left dangling throughout the entire story, and then is answered way too late in the epilogue. This makes the answer seem tacked on because Brad forgot to put it in the main story itself. If this answer had been revealed partway through the story, it would have been amazing, but because it was left until the epilogue, it just kinda ruins the reveal. It's not something that ruins the entire book, just that one question.
I picked this up because a friend recommended it to me, and I'm gonna pass on that recommendation on to anyone else looking for a good thriller. I'm very much looking forward to the next Brad Meltzer book I get to read.
Just finished today, and I really liked it. The beginning thru me, the person I thought was the main character wasn't. Then it just jumped into an action packed book. I don't want to say more, because of spoilers, but a must read and I think the best book of his. It just moved faster than the others. I really liked the two main characters as well.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
A different enough political premise--an insiders' betting game on what pork gets put into an Appropriations bill--hinted at a good story until who we perceive to be the main character is killed. I credit Meltzer for taking that gamble, but I think that's a tough literary device to pull off for two reasons. First, if we don't get to know the MC well enough (as happened in this book), we don't much care that he died. Second, if the author kills the MC well into the book or until the very end, after the reader gets to know the character and develop some empathy or affection for, we the readers feel cheated that the MC had to die.
Like some reviewers, I didn't sense much character development for the main players. To me, they we just another assortment of interchangeable cogs in the Washington, DC, political machine. The relationship between Harris and Viv (the white congressional staffer and the black, teenaged female Senate page) could have been pretty good but I never felt a strong bond between them other than both spent most of the last half of the book running for their lives.
Meltzer is an acclaimed author, but I enjoyed some of his other books far more than this one.
Like some reviewers, I didn't sense much character development for the main players. To me, they we just another assortment of interchangeable cogs in the Washington, DC, political machine. The relationship between Harris and Viv (the white congressional staffer and the black, teenaged female Senate page) could have been pretty good but I never felt a strong bond between them other than both spent most of the last half of the book running for their lives.
Meltzer is an acclaimed author, but I enjoyed some of his other books far more than this one.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
mysterious
tense
Unfortunately, due to a misleading blurb on the back of this book - which stated the story was about two friends, Harris and Matthew, who get involved in a game which sees someone close to them dead, and them on the run for their lives with the help of a page - I spent a large part of the book wondering if Matthew would pop up back alive after he was bumped off early on. Other than that, a decent enough thriller.