The Last Patriot: A Thriller (7) (The Scot Harvath Series)

I cut my teeth on Le Carre, Ludlum, and Morell. I sold first editions of Hunt For Red October when I worked in a bookstore. I like a good thriller, and can forgive a lot for a good story with worthy hero, a neat villain, and supporting characters that move the plot.

If you are fond of intricate plotting or decent character development, seek something else.

This was just not a well written book. When an author has written NYT bestsellers, and has a fairly extensive catalog, I expect a reasonable level of quality. This book did not hit that bar.

For example, on multiple occasions, the author had to tell us how the characters felt, because neither their words nor their actions gave away their motivations. Further, they did not act in accordance with those stated motivations - the last scene with the primary villain was particularly ill-executed. A good villain deserves an ending worthy of their previous actions, and major changes in their motivations require some degree of foreshadowing.

Character development was weak. Aside from the characters who perished, essentially no changes took place in any focal character. I do not expect much character development from my gun porn, but I was hoping for more than was displayed here.

Scenes took place in some unusual spots, ones that readers are not likely to experience. The book did not really describe those locations well enough to win on descriptive narrative. Most civilians will never know what it is like to serve on a submarine, but a series like Das Boot at least gives some idea. I would have hoped for that.

You see no meaningful romantic interactions. Further, the women have no visible motivations for their actions, nor real impact on the story.. The genre looks at women as things to be rescued, not characters, but there are degrees. At Ludlum's best, the female character's actions alternatively aided and frustrated the viewpoint character, which engages the reader. Re-read the scene between Marie and Jason in the Bourne identity where she discovers a note - not terribly deep, but it revealed something about the (deteriorating) mental state of Jason. His personal feelings were harming his tactical instincts, but in order to do the right thing, he needed Marie's help. Working through that made him memorable.

The main character seems devoid of tactical planning skills, as do most of his allies. Based on the training manuals we give our military, he made mistakes that a pro should not have. This blew my sense of disbelief - our field agents are very good.

Finally, let's discuss the muslims in the book. None are even marginally competent. Their only effective operative is a late-life convert. This was obviously supposed to add to the threat, but it rather detracted. A hero is only as good as the villains he defeats - defeating fools, windbags, and caricatures reduces the value of the main character's struggle.

This weakens the book in another way. When every muslim is painted as totally evil, with one misguided traitor, the main character can just blow away any muslim he finds. Had a certain high-ranking traitor actually been acting in what he saw as the country's best interest, such that the main character was unwilling to blast him to bits, the grey areas would have been much more engaging. Even Death Wish had the (brief) exchange "sometimes the law works" and "sometimes it doesn't", shortly before the carnage started up again, and I would have expected at least that level of discourse in the midst of the shell casings.

At some level, a good thriller causes us to ask how far we should go. The best action thriller heroes go over the line - do things that in the cold light of day we probably would not actually allow, but that give us the vicarious 'what if we did" thrill. Thor set up a novel where we should have asked how far we are willing to go, which rights we are willing to give up for safety, and what sacrifice we ask of those who stand between us and chaos, and instead, we got pat answers. Instead of asking what limits we put on our fight against evil, there were no lines our hero had to fear crossing, and no personal consequences.

This is certainly going to be controversial, but it would have been more so had the primary opposition been worthy. Pit our hero against a muslim terrorist with wealth, connections from Cambridge, an MIT engineering degree, and eight years in an appropriate enemy nation's army, and you would have gotten my attention. Have that villain use our strengths against us by forcing us to examine just how far we are willing to go, and you would have a novel that deserved the sales.

As it is, this is just another pot boiler. I am glad it did not take that long to read.

... certainly in the top 10. I don't have a political or ideological gripe with Brad Thor's point of view. He and I probably would agree on most issues. But this book is just bad, from both a writing and tactical operations standpoint.

First there is the plot itself. It's paper thin and implausible. The basic premise, that IF the long lost book of Islam were revealed, all the extreme fundamentalist Muslims would throw down their AK-47s and symtex and stop attacking each other and the West is downright silly.

Then there are the characters. The James Bond protagonist makes so many mistakes you would have thought he was a rookie cop from Mayberry. Plus, what's up with Harvath's backstory? He was a Navy SEAL then somehow morphed into a Secret Service agent on the PPD (Presidential Protective Detail)? Does Brad Thor not understand that those are two different career paths, and no matter how much of a bada** special ops ninja you are, you can't be anointed a Secret Service agent?

The dialogue is another problem. It's just bad. I mean really corny.

Then there are the constant inner monologues of the characters. Not to mention cliche' after cliche', like "All hell broke loose."

The editing is bad, too. TIP: "They" is a plural pronoun.

***THE REST CONTAINS SPOILERS***

It's also ludicrous what the hero and his helpers get away with, like shooting two (or was it three) people to death at the U.S. Naval Academy and never having to even sit down with the cops and explain what happened. Somewhere in the background, an ex-CIA guy smoothed that over with the local cops.

Plus there are so many convenient things that happen. Like the hero is a fugitive in one country but needs to get to another, so a couple of phone calls later and BINGO, there is a private jet waiting. Need to get through passport control in the country where your picture is all over the news and you're tied to a bombing and multiple police murders -- BINGO. An ex-spook is there to smooth things over. Need your girlfriend out of the way so you can run around the globe kicking butt -- BINGO. She goes down with really bad headaches and some brain swelling and she never reappears in the book.

The whole book was just stupid.

This was the first of Thor's books I have read. This isn't usually a genre I read. But I heard some of the controversy concerning this book and Thor and wanted to read for myself.

I enjoyed it. To me, it was about 50% political discourse (I know some will say diatribe but I happen to agree with most of it so I will say discourse) and 50% adventure tale. There was a lot of food for thought on Thor's views of the Islam world, Islamophobia, and Islam influence in the U.S. and around the world.

I enjoyed the adventure tale also, with the asides about Thomas Jefferson, Cervantes, Barbary pirates, Tripoli, and Al-Jazari and his "Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices."

Character development wasn't too deep, women in the story are really one-dimensional but these are both reasons I don't usually read this genre of book. Not unusual and a lot of people seem to like the books just this way.

I have bought Thor's newest book [[ASIN:B004G8QTZW Full Black (Scott Harvath)]] so I will find out how it compares. Oh and I want a Caucasian Ovcharka dog.

THE LAST PATRIOT by Brad Thor could be classified as historical fiction. Former Navy SEAL and special ops Secret Service agent to the President, Scot Harvath, left his dangerous 15-year special ops life along with his ex-Navy girlfriend, Tracy Hastings. Tracy is in the process of recovering from serious wounds received from an exploding IED in Afghanistan where she had been an explosive demolition technician. Scot and Tracy are vacationing in Paris. While walking near a sidewalk café discussing their future and their new quiet life they witness a major terrorist attack. Scot, out of habit rushes to rescue an injured Anthony Nichols, a history professor at the University of Virginia who was thought by Harvath to be the subject of the attack. Scot does not want to get involved, he is happy with his new life, but Tracy convinces him of their responsibilities when they discover Nichols might have some sort of connection to the President. They soon learn that Professor Nichols is involved in researching the seventh century version of the Koran where it is thought that the Prophet Mohammed enlightened his disciples with the “lost revelation” a very different version of the Koran than exists today and one that could threaten the Muslim world as it exists today. In discussions with Nichols, Harvath is convinced that he has to find the Don Quixote. He learns that it might be in a rundown Mosque in a very dangerous section of Paris.
In addition to the enjoyment of a well written novel, Brad Thor has provided us with an enlightened history of the Koran through almost 1400 years of Muslim ideology following the poisoning and death of Mohammed in 632 AD. Thor writes that in 1805, President Jefferson sent Army officer William Eaton with a contingent of Marines, Leathnecks, under Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon to attack Tripoli and put an end to Muslim pirating on the high seas—America’s very first military confrontation on foreign soil. Did Thomas Jefferson envision at that time a future threat to our nation from the Muslim world? I wonder.
Through the written word, Brad Thor guides us through a fleeting history of events that bring us to the defense of our nation today. I believe this is Brad Thor’s finest novel. I heartedly recommend, The Last Patriot. I rate the book a strong 5-star success.

This is what I get for picking up a "thriller" at random. Elementary school English (apparently target marketing to the 4th grade segment), cardboard characters, virulent anti-Islamic rants, utterly predictable plot-this appalling bad novel set a new low in books I have read (reading this was a truly masochistic undertaking). I kept thinking that it couldn't get worse, then it did. If you're a Michael Savage follower, this book is for you. Otherwise, save your money.

I am a fan of good books in this genre. After reading most of Vince Flynn's marvelous titles I was curious to check out another author. The plot synopsis of "The Last Patriot" was most intriguing and I expected an engaging read with a satisfying conclusion. How disappointing on both counts! In many ways the dialogue between characters, the plot twists, the rapport between characters are for the most part unconvincing. The Muslim terrorist (Dodd) makes our side (the US players) look like incompetent fools. Worst of all, the central driving force behind the entire plot (the thing that keeps you reading with interest and anticipation) is the expected revelation of the lost Koranic verses, the words that will change the Islamic terrorist threat forever. After forging through almost 500 pages of text, getting to a point in the story where the missing verses are in hand and just about to be finally revealed, the author pulls all hope of the revelation away from the reader - the words are never revealed (at least not in this book) and the focus of the remaining story shifts away from the discovery. What a disappointment on all fronts. This is both the first and probably the last Brad Thor book I will read. If you are looking for a truly satisfying, convincing, compelling and engaging read in this genre, check out any of the books by Vince Flynn. If you are not sure which one to start with, try the book titled "Transfer of Power" [[ASIN:0671023209 Transfer of Power]].

I have read many books by this author. He is very good and his books are usually riveting. This however falls far short of the mark. It is exceptionally boring. Not much action or suspense. Save your money.

Now and then Brad Thor tries something a bit different, he tried it with the Athena Project and now he blends his normal thriller into a bit of a Dan Brown style romp. Neither experiment worked overly well in my opinion.

Here we have Thor’s black ops agent Scot Harvath in a grumpy self-imposed retirement but getting dragged back into ‘the game’ when he saves a man from a car bomb. It appears that there may have been guidance from the Prophet Mohammed that encourages peace and this has been suppressed from the Muslim community as it will change the face of their religion and the approach to non-muslims.

So cue Harvath chasing down clues left by Thomas Jefferson in the sort of ‘chase after ancient antiquity while avoiding assassins’ story that we have become accustomed to from a variety of authors, including the vastly over-rated Mr Brown.

While this is ‘okay’, it offers nothing fresh or interesting and felt like a by the numbers book. I hope he gets back to his normal style for the next one and concentrates on what he is good at.

Without question, THE LAST PATRIOT stands far above even the finest of bestselling thrillers. Brad Thor integrates the thriller with historical fiction so exquisitely that THE LAST PATRIOT is likely to become a contemporary classic. Even for those who do not usually read thrillers, this is an extraordinary work where the lives of Muhammad, Cervantes and Thomas Jefferson collide in formidable consort. History buffs will appreciate the attention to detail that places this author well above the rest. Fans of the thriller genre will be blown away.

This is the first of Brad Thor's books I have read, but suffice it to say that I'm hooked and I'll be picking up other books by this author - his works are fresh - they're totally different than other authors I've read in the past, such as Cussler or Grisham! Thor has spun a tale that is filled with intrigue, scandal, and a lot of hair-raising suspense.

Tying current affairs of America's ongoing concerns with the Middle East with the Barbary Wars of the early 19th century, and throwing in the Prophet Mohammed from 632 AD to boot, Thor has come up with a satisfying, intense book. His story is filled with memorable characters (Scot Harvath is the primary, but his lady friend Tracy, she of one eye, is unforgettable in her role), and is a page-turner to say the least.

I found the book fact-paced from the start, and I had real trouble putting it down. I would highly recommend this work to anyone interested in thrillers, especially those that pack a combination of spy story, assassinations, and history all into one book!