The Last Patriot: A Thriller
by Brad Thor
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Book Summary Information
Author: Brad ThorEdition: Hardcover
Published: 2008-07-01
ISBN: 141654383X
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Atria Books
Book Reviews of The Last Patriot: A Thriller
Book Review: Brilliant Islamic thriller
Summary: 5 Stars
Thriller authors generally need a real world enemy to wrap their story around. Few are like Michael Chrichton and Lee Child who invent everything. No, for most thriller authors, it is the threat of the moment that matters. Nazism and Communism have had their day although some horror writers still use them, James Herbert and Sean Hutson, but today belongs to radical Islam. You only have to read the Soft Target thrillers by Conrad Jones to realise how some thriler writers can bring contempory Islamic issues into violent action fantasy.
Brad Thor has cranked out several very good thrillers, but "The Last Patriot" is one of his best.
Former Navy SEAL, Secret Service agent and Presidential troubleshooter Scot (with one "t") Harvath is in Paris with his girlfriend Tracy Hastings, who is still recovering from injuries received in her job as a Naval demolitions specialist. Scot observes a car being stolen and another car pulling into the vacated parking space. His intuitive sense of action is aroused and he pulls Tracy away from the cafe where they were sitting. Passing a bookstore, a stranger in a hurry bumps into them and starts crossing the street. Scot senses trouble and covers the stanger with his own body as a car bomb goes off.
Borrowing liberally from Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code", Thor plunges Harvath into a labybrinth of clues, assasins, plots and counter-plots as a search for the prophet Mohammed's rumored last revelation which has the potential to change the nature of Islam.
The action never stops. A former CIA assassin, Matthew Dowd, now a dedicated convert to Islam and a stone-cold killer is murdering his way toward the secret. The President's man is looking for the secret. Soon the CIA and FBI are involved. Thomas Jefferson's 1805 war against the Barbary pirates is invoked as other aspects of Jefferson's wide ranging interests and genius. The plot moves from one bit of violence to another, with nary a thoughtful moment in between. In other words, this a perfectly satisfying thriller, an American flag waver.
Thor's characters have a bit of depth. Scot Harvath's exploits just make you want to stand up and cheer (provided you support the United States and its goals). Thor is particularly aggressive in his views of radical Islam and the poltically correct multiculturalists in the United States and elsewhere who are yielding democracy to a theocracy.
As noted, the plot borrows heavily from "The DaVinci Code" with the protagonist having to piece together bits of a puzzle while the bad guys are trying to kill the good guys. From time to time, Thor asks the reader to accept a jump in logic or an implausible happening, such as hairbreadth escapes. But Thor is a strong enough writer to carry the reader over the occasional chasm.
The ending, however, is on the weak side and a real stretch. I don't know if Thor ran out of time or ideas, but the last few pages weren't nearly as satisfying as those that went before.
Still, for thriller fans, "The Last Patriot" is a wonderfully jingoistic, red, white and blue story, filled with All-American heroes and nasty bad guys. Great fun reading!
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