Status
Available
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Harper (2011), Edition: Reprint, 496 pages
Description
While in Paris to find a former NASA employee whose name has been found on papers left in his nemesis's apartment, Paul Madriani stumbles upon a plot to harness the destructive forces of nature using stolen technology.
User reviews
LibraryThing member nbmars
This is book three of a trilogy involving attorney Paul Madriani and the man who is out to kill him, a Mexican contract killer named Liquida. (I did not read the first two, which is actually pretty much a given, because I never would have followed up on the series!) Much of the plot of this
You may be asking, why, why, why did I read this? Well, here is the quick answer: it was in my TBR pile, and I was looking for something mindless after having been devastated by reading the award-winning book about the Vietnam War, The Things They Carried.
Unfortunately, “mindless,” in this case, would best describe the writer rather than the reader. The book is overloaded with characters, most of whom are either stupid or venal (or sometimes both). Madriani and his groupies hop on planes and fly from locale to locale around the world as if 9/11 never happened and money were no object. (Their goal? To learn what the NASA secrets are, and then get Liquida before he gets them! Um, right.) Sarah, Madriani’s clueless daughter, always insists on going along, and moreover, on taking her dog with her - and the others let her! And the secret weapons system subcontracted out from NASA that they’re all chasing? Even without considering the utter lack of feasibility of such a weapon, think about Congress actually agreeing on the huge amount of funding necessary for non-contract government agencies to develop a pie-in-the-sky weapon system that violates a bunch of international treaties and has no oversight whatsoever.
Now there are improbable stories out there that are STILL GOOD. Take the movie "Independence Day." AS IF the President is going to take his toddler down to an air-purified laboratory to see the aliens of Area 51. And then there’s Bill Pullman’s impromptu knockout speech (without either speechwriter or notes) right before he takes off in a fighter jet which he probably hasn’t flown in twenty years, to LEAD the other jets in the crusade against the aliens. One could go on and on. AND YET, who doesn’t LOVE that movie? I cry buckets every time I watch it, which is probably at least every year on July 4.
But THIS book? Skip the book, and rent "Independence Day."
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suspense/thriller has Liquida chasing Paul and everyone else he can identify in Paul’s life: his law firm partner, his girlfriend, his investigator, his daughter, and his daughter's dog - while at the same time trying to do a “regular” contract killing of two NASA employees who defected to an Evil Oil-Producing Country in the Middle East.You may be asking, why, why, why did I read this? Well, here is the quick answer: it was in my TBR pile, and I was looking for something mindless after having been devastated by reading the award-winning book about the Vietnam War, The Things They Carried.
Unfortunately, “mindless,” in this case, would best describe the writer rather than the reader. The book is overloaded with characters, most of whom are either stupid or venal (or sometimes both). Madriani and his groupies hop on planes and fly from locale to locale around the world as if 9/11 never happened and money were no object. (Their goal? To learn what the NASA secrets are, and then get Liquida before he gets them! Um, right.) Sarah, Madriani’s clueless daughter, always insists on going along, and moreover, on taking her dog with her - and the others let her! And the secret weapons system subcontracted out from NASA that they’re all chasing? Even without considering the utter lack of feasibility of such a weapon, think about Congress actually agreeing on the huge amount of funding necessary for non-contract government agencies to develop a pie-in-the-sky weapon system that violates a bunch of international treaties and has no oversight whatsoever.
Now there are improbable stories out there that are STILL GOOD. Take the movie "Independence Day." AS IF the President is going to take his toddler down to an air-purified laboratory to see the aliens of Area 51. And then there’s Bill Pullman’s impromptu knockout speech (without either speechwriter or notes) right before he takes off in a fighter jet which he probably hasn’t flown in twenty years, to LEAD the other jets in the crusade against the aliens. One could go on and on. AND YET, who doesn’t LOVE that movie? I cry buckets every time I watch it, which is probably at least every year on July 4.
But THIS book? Skip the book, and rent "Independence Day."
Show Less
LibraryThing member Kingray
One of his best books! Could not wait to finish
LibraryThing member skraft001
An easy read and although I didn't read the first two in the series it was easy enough to pick up the plot -- although you were dumped into the action rather abruptly. The idea though that two average Joe's would go chasing around the world in pursuit of a professional killer was rather ludicrous.
LibraryThing member ewhatley
I've been reading and enjoying Marini's books for years. This series moves away from what I consider his expertise - it is not a legal thriller. He does know how to create a bad guy. There were times where I really felt actions/situations were too far beyond realty. Although I prefer his legal
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thrillers, this book was enjoyable. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2011
Physical description
7.5 inches
ISBN
0061930245 / 9780061930249