The Scot Harvath Pod is complete! Enjoy the 2nd part of our finale episode where we give our Top 5 books and discuss a number of superlatives from favorite female character, action scene, travelling heavy, and of course...judge a cover by the book!
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00:00:20
Hey, guys, I'm Chris. And I'm Mike.
00:00:24
And welcome back to Tax Day No Limits, Scott Harbath podcast.
00:00:30
Happy early birthday to you, my friend.
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We are recording on your birthday eve.
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Happy birthday to you. Thank you Sir.
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We shall celebrate when we golf. In another week or two, we meet
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up. Yes, yes.
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We'll have to celebrate for yours as well around then a lot
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of April. Birthdays.
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Shout out to a friend of the pod, Tom Cavazos.
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Happy 36th birthday to him, Sir. He's listening.
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Let's let's see if you listen to this.
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One Tommy Gunn, I don't know about that.
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Has he read a book since 2011? Yeah, probably not even then.
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Probably not. I'm thinking in college you may
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have. But yeah, you're right that
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that's probably not true. Do we?
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He probably read at least one book.
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Yeah, part of the deal. There we go.
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Oh, there we go. That's it.
00:01:14
Ayn Rand maybe. Actually, quite probably Atlas
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Shrugged dude. Well, I know what I would
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recommend to him and any one of our friends and that is the
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Scott Harvath series. He we kind of like riffed.
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The last pod that we put up was this great pod.
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We had sat down, we're going to do this superlative thing and
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we, we, you know, you had kind of made the suggestion like,
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let's just run through the books real quick.
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We were just going to do it off mic, like just to refresh our,
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our minds. Sorry, I'm a little, a little
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bit stuffy today, but you know, we're like, well, there's no
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such thing as free content, So let's just go ahead and get it
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out there. And I think it, you know, it was
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a nice pot. I think it gives everyone a
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little, a little bit of refresh, a little bit of recap.
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I know that I greatly, you know, my rankings today are going to
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be better fulfilled because of it, so I'm excited to to hash
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some of these out. Dude, that was a lot of fun.
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Just running through the books doing a recap.
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We had planned to stuff that into one finale episode and it
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it would have been like a 510 minute segment maybe, but we
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would have missed so much. And just spending an hour or
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whatever it was regaling all these different memories of
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these books, characters, plot lines that that got lost, that
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receded to the back of my memory and bringing them forward and
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talking about them. It, it was like the whole Scott
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Harvath pod Fast forward and all condensed into one.
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It was just great to relive it. And today we get to put the
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cherry on top of that with our superlatives giving our top five
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books in the series. A couple of honorable mentions
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that didn't make the list, but are right there outside the top
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five going into our best team up.
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That's a big part of Brad Thor's writing, Scott finding A-Team,
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being a leader, getting that unit to to gel and and operate
00:03:02
together. Scott's ladies, we've talked
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about that a lot. Recurring theme on the pod, Best
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travelling heavy pod, best faction book.
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I think we're going to have fun kind of breaking that down and
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picking our favorites. I think we'll align on a few,
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but I think there's going to be a few where not that we don't
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see eye to eye like I would. I've definitely would think
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yours could be #1 but I just have a slightly different number
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1. I feel like we're on the same
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page, but we also have some minor differences on a couple
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things that we like more than others.
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Yes, agreed. Do we just do top five books?
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Then I I think we got to get that.
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I don't think that's like, you know, let's why bury the lead?
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Let's, that's what we're all here for.
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Let's let's do it. And let's start from #1I, I
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didn't want to say it, but at the same time, can I do a 321
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countdown? And we say what we're putting as
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the top slot, the the number one Scott Harvath book.
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Yeah, let's do it. All right, 321 backlash.
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We did it. I got to go line with my dude.
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I got to. I use it's A and my number 2 is
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is backlash. Backlash.
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OK. Those are by and far clearly the
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two best novels in this entire series. 1, you know, being the
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first introduction of this novel and being, you know, thrust
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right into this, you know, this universe and the other one
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coming, you know, how many books in 19 books in and being this
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transformation of of, you know, this journey like this.
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You know, we talked about how there's like sort of arcs of of
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Scott as we've gone along and this being, you know, the ending
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of his obviously the ending of post ending of his relationship
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with Reed and Laura and then, you know, beginning to go on
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this revenge path. Like that book, the book is so
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perfect. It's it's these are clear like 1
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A and 1B for me so. True so.
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True. I just, I love lions, man.
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I love lions. Yeah, you know, that's why.
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I'm so happy we got to revisit it too.
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I just, I, I could listen to that book once a year.
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It's such a good book. Revisiting it was a blast.
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One of the the most fun times I've had on this microphone with
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you was our Lions talk. I, I pumped out a lot of YouTube
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shorts for that. Got a lot of content out for
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that one. It was just such a good fun
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conversation and man, I hear you.
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I am usually all all about the O GS.
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I think on the Mitra iPod I went with I guess the one with
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Memorial Day as my my favorite transfer powers right up there.
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Term limits is something special to me.
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I I agree those original books or those early books or when an
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author is hitting their stride early on and and some of the
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first books I read to get into a series right mean a lot.
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Exactly exactly. And that would have been Lions.
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I bumped it to the two slot just because it's so impressive what
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Brad did in backlash at A at a point where he or a lot of other
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authors could have easily, you know, phoned it and dialed it
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in. They have this media empire
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characters been around forever. Write the book of the year, you
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know, meet the deadlines, keep the publishers happy, keep the
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thing rolling. It's this is a cash cow at this
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point, but he decided to pour himself into one and it came at
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the right time. You're entirely right.
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A spymaster was clearly winding down the whole car.
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Reed Carlton era and the Carlton group, which had been around
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probably who knows, 10 plus books, 12 books at that point.
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And and I think Brad new it's time, it's go time and and I
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think it jump started the series.
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It brought us into a modern era. You know, it started the whole
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Solvi plot, which will come shortly after that.
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But it but almost like it, it broke.
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It broke from the Carlton group. It kind of did this massive
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follow up to Spymaster and it was a banger.
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And like Brad said from the very beginning, he wanted to write
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books that new readers could enjoy and old readers could have
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a field day with just just loving the Nuggets and the
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Easter eggs. And Habog did both perfectly.
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It can bring new readers in. It can satisfy the long time
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readers, but in a different way, writing a totally different
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story. And I'm going to connect it to
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book #3 I'll give this away. It brought back a little of that
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apostle energy. My book #3 on my list, Backlash
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Lions and the third, The Apostle.
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And to have those two books kind of mirror each other.
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They each stand out in the series because they were so
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different and they did something different.
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They're different times, different eras, different parts
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of the world. Scott Scott's operating in the
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Arctic in the Middle East, but at the same time, those books
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have such a similar like the the juju in them is similar and it's
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it's just fun to go back for that.
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And when when Brad swings for the fences and try something
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different, he knocks it out of the park.
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And so backlash, I think just was that rejuvenating factor the
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series needed and was just a phenomenal stand alone thriller.
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It's you know, you, you hit the nail on the head of my #3 is
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also the apostle, OK, far and above, you know, a a love letter
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to Afghanistan. You know, one of the one of the
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books that he poured the most research into.
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I think, you know, it, it, it stands well with some of these
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other authors when they try to address that time in period, you
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know, in, in, in that physical location and what it means to,
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you know, the American military, the people have served over
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there. And I think you're right.
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And the reason it sticks out to me is because, you know, we are
00:09:00
going on all these travelling heavy books and to be grounded
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and to have, you know, to have Scott and you're going to find
00:09:09
a, a common theme in my top five list, you know, outside of
00:09:12
lions, because outside of lions has a lot of travelling heavy.
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But a lot of the books that I, I tend to gravitate towards tend
00:09:20
to be these, you know, character studies and settings almost
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because backlash Arctic Russia. We're we're focused on, you
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know, some very yeah, we go all over the place, like in Siberia.
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But we, we are focused in a singular origin, the same thing
00:09:37
in Apostle. And to get that connection with
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some of these ancillary characters, you're going to find
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that Apostle is going to our top five book is going to bleed,
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bleed through into some of these other superlatives.
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It it has the the ancillary characters that, you know, stick
00:09:56
in your mind, might even say here, like, I think one of the
00:10:00
best villains of this entire series because of the, I want to
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say relatability or like the the humanness that that Brad gives
00:10:09
to them. There's no, there's not this
00:10:10
overarching, you know, crazy nuclear plague death.
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It's, it's a, it's a super, it's a super singular plot.
00:10:20
Save the girl. Yeah, save the girl.
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That's it. She's a hostage.
00:10:23
Yeah. Get her out at all costs.
00:10:26
Yeah, I agree. That is very different than a
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lot of the Brad Thor plots and motivators of the plot.
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And it was, it was just refreshing.
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And it's probably what a lot of operators and veterans can
00:10:37
identify with that they did those missions, had to do those
00:10:40
things and maybe even go undercover the way they, they
00:10:42
sneak in. Yeah, I remember he 1 scene he
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had to, he had the smells coming back to him of the meats, the
00:10:48
roast meats and the campfires. And it was really cool to see
00:10:53
that aspect of Scott. He's not always in the sandbox.
00:10:55
He's not always, you know, on those OPS like that undercover
00:10:59
or embedded with military units in a, in a current conflict.
00:11:03
So I, I agree it was fun And and I like that it's modern.
00:11:08
It's a modern war and Brad usually when he deals with the
00:11:14
moments, the the, the real life context in the moment, he nails
00:11:20
it. When he picks something going on
00:11:21
in the world and wants to comment on it, that's when I
00:11:24
feel like he's doing his bread and butter and he uses fiction
00:11:27
to actually say something. Brad has something to say in
00:11:30
each one of his books, and when he has an opportunity to do that
00:11:33
at A at a momentous moment in history like the Afghan war, I
00:11:38
think that's really powerful. And that's where some of his
00:11:40
best writing comes through. You see that with Deadfall.
00:11:42
It's I was you're, you're perfectly segwaying right into
00:11:46
my #4. That's your four.
00:11:47
OK. Yeah, I'm going to put it as an
00:11:50
honorable mention, but it's a very close honorable mention for
00:11:53
all these reasons. Yeah, I think it it stuck out to
00:11:56
me because, you know, Brad is not afraid to say something,
00:12:02
especially when he's passionate about it.
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You know, maybe just so happens that I also happen to, you know,
00:12:07
closely aligned with how he feels about that situation.
00:12:12
And I thought it was very powerful of him to put that book
00:12:16
out at the time to, you know, put it, you know, I don't want
00:12:21
to say put your your reputation on the line, but you know, you
00:12:24
can see how that book might is some some of your readers off,
00:12:29
you know, that maybe aren't sympathetic to the situation or
00:12:33
whatever. But Brad doesn't he never shies
00:12:36
away. He's never, he never has.
00:12:37
And I don't think he ever will. And, you know, just the, again,
00:12:42
the immersiveness we get, you know, placing us in to the
00:12:47
Ukraine in that situation. And we're reading it like that
00:12:50
was super fresh for me. It was and, you know, kind of
00:12:55
eerie in, in a sense reading that.
00:12:57
And like, at the same time, I'm, I'm worrying into all the news
00:13:01
that's coming out about, you know, watching like all the
00:13:04
documentaries, 20 days in Mary Pool, like all that kind of
00:13:06
stuff. And to have this be just, you
00:13:09
know, to put the faction in it just, I don't know, resonates a
00:13:13
little bit more with me. So that book I had to, you know,
00:13:16
if I had to pick out of the last, you know, backlash is is
00:13:21
relatively recent, but out of the last like 5 bucks deadfall
00:13:25
far and above all of them. Sure.
00:13:27
Of the most recent books, that one really stands out.
00:13:30
And again, it's it's a book where he had something to say,
00:13:32
he had a voice, he had a story to tell and used his characters
00:13:35
to tell the story of real life people that he empathizes with
00:13:39
that he he personally has a connection to.
00:13:42
Not to mention you mentioned the apostles going to come up later
00:13:45
in our superlatives. I also have it as a candidate
00:13:47
for a superlative Deadfall could very easily be up there for best
00:13:51
faction books. Which is crazy to say because
00:13:53
Brad usually when he digs into history where you can make
00:13:56
connections to like, I don't know, Palace and Versailles or
00:13:58
just something crazy like from the past and he could put
00:14:02
characters in that place and tell the history of it is
00:14:04
usually amazing. But he's doing that in a modern
00:14:07
day conflict. I remember the art pieces and
00:14:09
this mantle, something a lot of people haven't thought about
00:14:13
with this war, but he connected that to cultural identity and
00:14:16
how war doesn't just destroy lives and property, it destroys
00:14:19
culture and history and identity for people.
00:14:23
I remember that and the the orphanage right, of so many
00:14:26
Western Westerners who want to help and nonprofits who want to
00:14:29
help. And what does it actually look
00:14:31
like for them to go in and send personnel and be on the ground?
00:14:33
Is it helpful? Is it, is it hurt?
00:14:35
Is it hurting the cause? The villagers, right?
00:14:38
Imagine living in a modernized country and then boom, you got
00:14:41
to use CB radios and you remember that network of ham
00:14:44
radios that they had. These villagers were all
00:14:47
scattered about, like, just haunting stuff.
00:14:51
And not to mention the train scene.
00:14:53
Yeah. One of the best scenes.
00:14:55
Anytime Brad Thore writes a scene on a train anywhere in the
00:14:58
world could be, whatever train it is, you know you're getting a
00:15:01
good scene and that falls. Yeah, 100%.
00:15:05
Did we need Zelensky That felt? A little strange, you know, I'm
00:15:09
not saying that these books are perfect, you know, we're, we're,
00:15:13
we're, but you know, what's, what's your number for?
00:15:19
Yeah, so I, I drop dead, fall down, and this is where I'm
00:15:22
going to rely on my usual approach, which is oldies but
00:15:27
goodies #4 State of the Union and I.
00:15:32
Know. That's patron Mark Harris's
00:15:34
favorite book. I think that topped his list, so
00:15:38
I got it up here. Number 4, you dropped it to the
00:15:41
honorable mention. I could see it.
00:15:42
OK. But when we were going back and
00:15:44
recalling the the moves that were made in that book and to
00:15:48
make those moves in your third novel, I feel like that's the
00:15:53
book where where Brad knew he was in it for the long haul.
00:15:56
Scott Harvath was here to stay. Gary Lawler was here to stay.
00:16:00
He wanted to flesh out his back story.
00:16:02
He wanted to connect it to the Soviet era East Berlin.
00:16:06
Like this is when I think Brad knew he was going deep with
00:16:10
these characters for the long haul.
00:16:12
And you get a team up, you know, Gordo's there.
00:16:13
Rick Morrell, Dewolf Carlson, Skip Trawick.
00:16:17
I just feel like that book is establishing so much of what
00:16:21
Brad's voice was going to be and Alexander was in it.
00:16:26
The Russian woman who's still around, she came up recently.
00:16:30
Helmut Draeger was one of the best villains, if not the best.
00:16:33
This one might come up again in superlatives for that reason.
00:16:37
Herman, the German, the operations at the brothel.
00:16:40
This is when the OIAA is created.
00:16:44
The final climax and the action in Congressional Cemetery with
00:16:48
the bombs in the crypt. The opening.
00:16:50
So the opening in the close, because the opening is that guy
00:16:53
Leighton getting the activation. He's a deep cover operative who
00:16:57
has to go set up the suitcase nukes.
00:17:01
And he he, Oh my God, just all those things in your third book
00:17:06
were phenomenal. And let's not mention one of our
00:17:08
favorite places to go in the Brad Thor series, the Lydica
00:17:11
pub. When we get the history of that
00:17:15
unit, those guys in Berlin, this the original CIA guys who were
00:17:19
having to prove their mettle and go cut a snippet of the wire at
00:17:22
the top of the Berlin Wall. Bring it back to the pub.
00:17:27
I just think that book was doing so much that we would come to
00:17:30
love as Brad Thor style, and it was doing it early in book #3
00:17:34
great story. State of the Union.
00:17:37
And I it it again, it's like it's right in that five spot.
00:17:42
I think my #5 is a is a personal favorite of mine.
00:17:46
I think you, you know, we talked kind of talked about this last
00:17:49
bit, but you could easily slot state of the union in there, I
00:17:52
think. And, you know, again, after
00:17:54
talking last week about path to follow that up with state of the
00:17:59
union, like says a lot like to to come out with this, you know,
00:18:04
to revamp the story right. Again, like we to go hardcore in
00:18:11
the Cold War era to to, you know, establish Gary Lawler as
00:18:15
this new player who's going to be around, you know, for a very
00:18:18
long time. Giving us the the villain,
00:18:22
giving us these ancillary characters, you know, secondary
00:18:25
characters that are super memorable.
00:18:27
Yeah, IA 100% agree with you. I can totally see where you're
00:18:30
coming from. Yep, same way State of the Union
00:18:33
drops to like the 6-7 spot for you is where dead fall is for
00:18:36
me, right outside the top five. So you're #5 though, he says
00:18:40
personal for you. Takedown.
00:18:42
Yes, yeah, I I had to put takedown.
00:18:44
I don't know. You love that.
00:18:45
Like that escape from New York, you know, 2021 bridges like
00:18:50
that. I, you know, I think of die
00:18:52
hard, I think of, you know, all these movies that I used to
00:18:55
watch with my dad that that I love that have that feel of just
00:18:58
this lockdown in a location and we got a we got to find our way
00:19:03
out type style. And I love the, you know, the
00:19:08
team up. This is the beginning of like us
00:19:10
getting a new team up everything.
00:19:12
You know, what's going to be a pattern going forward where
00:19:15
we're going to get new players and Scott's going to have to
00:19:17
interact with different players as we go along.
00:19:22
You know, I thought like the, the one of the coolest scenes of
00:19:25
this entire series is, you know, when he steps on the pressure
00:19:28
plate and, and Tracy has to, you know, defuse the bomb and she
00:19:32
has all of her baggage and history.
00:19:33
And, you know, the introduction of the troll, you know, this is
00:19:36
like a, a, a big, a big player. And I don't know, I just the the
00:19:41
noir of this, this story just sticks with me too.
00:19:47
Completely agree, I I think takedown would have made my list
00:19:50
as well. It's clearly top 10 but it's
00:19:53
it's hanging out in that 789 ish spot.
00:19:57
I I hear you. I think if we reread it, I
00:19:59
definitely would put it up there.
00:20:01
Yeah, it's one of those ones like if you you reread it and it
00:20:04
it, it catapults the top. But now that we haven't read it
00:20:06
in a year plus two years, whatever it was, I think it
00:20:09
faded a little for me. But yeah, if I if I reread it, I
00:20:13
know I'd be a prisoner at the moment and I'd be all in.
00:20:17
I had to put in the five spot though.
00:20:18
One, I I wanted to find one that really was character heavy or
00:20:27
that played an important role. Kind of the way I picked State
00:20:30
of the Union as Brad establishing an early voice.
00:20:33
Well, I wanted one that played an important role somewhere in
00:20:35
that middle section. And I went with foreign
00:20:38
influence. I think, again, that was a
00:20:41
refresher book. You know, Gary Lawler's time, he
00:20:45
kind of disappeared, went to the background.
00:20:46
We hadn't heard from him. We're coming off the apostle.
00:20:49
Like, why was Scott in Afghanistan on this one?
00:20:51
Solo mission like this is very different.
00:20:53
Where does he go next? And Reid Carlton comes in and
00:20:57
the Carlton Group's a thing and we had to bring the troll in.
00:21:00
I just think that was the Carlton group was like this
00:21:03
really nice vehicle to keep the series alive and give it that
00:21:07
little injection that it needed. And it did it in a really smart
00:21:11
way. You had so much going on in that
00:21:13
book where it opens with the Inner Mongolia stuff like we
00:21:16
need some intelligence apparatus finding out what the Chinese are
00:21:18
secretly doing. But we don't come back to it.
00:21:20
It's kind of like a nice little deep plant.
00:21:23
There's a Rome bus explosion and the the troll was linked to that
00:21:27
and Carlton's on it. So that's why he he thinks the
00:21:29
troll is a bad guy because somehow he was involved in that
00:21:31
Rome bombing. But he was really, he knew the
00:21:34
weapons dealers, so he was able to give us the hints to find the
00:21:37
people who did it because he was actually able to track the
00:21:40
weapons dealers who were responsible for it.
00:21:44
That Padre Payo scene meeting him in Bash Country is just it's
00:21:50
one of those things that could be forgotten about the Scott
00:21:52
Harvest series because it's like, oh, who's the most
00:21:54
important? Gary Lawler, Nicholas Reed,
00:21:56
Carlton, let's put Padre Payo up there.
00:22:00
He came in only maybe three books, but when he's in, he is
00:22:04
in and he is a power. He's almost, I think, up there
00:22:07
in the Hermann, the German and Bullet Bob tier.
00:22:10
I think like Co characters that are like B plus, because like
00:22:15
your A list characters are you know, you know who they are.
00:22:18
So I think that the B list, but but that doesn't sound right to
00:22:21
call these guys B list because they're so great.
00:22:23
They're like that. They're like the A2, like you,
00:22:25
you said the one A2A. This is like the 1B or 2A
00:22:32
Herman, the German Bullet Bob and Padre Peo.
00:22:34
I think those three guys are like fighting for that next best
00:22:36
character spot. So his introduction is here.
00:22:40
The Athena ladies are introduced to, there's another plant,
00:22:43
Gretchen Casey, Nikki Rodriguez, I'd imagine Sloane Ashby, I
00:22:48
can't remember exactly if she's mentioned at this point.
00:22:51
It's possible, but all a lot of the Athena ladies are there on
00:22:54
the Amsterdam op. And finally, Robert Ashford, if
00:22:59
if you're talking about another character, he's almost like the
00:23:03
middle Brad, Rick Morel. Rick Morel was the Rick the
00:23:07
prick of the first act of Brad's books.
00:23:10
In the second act of these books, the second middle
00:23:12
section, I feel like Robert Ashford is your guy.
00:23:16
You love to hate him because he's a bad guy.
00:23:18
And when you hear about his turn, and that's also a little
00:23:21
cliffhanger at the end, which takes you into the next book
00:23:24
with Shawn Chase undercover. Foreign Influence I think was a
00:23:28
lot of fun and very important for the series.
00:23:31
Yeah, no, it's, it's, you're right for having to go back and
00:23:36
like in that middle section. And like you said, it's, you
00:23:40
know, the introduction of the Carlton group and a reset.
00:23:42
You know, we we're going to move past the OIIA and we're we're
00:23:45
moving Scott into a whole new environment and and and place
00:23:49
that he can play in. And, you know, just to be able
00:23:51
to unravel all of this new information that we're getting
00:23:55
that's going to, you know, re establish this universe is like
00:23:58
where Brad wants to take it the next, you know, 10 plus books
00:24:03
it. Yeah, no, no, that's that's a
00:24:04
good a good call for an influence kind of.
00:24:06
Yeah, I don't think I I really had it that high, obviously.
00:24:09
Gone. Correct.
00:24:10
Yeah, it was a sleeper. It it kind of snuck its way up.
00:24:13
Now the ones that it just eked out, besides the ones we talked
00:24:17
about, I think code of conduct is also hanging out right there.
00:24:21
I was going to say that to. Another sleeper?
00:24:23
That's an honorable mention. That's an 8910 slot for sure.
00:24:27
And for me, I also had Blacklist.
00:24:30
I sure really liked Blacklist. I like this idea of, you know,
00:24:37
like you get like the spy who gets burned and he has to, you
00:24:43
know, claws way back. You know, you're constantly
00:24:45
looking over your back. You, you don't know who to
00:24:47
trust, who to you know, who, who's your friend, who's your
00:24:51
foe. You know, you're, you're out
00:24:54
there on your own. You, you get some really great
00:24:57
interactions, you know, really bringing Nicholas in, you know,
00:25:01
seeing him operate in this system.
00:25:04
Obviously we get the introduction of of Nina, who's
00:25:06
going to play a role in in his story arc, you know, going
00:25:10
forward. We get some old school, you
00:25:13
know, Carlton with some of his friends, you know, like this,
00:25:17
you know, like, yeah, like seems the spies act like spies.
00:25:21
Yeah, like for sure some of the some of the spy work.
00:25:23
When we get that in these novels, it's it's great to see.
00:25:27
So Blacklist to me is another one of those middle middle
00:25:31
books, like around for an influence that you know, maybe
00:25:35
forgotten but should not like slept on but should not be for.
00:25:38
It has third option vibes. You're talking about spies being
00:25:41
spies it almost and getting burned and whatnot.
00:25:44
It almost feels like third option from the Met Rap series.
00:25:47
Those books are very similar to me.
00:25:49
You know, another one that we had a lot of fun reading it that
00:25:52
nearly sneaks into maybe not the top five, but nearly hanging
00:25:58
around that top ten just because it was a lot of fun and
00:26:01
unfortunately the ending let us down.
00:26:03
Use of force could have made it. Use of force was good.
00:26:07
Use of Force had some travelling heavy for a purpose that was
00:26:10
really, really entertaining. And if it didn't have that, Rome
00:26:16
let down in the end where he thought it was going to be this
00:26:18
climactic action piece in Rome and that it just died out.
00:26:21
And Deborah Lovett, the CIA contact there, Argento, of
00:26:26
course, the Italian. I just feel like that should get
00:26:27
an honorable mention for just being a fun a fun ride the
00:26:31
nightclub scenes. You know, I'm, I think I also
00:26:36
have to say near dark, like we, we didn't quite give it the best
00:26:42
score when we ranked it because I think it has has some flaws.
00:26:47
But to me, I think Near Dark has to be in in the top 10 because
00:26:51
of its similarities to the apostle to a takedown where
00:26:56
you're you're in this whole one environment and you're just
00:27:01
being fully placed there. And then like coming out of
00:27:05
backlash and like having to follow that up.
00:27:08
I think like that book, you know, just does something for
00:27:12
me. I don't know.
00:27:14
I think coming out of backlash, you're right, that's really
00:27:16
hard. And let's give credit to the
00:27:18
monster Michelle scene at the end.
00:27:20
Of. Course, yeah, probably somewhere
00:27:24
in the 10 to 15 range if we're if we're going to go down to
00:27:26
that section of books, I think Rising Tiger deserves it to do
00:27:30
there. There's not a lot of the most
00:27:33
recent books outside of Deadfall that that really hit for me like
00:27:39
that middle of the pack or better.
00:27:41
But I think Rising Tiger deserves it.
00:27:43
I think it's right behind Deadfall in terms of the more
00:27:45
recent books and it is almost a one off.
00:27:50
It's almost the Side Story adventure where he's going off
00:27:53
with VJ and Asha, but they were a really good team up.
00:27:57
Like for modern day Brad, where we haven't got a random team up
00:28:00
team up in a while, right? We've gotten his usual crew
00:28:03
lately. He had to do a random team up.
00:28:06
He had to go to unfamiliar territory, find a fixer, find a
00:28:09
contact, get in with them. And he did.
00:28:12
And it fit like a glove. And I think that was just a fun
00:28:15
book. Does Spymaster crack your top
00:28:19
10? Yeah, spymasters hanging out
00:28:21
there. But what I realized when we read
00:28:23
it was so much of what was in Spymaster or I was thinking of
00:28:28
backlash. Sure.
00:28:29
I just put the them together. Backlash Part 1, sure.
00:28:32
Backlash Part 1 is definitely up there for.
00:28:34
Me, no, that's to me. Like, I guess I associate it
00:28:37
because it's. You know exactly.
00:28:40
There's a dual arc that. Gets Brad to.
00:28:43
Associate with them together, but in actuality the the book I
00:28:47
like better is backlash. You know, sort of the reaction
00:28:50
to like when oh, you know, rereading the spymaster for this
00:28:54
novel for the series it I don't want to say it let me down, but
00:28:58
I just it it's an important book.
00:29:00
It it, it we, we don't get a backlash without Spymaster so.
00:29:04
If you had a villain like who you didn't know was a villain,
00:29:07
the the Polish guy Matterhorn. Yeah, exactly.
00:29:12
Like that's one of the coolest spy villain stories, like deep
00:29:18
mole, undercover mole. And then how Reed Carlton knew
00:29:21
about it and what's her name did to Lydia Ryan.
00:29:24
Lydia Ryan was really playing him in those conversations.
00:29:28
But we the audience didn't know that.
00:29:29
Like, awesome move. Awesome move.
00:29:33
So, yeah, I I think Spymaster was doing if if we pick
00:29:37
Spymaster apart, there were some incredible things in there.
00:29:40
Probably could be up on the superlative you know list as
00:29:43
well for a couple of categories but it's probably at that 10
00:29:47
spot ish 1012. One reason is because when
00:29:52
they're on the ground hiding out in the car wash just taking naps
00:29:56
and then a really awkward scene they bungle hiding behind some
00:29:58
wooden pallets as the cops show up or some bystanders come by.
00:30:03
It was interesting. The end of the book races like
00:30:06
to the end, like, too fast, you know?
00:30:10
Yeah, going across that lake to that extract.
00:30:12
Oh, you know what? And maybe we should just get to
00:30:14
the superlatives, because I'm thinking action sequences.
00:30:18
What book opened with the Burning Man Festival?
00:30:22
Was it Use of Force? That was a fun, fun scene.
00:30:30
Yeah, it's Use of Force that. So again, I said Use of Force
00:30:33
was just a fun book. Scenes like that were
00:30:35
incredible. Laptop of dude.
00:30:37
Yeah, yeah, Yep, exactly. Well, we definitely know what
00:30:41
the the bottom books are, right? Yeah, do we need to get into it?
00:30:48
No, no, no we don't. Let's move on.
00:30:51
Let's get into some of these superlatives.
00:30:55
Yeah, what do you want to start with here?
00:30:56
Well, I think you already kicked it off with best, best action
00:30:59
sequence. Yeah, that's a tough one.
00:31:03
The My problem is am IA prisoner of the moment if I keep coming
00:31:07
back to Lions of Lucerne. Or is it the fact that opening
00:31:12
on the slopes and ending with the mountains of Switzerland
00:31:14
we're just so cool? Even 24 books later I'm coming
00:31:19
back to those two. Is that a problem?
00:31:21
Am IA prisoner of the moment for that.
00:31:24
No, I think like there's a reason that it's in our top
00:31:27
five. That good?
00:31:31
Yeah, that's really tough. We, you know, we were going
00:31:35
through the series like, you know, doing revisiting Path of
00:31:40
the Assassin, right? And seeing how there's not one,
00:31:45
but two sequences from that novel that are amazing action
00:31:49
sequences. Yep, they could both be up
00:31:52
there. The Apostle.
00:31:55
The escape from the Apostle in that Humvee.
00:31:58
In the very. End with calling in the AC130
00:32:02
gunship. That could be up there.
00:32:05
The State of the Union, you already mentioned the, the, you
00:32:07
know, the sort of the culmination at the congressional
00:32:11
at the congressional or like down in those, you know, the,
00:32:15
the interaction in the what he has to pull like a cigarette
00:32:19
thing and to to get Garrett because Gary Lawler is being
00:32:23
like interrogated. Right, right, right, right.
00:32:29
What are some other good ones? Oh, the in Brazil, when they're
00:32:34
down like on that aisle with. The troll with the troll and
00:32:38
they save each other. That's a good 10 in the Congo in
00:32:41
the woods. Or that clinic, that burned out
00:32:43
clinic, that was really thrilling stuff.
00:32:46
We said the train scene in Deadfall.
00:32:48
Train scene in Deadfall is up there.
00:32:52
I think the Burning Man attacks too.
00:32:53
I remember that was one of the edge of my seat of like, oh,
00:32:56
they got the guy they got the guy.
00:32:57
Oh my God, there's a bunch of guys and there were like all
00:32:59
these suicide bombers and somewhere in the children's area
00:33:02
and you know that was wild. That was edge of your seat
00:33:06
stuff. I I would say use of force
00:33:08
again, one of the two, I don't remember which, but one of the
00:33:10
nightclub scenes that then makes them hightail it to roam because
00:33:14
they get the Intel like going with the mafia out there.
00:33:17
Oh, and I think is it Deborah Lovett, the CIA woman when she's
00:33:22
taken in use of force and like the villain takes her to like
00:33:27
that tent that cabana on the beach right finger or about to
00:33:31
is attempting to that was thrilling stuff you.
00:33:36
You mentioned this earlier, but the the Amsterdam's OP like the
00:33:39
with with the Athena ladies, there's a bunch of accent
00:33:44
sequences in the theme project. Sure, wild book.
00:33:52
Wild book. Wild book.
00:33:55
It's it's on a whole like oh class of its own.
00:33:59
Yeah, near dark Mont St. Michel.
00:34:01
We were just talking about that. That could be up there.
00:34:03
Where do you land, though? Where do you land?
00:34:15
Oh, the opening to Rising Tiger with the the attack on.
00:34:22
Sure. The the in like the in India.
00:34:25
Right. Has nothing to do with Scott,
00:34:29
though, and doesn't come back in the rest of the book, which I
00:34:31
thought was a bit of a disappointment.
00:34:33
Yeah, that's cool. That's a cool character.
00:34:35
Why can't I remember that Anything from Shadow and doubt?
00:34:38
Shadow of Doubt. I'm blanking.
00:34:40
I do remember the kill with the ice pick in the apartment.
00:34:43
That guy who has all the the Intel and is willing to talk and
00:34:48
he wants to give it to the Americans about how France's
00:34:50
current, the government's corrupted.
00:34:54
Oh the well, I don't know if you can call this action.
00:34:57
It's not an action sequence. It's more of a cliffhanger.
00:34:59
But the dog bullet being left at Bishop's gate and Tracy getting
00:35:04
shot, that was a lot of oh shit moments.
00:35:09
A lot of good action sequences in in in blowback.
00:35:13
We're probably missing quite a few so.
00:35:16
Be sure to hit. Us up comment at us if if you
00:35:18
have a different one, but I'm going trip down memory lane.
00:35:21
I remember reading it so viscerally being like this
00:35:26
author has just done enough for me to be a lifetime fan.
00:35:29
In the first like 5 chapters of lines of Lucerne.
00:35:32
I got to go with the the skiing, the presidential detail, you
00:35:36
know, Amanda Rutledge, the president Rutledge on the
00:35:39
slopes. I just think the skiing scene
00:35:41
lines of Lucerne call me a prisoner of the moment, but it's
00:35:44
still #1 even after reliving all these others.
00:35:49
Yeah, I mean, I, I agree with you too.
00:35:51
I, you know, just to give love to a novel that we don't don't
00:35:58
love that much. I I think I'm going to give it
00:36:01
to the plane. It's it's that plane scene.
00:36:03
The plane takedown, yeah. Is crazy.
00:36:07
Dude, Can you imagine if that was Claudia Mueller?
00:36:10
Yeah, for some reason, if that was Claudia Mueller on that
00:36:13
plane and she had to do all those things and then Scott
00:36:16
drops in and the Egyptians fuck all and the Rick Morrell is a
00:36:18
pussy and all that happens and it's Claudia Mueller doing that
00:36:22
shit on the plane meeting up with Scott.
00:36:25
I would have, I would have stood up.
00:36:26
I would have stood up and applauded.
00:36:28
Just that would have been amazing that the fact that it's
00:36:31
megacity just grinds my gears. Butt.
00:36:33
Great choice. Great pick.
00:36:34
Great pick. All right, let's let's go to
00:36:38
best villain. Can we relive these just a
00:36:43
little in our recap episode? I feel like we hit on a lot of
00:36:46
stuff. How much did we get into
00:36:48
villains? Or is that because are there
00:36:51
that many memorable ones that go across books like a 234 book
00:36:56
villain? There's not, there's not,
00:36:58
there's not there's never been a disease or, you know, even like
00:37:03
a a Hank Clark, you know, like that that kind of villain or
00:37:06
even though some of the villains that we've gotten in, you know,
00:37:09
some of these other series we've read.
00:37:11
I think to me, you see all these books like have a quote UN quote
00:37:18
villain. The three that really stick out
00:37:23
to me are Helmet Dragger from State of the Union, the the
00:37:31
Brother, the the Russian, along with Masood in the Apostle.
00:37:35
Sure, sure. Yeah.
00:37:37
And and then you got to, you got to throw in the Robert Ashford
00:37:46
duo with the JM standing guy. I think that's where Brad was
00:37:55
trying to do this ultimate villain character, you know, to
00:37:59
have him, you know, play a role in in both those novels with
00:38:04
like these, you know, they have this huge, you know, they have
00:38:06
that map with all the different kinds of attacks.
00:38:10
And they're well endowed, right? Exactly.
00:38:14
I think you're right. The James standing is probably
00:38:17
like, the biggest attempt at making, you know, the The Wizard
00:38:20
of Oz, the guy behind the curtain pulling the strings for
00:38:23
long, extended periods of time and Robert Ashford being a pawn.
00:38:28
But it's only two books. Yeah.
00:38:30
And if I just ask you, we're coming off of the 23rd book,
00:38:32
We're getting ready for the 24th book.
00:38:34
And I go James Standing like it doesn't excite the emotions.
00:38:38
If I were to go, Hank Clark, Sure, You know.
00:38:43
Aziz. Aziz.
00:38:44
Aziz. Yeah, exactly.
00:38:46
But but yeah, pretty good, I think.
00:38:49
Gerhard Minor again, I'm going back to Lions.
00:38:52
Gerhard Minor's got to be in the picture.
00:38:54
Pierre Damien. The Eugenicist.
00:38:58
The yeah, the guy with the Malthusian doctrine, the food
00:39:02
supply, lower population. He was scary too, wasn't he?
00:39:07
What was the book with? Like IBM and the supercomputers?
00:39:09
They were talking about the history of that.
00:39:12
I remember there was 1 villain who was using a techie guy to
00:39:15
get everything done for him. I think that might have been
00:39:17
Pierre Damien in that book. Code of conduct.
00:39:26
It could have been Tersenov, Tajik, and use of force.
00:39:33
Yep. If any one of these guys we just
00:39:36
mentioned was like a 2-3 book arc villain they'd be
00:39:39
incredible. But it's not Brad style.
00:39:43
Deadfall the the wack the the the Wagner Group mercenaries
00:39:48
true and that their. Leader.
00:39:50
Very true. Oh, near dark, The Irishman.
00:39:56
Paul someone? See, that's the problem with
00:39:59
these characters is that, like you said, you say their name.
00:40:02
And probably the only one that like truly sticks out is Gerhard
00:40:06
Minor. Robert.
00:40:07
Ashford maybe as a traitor. Robert Ashford, Gerhard Minor
00:40:11
and Helmet Dragger. I think that's it.
00:40:14
And if Helmet Dragger came up again, like I know State of the
00:40:17
Union happened, but like now that we've got Gary Lawler back,
00:40:20
let's dig into a like if we come back in the next, I would say
00:40:24
the next 5 books, if he doesn't do it, then he's never going to
00:40:27
do it. But if in the next 5 books Brad
00:40:29
Thor brings back a Gary Lawler in the early days, you know the
00:40:33
way Jack Carr is doing that with James Reese's father and the way
00:40:37
Don Bentley's doing that in the Mitch Rap series.
00:40:39
I really think Brad had an opportunity in the recent
00:40:44
stretch of books but still has the opportunity to do the back
00:40:49
story on Gary Lawler. Now.
00:40:51
Does it need to be its own book? Maybe because if you stuff it
00:40:55
into a book it doesn't work because Black Ice had a stuffed
00:40:59
in chapter about Peaches and Reid Carlton, what he was doing
00:41:02
back in the day and it just felt out of place.
00:41:05
So it almost deserved its own book.
00:41:07
Go ahead and do that for Gary Lawler and Helmut Draeger.
00:41:11
It bring in his wife and what happened with them.
00:41:13
If Helmut Draeger was mentioned even just once or twice sometime
00:41:18
later in the series, I think it would have elevated him greatly,
00:41:22
but he's just gone. Yeah, that's, I mean, that's the
00:41:26
problem with the the villains in this entire series.
00:41:29
Yeah. There's not, you know, some of
00:41:32
the other ones that I think you know, I'm I'm, I'm blanking on
00:41:35
their names, but Halim and brother.
00:41:40
Blacklist or. No in from I'm thinking from
00:41:43
mitrap like where you know they were.
00:41:46
The two brothers driving the two brothers were super honour.
00:41:49
And they were, but they were the main villains in the previous
00:41:52
book with. They masterminded the attack in
00:41:54
extreme measures. Exactly.
00:41:57
But we've also criticized like those dangling ends of a book
00:42:01
wraps up. It was a great story, but the
00:42:02
villain got away and just in the next book, you go hunt him and
00:42:05
kill him and it's over. That's not really a two book
00:42:07
villain. Those guys drove the plot of the
00:42:10
first book, masterminding it. And then in the second book, the
00:42:14
entire book was about chasing him down, culminating in action
00:42:18
to get the one at the Lincoln Memorial with Mike Nash.
00:42:20
So like that was well done where I wouldn't want one of these
00:42:25
villains in a Scott Harvath book just to pop up and have their
00:42:28
story wrapped up. And I don't think Brad wants to
00:42:30
do that either because he likes standalones.
00:42:34
I think he likes the idea of you could pick it up, stories done,
00:42:36
completed, let's move on. Give Scott the next adventure in
00:42:39
the next book. So I I think I don't know how he
00:42:44
would do it. It made more sense in the Mitch
00:42:46
rap series to do it. It became common in that series.
00:42:50
I don't know how you would do it in this one, but it does feel
00:42:54
like it's missing. You do feel that gap all?
00:42:57
Right. Well, we got to pick 1.
00:42:58
So out of out of those, who would you pick?
00:43:05
I can't say Gerhard Minor because I just.
00:43:10
You're right, We we once. How about once you use a book,
00:43:13
you can't go back to it? It's not a bad idea, it's not a
00:43:16
bad idea, but do you miss out on something there?
00:43:18
Probably, but it's our own exercise.
00:43:20
Yeah, you know what? It was Robert Ashford, Robin
00:43:25
Edge. I'm going to go James standing,
00:43:26
which is, you know, they're kind of together, but I think that's
00:43:31
Brad's biggest, like trying to have this two book arc of this,
00:43:39
you know, big bad character. So yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:43:42
That's a good and I think I'll give the honorable mention to
00:43:45
Pierre Damien, because when you pulled that name, I was like,
00:43:47
oh, I got the creeps. I got the creeps.
00:43:50
Oh that scene where the woman who he's dating but is actually
00:43:54
a Mossad agent being run by Mordecai.
00:43:56
Remember Mordecai? He's a cool character.
00:43:59
That was pretty thrilling when Pierre Damien the creep found
00:44:04
out about her. Like that's like Oh my God.
00:44:08
Speaking of, actually Mordecai makes me think already shown we
00:44:11
can count him as villain. True.
00:44:13
He's probably in that in that second tier list of good
00:44:16
villains. Also Adar and Nidal True the
00:44:23
whole Nidal. Family Nidal.
00:44:24
Yeah. Then you know what?
00:44:28
Yeah. That's probably the closest you
00:44:30
can come to, like, a reoccurring villain because the Abu Nidal
00:44:33
organization was listed a few times in the earlier books.
00:44:39
Yeah. True, true.
00:44:41
You know what? We just talked about something
00:44:43
that's not our favorite in the series.
00:44:44
Let's go to something that is a hallmark of the series, Team
00:44:48
UPS. What was your favorite Get the
00:44:50
crew together moment and Scott's team UPS?
00:44:54
There's a couple here. My first instinct is to go
00:45:00
takedown and to have to have that team up, team up, you know,
00:45:05
have these, these vets, they're all in a group, you know, sort
00:45:10
of like this cast of unlikely characters.
00:45:15
I could also go with the apostle, you know, Babaji.
00:45:18
That's mine. But I I think I want to put him
00:45:22
as like one of the best Co characters.
00:45:25
There, I don't know, I'm going, I'm going Apostle with Hoyt,
00:45:31
Babaji, Fontaine. I think when those guys were
00:45:35
having the banter, because that's another thing Brad does
00:45:37
very well, is the banter between the guys.
00:45:41
I just think it's done on another level in that book
00:45:45
because you had to do it in the manner and the style by which
00:45:49
veterans and operators who've seen the Theater of war would
00:45:53
recognize and identify with and feel authentic.
00:45:55
And I think, I think that book just made it so authentic.
00:45:59
They were absolutely hysterical. They had their quirks.
00:46:03
I bet those guys in particular remind so many veterans of the
00:46:08
Afghanistan war exactly what it was like to be there, to be down
00:46:11
range and just have that body light in the mood for you and
00:46:14
give you the the will to fight and the reason to live.
00:46:16
So I I think Apostle was a special team up takedown.
00:46:22
Great poll. Yeah, same thing talking about
00:46:25
veterans and real issues. PTSD group for sure.
00:46:30
For sure. That's a good one.
00:46:32
Honorable mention Code of Conduct had a decent crew out
00:46:37
there in the jungle. They were kind of rounded.
00:46:39
Remember Ash? Mick Simon.
00:46:41
Yeah, like those those other like players that we, you know,
00:46:44
never see again. Ever.
00:46:47
Doctor Decker, Doctor Jess Decker.
00:46:52
You know what? While we're on team UPS, another
00:46:55
thing that Scott does well is bringing the local fixer.
00:46:59
I mentioned that for Rising Tiger with VJ, but code of
00:47:02
conduct, you get that guy Jambo, yes, he's like one of the
00:47:05
locals. And every time those guys are
00:47:07
like heroes, they come up. Within the apostle, what's the
00:47:12
Babaji's like, friend? The one who gets them undercover
00:47:16
in that, like, rations they're or they're bringing, like,
00:47:18
cooking supplies to the Taliban. And he drives a truck to the
00:47:21
Taliban every week. Yeah.
00:47:23
And he hides them out. Yep.
00:47:24
Oh. What was his name?
00:47:28
There's Babaji's contact on the inside, I don't know, but that
00:47:36
guy was really good. Papaji man, great character.
00:47:43
So while while we're doing it, it's kind of kind of similar
00:47:46
with team up go character. No, you could go.
00:47:50
We could go ABC Tier A for me. Yeah, Nicholas, OK.
00:47:59
Nicholas is clear, far and above.
00:48:03
I think the best thing that that you know, you Gary and like a
00:48:08
Reed are like a close second, but Nicholas is by far the the
00:48:11
best, I think. So for B character, I think I
00:48:16
have to go like Sloan or Chase like and they've they've become
00:48:22
this like team up that Scott has had for quite a few books now.
00:48:27
I love you know, you you can include any of the other guys
00:48:30
that that that are there with them.
00:48:32
I think you know that that whole Carlton group that he brings in
00:48:39
multiple times. Great.
00:48:42
But I for me, I got to go like the C character ones that are
00:48:46
only in one book. Papaji to me was just.
00:48:49
Yeah, I think if you're going to the C level, it's it's a Babaji
00:48:52
or another one pushing is that Italian guy just mentioned
00:48:55
Argento. That might even be D level.
00:48:58
I'm not sure. I got to go back to B level
00:49:00
though for a minute. Great poll.
00:49:03
I think you have to put Herman the German and Bullet Bob.
00:49:08
Herman the German. I think those two are equally
00:49:11
the best at B level. I just think Herman the German
00:49:14
Bullet Bob are just so clearly the best B level characters.
00:49:18
Equally you can't choose between them.
00:49:21
Yeah, so I just that had to be my pull there.
00:49:24
Now I will say a different level of B character.
00:49:27
You might consider them C character, but I I think I'm
00:49:29
going to say they're like B minus or B characters.
00:49:33
The the team up between Bob McGee and Lydia Ryan.
00:49:36
Yeah, I think of them as. One Ryan and Bob McGee are very
00:49:39
good characters. Granted, I hear you giving that
00:49:42
spot to Sloan Ashby and you're well within your rights.
00:49:44
I think that's a fine move, especially if we're talking that
00:49:47
like mid mid Brad Thor era. But if we're talking the mid
00:49:51
Brad Thor era to the modern Brad Thor era, kind of like the end
00:49:55
of the read Carlton era, that that spymaster kind of
00:49:57
conclusion. Lydia Ryan was great was was so
00:50:02
great and she was built up to be the character who would lead the
00:50:05
Carlton group. She could have become CIA
00:50:07
director and she turned it down so she can operate gave Bob
00:50:10
McGee that position. I think Lydia Ryan came on
00:50:13
strong, grew, had an opportunity to take on 2 massive roles, had
00:50:19
the whole future ahead of her. And then Spymaster when you take
00:50:22
her out, I just feel like I thought she was going to be the
00:50:25
next 10 books, you know, type character.
00:50:27
She would be the next read Carlton.
00:50:28
And when she's taken out, I'm like whoa, things are different
00:50:33
now. So man, you know what?
00:50:37
We went this whole podcast and haven't said Laura yet.
00:50:40
Well, I mean, I think we're, we're, we're saving it for this,
00:50:43
you know, Scots ladies. I think to me, we, we kind of
00:50:48
crowned her a couple books ago. But it's clearly Salvy.
00:50:53
It's yeah, it's, it's clearly salvy.
00:50:54
And I think a close #2 is the first lady Claudia, one that we
00:51:01
I felt was taken too soon, not like killed but like just
00:51:06
written off, you know, before she needed to be comes back, you
00:51:12
know, I mean, a couple other books, you know, plays a role in
00:51:16
helping Scott out. Tracy in the third spot.
00:51:20
Yeah, Tracy's very good. So you will put Tracy ahead of
00:51:23
Laura? I would, yeah.
00:51:26
Yeah. We actually don't get much.
00:51:27
Laura, he's in. He loves Tracy.
00:51:30
It's true. We don't see a lot of her.
00:51:31
She's actually doing something in one book and then she's
00:51:34
showing up or mentioned in a bunch of other ones.
00:51:38
I remembered her playing such a a more forward centric role.
00:51:43
And then as we reread these books, I was like, where is she?
00:51:45
When is she going to do something?
00:51:47
Instead, she was just a counterpoint for him to bring up
00:51:50
every once in a while of, oh, I'm going to the next mission.
00:51:53
Oh, wait, I have this girl back home.
00:51:55
I want to see, you know, and that was just stuffed into too
00:51:58
many books. Just running out of ideas of
00:52:00
where to place her. When can she come in?
00:52:01
She showed up at a few points. I guess it's code of conduct,
00:52:05
you know when. Who does he send up to Alaska?
00:52:09
It's Laura. It is Laura.
00:52:10
Oh and and Marco of course. Marco.
00:52:12
Great D level E level character. They get their pancakes.
00:52:18
No, I think Laura had so much more potential, but I have to
00:52:20
put her down in the for 4th spot on Scott's ladies below Tracy
00:52:25
above Meg Cassidy. Oh yeah, Meg.
00:52:28
Meg's at the bottom. Now who's the one in the Athena
00:52:31
group that he has a mentioned? Casey.
00:52:34
She could be up there, she's just so minor.
00:52:36
Actually, she's obviously she's the lead character of the Athena
00:52:39
project. Do you put her above Meg?
00:52:41
Yeah. Do you put her above?
00:52:43
And they did have that book where they actually got
00:52:45
together. They had a few flings.
00:52:46
They had a few hotel room moments.
00:52:48
Do you put her above Tracy? No.
00:52:54
So that that really brought Riley to the five spot.
00:52:56
Oh, Riley's great. I think I still put Meg put
00:53:02
Gretchen above Riley. They had a fling though.
00:53:07
I think he's. Just interested in her.
00:53:08
But then he has There's a lot. Of there's a lot of character, I
00:53:11
mean, Alexandra is, is is one of those characters.
00:53:15
But then there's like professional respect characters,
00:53:17
Alessandra Sloane, Ashby, Lydia Ryan.
00:53:20
Like they're never. Oh, who's the one?
00:53:22
Who's in? Spymaster Who she's.
00:53:28
The NATO of Monica Yushinski. Yushinski.
00:53:31
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Jess Decker.
00:53:33
Oh dude, Holiday Haze is right up there on that list.
00:53:37
I want to see her. I want to see her in a big role.
00:53:39
Her and Deborah Lovett coming back.
00:53:40
I I think the two of them could be Acia tag team duo for the
00:53:45
long haul. They could be what Lydia Ryan
00:53:47
Never. Got yeah, Lydia Ryan.
00:53:49
Not not a love interest, but a good female character.
00:53:51
No, we're talking about, we're talking about those characters
00:53:53
that are respected, like the Alessandra category, Sloane
00:53:56
Ashby category. Yeah, although Sloane is special
00:53:58
in that category. She's literally like Scott's
00:54:02
sister. Yeah, Essentially, yeah.
00:54:04
Has she been around recently? Which day she was in shadow of
00:54:10
doubt. Was she?
00:54:13
I forget Shadow of Doubt. We should have reread that one.
00:54:16
Yeah, we should have. The most recent one I we might
00:54:20
have to for Edge of Honor, or at least when we do Edge of Honor
00:54:24
over on our other feed the Thriller podcast in a few
00:54:27
months, maybe we should reference Shadow of Doubt,
00:54:29
Recall it, go back to it for a little just to open up that
00:54:32
episode before Edge of Honor comes.
00:54:38
I got two more here that we got to cover.
00:54:40
We got we got to cover best travelling heavy and you know it
00:54:45
wouldn't be a Mitch tripod without the best cover, so we'll
00:54:48
save that for laughs. Got to do covers.
00:54:52
Travelling heavy? Lot of options here my man.
00:55:03
Now are we going with the book that does the most traveling
00:55:06
heavy, like stuffs it all in because sometimes the quality is
00:55:09
sacrificed. I feel like we can't go with
00:55:11
something like a black ice because it's just really like
00:55:14
one place. I feel like it has to be a book
00:55:16
that's balanced. It does a lot of traveling.
00:55:18
It has all its, you know, world country hopping, but at the same
00:55:22
time it gives respect to all of those places.
00:55:25
Yes, exactly. It's something like we said Path
00:55:27
of the Assassin does. I think that's a candidate.
00:55:30
I don't think it's the one, but I think it could be a candidate
00:55:33
for this. Whereas we can't say takedown,
00:55:35
we can't say the apostle, we can't say deadfall, because
00:55:38
they're all single stories. Right, OK.
00:55:43
I think it's foreign influence for me.
00:55:44
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's one of the ones where we go a lot of
00:55:49
places, but it's executed very well.
00:55:54
I mean, you could easily say Lions of the Third.
00:55:58
Sure, too sure. But taking if that's taken off
00:56:01
the board, I I think I'm I'm gravitating towards foreign.
00:56:06
Yeah, foreign influence is definitely up there.
00:56:08
There's one I'm looking for. We're in London, we're in
00:56:11
France, we're in Basque Country, we're in, you know, where we pop
00:56:13
over to Rome, we start in the Inner Mongolia, we go to
00:56:19
Amsterdam. Ah, you know which one I was
00:56:28
looking for? The first commandment that's in
00:56:33
Brazil. The island in Brazil where Amy
00:56:35
Nicholas Valhalla with Tim Finney, the Sargasso facility.
00:56:40
There's an opening scene in Gitmo with Juba the sniper being
00:56:43
taken out. There's Egypt and the plagues,
00:56:45
the bucket of blood bar in Virginia, Lake Geneva with the
00:56:49
Meg Cassidy boat scene. The troll where in Jerusalem
00:56:53
kills already shown. Is it too much going on?
00:56:57
But each of those was pretty memorable.
00:57:01
The scene on Lake Geneva, I could picture that with the boat
00:57:04
chase. That's.
00:57:05
Another good action sequence. That's a good action.
00:57:07
Then they're under the dock. That was a good action sequence,
00:57:09
but I remember it felt a little weird and out of place.
00:57:13
It's a great sequence, but where it was in the book I I remember
00:57:16
having a an issue with. It also plays a role with Adara
00:57:21
and like the Albert, the Albert you know, probably is the
00:57:24
organization is probably the the biggest villain.
00:57:28
Yeah, I remember it was. It was nice that we got a
00:57:31
conclusion of that in the first commandment, but it was weird
00:57:34
how it was tied into the troll and isn't, is that the book in
00:57:38
the hotel where Nicholas is riding the dogs and he just
00:57:43
busts out the hotel riding the dogs?
00:57:45
Oh, because one of them gets shot and that's when Scott saves
00:57:47
him. Yeah.
00:57:49
Was why? Oh, because I think they're
00:57:50
chasing Adar and Nadal in that scene or something.
00:57:55
But I remember, yes, it was pretty cool.
00:57:58
The Abu Nidal Organization family is such an ongoing
00:58:01
villain. It's a little strange how it was
00:58:04
tied up with the troll and Ari Shone's grandson.
00:58:08
I guess it worked. All right, I think I'll go with
00:58:11
that one. Is it?
00:58:18
Time best covers. Shall we talk covers?
00:58:22
If you all want to see the covers in one spot,
00:58:26
thrillerpod.com At the top you'll see a drop down list, 3
00:58:30
dots. Click on Thrillerpod scorecard.
00:58:33
Nope, that's if you want to see our scores.
00:58:35
Click on Brad Thor and you'll see all the Brad Thor covers
00:58:38
from every one of our episodes. There's a lot, dude.
00:58:41
How many are there? There's a lot to choose and each
00:58:45
of these is only the first thumbnail.
00:58:47
There were a few books with publications that took two full
00:58:50
pages and I could only put one thumbnail.
00:58:53
So there are some books that have doubled the amount of
00:58:55
covers then we're able to post here.
00:58:57
Thrillerpod.com. Woof.
00:59:03
OK. Can we say maybe best cover
00:59:05
overall, but then also like best a cover, best hardcover, best
00:59:09
paperback, best international? We could we could break that
00:59:13
down, do you think? I know for me what my favorite a
00:59:20
cover is. You have your favorite
00:59:21
hardcover. OK, can I try to guess?
00:59:28
Sure, Go for it. I'm trying to remember which
00:59:30
ones you liked. Oh, I think I know.
00:59:36
I think. Oh, damn.
00:59:40
OK, I'm between a few. Oh, shoot.
00:59:45
Just saw a few more. All right.
00:59:46
If, if I will, I remember you liked Foreign Agent.
00:59:52
Or an. Agent the red AK.
00:59:58
That's a good one, not it? You like Near dark recently but
01:00:03
I don't think you'd go OK deadfall.
01:00:05
No, that's a close second. It's spymaster though.
01:00:08
That was Oh my God. I love that plane.
01:00:11
I'm not kidding. That's my next guess.
01:00:14
Dude, that's. Sweetest Spymaster to me is one
01:00:18
of the best covers we have. Dude, you picked 3 good ones.
01:00:21
And I would say for the most part all those are judge of
01:00:24
cover by the book for sure. I think a really good judge of
01:00:27
cover by the book and traveling Heavy is Black ice.
01:00:31
I mean it, it just screams nighttime Arctic covert
01:00:34
operations. But I think one of the coolest
01:00:40
books that I've ever held in terms of a hardback is the full
01:00:44
black cover. Oh full back is is very cool.
01:00:49
I just think that one is sick and usually I have a standing
01:00:53
man problem but the way it's silhouetted is just it's pretty
01:00:56
dope. I remember in person that book
01:00:59
looks so good. First Commandment almost wins
01:01:04
the most likely to be a Mitch Rap cover award.
01:01:08
Yeah, exactly. Now, what's your favorite, best
01:01:12
use of like the the new Brad's new covers?
01:01:17
The symbols, Yeah. The new paperback releases, we
01:01:22
talked about a few. Good.
01:01:22
Oh. I just looked back.
01:01:24
Edge of Honor. Let me go find that.
01:01:27
Oh, the new one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:01:31
Dude. I just looked back at the
01:01:32
Apostle though. The Apostle.
01:01:35
That one the apostle new cover is really nice.
01:01:46
Club takedown. Takedowns great one.
01:01:49
Star you get the map of New York City.
01:01:52
Great one, Spy masters an option when we found out about that
01:02:04
Lithuanian cross. Lithuanian cross.
01:02:06
That was pretty. Cool dead falls the sword there
01:02:11
That's that's sick rising. Oh, I remember holding Rising
01:02:14
Tiger the. Well, that was cool.
01:02:16
Cover A and. It's like edged, you know,
01:02:19
ridged. Yep.
01:02:20
Which was the one where you found like a Norse symbology of
01:02:24
some sort? It was like a Norse symbol.
01:02:25
That's a black ice. Oh, black ice.
01:02:28
What was that symbol? Again, the triple diamond triple
01:02:36
triangle into each other is like a Norse thing that would put on
01:02:40
something. Dude when?
01:02:42
OK that one might be my favorite cover.
01:02:44
See when you figured that out dude.
01:02:45
The Valknut is a symbol from Norse mythology consisting of
01:02:49
three interlocking triangles often associated with Odin, God
01:02:52
of death and war, representing the transition between life and
01:02:55
death. It's interpreted as a symbol of
01:02:58
the afterlife in the warrior spirit and Odin's power over
01:03:01
life and death. A modern Norwegian term meaning
01:03:06
not of those fallen in Battle of Falknut.
01:03:10
Dude. That's the biggest hit.
01:03:13
That's it. That's the best use of a symbol.
01:03:16
That's the best use of a symbol. When you found that out I was
01:03:19
like 5 out of five. That's phenomenal.
01:03:25
Volcano. Unfortunately like all other
01:03:30
symbols it's been Co opted by a certain group of white
01:03:33
supremacists linking there ancestry to ancient
01:03:39
Scandinavians, their willingness to die for Odin.
01:03:41
There's a couple of those wacky fringe groups that do Norse
01:03:46
mythology kind of you know, dedications and and they're
01:03:51
wild. Everyone co-ops everything.
01:03:54
Symbology. A symbol can't just be a symbol
01:03:57
anymore. No, I think like if you the
01:04:01
first part of angels and demons are Da Vinci Code, like he goes
01:04:06
on, he's giving a lecture about, you know, symbols of you, you
01:04:11
know what what are being used now.
01:04:13
Like you could go back and in the past and find like what was
01:04:16
used in the opposite set or like to mean the opposite thing.
01:04:19
I mean, just look at what the pattern that was now identified
01:04:23
as the Nazi swastika is actually a ancient Hindu symbol that was
01:04:28
very important on graves. I think it was about the
01:04:30
afterlife as well. So, and I think it was actually
01:04:33
about rebirth and it was about life and it was a positive
01:04:36
symbol and many, many ancient societies.
01:04:41
But anyway, Yep, all right. I mean.
01:04:47
A lot of good covers here. Any other cover stand out?
01:04:51
You know, there's so many. I love that we mentioned Path,
01:04:55
the Assassin State of the Union. Path the Assassin cover the.
01:04:58
Blowback. The blowback cover.
01:05:00
You know, while the book's not great, I have a good use of the
01:05:04
the radiation symbol. You sure code of conduct?
01:05:07
I remember something about that as well.
01:05:11
Yeah, Blacklist. Well, we get the with the the
01:05:15
parachute guys coming in because that, that's from like the is
01:05:20
that the extra scene from No, that was Hidden Order.
01:05:24
There was definitely a parachute scene to Blacklist, wasn't
01:05:26
there? No, I think there was.
01:05:27
Yeah. Yeah, I remember saying that one
01:05:29
got judge a cover by the book correct.
01:05:31
Yeah. Shout out to While We're on.
01:05:34
I'm just looking at full black and blacklist.
01:05:37
I don't know what language it is.
01:05:39
It's it's something from the Indian subcontinent, South Asia.
01:05:45
Those covers all in Bengali or whatever that is, are so sick.
01:05:50
Blacklist, cover F, cover D, full black cover F.
01:05:54
There were a few of those in that language that just hit and
01:05:57
hit hard. So many covers.
01:06:03
This Scott's had way more way more covers than what Mitch had.
01:06:08
Yeah, I I think maybe just being more modern, more chances to be
01:06:12
translated and published. Yeah, maybe we didn't even go as
01:06:17
deep and find them all for Mitch Rap.
01:06:18
Also, like American, American Assassin had a million covers.
01:06:23
Probably that won the movie because the movie, yeah.
01:06:25
But a lot of the others did not, You're right.
01:06:29
All right, that's the Scott Harvard podcast.
01:06:34
What do you think? Do you feel good?
01:06:36
I feel really good, but I have to say one way to sign off this
01:06:39
podcast is by sharing my gratitude in the form of a
01:06:44
Limerick give. It to us, baby.
01:06:48
To the end of Brad's series, we've come, but our time with
01:06:52
Scott is not done. Edge of Honor this summer.
01:06:55
It won't be a bummer to you, Mr. Thor.
01:06:58
Well done. Congrats.
01:07:03
It's been fun, it's been a trip, Chris.
01:07:04
It's been an honor and a pleasure doing this with one of
01:07:07
my best friends in the entire world.
01:07:09
It's been great. I love it.
01:07:12
Now to the the next iteration of this podcast.
01:07:17
Could you imagine we would really keep doing this Five
01:07:21
years we've been doing this for April.
01:07:24
We started in April 2020. Five years and approaching 300
01:07:29
episodes we are somewhere in the mid 2 hundreds.
01:07:31
That is insane if I can only log the amount of hours.
01:07:36
Not only recording but I would say quadruple the amount of
01:07:40
hours editing this thing. Editing and posting and building
01:07:44
our socials. Unbelievable.
01:07:48
But I'll be honest, we would not have kept this going if it
01:07:51
weren't for our patrons. They have made this entire thing
01:07:54
possible. You know who you are.
01:07:56
We have to shout out Sherri. She is just our queen.
01:08:00
She is the leader of the pod. She is the bright energy and
01:08:08
everything you need, the enthusiasm, the class that that
01:08:12
we need in our book club to keep it going.
01:08:14
So if you want to join the No Limits Thriller Podcast Book
01:08:17
Club, we pick a book of the season.
01:08:21
We usually do a few Hangouts quarterly throughout the year.
01:08:26
We pick a book. We hang out together digitally
01:08:28
on Zoom. We have an ongoing group chat
01:08:30
going. We love talking thrillers
01:08:32
constantly, every day. It's one of the highlights of my
01:08:34
day to text, check my phone and see the group chat blowing up a
01:08:38
lot of hot takes. You get a lot of rants and hot
01:08:40
takes over there for me. So if you want to join up, check
01:08:44
out Thriller pod.com, click on Patreon.
01:08:46
We'd love to have you join the book club, the Thriller Pod Book
01:08:49
Club, and we wouldn't have been able to do this without you.
01:08:52
So the Mitra Pod, the Scott Harvest Pod, the Thriller Pod is
01:08:56
all thanks to our patrons. Yeah, including our special
01:09:00
operator, Jason C, our special agents, Ben, Darrell, Kevin,
01:09:04
George, Matt, Don, Peggy, Mark and Chris.
01:09:10
Thank you guys very much for being there, being our friends,
01:09:13
listening to it, these two schmucks getting on here every
01:09:17
Tuesday and recording. So, yeah, big thank you to you
01:09:21
guys. And how do I end this, Mike?
01:09:25
You know what? What do I got to do?
01:09:28
Just let Brad. Just let Brad be Brad.