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00:00:21
But let's take it step by step. So London they go one of the
00:00:24
model or they figure out that they have to go into this
00:00:27
mosque. That's where Oh, because this is
00:00:32
where the story like a lost me for a second because they ugly
00:00:36
have this in. Have his informant who came in
00:00:39
and then we bring in. We start to bring in like all
00:00:41
these characters really fast and like they're, you know, like and
00:00:45
I could see in a movie how this would work but sometimes on a
00:00:48
novel, the rapid introduction of characters.
00:00:53
Causes me to be a little bit disoriented what we already had
00:00:56
so many characters. So that I think that's what
00:00:58
makes it even harder to swallow now.
00:01:01
Yeah, but ultimately, there's there's informant, they know
00:01:05
where this, you know, the brother.
00:01:07
This guy's brother is involved in this plot and they need to
00:01:09
find them. He was at this mosque, right?
00:01:11
So, that's why they have to break into this mosque.
00:01:13
They have this plan to send in the girls under disguise during
00:01:17
prayer. They get in some pretty cool
00:01:20
action there in the basement there.
00:01:22
To use these cool tasers, which I think we've also seen in the
00:01:26
mid trap series, like these special changes, I can shoot
00:01:29
like multiple multiple rounds essentially from one taser unit
00:01:34
and Gretchen is able, you know, is a badass and is able to
00:01:36
defuse the bombs. So there's was crazy to me is
00:01:39
that there's bombs both in the bike bags and in the bikes
00:01:42
themselves that is house wild fucked up.
00:01:46
Yeah, yeah, that was a pretty cool.
00:01:49
Hit on the mosque and they're wearing full berkos.
00:01:52
And the one guy who rats out the terrorists and sneaks them into
00:01:57
the mosque is even like berating them or being mean to them.
00:02:00
Like because that's probably something that he's heard.
00:02:03
And and has been said, and there's this one little line of
00:02:07
how Scott gets a chuckle out of using their own Customs against
00:02:12
them, you know, by grabbing the women having to cover
00:02:14
themselves, that's how they sneak in this man being abusive
00:02:17
or rude towards them. And that's the cover that makes
00:02:19
it seem natural, and it's a little ironic There.
00:02:23
However, this was not only the part of the book that was
00:02:26
starting to lose my interest with the amount of characters
00:02:30
and places the whole book so far has been teetering on having too
00:02:34
many names too. Many faces too many locations
00:02:39
but I would say I was okay with it was just enough for me to
00:02:41
sort out. Not only are they tipping
00:02:43
towards too many names, too many interrogations going on in
00:02:48
random cities that I can't keep up with.
00:02:50
It was also tipping towards the wrong.
00:02:52
Besides of the scale on the rhetoric.
00:02:56
The E, I knew I figured we were going to get there eventually
00:03:00
but luckily its tame down or it's it's it's staccato, it
00:03:05
happens. It said it stopped and we move
00:03:07
on. So I don't want to drag it out
00:03:10
here. I do want to say there's one
00:03:12
line, I wouldn't mind being stripped from the book.
00:03:15
It is when a certain religious figure is called a fanatical
00:03:18
nut-head or nutcase or something like that.
00:03:21
I hate to say those one-liners continue to not only tick me off
00:03:26
but completely take me out of the books and I don't know, I
00:03:31
don't want to go on and on about this, but I don't know if I
00:03:35
could just keep rationalizing. Oh well, he dropped that line
00:03:37
there. I don't agree with it.
00:03:38
Let me keep reading. I like the story.
00:03:40
I just want to see a cut from the book all together at this
00:03:43
point. I'm being honest, you don't call
00:03:46
you don't call Muhammad of fanatical nutcase or something
00:03:49
on paper. Like, you really, you just don't
00:03:52
and ultimately, you're just going to have to This is how he
00:03:56
writes that mean, that's just who he is.
00:03:59
We've seen it time and time again and it just keeps coming
00:04:01
up. And I think it's definitely
00:04:03
tamed been tamed down in some of the earlier novels but
00:04:08
unfortunately though here's the consequence of that I don't get
00:04:13
angry or disappointed when I see a one star review because people
00:04:17
don't like that, you know, like I want the genre to thrive and
00:04:22
these books might go down and ratings or they might, you know,
00:04:25
not beat the algorithm and gets old because there's so many one
00:04:29
star reviews of people just saying You know, his political
00:04:33
or religious theories, and hatred comes through it with
00:04:35
lines like that. And I don't disagree.
00:04:38
Like if someone said that about Vince, and how he wrote his
00:04:41
story lines be like, no, it shouldn't be a one-star review.
00:04:43
I'd like want to be keyboard Warrior and like right back to
00:04:46
that person all the people who do that for Brad.
00:04:49
I'm kind of like yeah, you have a very valid point and go ahead.
00:04:53
Give it one star and I just don't like that for the genre.
00:04:58
Yeah, but I think, you know, some of the other stuff we bread
00:05:01
has told the line of being pretty close to it, you know.
00:05:05
Yeah, I think it's just the genre.
00:05:08
We lie, we read and I think Vince was a little bit of an
00:05:13
exception. Although he had his hero did
00:05:15
just differently, you know, he did very differently.
00:05:18
Yeah, you know is it I guess is racism.
00:05:22
That's wrote more eloquently, not racism.
00:05:25
I guess it still raises. You know, it's like I wouldn't
00:05:27
say that about Finn Evelyn, I wouldn't well, I thought as he
00:05:32
wrote books about fundamentalist terrorist does not mean that he
00:05:35
was generalizing an entire population or religion of
00:05:38
people. I think he did his due diligence
00:05:41
in. I don't think Vince would ever
00:05:44
stand by. There's only two types of
00:05:45
Muslims, good ones and bad ones as Brad.
00:05:47
Thor has written multiple times. Well, I think Vince would say
00:05:51
there are factions that have been radicalized through
00:05:54
circumstance time and place that I don't agree with, and we need
00:05:58
to eradicate, but I don't think Vince Noir, Mitch wrap whatever
00:06:02
generalize that to entire community of people.
00:06:05
Yeah, and I think it's just, it's the way Vince wrote is the
00:06:09
way. We tend to agree with the
00:06:11
subject, I guess versus how Brad writes about it and how we don't
00:06:15
agree with how he writes about it, you know.
00:06:17
Okay. I'm going to leave it at that.
00:06:21
I'll go back to enjoying the books.
00:06:22
I just I its I do question if I'm putting money into these
00:06:26
books and this continues to keep happening, I don't know if I
00:06:30
want to keep just writing it off and moving on or saying, I'm not
00:06:35
going to spend money for this author anymore and obviously
00:06:37
it's not the case with Brad, right?
00:06:38
Like I know who brat is and I know where his writing is now
00:06:42
and I'm 100% invested. But if I was reading this and I
00:06:45
don't know what year 2011 2010, you said this game out.
00:06:50
I don't know. It's yeah, it's all I guess it's
00:06:54
interesting. It didn't it didn't stick out to
00:06:56
me as much when I first read them but upon reread and I guess
00:07:00
maybe just talking, you know, having a conversation with you
00:07:02
about it, they your the, some of those lines really do stick out
00:07:07
especially on the early some of the early novels, then we just
00:07:10
go woke. Is that what that What's
00:07:12
Happening Here? Yeah is is that we just do work
00:07:14
for this podcast now, obviously we can, you know, it's It's the
00:07:20
woke police where the woke police for the third pillar of
00:07:24
to the verse. Now, I don't like you.
00:07:26
We have women in this book so it's okay.
00:07:28
We have women operators. So you know what?
00:07:30
We're checking boxes. We're all right, we're good to
00:07:33
go, we have women over is, there's a gay character in this
00:07:36
novel who gets redeemed, who we realizes innocent and the end.
00:07:41
No, I think it's at this point in the novel where I thought I
00:07:45
had made the comment on couple couple podcast ago that maybe
00:07:50
maybe when he did his whole DaVinci Code of Islam, he was it
00:07:55
was a signal that he was going to move on from.
00:07:59
You know, pounding us with these ideas that he's been, you know,
00:08:02
going on about like you know good and bad Muslims and stuff
00:08:04
like that but you know, it's obviously still prevalent in his
00:08:07
mind and I don't know when it Teeters off like I'm almost
00:08:14
positive, you know, wasn't really in Rising tiger wasn't
00:08:18
in. You know, near dark or backlash
00:08:23
or black ice, so, you know, I think like it's just as the this
00:08:28
is sort of the turning point. Of what sort of villains these
00:08:33
characters want to put in their novels.
00:08:36
Yeah, yeah. But you got to make a call that
00:08:39
what you feel is. Right.
00:08:41
And what you know about, you got to call it out when you read it.
00:08:45
So right, although I'll change tact here because I did find a
00:08:50
quote that when I read it I was like, that is so true.
00:08:55
And if you're writing this more than a decade of its It's
00:08:59
interesting how he'll write something that I completely
00:09:02
agree with an exam is in the same paragraph who can write
00:09:06
something that I it's like I don't agree with.
00:09:11
I just I don't I don't agree with how he said it or like how
00:09:14
he thinks about it but like there's essence of it that like
00:09:18
the the base of it is right? You know.
00:09:19
It's yes, it's very strange. He's very forward, he's very
00:09:22
forward. So you're very passionate guy,
00:09:25
but then his analysis of geopolitics Six is so spot-on.
00:09:30
Oh, it's so sad he gets something.
00:09:32
So right, that ends up coming true or is really what happens
00:09:36
as a result of radical extremism and the West reaction to it?
00:09:41
You're like you really have your finger on something important
00:09:44
here. If we could just drop some of
00:09:46
the explosive rhetoric for you know just click bait kind of
00:09:52
lines. I'd be all for what he's doing
00:09:54
here. I mean, just listen to this
00:09:55
which he writes in in about the three quarter Mark of this book.
00:10:00
The easiest answer is that Muslim attacks in Western Europe
00:10:03
erode support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
00:10:06
The less support America has from its allies the deeper, it
00:10:09
will get drawn into those conflicts.
00:10:11
I think that's entirely true, the attacks in Europe, the
00:10:14
London bombings, Madrid bombings, France attacks, they
00:10:19
weaken the European resolve to support America in its
00:10:22
International efforts. And so he writes with the Madrid
00:10:25
train bombings Islamic terrorists had proven that they
00:10:28
could influence Western elections and helped catapult
00:10:31
politicians to power who would withdraw support for American
00:10:35
military actions, why wouldn't the Chinese have picked up and
00:10:38
expanded upon this as well? It was an exceptional.
00:10:41
Tactic. Look that's what terrorism has
00:10:44
done and that's how terrorism works.
00:10:47
Is you scare people and politicians into reversing
00:10:51
course on some effort that they've had in supporting the
00:10:55
American Military? And therefore our efforts are
00:10:57
undermined because our allies are are being scared and freaked
00:11:02
out and why wouldn't the Chinese and the Russians be watching
00:11:06
what's going on there? And then maybe possibly
00:11:08
encouraging these attacks as a way to weaken in a road
00:11:11
Americas. Of I'm in like he's got
00:11:15
something so right and spot on that.
00:11:16
I do hope we get more of Brad's understanding of the
00:11:20
geopolitical landscape without broad sweeping generalizations
00:11:23
of the people of the cultures who are also themselves during
00:11:28
dealing with terrorism and radical fundamentalism affecting
00:11:31
them. We never really often see that
00:11:34
angle. It's often.
00:11:35
Just these guys are bad. They're their countries are bad,
00:11:38
they're doing bad things and I think, Vince and others are more
00:11:41
likely to give us The human aspect of it and the humanity
00:11:45
between behind like a Marwan. We don't know anything about his
00:11:49
family or the humanity between other people and how the
00:11:53
terrorism is affecting their own communities.
00:11:55
You know, in Mitch's on the ground in Iraq, or in
00:11:57
Afghanistan, I don't know if we fully see that here. now you
00:12:03
think you hit it perfectly like the just that's the difference
00:12:07
between Brad and that's one of the differences is like I think
00:12:12
back to the I figure one novel and it is, but when, when Mitch
00:12:16
goes easy there, easy in Iraq, or in Afghanistan, and you go
00:12:21
eat, inserts himself into that Village.
00:12:24
And we see the perspective of the women, you know, their
00:12:28
family members who decide, you know, are against what's going
00:12:32
on in the village and how the resistance that they're putting
00:12:35
up. You know, how can you say in
00:12:37
there? Also, you know, Muslim, you
00:12:40
know, follow Islam. How can you say that they are
00:12:43
not good? You know, like, you know, like I
00:12:46
just don't agree with the fact that there's the, the, you know,
00:12:49
only the Sith dealing binaries like that is one of the greatest
00:12:53
one of the greatest factoids from Star Wars that anyone, you
00:12:57
can take that in any life happens.
00:12:59
There is gray everywhere. So that's it.
00:13:03
Only the Sith deals in absolutes.
00:13:05
That is that that line might be low-key almost as good as I am
00:13:10
your father. Like it's that I Sonic of a Star
00:13:12
Wars line. Yeah it's true because it that's
00:13:16
sort of it applies not only in these fictional universes but
00:13:20
you know anywhere in life. Yep.
00:13:22
Yep. Hey good stuff but there's an
00:13:25
attack about to happen in Amsterdam and we better get the
00:13:27
Athena team over there and into the red light district because
00:13:32
man, that was pretty wild when they've got all these different
00:13:37
Lookouts and I liked how they were like, we're going to stand
00:13:40
out like a sore, thumb the terrorists.
00:13:42
We'll definitely know we're on to them.
00:13:43
If there's a bunch of guys on the streets, kind of looking for
00:13:47
trouble. Oh, they won't be seen because
00:13:50
they're not going to be guys. They're going to be dressed as
00:13:53
escorts and prostitutes dancing and windows but they're secretly
00:13:57
the Athena team looking out for the bombers.
00:14:00
That was a pretty cool undercover operation right
00:14:02
there, wasn't it? Yeah, me and lent itself.
00:14:05
I could see why he was ultimately wanted to end up in
00:14:08
Amsterdam in the red light district.
00:14:09
It made sense, you know, why did take the block that way?
00:14:13
Again? One of the best things that Brad
00:14:14
does is, you know, bring in these other foreign intelligence
00:14:17
units. You know, obviously Brad's able
00:14:20
to get into the country with this guy.
00:14:23
He has a prior relationship. This guy ultimately ends up
00:14:25
helping him throughout the entire Mission through the
00:14:29
interior. We see a gruesome interrogation
00:14:31
in the backseat of a car. With that accountant guy who's
00:14:35
actually, you know, like in charge of the terrorists or
00:14:38
like, you know, one of the people who's in charge of the
00:14:39
terrorist cell. Yeah, you know, it's that's,
00:14:43
that's got to be one of the worst things I've ever seen
00:14:47
that. Just a description of the feet.
00:14:49
Oh, I would cringe, like, just thinking about it.
00:14:51
Yeah. And he keeps telling him drive
00:14:53
faster, keep up our speed, whatever you do, don't slow
00:14:56
down. So we can dangle the terrorist
00:14:58
feet out the car and watch them grind away down to wouldn't, you
00:15:02
know, we're bony. ABS grinding on the asphalt and
00:15:06
like, oh my god, oh that's up there with like Jack car and his
00:15:11
ghost peppers and or well, I guess Brad did that to Ghost
00:15:14
Pepper. Yeah, we threw Aikido brutal
00:15:17
man. We could have, I don't know if
00:15:22
it's PC and that we could have a pot.
00:15:24
That's the best. Like the most ridiculous skills
00:15:29
in all of these different. All novels, you know, to be
00:15:32
over-the-top. We'd have to mark that Explicit
00:15:34
for sure. Oh yeah.
00:15:36
Oh yeah. I think Jack Jack.
00:15:37
He probably has a few in the top five.
00:15:40
Yeah, he's got a couple more up his sleeve.
00:15:41
I'm sure for for the next book or next couple books.
00:15:46
All this leads to a really cool scene though.
00:15:48
Where one of the bombs does go off in Amsterdam and they're
00:15:52
able to catch most of the bombers before they detonate.
00:15:57
But this one knocks out a building where Nikki Rodriguez
00:16:01
was was hanging out in and she's stuck in the rubble.
00:16:06
And basically Scott gets the guys like hold up.
00:16:09
This wall, don't let it fall. He's climbing under under a
00:16:13
rock, and concrete and rebar. And trying to pull her out and
00:16:17
she stuck, you know, he's like, I think she's unconscious.
00:16:20
I don't know if she's breathing, but if you can hear me, he's
00:16:22
like, just wiggle wiggle or do something to get yourself.
00:16:25
Untangled, I'm gonna pull you through, they're going just
00:16:29
through broken glass shards. When he pulls her out, he
00:16:32
realized she wasn't stuck. She was grabbing onto someone
00:16:36
else. And there was another woman one
00:16:39
of the workers, and she was trapped in the rubble.
00:16:43
And so, even in this like, half conscious, It's state.
00:16:46
Nikki Rodriguez is grasping onto this other woman who she tried
00:16:50
to save and Scott pulls them both out and the team is holding
00:16:54
up the wall. And the second they get them
00:16:56
out. The Wall comes crashing down
00:16:58
other that was a really cool rescue scene and showed the
00:17:02
level of heroism by these Athena ladies.
00:17:07
Ya know, like both their actions in the mosque in London and
00:17:13
their actions in the red light district, really prove that
00:17:17
these characters are badass. I want to see more of them going
00:17:21
forward. I love the banter between the,
00:17:23
you know, the complexity between all of them and then we even,
00:17:25
you know, they even insert themselves into the
00:17:27
investigation when we go back to America in Chicago.
00:17:30
And, yeah, they're immediately able to help Scott track down,
00:17:34
figure out, you know. Where the cell is in the United
00:17:39
States, you know we we meet this as easily move the that Captain
00:17:44
double Hooks and double looks like who ultimately gets away
00:17:48
right at the very end. And there there's talk of this
00:17:51
attack on New York City or La where nuclear radiation will
00:17:57
rain down from the sky as in like you know we're left with
00:18:00
that. That Cliffhanger where Chase
00:18:03
doesn't Or know at the very end there.
00:18:08
In, where are they in Morocco? The we're so Yemen there in
00:18:14
Yemen, Kevin. Okay.
00:18:17
So the way that all happens though is the Athena team comes
00:18:21
to Chicago with Scott and they stopped one last attack which
00:18:24
was going to be Mumbai style. Which I remember that attack but
00:18:28
I forgot the specifics which apparently there were both
00:18:32
suicide, vest and bombers but also active Ders.
00:18:35
And so it was like this Total Carnage of wanting to just
00:18:38
complete, you have complete chaos and get the First
00:18:42
Responders. Totally, you know, tied up and
00:18:46
not knowing how to respond. This is not a bombing, it's not
00:18:48
a shooting, it's both. What do you do?
00:18:50
So all Protocols are out the window.
00:18:53
And the vests are not activated. I thought that was really
00:18:56
interesting when the three cops or the two cops in the private.
00:19:00
Investigator are tied up and Marwan says to Rashid I'll allow
00:19:04
you to choose what to do with them and rashid's like trust me
00:19:08
brother I have a plan for them like this plan, doesn't sound
00:19:11
great. He's going to jack them up with
00:19:13
vests. Put a camera in the corner and
00:19:16
watch them and wait for the First Responders to get there
00:19:19
before he blows them all up. I'm like if you really are the
00:19:22
terrorist guy, that's Probably not the best way to inflict Mass
00:19:25
Carnage like he was. I think it was just a way the
00:19:28
explanation of Marwan is like, oh this is a good way to take
00:19:32
out some law-enforcement people because what we'll call the
00:19:34
police and say that you have these three detectives there,
00:19:37
but it was at this point that I knew exactly Rashid was a good
00:19:41
guy. And that's what I was going for
00:19:43
the way he was setting up that album.
00:19:44
Like it sounds like there's a lot of ways this can go wrong.
00:19:48
And that was precisely the case, right?
00:19:50
Like so one Scott and Gretchen got there, she I was able to
00:19:53
defuse the bombs and she's confused because she realizes
00:19:56
they're not actually activated. There's some sort of that nation
00:20:00
that wasn't put together. And so we're were clued in to
00:20:05
think the way Rashid set this whole thing up and it failed and
00:20:08
some other operations he was supposedly in charge of have
00:20:11
fallen through. The reveal is easier to digest
00:20:15
and you go back and go. Oh now I get it.
00:20:18
He was a CIA Inside Man the whole time so that was kind of
00:20:21
cool. I don't know where Was going to
00:20:23
go with that. So what happens then to cut to
00:20:25
the epilogue in Yemen, they know, aleem as easily.
00:20:29
Mm, double hooks was behind it and now Scott has mm and is
00:20:33
about to turn them over and Yemen to the CIA guy.
00:20:37
Sean Chase, who was Rashid? Undercover?
00:20:40
Yes. So the CIA could get get some
00:20:42
brownie points because the competent group doesn't want
00:20:45
anything to do with it. Yeah, this is after, you know,
00:20:48
they they go into the mosque or not and it's out of moss this
00:20:52
time. What is it?
00:20:53
A mattress store? Where the engine is the whole
00:20:56
Furniture Store thing to? Yeah.
00:20:58
So go to the furniture store. Take out everyone there.
00:21:02
That's ultimately where they, you know, Marwan and end up
00:21:04
getting killed, that's where we find out that Sean, Casey, as
00:21:08
you mentioned, the beginning is, is a good guy after some phone
00:21:11
calls, and then they're able to, you know, go stop.
00:21:15
The they don't want them, they don't have to worry about the
00:21:17
terrorists, about the, the vest, because Sean rig them the same
00:21:22
way you did the cops. But they have, they do have to
00:21:24
worry about the active Shooters because Marwan wouldn't allow
00:21:27
them, he wanted them to use, only his special ammunition
00:21:31
which would like backfire on them, but Marwan said no use his
00:21:36
ammunition first and then only if you need to use use the new
00:21:39
ammunition so they have to go and take and that's where the
00:21:42
this everything is like, when you're reading this it's going
00:21:45
really fast. Like it's just yet is where at
00:21:48
where at warp speed in terms of like acceleration of the plot
00:21:52
you know, in And Gretchen Gretchen takes out one of the
00:21:56
guys and then just like immediately, like, just dips out
00:21:59
like this as a secret Force to not like, right, be seen,
00:22:02
because she can't, she's not exactly supposed to be operating
00:22:05
on American soil, right? And the investigators don't know
00:22:07
who took that terrorist down. It's like this random bullet and
00:22:10
shot that's unaccounted for and all of their weapons.
00:22:14
And at least this like ghost theory of some US Marshal who
00:22:18
happened to be in the right place, the right time and save
00:22:20
the day but doesn't want to be known and he's you know out
00:22:22
there somewhere We're who stop this attack, right.
00:22:25
But we secretly know, it's one, it's the Athena ladies.
00:22:27
Yeah, that was cool. Is there too much happening?
00:22:31
Considering the whole first hour of conversation you and I had.
00:22:37
And then all of this going on in just the like, final fourth of
00:22:40
the book. Is it one step too many in plots
00:22:45
and action and nearly averted this bomb and then these
00:22:48
shooters. And we took down this guy and
00:22:51
interrogated. This guy while I was playing
00:22:53
along and keeping up the first half two-thirds is book.
00:22:58
Was a one-to-many. A bit too much going on here in
00:23:02
the final concluding action. Did you get something and
00:23:06
Amsterdam? I think at some point I turned
00:23:10
off my like deduction cap. I turned it off pretty early.
00:23:16
Actually, once we were running around Europe and I just was
00:23:21
like, I'm down for the ride, like, wherever you go.
00:23:24
I'm just gonna, I'm going to take it.
00:23:26
And I think that allowed me to, you know, especially when we get
00:23:30
introduced, the Athena team, that's five new characters that
00:23:33
were supposed to care about, you know, two-thirds of the way into
00:23:35
the book, you know, you always have to just.
00:23:39
All right, just I'm going to, I'm not going to get any sort of
00:23:42
super depth into of these people.
00:23:44
And I'm just going to roll. Wait, we gotta we gotta just go
00:23:46
and I think that knowing that mindset allowed me to not get
00:23:50
hung up on any one thing and not worry about that.
00:23:52
The fact that there's a shit ton of stuff going on in the end
00:23:55
this novel. Yep.
00:23:56
But I do think it all made sense and I do think it made sense in
00:23:58
terms of like how they were able to foil the plot you know I
00:24:02
think it all checks out. I think it.
00:24:04
Definitely all checks out. I just yeah, I had to stop
00:24:07
trying to do the mental gymnastics to keep up.
00:24:10
Yeah, I just get carried away with it.
00:24:11
So if you have, if you do then, You're going to, you're going to
00:24:14
get bogged down and you're not going to enjoy the ride and I
00:24:17
think it all checks out, but you'll enjoy it less.
00:24:19
I think that's that's key. Yeah, that's that's true.
00:24:23
All right so the functional. Yeah we're skating around this
00:24:27
thing Cliffhanger ending. Yeah.
00:24:29
Yeah. I had to text you to try to make
00:24:32
sense of this. All I was like, Chris.
00:24:34
Do I have this right? Let me read that text because I
00:24:38
think I put it all together. Now I think you're a slightly
00:24:41
off but go ahead and read it was I okay.
00:24:43
All right well let me just tell you my quick understanding and
00:24:46
then you break it down and actually give us the doctors
00:24:48
perspective on this. The troll basically call Scott
00:24:52
as he has aleem and he's turning them over to Sean chase the CIA
00:24:57
guy. The troll says Scott, I think
00:25:00
you're going to want to hear this and I think your boss read
00:25:02
Carlton will want to hear this. So the troll is extending an
00:25:05
olive branch, I got something, I think he wanted it because Scott
00:25:08
says that the troll owes him money in person, but when the
00:25:13
troll says, I have something better.
00:25:14
Yes, I've something better to give you and Reid He turns out
00:25:18
he took the flash drive when they met sterk and sterk was the
00:25:23
one posing as sweet. Oh nice.
00:25:26
We who is dealing in intelligence.
00:25:28
So she dealt with the troll. She was dealing with the
00:25:31
terrorists. Somehow.
00:25:33
We're not sure, but turns out this flash drive that was in
00:25:36
her. Purse had data on it, that was
00:25:39
supposed to be. Super encrypted, was probably
00:25:41
not supposed to be stored there. One of the few mistakes she made
00:25:45
in her intelligence dealings. and this file once the troll
00:25:49
cracked it revealed, A nephew. Of one of the big Beds, which
00:25:57
big bad. Okay, as easily me, who the guy
00:25:59
who got captured? Had a nephew, who is posing as a
00:26:05
Westerner, who works for Harrods in London?
00:26:08
But he's really the digital Courier for the network.
00:26:11
So, he's taking right, aziz's orders and communicating with
00:26:14
all the others and dealing in intelligence.
00:26:17
And I'm pretty sure he was hired to get sterk to set up The
00:26:21
Troll, right? And that's her connection.
00:26:24
So Ali, there was this go-between, that's Turk, was
00:26:27
talking to a digital Courier for as easily.
00:26:30
Me. Who's the big bad, orchestrating
00:26:32
all these attacks? And he finds out.
00:26:35
There's something else in the works.
00:26:37
That this was only the beginning and Shawn Chase.
00:26:40
Who's undercover wants to continue going undercover
00:26:43
because he knew Marwan was not the final step.
00:26:45
He wanted to get to as easily man.
00:26:47
Interrogate him to find out about what was with the hit in
00:26:50
China in inner Mongolia on this facility at what do they have
00:26:54
planned about this? Chatter about nuclear?
00:26:56
You know, Fallout raining down on the US and Marwan even told
00:27:00
him about other hits in America. There are other bombings other
00:27:02
cities. And so there is this big Plot.
00:27:05
They think they're going to get it out of as easily me.
00:27:08
However, a final scene as easily miss being taken away.
00:27:13
Robert Ashford, the MI5 guy who had all these stories about read
00:27:17
Carlton. Loads up an RPG and shoots it at
00:27:23
the car. So he wanted to take out as
00:27:24
easily. Mm, so he didn't speak tying up,
00:27:27
loose ends, that couldn't be traced back to him.
00:27:30
Is that what's going on here? Yes.
00:27:33
Ultimately I think Ashford is a bad guy in the next novel.
00:27:36
So I think that's what we're meant to believe.
00:27:38
I'm I can't remember, you know, until we do, we read full black?
00:27:43
But yeah, I know that's that's you've got a pretty much, right?
00:27:46
That's what I meant to believe. At least that's a lot, man.
00:27:49
that's a lot of like again the mental gymnastics to get there,
00:27:54
This is you need to have a degree to basically break that
00:27:59
all down. Like that is a really tough line
00:28:01
of thinking that I don't expect an average reader to have the
00:28:05
time and effort to get to because I certainly wouldn't
00:28:07
have got there unless I needed to talk about it on this
00:28:10
broadcast in front of the P. You better remember a lot?
00:28:13
You have to remember a lot like, about the novel.
00:28:15
We also haven't been with there was that one line earlier than
00:28:19
novel, where like ashford's Radio like cuts out like during
00:28:24
the chase scene in London, when they're Leavin, talk about that,
00:28:26
really? But like, when they're trying to
00:28:29
track the, using the phones, because they have that right
00:28:33
there in the, the Athena group was in the mosque and, but the
00:28:37
phones are activated, right? And so she has to, she has to
00:28:43
diffuse them there. But then you so using those
00:28:45
phones, they're hoping to be able to track the person who was
00:28:47
going to call and then but remember there's a, there's a,
00:28:50
there's this one, right? It, Just, it felt awkward in the
00:28:53
moment where, yes, Ashford times out.
00:28:57
Yeah. And the other the other person's
00:28:59
on the cause of always having trouble with his with his
00:29:02
microphone and it's just yeah. Now at the end I like, oh, and
00:29:06
I'm suspicious of that, you know?
00:29:08
Yeah, yeah, those little breadcrumbs, you're right.
00:29:12
Remember, we got the conversation in London and
00:29:15
obviously, we want to talk to you about Armand Schultz.
00:29:18
But the thing is, one of the chapter It might not even be a
00:29:22
chapter, but just like the second scene in the the first
00:29:25
chapter, where we go to London, there's this conversation in
00:29:28
this club between these two people and Armand.
00:29:31
Does it in a England? A British voice British accent.
00:29:34
Right. He is one of those where we
00:29:36
supposed to believe one of those Robert Ashford.
00:29:40
Hmm. I didn't think about that.
00:29:46
It's a good question. Another thing about Ashford is
00:29:50
sterk, the lady who was fronting and dealing in intelligence who
00:29:55
had this flash drive on her. She's freaking out.
00:29:59
She like doesn't want to speak and give up names to Scott
00:30:01
because she's like, there's someone bigger than you like
00:30:04
this thing is big and it's beyond you.
00:30:06
And when she was kept, when she kept on saying that and she was
00:30:10
holding out so much. I'm like, who is this person?
00:30:14
Like we know about the terrorist big bads we've seen them?
00:30:18
But she kept saying like, no, there's more, there's more than
00:30:21
you can understand. And I think if you revisit her
00:30:24
pleading with Scott, like you're never going to win, In there,
00:30:27
there are bigger fish to fry out there than you will ever know.
00:30:31
I think she's talking about MI5 being in bed with the nephew of
00:30:36
the head terrorists. And so I think she knows a
00:30:39
little bit about more than she was letting on about these
00:30:41
connections. Yeah whether it's MI5 are just
00:30:44
like some Rogue intelligence element that's in bed with
00:30:48
terrorists. Yeah someone's compromised
00:30:52
versus like I wouldn't believe that she would be like soup
00:30:55
they're going to they're going to find me like your You're not
00:30:57
afraid of like Al-Qaeda that way, you know, like Al-Qaeda
00:31:00
doesn't have that kind of capability to track down and
00:31:03
maybe they do, but just at least the way that they're described
00:31:07
in all these books, as they don't have, like an intelligence
00:31:09
apparatus that they're not putting resources into a least,
00:31:13
you know? Yeah, but she knew she was being
00:31:16
watched or that there was somebody that that was out there
00:31:19
that she didn't want to find out about her being a turning.
00:31:24
Yep. Yep dude.
00:31:26
That was a lot. I haven't felt that confused or
00:31:32
overwhelmed with people places plots.
00:31:36
This book had a lot going on and I wonder as we move into the
00:31:39
scorecard here. Which maybe we do a little
00:31:42
quicker. I think we've said a lot of what
00:31:44
needs to get said. Yeah, but I don't I don't know
00:31:46
if that complexity is going to help our hurt this one because I
00:31:49
really like the book. It was a lot of I did or I did
00:31:52
like the book I do like to put I liked it a lot but as I look
00:31:55
back on it I'm like what here is going to stick verse?
00:31:59
What is here that I'm ultimately never going to remember because
00:32:03
it's just buried in a ton of other plot.
00:32:07
I wonder what's going to happen here.
00:32:08
I'm not quite sure how I'm gonna score this one.
00:32:11
So You know maybe that's why this stretch I didn't.
00:32:15
Ultimately remember, like too much because it is it's just a
00:32:20
fact, you know, as it's heavy. Yeah, very dance.
00:32:25
All right, that was before we will help before we get to the
00:32:27
scorecard. One thing, you both you and I
00:32:30
did the audio book, right? Yes.
00:32:32
So now, what do you think? You know, this is how to books
00:32:35
we've gotten with Armand, fold it.
00:32:36
Well, we had them the first book and then we had a long part with
00:32:40
George. What do you think about Armand?
00:32:42
Schultz, I love Armand, Schultz. I loved him from the get-go.
00:32:47
I think this was a hard book to do, I think?
00:32:49
Yeah, it was a Liam, I would not count this among his best
00:32:54
through, no fault of his own, the Amount of characters in it
00:32:56
is insane, but I really loved his Scott.
00:33:01
And when he's talking to the troll and the trolls using
00:33:04
mechanized voice has a lot of time.
00:33:06
So we didn't have any Gary Lawler.
00:33:09
And I love Armand. Schultz, Gary Lawler, so I can't
00:33:12
fault him. This was not his best book but
00:33:14
overall. Yes, he's the voice of Scott and
00:33:17
I absolutely love him reading the series.
00:33:20
Why would do it like his? I like his troll way better than
00:33:23
George's troll when we see When he's with the troll in person
00:33:26
like yeah, 100% can't agree more?
00:33:30
Yeah. I think this was just a hard
00:33:32
book. Yeah, no.
00:33:34
I mean to have to change, you know, one, you're not a female
00:33:39
but to like, oh, and then half, Tina team.
00:33:42
Yeah, I didn't. I didn't even realize he does
00:33:44
it. The Gretchen Casey, boys, he
00:33:45
does pretty well like that because she's got the Southern
00:33:47
drawl. Yeah.
00:33:49
But then like to have to jump as a non female and have to jump
00:33:52
between five different inflections of your day to find
00:33:55
our voice. Like, that's hard and I don't
00:33:59
fault him on that. But yeah, it was My favorite
00:34:01
part of the audio book. So I it is what it is.
00:34:04
I think I won't. Let me wipe, all right?
00:34:08
You give me your action and plot scores while look something up
00:34:11
here. Are you action?
00:34:17
I think if I'm going on the amount of action we got, it's
00:34:20
ten out of ten. It's got to be a dead, right?
00:34:22
It's got to be too. We just got an absurd amount of
00:34:25
action. It was paste, pretty well
00:34:29
looking back on it, though. It's hard to sort through what
00:34:32
happened when what came in the beginning, what came in the end,
00:34:35
and how is this connected to that?
00:34:37
So, I shouldn't really blame pull action down too much for
00:34:40
all that additional stuff. So I think I'm gonna go.
00:34:43
Yeah. I think it's just just pure
00:34:45
action. Yeah, I'm pure action,
00:34:48
particularly that James bond-esque scene when he steals
00:34:51
the woman in the hotel, on the French Riviera boy, I gotta go
00:34:57
nine because it was near perfect some of those individualized
00:35:00
moments. When you string it all together,
00:35:03
the plot gets a little convoluted that was okay with
00:35:08
that through half this book. I was getting a little fatigued
00:35:13
with the plot. By the time we hit the 10th or
00:35:16
12th interrogation of a name that's going to give us some tip
00:35:20
that leads to another name. So I think I'm going to drop it
00:35:23
too. Seven sounds a little too low
00:35:27
because I really like the big parts of this plot.
00:35:30
So I'm going to go eight. All right, fair enough, fair
00:35:33
enough. Yeah, I think I'm pretty close
00:35:36
to that. I'm going to go and I don't
00:35:39
action, maybe. I might even go 9.5 on action
00:35:44
getting a tan. The plot like the plot was like,
00:35:47
Good at times. But just like very convoluted at
00:35:52
times that I think it could have been tightened up a little bit.
00:35:57
Not that Stellar 9 or 10, you know, we've seen you but I'm not
00:36:01
going to go to seven because it all does check out for because
00:36:04
it does check out if it could have fallen by the way side of
00:36:08
the end around and now what it tanked it right.
00:36:12
So, right by in is interesting because as I'm reading it, I was
00:36:18
really bought in all along. Yeah.
00:36:20
I uh, I think I got to give it a 4 on by it.
00:36:22
Like, I just I didn't find any like real glaring things.
00:36:27
I didn't believe you do. Yeah, I agree.
00:36:30
Sure. Like this is all happening in a
00:36:31
very condensed, time frame. And it's, there are some
00:36:34
coincidence. That's why it's not a five, but
00:36:36
right, you know, you got up. It's a, it's a, it's a fictional
00:36:41
work of, but there's not anything that was like, super
00:36:44
glaring. You know, like like some of the
00:36:47
stuff we were reading in the Apostle or in blowback.
00:36:54
Right. So 100% agree.
00:36:57
I think to say a 3 here, it would have had to be so
00:37:00
convoluted that I couldn't keep up.
00:37:02
And as I'm reading, I'm questioning what?
00:37:04
Wait, we're who, what instead I was along for the ride.
00:37:08
So that's a for it's just not as crisp as it needed to be to
00:37:10
completely give me that unputdownable, you know.
00:37:15
Sing. Pacing.
00:37:18
Bad guys. You guys, I'm real curious
00:37:21
because I'm not decided on the villains.
00:37:24
Okay. All right, before we get to
00:37:26
that, I was just I was looking up something because we were
00:37:29
talking about Armand. Schultz the narrator for the
00:37:32
Athena project is Elizabeth Marvel, okay, good.
00:37:38
She is an actress. I've been in a lot of things,
00:37:42
two of my favorite roles, she's been in, she was in Homeland,
00:37:44
she was the president at the very end of Homeland.
00:37:47
Oh, really? That was You know, goes like
00:37:49
yeah, who goes apeshit? Oh, like puts everybody in
00:37:54
prison and she was also in as a solicitor general, I think in
00:38:00
House of Cards. So I liked her role in that.
00:38:02
So, her voice and I remembered when I listen to that, we can
00:38:06
talk about in the next book, but she was very good.
00:38:08
So like, oh no II was. I was like, I brought that up
00:38:12
because of this, you know, Armand, have me to do 45
00:38:15
different right? Female voices, all in a row, If
00:38:19
you're going to do a book with their the main thing, you gotta
00:38:22
have a female narrator. Yes.
00:38:23
And they think one, you have them.
00:38:25
Yeah. You have to have a female
00:38:26
narrator. So I'm glad to hear that and
00:38:29
just based on what Armand did in this book, I wouldn't really
00:38:32
want to hear him doing those five women again.
00:38:35
So I think that's a great move. Yeah.
00:38:38
All right, the good guys. You know, good guys are solid
00:38:41
five. Absolutely like, especially
00:38:43
Rashid. Once you learn.
00:38:44
He's a good guy. Sean Casey, right?
00:38:47
100%. You know, I guess for most of
00:38:50
this novel ashford's, good guy and I was digging him for we get
00:38:55
obviously help from other intelligence agencies we get
00:38:59
help from the troll Padre. Pio the cops in Chicago.
00:39:04
Oh the cops man. Yeah, so good.
00:39:07
Guys are are solid romp. The bad guys though even if like
00:39:14
you take Rashid Shan Shan out of Of the good guys and put them
00:39:20
into a bad, guys, because that was his role for most of the
00:39:24
novel. him and Marwan and disease, I didn't And I could
00:39:32
take them or leave them, you know, same.
00:39:34
Yep. They weren't like super big
00:39:36
Baddie. I hate to say this, I'm between
00:39:38
a 2 and a 3. I don't think I can go to three.
00:39:41
I think I got to go too. And I guess they're supposed to
00:39:44
be this. They're supposed to be this like
00:39:46
other even above as he's like. And that's what ultimately, I
00:39:49
think Robert Ashford is like this, it or whatever.
00:39:52
Not, maybe not him, but whoever he's involved with.
00:39:54
There's this other big bad looming but because we didn't
00:39:58
get that in this novel. I can't can give that to this
00:40:01
novel, you know what I mean? I agree.
00:40:03
But maybe if we read the next one we go back.
00:40:05
We look we could restore this but as of right now what I know
00:40:09
it's a to. Yeah I think I agree.
00:40:13
Even a Liam who ends up being one of the bigger bad's.
00:40:16
I was like if he didn't have the two hooks for hands, I honestly
00:40:21
don't know if I would have remembered him, he could have
00:40:23
been anybody. What rest of difference between
00:40:25
him and Marwan? Like at least there was a
00:40:28
physical detail to differentiate him because nothing else about
00:40:31
his story differentiated him to me.
00:40:33
So yeah, too. Big one, though, the setting I,
00:40:39
this is a lot of globe-hopping. A lot of traveling heavy I think
00:40:45
I got to do the 50. You're gonna do five.
00:40:48
I was going to do five. I'm going to do 4.5, and I'm
00:40:51
only going to dig it. For maybe too much
00:40:56
globe-trotting that's usually what I say bro.
00:40:59
But I think you pulled it off. He pulled it off, sometimes less
00:41:04
is more and I will usually say that but this is one case where
00:41:10
I thought more was more Think I'll give it a think of one
00:41:16
place. We went to that wasn't written.
00:41:18
Well, Amsterdam. You felt the red light district
00:41:23
even Fallujah. A really short scene, URLs got
00:41:26
going into that basement and rescuing the kids Chicago, the
00:41:29
cops and their accents in the way they're talking almost
00:41:33
everywhere. We went, you, you were there.
00:41:37
All right, it's a five, it's a Rome, even a tiny little seen
00:41:41
robust of those up next to the Coliseum.
00:41:44
He just felt Italian like that chapter.
00:41:47
I was like, let's go to Rome. This is great.
00:41:48
I'm here and then it's gone. But while I was there, I was
00:41:51
there. All right.
00:41:53
I'll, I'll agree with you. It's a five and the French
00:41:57
Riviera man. The James Bond scene.
00:41:59
I was watching James Bond movie, play out.
00:42:01
As I read it, probably my favorite scene that that whole
00:42:05
interaction. When he goes into that hotel, it
00:42:07
was wild. It was great.
00:42:11
All right. Shall we judge a cover by the
00:42:13
book? Well.
00:42:19
You know, nothing super egregious, just nothing super
00:42:25
good. If this have that's gonna you
00:42:27
know, nothing stands out and this reminds me of We ran
00:42:35
through a stretch of metrop novels that had a bunch of just
00:42:38
super generic covers and nothing really big to write home about.
00:42:44
Okay, so we the original one could literally be strapped on.
00:42:49
That's a little lapel flag on another wavy flag, that could be
00:42:55
again, we've said this was last not want the OG cover could be
00:42:59
placed on any one of breath or is novels pretty much write B,
00:43:03
which is the new nation. So you're the GT-R, the Geo
00:43:08
geology/geography guy where, what is that supposed to be?
00:43:11
So to take a step back, I'm going to disagree with you on
00:43:15
nothing, egregious. Okay, I have, I have multiple
00:43:19
infractions here of the judge a cover code, I believe, and I'm
00:43:26
not sure but I believe that's a Parisian bridge.
00:43:29
I get the sense of Paris. And that's a fluidly.
00:43:35
What the hell? Does the fleur-de-lis have to do
00:43:39
with this book? There's an attack in Paris.
00:43:42
Yeah. Okay.
00:43:43
There's an attack in Paris. Sure, what else happens?
00:43:47
There, there's an attack. In Rome, there's an attack in
00:43:49
London. There's an attack in Amsterdam.
00:43:52
This attack in Chicago, does attacks all over the place and
00:43:55
you make Paris the star of the book.
00:43:57
And then look at cover, see there's an Eiffel Tower in the
00:44:01
tower, it color seems pretty. A egregious.
00:44:03
Actually, if you were to pick one thing as the symbol of this
00:44:06
book and all the traveling heavy locations, we went to you do not
00:44:11
double down on Paris for this cover do me that is absolutely
00:44:16
wrong and then even the foreign ones, the foreign ones have the
00:44:21
Vatican st. Peters.
00:44:22
Okay. Less than a chapter in Rome to
00:44:25
of the covers have st. Peter's actually one has Massa
00:44:28
Michelle in France again, a church.
00:44:31
We do not go to and we won't go too.
00:44:33
Until near dark that made sense to put it on the cover there.
00:44:37
Well, Paris and Rome, you didn't even read the damn book,
00:44:42
whoever's designing this. And to, you know, to us that is
00:44:45
rule number one, judge a cover by the book, read it, and give
00:44:49
me a scene from the book. You had ample opportunity, you
00:44:52
didn't do it. These covers are getting a one
00:44:54
and a half and a story. All right, I just rented my
00:44:59
apologies. So I guess all of them besides
00:45:04
be our older be is a new rebranding.
00:45:10
So we need to find out where that actual bridge is because of
00:45:14
that is, is that is truly a Parisian bridge that is
00:45:17
egregious. Well, let's think of the
00:45:19
colonnade in the back and that Dome.
00:45:21
Is that Dome possibly? Where Napoleon is buried?
00:45:26
What does though is that true in valleys at Trafalgar Square?
00:45:29
It's a Trafalgar. It could be.
00:45:36
There's a lot of columns like that there is a column like that
00:45:39
in Paris as well. I don't think that's it, though.
00:45:45
Just Trafalgar Square, have a dome like that anywhere nearby.
00:45:48
It does from the net, the museum.
00:45:51
Yeah, there's that. And that's, that's a bridge
00:45:53
meaning in leading into Trafalgar Square.
00:45:57
I don't, is that I don't there's no bridge near Trafalgar Square.
00:46:01
That would look like that. Is there?
00:46:04
Or is that not a bridge. Is that a bridge?
00:46:07
I don't know. It's got the lamps lining.
00:46:09
It that's why I was thinking. All those lamps look like Paris.
00:46:14
In Trafalgar is not really near the water. but that Dome very
00:46:19
well could be the Dome of the Either way, this whole night
00:46:26
time, you know, dusk seen on this bridge lighting up, does
00:46:32
not remind me about anything from this book wherever it is,
00:46:35
Rome Paris, Moscow Berlin, nothing about it.
00:46:39
Screams foreign influence to me. So Yeah, no, I don't like but
00:46:45
I'm just more concerned about like, what sort of leave for?
00:46:50
That's a typical Parisian thing, right?
00:46:54
Yeah. Well, all of Paris.
00:46:55
Yeah. I mean it's adopted by the
00:46:58
scouts all sorts of like royalty or like it's like a Herald for
00:47:04
different families. The monarchy.
00:47:09
What does that does that have anything to do with this book?
00:47:12
And no because, you know, come to think of it.
00:47:15
We didn't get any of those real breadth or kind of puzzles.
00:47:19
You know. Like we didn't find the painted
00:47:21
brick that has a logo on it from the 13th century and push that
00:47:25
and it opens a secret wall. But inside there's another
00:47:28
mystery lock and the code is Napoleon's birthday.
00:47:31
And, you know, this one was very grounded, was very grounded,
00:47:34
which I appreciate. So I'm going, I'm going.
00:47:39
I want to do you want to 1.5? I'm going.
00:47:42
I'm going to you're going to, okay?
00:47:44
Okay, okay. Well let's just do this.
00:47:46
Which one is your favorite out of all these If I had to pick,
00:47:50
it would be be. For the composition.
00:47:54
Yes, for the composition of it. I mean, I like that one, the
00:47:57
best, you know? All right.
00:48:00
Okay, I think for the design, I'll, I'll agree with be What's
00:48:06
your favorite lie? Yeah, I guess I'll have to go
00:48:12
with be. I'll go the, I don't like it at
00:48:14
all, but from a design perspective, sure.
00:48:17
So anyway, let's get to the actual good stuff though, which
00:48:22
is the free space which men we could pick anything here.
00:48:25
I'ma let you go first because I have a few ideas, what?
00:48:30
You might pick and I'll go the opposite way.
00:48:32
What do you do for your 5 out of 5?
00:48:34
I think I gotta go, The Three Stooges in Chicago, yes, with
00:48:40
Davidson. It's mainly Davidson and Vaughn.
00:48:44
I like to do, you know, buddy, cop.
00:48:47
You know, these people are sort of forced to work together and
00:48:50
then you throw in this. Other like quirky private eye
00:48:52
guy who like clipped his toenails look good and eats.
00:48:57
His yogurt weird. Like that was just, it was so
00:48:59
weird. It was funny like in all the
00:49:02
Davidson all of this is bald jokes when they have these he's
00:49:05
like surveillance camera that are shaped like balls or like,
00:49:09
his his wife jokes. Ever do was just funny.
00:49:11
I don't know, I don't know. I don't find myself just having
00:49:14
a little bit of Comic relief during this novel.
00:49:17
That I enjoyed 100%. I liked it.
00:49:19
I liked other storyline. Ultimately lined up with, with
00:49:23
Brad's what Scott's I do that all the time with Scotts, and,
00:49:29
you know, that not is not always executed well, and I felt like
00:49:32
this is one of the novel's where it was done.
00:49:34
Well, will you bring in the Side Story to your main story?
00:49:37
Pretty efficiently. I'll agree.
00:49:39
Wholeheartedly agree. Perfectly said, I love The Three
00:49:44
Stooges over there in Chicago. Go because of that.
00:49:47
I'm going to go with Padre, Pio. I love the early good ones, love
00:49:52
this, the troll up in the monastery.
00:49:55
The Padre and Scott talking his background and he's kind of like
00:50:01
the, the troll is both a friend and a confidant.
00:50:05
He's for they have a professional relationship but it
00:50:08
also seems. They're also friends really
00:50:10
liked everything and riding the horses.
00:50:12
You know, the Intrigue of finding where Where is the troll
00:50:16
now? You know, we first met him, he
00:50:17
was on that island in Brazil and then he moves somewhere else and
00:50:22
currently in the books with Rising tiger, he's got this
00:50:25
really awesome like castle that he's defending her.
00:50:28
So I just always loved. Where's the troll.
00:50:30
Now, you know where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego trollee go,
00:50:34
where where in the world is the troll?
00:50:36
And this one definitely is up there with one of his cooler
00:50:39
haunts and hideouts. So really liked everything up in
00:50:42
Basque country and Padre, Pio. I I hope he sticks around.
00:50:47
There was a point in my notes where I wrote down.
00:50:51
Oh crap. I forgot about this guy.
00:50:53
That means he's gonna die pretty soon.
00:50:55
Yeah, either we may never see him again, though.
00:50:58
Which would be cool because you know another priest who we never
00:51:01
saw again and just kind of disappeared Into The Ether.
00:51:05
The old days, the priests friends with Dan Hurley from
00:51:08
Kill Shot. Yeah yeah and he was at the
00:51:12
funeral. I think he was at stansfield's
00:51:14
funeral or one of them. I kind of like, how he floated
00:51:18
around in the background for a few books, you definitely know
00:51:22
he passed on, you know? But you wonder what else was he
00:51:25
involved in? What else in history was he
00:51:28
privy to? And I kind of get the sense of
00:51:30
Padre, Pio, he seen a lot, he will see a lot and he's just
00:51:35
going to silently pull strings and operate in the shadows.
00:51:38
And I think that's a really cool character and really adds to the
00:51:42
storytelling. Yep.
00:51:46
All right so what are our totals there?
00:51:47
Mike Chris, you got a total of 41 and I ended up giving a half
00:51:52
back to the plot. I went eight and a half on the
00:51:55
plot. I think he doesn't want to be
00:51:56
below, 40. It will be able to afford it.
00:51:59
It also brings it to a nice even 40 and I really did like this
00:52:02
book. So I think 40 is a fair score
00:52:05
their 40 and 41. How does that rank compared to
00:52:09
what we've what we've covered so far.
00:52:12
You know, this is one of the things I was working on before
00:52:14
the Pod, so I don't have it all put together.
00:52:18
So if I put a 41, you have a 40. So we rated State of the Union,
00:52:23
45 you give it, I give it a 45 and a half, you give it 41 and a
00:52:28
half. Blowback, I gave it a 31.
00:52:32
You give it a 26. Take down.
00:52:35
I give a forty six and a half, you can 47, first commandment.
00:52:41
I give it 43.5. You gave a 44.
00:52:46
I don't have the scores written down.
00:52:47
For last Patriot, we gave her eyes and tiger, 44 and a half,
00:52:52
and a 45 and a half. So, last Patriot was 40 and a
00:52:56
half and thirty nine and a half. So I'm seeing numbers wise.
00:53:01
This book is pretty much on par with the last Patriot.
00:53:04
Eight. On par with State of the Union
00:53:09
for me. But it's definitely above
00:53:13
blowback. But above blowback below
00:53:17
takedown. Definitely lower than first
00:53:21
commandment. I would say, I remember liking
00:53:23
that one. Well, was our Apostle scores.
00:53:26
Do you have this? Don't have the scores for
00:53:28
apostle. So I think this is middle of the
00:53:32
pack. Would you say this is going to
00:53:34
stay about Kaylee. I gave a give the Apostle 44 and
00:53:38
a half. You gave it a 45 and a half inch
00:53:42
all. Yes, that's the one all in the
00:53:43
Middle East, right? Yes.
00:53:45
That was the last one. Yeah, I think I think this is
00:53:49
definitely below the Apostle below.
00:53:52
First, commandment below takedown.
00:53:55
It's probably going to be on par with somewhere like a lion's.
00:53:58
A state of the union, yesi you gave we gave Lions a 23 in a 25
00:54:06
respectively. So, if you double those, that's
00:54:09
a 30-i lines is not a 38. That would be my worst book
00:54:13
besides path and take down bath and blowback.
00:54:17
Yeah, we got to restore that and you give it a 42.
00:54:22
Because which I think will be probably pretty accurate.
00:54:25
Yeah, like I would change mine to be of 42 but I guess because
00:54:28
I was doing it out of 30. As before we have the final
00:54:33
iteration of the scorecard. Yeah.
00:54:36
This is, this is something we need to think about.
00:54:38
We had Oh, I know why? It would end up getting more
00:54:43
because plot and Plot and action are more heavily weighted so
00:54:53
they would get a lot more points.
00:54:57
Now I think I think this is all things that like you said, this
00:55:01
is a books or writing, it all the pack.
00:55:03
And we I think we need to go back and you discuss that the
00:55:07
first decade of Brad and we can also go back and re score both
00:55:13
state of the union and path of the Assassin.
00:55:15
Get them lined up with our new 50-point scorecard and really
00:55:19
see where everything lines up. So yeah, looking forward to that
00:55:21
in the future. Yeah, let's read the Athena
00:55:24
project next month will try to Pump that out in April.
00:55:28
And then Sometime Late in the spring.
00:55:30
We'll give you our rankings of the first eleven ten or eleven
00:55:36
breath, or books that we've done.
00:55:37
Yeah. Whole Decade of his authorship.
00:55:40
That would be pretty cool to reflect on early Brad.
00:55:43
You know, like with Vince Flynn, we called it early, Vince.
00:55:46
And then clearly, like Memorial Day Mark, we've got a Another
00:55:50
wave of events, that kind of new style events.
00:55:53
So and then from there, we have Kyle Mill.
00:55:56
So it's old. Vince knew Vince.
00:55:58
Kyle Mills has Mitch, I feel like we're going to see some
00:56:02
patterns with with Brad, and I think we're about to wrap up
00:56:05
what I would consider early Brad.
00:56:08
Yeah. And before we get to that on
00:56:12
this pod, you can go over onto our other pod and we will be
00:56:16
covering and done Bentley's first novel on the mat Drake
00:56:21
Series without sanction. The so, what are we going to run
00:56:25
that on No Limits Thriller pad or No Limits mid-trip?
00:56:28
Odds, and he's taking them from a trap.
00:56:29
Maybe run it on both. Yeah, we might as well.
00:56:33
I think we got to do much wrap because a big part of that
00:56:35
conversation or maybe we do the book And we try not to do too
00:56:40
much, Mitch wrap talk in it and then we do an episode after
00:56:44
having done the book where we reflect on what influences might
00:56:49
Mitch have had on metric and then what from Don Bentley's
00:56:54
writing in The Matrix series, do we think will be incorporated
00:56:57
into my trap moving forward. So maybe they were two separate
00:57:01
episodes there. Yeah.
00:57:04
No. I like that.
00:57:05
Like that a lot. Well that allows me to thank our
00:57:09
patrons by name, including our special operator.
00:57:11
Sherry f are special agents Darryl, Kevin George Ben, Matt.
00:57:15
And on Peggy Ray, Bridget and Mark, Please Subscribe rate and
00:57:20
review using your favorite broadcasting platform to all
00:57:24
three seasons of No Limits. You can find us online at
00:57:27
Thriller pod.com, or using Twitter and instructor at
00:57:31
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00:57:37
And follow up.