Twisted Web

Nolan Kilkenny Thriller #3

by Tom Grace

THE KEY TO ALL LIFE HAS SUDDENLY BECOME WORTH KILLING FOR.... Deep in the frozen wasteland of Antarctica, a remote NASA research lab rests atop a two-mile thick glacier, covering a vast underground water reservoir. But the true discovery isn't the lake buried in ice -- it's what has been found within its boundaries. Something amazing. Something alive. And it may hold the answers to existence itself. When the lab is attacked and its scientists murdered, ex-Navy SEAL Nolan Kilkenny realizes that there's more than science at stake -- there's power, money, and what may be another step in evolution. Racing around the globe, Kilkenny must stop the machinations of a diabolical adversary and recover a priceless artifact of human existence -- or die trying....

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Adventure, Mystery, Suspense, Crime

342 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

About the author

Tom Grace is the bestselling author of the Nolan Kilkenny series of adventure novels, and an architect in private practice. The Kilkenny novels feature Graces signature character, an ex-Navy Seal with strong ties to the Catholic Church.

In constructing his novels, Grace draws upon his intensely detail-oriented skills honed in the practice of architecture, in which he designs projects ranging from private residences to cutting-edge research facilities.

As both an author and architect, Grace lives by Mies van der Rohes famous aphorism: God is in the details. Painstaking research underpins each of his novels, creating the factual foundations that support the stories.

Tom Grace resides with his family in Michigan.

Series:
* Nolan Kilkenny Mystery

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I chose to read this book as it was suggested that it was similar to Matthew Reilly or James Rollins, both of whom I really like. I'm afraid his wasn't a patch on them. Several times throughout this book I almost decided to give up on it.
At first it seemed that a character was introduced and about twenty pages later would be killed off. I started to wonder if there would be anyone left by page 50.
There was no real detail to the characters, or the scenes. The main character's name got on my nerves it was used so often. And for some reason there was a pre-occupation with sexual assault on the female characters which I felt was totally unnecessary.
The premise of the story was ok, but there wasn't enough motivation for the "baddies" to do what they did.
I'm afraid I won't be bothering with this author in the future.

[Marika Charalambous · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not James Rollins by any means, but a great thriller nevertheless. Lots of twists and turns that kept me on my toes all the time. Was not a boring read at all. And unlike usual, I started with the series out of order, so now I have to hunt down the previous ones.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very dark. Few female characters in this book (maybe 3?) and they all seemed to get raped at some point. And most of them are murdered too. Lots of "good" characters (male & female) are murdered. Several fairly explicit sex scenes and violence as well as an explicit rape-exam scene. Too dark/explicit to recommend to Christian/conservative audiences. The author seems to have lost his way with this book. Is he going through some really negative personal situations with women? What inspired this?

Nolan's love interest, Kelsey, has apparently gone off on some NASA expedition - and broken up with him before leaving to avoid long distance dating. She is absent from the entire book. Nolan spends the first half of the book basically alone in Antarctica. Then he returns to the States and teams up with female CIA agent Roxanne Tao. They travel between the States and Europe investigating together.

The author really doesn't seem to have a good handle on the female characters. In one scene towards the end, Roxanne is gang raped but brushes it off and executes a flawless assault on their compound with Nolan. The author treats rape like a man reacting to a punch to the face - something that hurts and fuels revenge but has no lasting effect.

Interchangeable use of first & last names for characters again. Hard open again - I didn't get into this story until around page 200! Skimmed the science heavy paragraphs again - too technical for me. The bad guys kept killing each other again. (Unrealistic. Even bad guys need to foster business partnerships! They can't kill every partner at the end of a joint project.)

One Ann Arbor reference to Connor O'Neils :-) but no other significant references in this book.

One character takes a strong stand against abortion and stem cell research. (pg 108) :-)

An old fashion dinner party with multiple courses is depicted in one scene. (pg 104) :-)

Nolan is still working for MARC in this book. He drives a Mercedes Benz car, but makes negative remarks about rich bad guys - criticizing them for their wealth. (Does the author dislike rich people, yet fantasize about having money by making his hero rich?) At the end, Nolan supposedly makes $26 million in stock trades by shorting the bad guy's company before destroying it.

It was unclear why the CIA would help Nolan investigate Eames murder when there was initially no clear link to their area of interest. The plot did not seem well thought out. The science leaps necessary to make the plot work (replicating DNA and creating hair & semen) also seemed far fetched.

This book didn't get interesting for me until page 200. And even then, it was just sort-of interesting - nothing special.

The language was very clunky throughout the book. It was not an easy read. I frequently got tripped up in the language and often misread things or didn't understand what the author was trying to say.

I will probably take a break from this series for a while.

[Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Glimmerings of Tom Clancy and Jack Higgins with the sexual violence of Wilber Smith directed towards women



Started well but progressed with meaningless violence towards women, or a theme of same. why would you ruin the makings of a brand?

[Matt Bosley]

This book listing should really be updated. The title has been changed from Twisted Web to Dark Ice. It is available under the new title in print, as an audiobook and as an ebook from Amazon, Kobo and Barnes & Noble. Only old, out-of-print copies are available under the old title.

[Veronie Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not my usual kind of book to read , stumbled on it by chance. It had a lot of twists and turn but couldn’t put it down. Kept me on my toes glad I read it , very exciting it had a lot of action . Love it

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me a little while to get into the book, but once I did I enjoyed it, full of intrigue, murder & adventure,

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read highly recommend

[Darinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third book in the Nolan Kilkenny thriller series. Fast-paced and entertaining.

[Emma Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read, but nothing like what I predicted it would be about based on the blurb.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished reading Tom Harper's - The Lost Temple. An ex special ops soldier is entrusted with a leather notebook filled with an archaeologist life work which contains a deadly secret. He sets out to find why he has died protecting it and what's it worth behind the secret even though its in ancient Greek and mysterious symbols. A so so read disappointed with the story flow. Sigh :(

[AvonBooksUK]

Deep in the frozen wasteland of Antarctica, a remote NASA research lab rests atop a two-mile thick glacier, covering a vast underground water resevoir. But the true discovery isn’t the lake buried in ice - it’s what has been found within its boundaries. Something amazing. Something alive. And it may hold the answers to existence itself.

When the lab is attacked and its scientists murdered, Nolan Kilkenny realises that there is more than science at stake - there’s power, money, and what may be another step in evolution. Racing around the globe, Kilkenny must stop the machinations of a diabolical adversary and recover a priceless artifact of human existence - or die trying…

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kilkenny's love interest from the last two volumes is gone with barely a mention that she is gone for 18 months to NASA. So now he has someone from the CIA assigned to him and lo, despite her being repeatedly raped and his being raped, they are now love interests.

Funny, every so often it seems Christian values are about to pop out, almost like a Joel Rosenberg novel; yet they never quite make it.

Just enough offensive language to be offensive. Just enough sex to be too much. And once again the bad guys implode by the end.

Come on, Mr. Grace. This is your third novel. You should be getting better at this.

[Glen · Rating 2 out of 5]

found this book in the sale section so thought i would give it a try as it sounded good. This is the first of Tom Grace books that I have read and even though this is part of a series, not reading others first was not a bind. - Started of really well and nice fast past which was throughout. however I felt that an ex-SEAL and CIA agent would have more brains and not fall into traps so easily. Some details and plots were obvious and the ending just seemed to finish. wont bother with the other in the series

[Micky · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first few chapters of this book were rather riveting with it's fast paced action and exciting settings, but then something dreadful happened - it got all rather silly.

Here we have a guy who is an ex Navy SEAL who repeatedly gets getting caught by the big bad guys; beaten; tied up; left to an imminent and horrible death only to escape and be caught again in a few chapters time. The writer seems to have a fetish for bondage it seems because the female love/hate character is in for the same ride too.

Ugh

Amateurish and heavily cliched

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book under the title of 'Polar Quest'. There is surely no coincidence that there is a recommendation from Clive Cussler on the over and this is very much in the style of and very similar to his plot lines. For Nolan Kilkenny=Dirk Pitt, in fact it was rather unfortunate that I had read this soon after 'Atlantis Found' as a lot of the plot devices and characters seem to repeat from that, even down to the artic scenes. The plot did seem to unravel towards the end and we never get to find what was found in the artic lake, although an enjoyable enough thriller.

[Nancy Jarvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donna Fletcher Crow's "A Darkly Hidden Truth" might get nods as a Christian book, slightly romantic book, definitely historical mystery (it's set currently but delves into a great deal of religious history)and could even qualify as a Rick Steves type tour book, but I'd still place it on a cozy mystery read list. It was highly entertaining and she writes so well, her descriptions let the reader see what here characters see.

[Rob Damon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought I was getting a story about scientists exploring the lake under a glacier in Antarctica - the one that's been isolated and frozen for about 20 million years. But instead this was a boring thriller about a dull character called Killkenny chasing strands of DNA around the world. At times I thought I was being given a lesson in biology - there were chapters about nothing other than comparing one set of DNA samples with another.

It was disappointing.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written technology thriller with a hero that is compared to the likes of Drik pitt or Jack Ryan. while i don't see Ryan I think Tom Grace developed a character that is on even footing with Cussler's Dirk Pit in his prime.
The setting deals with genetic science and manipulation of DNA, while the book is rather sketchty on the science of it it is a very entertaining read, particularly the abundant action.

[Books and Brews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big, sluggish info dump at the beginning almost saw me ditch this book. It picked up around page 38 to the speed you'd expect of an action thriller. Nothing too amazing, nothing too awful, either - apart from one character's ridiculous, uncalled for moralising about stem cells and abortion. Keep your US baby talk religious wankery to yourself.

Lots of characters die, so don't get attached to any of them and the ending is total crap.

[Ron Holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third in a series with Nolan Kilkenny. It is an interesting read. He gets into situations that are nearly impossible to extricate himself. However, if you were a trained Navy SEAL you can do almost anything with almost nothing. It is a very enjoyable read. There is some sex in the book.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first time I had EVER bought a book for a flight and I was pleasantly entertained. I don't know if it is typical for the spy/suspense genre but there was an obvious attempt to be unique in the elements chosen for this particular intrigue.

[George Ladds · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first Tom Grace book I have read, if you are looking for a fast moving adventure book then you won't be disappointed. Great holiday read or just a book to unwind with. if you are looking for a literacy classic then you might be disappointed.

[Yona Racheva · Rating 4 out of 5]

It didn't grab me like James Rollins or Matthew Reilly books, but I still liked it.

There were too many thinks happening in the same time. And all of them became one in the last couple of pages. It was hard to keep track with everything.

[Gerry Felipe]

The Author is a local from Ann Arbor, his regular job is an Architect. If you are a techie & love the ambience of Ann Arbor you'll love it.

[Iah · Rating 4 out of 5]

was ok, skipped a few pages as they went on a bit. but reading another so did like it enough

[Venkatasubramaniam Ramakrishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thriller page after page. Eligible to be taken as a movie !

[Natalie Law · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't think I would but really enjoyed the book. A real page turner. Loved the characters.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read but a little far fetched in places.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read, highly recommended.