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The Collective Protocol
Paige Watkins is a telepath who can control the minds of those around her. When a cabal of devious Canadian politicians learns of her abilities, The Collective Protocol is born. Its mission is to destabilize their troublesome southern neighbor and erstwhile partner while increasing international Canadian influence and expanding their national borders.
The telepath’s gifts are magnified using cutting edge technology, allowing her to inflict heavy damage upon the country of her birth as she orchestrates widespread wildlife attacks, uprisings among the homeless and succeeds in turning Americans against the police, who seem possessed by demons as they strike out against law-abiding citizens.
Several of the incidents seem to swirl around Washington, D.C. native Reagan Lockhart, causing the lead investigator from the FBI’s Unorthodox Crimes department to conclude that she’s somehow involved. The girl is thrust into the middle of an international scheme to systematically destroy the U.S. where she must ultimately face Paige in a battle of ferocious energies.
The telepath’s gifts are magnified using cutting edge technology, allowing her to inflict heavy damage upon the country of her birth as she orchestrates widespread wildlife attacks, uprisings among the homeless and succeeds in turning Americans against the police, who seem possessed by demons as they strike out against law-abiding citizens.
Several of the incidents seem to swirl around Washington, D.C. native Reagan Lockhart, causing the lead investigator from the FBI’s Unorthodox Crimes department to conclude that she’s somehow involved. The girl is thrust into the middle of an international scheme to systematically destroy the U.S. where she must ultimately face Paige in a battle of ferocious energies.
- GenresThrillerParanormal
217 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
1 person is currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Brian Parker
6 books35 followersA veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan war, Brian Parker was born and raised as an Army brat. He moved all over the country as a child before his father retired from the service and they settled in a small Missouri town where the family purchased a farm. It was on the farm that he learned the rewards of a hard day's work and enjoyed the escapism that books could provide.
He’s currently an Active Duty Army soldier who enjoys spending time with his family in Texas, hiking, obstacle course racing, writing and Texas Longhorns football. His wife is also an Active Duty soldier and the pairing brings its own unique set of circumstances that keep both of them on their toes. He's an unashamed Star Wars fan, but prefers to disregard the entire Episode I and II debacle.
Brian self-published four books before signing a 4-book contract with Permuted Press. His novels Enduring Armageddon and GNASH were previously self-published and will be re-released by Permuted beginning in May 2015 along with two previously unpublished works, REND and SEVER.
He is also the author of The Collective Protocol, a paranormal thriller that shows how far people will go to gain power; Zombie in the Basement is a children's picture book written to help children overcome the perceived stigma of being different than others; and his how-to guide Self-Publishing the Hard Way is for writers looking for pointers to self-publish their manuscript.
Follow Brian on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BrianParkerAuthor and on his blog at www.BrianParkerAuthor.com where he posts small, unedited sections of his works in progress.
He’s currently an Active Duty Army soldier who enjoys spending time with his family in Texas, hiking, obstacle course racing, writing and Texas Longhorns football. His wife is also an Active Duty soldier and the pairing brings its own unique set of circumstances that keep both of them on their toes. He's an unashamed Star Wars fan, but prefers to disregard the entire Episode I and II debacle.
Brian self-published four books before signing a 4-book contract with Permuted Press. His novels Enduring Armageddon and GNASH were previously self-published and will be re-released by Permuted beginning in May 2015 along with two previously unpublished works, REND and SEVER.
He is also the author of The Collective Protocol, a paranormal thriller that shows how far people will go to gain power; Zombie in the Basement is a children's picture book written to help children overcome the perceived stigma of being different than others; and his how-to guide Self-Publishing the Hard Way is for writers looking for pointers to self-publish their manuscript.
Follow Brian on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BrianParkerAuthor and on his blog at www.BrianParkerAuthor.com where he posts small, unedited sections of his works in progress.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 31, 2020
I received a free review copy of this audio book, at my request, and am voluntarily leaving this unbiased review.
This is an interesting book with a new concept that treads into familiar waters, but in a new way.
There is a weird mix of character Pov's that range from characters who are/will be important to the story and 1 time characters who we are permanently finished in the narrative. Other than the few main characters who are with the story from the beginning, it's hard to tell who will stick around and who will be never heard from again.
The main characters that we are given are fairly well rounded and complex. Not this authors best characters, but still complex enough to not feel flat. Even the one time characters are introduced with hopes and dreams, back story and emotions. It's rare for throw away characters to be given this much effort.
The settings are nothing special, various parts of Washington DC, a single building in Calgary Alberta, New York, Las Vegas, and a few small towns. None of the individual places bring anything special to the table, which in the end is fine. The places are real and depicted realistically.
The plot was well developed and entertaining. I genuinely wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters and I enjoyed the book. However, I felt the facts of the story were technically sound. I also felt the story telling could have been done in a more impactful way. The ending is also too Hollywood cliche and is less realistic than a lot of other parts of the story.
The narration by Madeline Starr was also very good. Her range isn't huge, and her male voices are unconvincing, however the story is good enough (and most of the characters female) so this doesn't become a serious problem.
All in all a good book. Similar but not the same as other books out there. Good characters and realistic settings help bring life to an interesting story that could have been a bit better. Voice work is really good but not great. But the story is not quite as well written as the authors other work.
I recommend checking out the Easy Town novels, by this author. They are his best work so far, in my opinion, of what I've read of him.
***. Spoilers***
My first issue with the story is that the American author was clearly thinking US president when writing Canadian PM. The Prime Minister position is not an independent power role where one can make unilateral decisions and see them carried out without the rest of the government knowing. It is simply the leader of the group of people who are making the decisions. In this book, however, it seems that the PM is the dictator of Canada and no one knows his plans, not even the ministers who's departments would be involved.
The next issue is the assault on the Canadian office of the Collective Protocol. I mean of course a small group of Americans can defeat any enemy, no matter how out numbered or insurmountable the odds. It's how it always boils out, Americans are kicked around until they decide to do something about it, then they are unbeatable. It's all too cliche. Also, the building they broke into was in the middle of starting a war in Asia and slaughtering millions of people that share the border with them. Not only is there basically no security, but at one point it is explained that this super secret, super secure, super important building doesn't have glass break sensors, or basically any automated way of alerting the inhabitants that someone has broken in. Most people houses have better security.
Lastly, I felt that it was a mistake to introduce the villain at the beginning of the story and spend so much time from her pov. I understand the idea was for her to explain how and why things were happening. But not knowing early on, and then having a big reveal halfway through, I feel, would have been much more impactful. We would have had bloody riots, animal attacks, homeless uprising and a high death count, and no idea why. Then introduce the CP, the antagonists and motives and let the story unfold from there. I really feel it was a missed opportunity.
This is an interesting book with a new concept that treads into familiar waters, but in a new way.
There is a weird mix of character Pov's that range from characters who are/will be important to the story and 1 time characters who we are permanently finished in the narrative. Other than the few main characters who are with the story from the beginning, it's hard to tell who will stick around and who will be never heard from again.
The main characters that we are given are fairly well rounded and complex. Not this authors best characters, but still complex enough to not feel flat. Even the one time characters are introduced with hopes and dreams, back story and emotions. It's rare for throw away characters to be given this much effort.
The settings are nothing special, various parts of Washington DC, a single building in Calgary Alberta, New York, Las Vegas, and a few small towns. None of the individual places bring anything special to the table, which in the end is fine. The places are real and depicted realistically.
The plot was well developed and entertaining. I genuinely wanted to know what was going to happen to the characters and I enjoyed the book. However, I felt the facts of the story were technically sound. I also felt the story telling could have been done in a more impactful way. The ending is also too Hollywood cliche and is less realistic than a lot of other parts of the story.
The narration by Madeline Starr was also very good. Her range isn't huge, and her male voices are unconvincing, however the story is good enough (and most of the characters female) so this doesn't become a serious problem.
All in all a good book. Similar but not the same as other books out there. Good characters and realistic settings help bring life to an interesting story that could have been a bit better. Voice work is really good but not great. But the story is not quite as well written as the authors other work.
I recommend checking out the Easy Town novels, by this author. They are his best work so far, in my opinion, of what I've read of him.
***. Spoilers***
My first issue with the story is that the American author was clearly thinking US president when writing Canadian PM. The Prime Minister position is not an independent power role where one can make unilateral decisions and see them carried out without the rest of the government knowing. It is simply the leader of the group of people who are making the decisions. In this book, however, it seems that the PM is the dictator of Canada and no one knows his plans, not even the ministers who's departments would be involved.
The next issue is the assault on the Canadian office of the Collective Protocol. I mean of course a small group of Americans can defeat any enemy, no matter how out numbered or insurmountable the odds. It's how it always boils out, Americans are kicked around until they decide to do something about it, then they are unbeatable. It's all too cliche. Also, the building they broke into was in the middle of starting a war in Asia and slaughtering millions of people that share the border with them. Not only is there basically no security, but at one point it is explained that this super secret, super secure, super important building doesn't have glass break sensors, or basically any automated way of alerting the inhabitants that someone has broken in. Most people houses have better security.
Lastly, I felt that it was a mistake to introduce the villain at the beginning of the story and spend so much time from her pov. I understand the idea was for her to explain how and why things were happening. But not knowing early on, and then having a big reveal halfway through, I feel, would have been much more impactful. We would have had bloody riots, animal attacks, homeless uprising and a high death count, and no idea why. Then introduce the CP, the antagonists and motives and let the story unfold from there. I really feel it was a missed opportunity.
January 28, 2020
I am a big fan of Brian Paker's work and this novel was no exception. Packed with twists and turns and interesting writing I was easily drawn into a world of intrigue and mystery. Balancing political intrigue with a science fiction twist.
I received this book in exchange for my honest review.
I received this book in exchange for my honest review.
June 28, 2020
I liked the story even though it was sometimes a bit farfetch. It's not easy to write a story about a person that has unlimited power to control others... So this story comes together to be quite good and original.
The writing style is good too as is the narration.
The writing style is good too as is the narration.
February 3, 2015
The book was given for an honest review.
Let me start off by saying that the premise behind the book and the overall story was interesting. Canada decides to wipe out the US via their secret weapon AKA Telepathy Paige Watkins and some devastating technology. It's up to her twin sister Reagan Lockhart and a select few to stop her. I never was able to get fully engaged in the story. Due partially to the fact that it is extremely over-descriptive and the author hasn't grasped the concept on noun vs pro-noun placement in a paragraph.
I was also given more detail on Paige and her motivations to commit these horrible atrocities on the US than I was on or hero Reagan. What I was given on Reagan was superficial at best she never developed any depth for me and I never connected with her as a character.
I personally need the story to engage me on an emotional level and this story never did. Millions of people died and I couldn't feel the devastation because Reagan didn't show any. Nor did any of the secondary characters. Reagan hardly portrayed any emotion at her own personal "devastating" loss. Again decent concept bad execution. As a reader I wouldn't have made it past the first few paragraphs if I got a free sample, if I even got past the overly-descriptive synopsis for this book. As a reviewer I pushed on. The book doesn't pick up until about 38% but the problems don't go away....Sara
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Let me start off by saying that the premise behind the book and the overall story was interesting. Canada decides to wipe out the US via their secret weapon AKA Telepathy Paige Watkins and some devastating technology. It's up to her twin sister Reagan Lockhart and a select few to stop her. I never was able to get fully engaged in the story. Due partially to the fact that it is extremely over-descriptive and the author hasn't grasped the concept on noun vs pro-noun placement in a paragraph.
I was also given more detail on Paige and her motivations to commit these horrible atrocities on the US than I was on or hero Reagan. What I was given on Reagan was superficial at best she never developed any depth for me and I never connected with her as a character.
I personally need the story to engage me on an emotional level and this story never did. Millions of people died and I couldn't feel the devastation because Reagan didn't show any. Nor did any of the secondary characters. Reagan hardly portrayed any emotion at her own personal "devastating" loss. Again decent concept bad execution. As a reader I wouldn't have made it past the first few paragraphs if I got a free sample, if I even got past the overly-descriptive synopsis for this book. As a reviewer I pushed on. The book doesn't pick up until about 38% but the problems don't go away....Sara
http://www.boundlessbookreviews.com
https://www.facebook.com/BBReviews
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 23, 2014
Prior to this book, I had just finished one about people who contracted what seemed to be the flu or similar illness and then turned intto flesh eating zombies. When people in a night club began eating each other, my first thought was well here we go again with he zombies. But I will gladly admit that I was wrong and the cause was not what I expected but you will have to read it for yourself if you want to know what it was. Overall the book was ok and seemed to lag in a few places before picking up on the action again. I thought the ending was kind of contrived and seemed like he author just wanted to get it over with quick. The ending was my least favorite part.
March 22, 2017
I knew the Canadians weren't peaceful! It's all an act lol. I've already been teasing my Canadian wife about this! Excellent story by Brian Parker. Thank you for your military service! As for the narrator, she has a lovely voice and was very easy to listen to. The reason for my 4 star rating was because of the mispronunciation of some words. That may be a bit harsh but to me it's irritating. The English language is complicated, but Google will show you the correct pronunciation of any word you're not familiar with. It will even say the word for you. Other than that, i really did enjoy the book!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews