Chaos Theory

24 Declassified #6

by John Whitman

A brilliant madman dedicated to anarchy has dark plans for the U.S. In twenty-four hours, America will be plunged into chaos—the result of an unthinkable assassination to be carried out flawlessly—and the government has no inkling of the catastrophe that is about to occur.

Only one man can prevent the nightmare: disgraced rogue CTU operative Jack Bauer. But Bauer's been cut loose, is wanted for murder, and is running from the police, who have orders to shoot to kill. And there's no one he can turn to for help—because a high-level traitor in CTU wants Jack Bauer dead.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Action, Ebooks, Mystery Thriller

324 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 29, 2007

Reviews

[Joshua Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about Chaos Theory, and they all largely stem from my interest in the series, 24. The first thing I should mention is that this is the first novel I've read based on the series, and I'm unsure of to what degree the issues I have with it are present in the other books, especially given that John Whitman only wrote half of this series, with other authors penning the rest.

First, the negatives. As one might expect, the novel is divided into twenty-four chapters, each describing one hour of the day. What jumped out to me the most here was that, compared to a typical season of 24, there's not as much going on per hour/chapter, and Whitman compensates for this by having each scene take up more of the chapter's "real time" than I could reasonably believe. At one point, Tony Almeida appears to spend 19 minutes asking a suspect three simple questions. I also found that the ending was fairly abrupt. Usually the main conflict of a 24 season is resolved no later than midway through the final episode, with the rest of the screentime spent addressing smaller wrinkles that have cropped up over the course of the story. Here, the main conflict ends literally in the final line of the final page, and leaves me out of the loop about the subsequent fallout.

Now, I gave this book a three-out-of-five rating for a reason. I almost gave it a four because, despite the faults I've just described, the book has a lot going for it. For one thing, the big bad is very different from any of the villains from the series. Every single mastermind in 24 has an ideological agenda that inspires the threats they bring to bear on the United States. They're usually "crusaders" to use counterterror terminology, whereas the villain in Chaos Theory is as close to a "crazy" as you get. His motives are purely to inflict as much confusion and disorder as possible. It's a refreshing change of pace, as opposed to masterminds who wish to blackmail the US government into doing their bidding.

Also, despite essentially skipping time that could be spent adding more suspense and delivering drama between the characters, the book is paced very well. There would be nothing worse than opening a novel based on a series like 24 and finding it to be a slog to get through. I blazed through this one, and there were just as many twists and contraband-deals-gone-wrong as I've come to expect. But the biggest point in the story's favor is the twist that comes near the end. I knew that like any good thriller, and especially one starring Jack Bauer, there had to be a wham moment coming, but when it hit it caught me completely off-guard. If you're a fan of the series, this twist is comparable to what happens towards the end of Season 1 or Season 5, but once it happens it's easy to see how it was foreshadowed.

All in all, it's worth the read if you love 24, but it's even better if you don't.

[Greg Danklef · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like a bonus episode/season of 24. There are a bunch of these so maybe I'll check out others when I am in the mood for some Jack Bauer.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the TV show, love the prequel books. Written with the same urgency as the show, plenty of the expected twists and turns.

[Rob Vitagliano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the Declassified novels, this one felt the most like a full season of the show.

[Liam Coyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The excitement of Jack Bauer never stops and I loved the part when Jack finally killed the terrorist Zapata , ending his plan of trying to assassinate the Chairman of the Treasury Department

[Lukas Veil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of movement but easier to follow than some of the other books in this series. I enjoyed it.

[Randall Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netflix, this has turned out to be one of my favorite TV shows of all-time, and this book was the first I have read in the Declassified series. The story brought back many of the characters that I grew to love, and made me both miss the show, and also helped add to the excitement of the upcoming reboot. The book was written with the same fast-paced action as the show, and Jack Bauer's legacy lives on, though the plot takes place before the events of the first season. Jack starts out in prison for killing someone, and ends up escaping as only Jack can. He then must find an anarchist who is planning on doing something he figures will cripple America. Jack ceaselessly searches for this man, and will do ANYTHING to get the job done, as if there were doubts of this fact. This held my attention throughout, and kept me engaged entirely. I was curious how the 24 idea would translate into a book, but this was done extremely well and made for a rather quick read. The author flawlessly wrote each event, and I could picture the story play out just as a season of 24 would. I am definitely hooked on these books, now, thanks to this one, and I hope the others are just as good.

[Victoria Martinez · Rating 1 out of 5]

So far out of all the 24 Declassified books this is my least favorite. I found it very difficult to follow and stay focused on what I was reading. It seemed to end very abruptly in almost the same manner as the way it started. In this book Bauer works almost all by himself on a secret mission that only few know about. In the other books I have read there is more teamwork and it works well. This book just didn't seem to flow right and I found it boring. If anyone is thinking of reading this book I would say skip it and read a different one.

[Evan Kirby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fine enough '24' novel. There's some interesting stuff with the Christopher Henderson puppetry of a lot of the events, but they never really do anything with it, which is obviously just meant as foreshadowing for the TV show. There's also this UFC plot line that follows a fighter that absolutely goes nowhere that just felt out of place because it never actually ended up tying in with any of the plot lines, except for the climax happening at the event.

[Steven Hummer · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the 24 books were written by Vince Flynn it would be better. As it is it's not bad but needs improvement.
If you remember in season 5 Christopher Henderson's character is introduced. Henderson is the man who recruited Jack to work at CTU. In the show Jack mentions that the two have a history and that things ended badly between them. This book tells that story.

[Levent Mollamustafaoglu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent "24" book and if expanded, it could have been an interesting season scenario. After the disappointment of "Storm Force" , this was welcome. Jack is close to his TV personality here, although the book still lacks the twists and turns the series (which is very difficult to fit into a short book) Acceptable quality.

[Stasia Bruhn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just o.k. to me. I liked it at first and then Jack gets shot in one arm twice then the other arm and he still keeps going. Out of everyone who wants to kill him noone knows how to shoot even when they are right next to him. Kinda of unbelieveable to me!!

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the 24 series and this book was good but for once I much prefer the on-screen version. I enjoyed it because I know the characters but I could imagine it being a bit of a tricky read for non-24 fans.

[Moody Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books in the Declassified series. Loved the pace and the continuous action, the twists and turns, the near misses and the drop-your-jaw moments of tension. Absolutely recommend this to all 24 lovers.

[Rajat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast paced novel which keeps you at the edge all the time. A good read for all those you love the thriller genre. The book does not involve in unnecessary love angles to spoil the fun of the chase, no romantic steam building up anywhere.

[Timothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another spectacular Declassified novel.
I'm glad I chose this one. it was an interesting concept.
The Maverick vs The Anarchist.
I've only read John Whitman's and Marc's declassified novels so far, and I'm In preference to Whitman's.

[Patrice · Rating 5 out of 5]

this one i liked alot it was kind of confusing kind of like telling two stories at once from a bunch of different perspectives but it was really great...

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack Bauer in his best crazy mode

[Cathy]

Very Good

[Imene Philosophia]

cool

[Stevie · Rating 3 out of 5]

good

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best I've read so far. More Jack less whiney Kim

[Yomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Típica novela sencillita y de acción entretenida perfecta para unos días de vacaciones (para lo que la escogí, vaya, además de que por su tamaño era ideal para llevar de viaje).