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Dominic Verrazzano Thriller #2
China Strike
On an ordinary summer day, chaos erupts across the globe when thousands of cars simultaneously speed out of control in the United States and Europe. The death toll is enormous, and there is only one thing connecting the crashes--every single car is the same model.
Amidst the bewilderment of the tragedy, ICE Special Agent Dominic Verrazzano is called to the Brooklyn Detention Center, where Tom Frisch, recently arrested for attempting to assassinate a U.N. President, claims to have knowledge about the mastermind behind the crashes. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and an even bigger catastrophe, involving many more motor companies, is already in the works.
Verrazzano has no choice but to take Frisch with him as he tracks down an enemy that both men know far too well--their old Special Forces commander and father figure. Following leads that take them from New York to Detroit and on to Europe, Verrazzano finally lands in a confrontation that unravels a secret even more sinister than he could have expected.
Amidst the bewilderment of the tragedy, ICE Special Agent Dominic Verrazzano is called to the Brooklyn Detention Center, where Tom Frisch, recently arrested for attempting to assassinate a U.N. President, claims to have knowledge about the mastermind behind the crashes. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and an even bigger catastrophe, involving many more motor companies, is already in the works.
Verrazzano has no choice but to take Frisch with him as he tracks down an enemy that both men know far too well--their old Special Forces commander and father figure. Following leads that take them from New York to Detroit and on to Europe, Verrazzano finally lands in a confrontation that unravels a secret even more sinister than he could have expected.
278 pages, Hardcover
Published July 11, 2017
5 people are currently reading
629 people want to read
About the author
Matt Rees
27 books196 followersI'm an award-winning writer of international thrillers, mysteries, and historical fiction. I'm giving away a FREE ebook THE THRILLER CHECKLIST, a no-nonsense guide to get your thriller written. Get it here: http://bit.ly/2r2jciK.
My novels have grown out of my career as a Middle East correspondent, which took me into culture very different from my own, and my love of history, which takes me into times very different from now. But those places and times aren't so completely different. I love to examine the emotions that connect you and me to people who live in distant places or distant times.
My books have been dramatized for BBC Radio and published in 25 languages. Along the way I picked up some major awards (a Crime Writers Association Dagger in the UK and a National Jewish Book Council finalist in the US)) and some nice compliments: major authors have compared my writing with the work of Graham Greene, John Le Carre, Georges Simenon and Henning Mankell.
My novels have grown out of my career as a Middle East correspondent, which took me into culture very different from my own, and my love of history, which takes me into times very different from now. But those places and times aren't so completely different. I love to examine the emotions that connect you and me to people who live in distant places or distant times.
My books have been dramatized for BBC Radio and published in 25 languages. Along the way I picked up some major awards (a Crime Writers Association Dagger in the UK and a National Jewish Book Council finalist in the US)) and some nice compliments: major authors have compared my writing with the work of Graham Greene, John Le Carre, Georges Simenon and Henning Mankell.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 19, 2017
Thank you Matt for the give away and a signed copy of your Verazzano Thriller book 2. I feel that reading book one in the series would of helped me get to know Verazzano a lot better as from the start book 2 varommed off at break neck speed with me catching up on a pedal cycle.
I did enjoy the story line of the cars being hacked thro their software - who is to say it isn't possible with ref to the gas emissions sage fairly recently as an example of computer software in cars being used to hide / dum down emissions. Matt's book is topical and mentions Bitcoin and other recent vehicle issues.
For me the start was good and looked forward to its potential but I found I struggled with the plot lines and the many characters - little room to develop them in full (maybe book 1 goes it more background and foundation). But I persevered and worked at it, the character names did amuse me and a bit tongue in cheek.
Not a high flyer thriller but hangs in there in the middle, far less muddled thrillers are out there, so Im glad Matt has been able to find a publishers to get his novels out there as many authors do struggle and have to come up with novel ideas to succeed. Keep at it.
I did enjoy the story line of the cars being hacked thro their software - who is to say it isn't possible with ref to the gas emissions sage fairly recently as an example of computer software in cars being used to hide / dum down emissions. Matt's book is topical and mentions Bitcoin and other recent vehicle issues.
For me the start was good and looked forward to its potential but I found I struggled with the plot lines and the many characters - little room to develop them in full (maybe book 1 goes it more background and foundation). But I persevered and worked at it, the character names did amuse me and a bit tongue in cheek.
Not a high flyer thriller but hangs in there in the middle, far less muddled thrillers are out there, so Im glad Matt has been able to find a publishers to get his novels out there as many authors do struggle and have to come up with novel ideas to succeed. Keep at it.
December 11, 2017
A sneak cyber attack on Western civilization by China by cyber sabotage against new cars causing them to accelerate uncontrollably causing thousands of accidents and deaths around the world. A good story idea and a reasonably easy book to read. The writing style is somewhat mundane and a bit draggy in spots but the book is not quite a wasre of time for those with time to kill.
July 24, 2018
rubbish
September 16, 2017
This is heavy on the action and light on the characters but it's a fast entertaining read with a basis in possibility. I hadn't read the earlier books so I didn't have the background on Dominic. I'm still not clear on why ICE is involved in solving the mystery of who and why all these cars are hacked but okay-I'll buy it for the sake of the book. There are good guys and bad guys, technology, conspiracies, and all sorts of things that go with this genre. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Try it for a decent airplane read.
December 24, 2017
Review originally published at Book of Bogan.
Thank god for the synopsis provided by the publisher, because I really had no idea what was going on in this book from beginning to end. China Strike is a pseudo-techno military detective thriller sort of thing, involving international conspiracies, computer hacking, and some ICE agents who don't really seem to know their actual job description.
The author keeps up a fairly relentless pace, which is okay for this genre, but he does it to the detriment of actually allowing the reader to stick their head up and have a look around at what is going on in the broader world outside of the protagonists viewpoints. Several significant - or what I would consider significant - events occur in the book, but as they are dealt with so swiftly it felt like they were not important at all. There is also a bewildering array of names, pseudonyms, and english-versions-of-names bandied about that made it difficult to follow who was who, and I really did not care for any of the main characters because I just didn't get a connection with them.
I have not read the first book in this series, and perhaps that is a downfall on my part, but based on the second book I really don't think I will be going back to the first. I like to have a good grounding in reality with my military thrillers, and this just felt a bit too wild and woolly. There were some interesting ideas there, with the hacking of cars' onboard computers, but ultimately the stakes were not established for me, and so I didn't know why it mattered.
I thought China Strike had some interesting ideas, but they were poorly executed, and was too busy trying to be a thrill-a-minute without asking me to come along for the ride.
I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.Thank god for the synopsis provided by the publisher, because I really had no idea what was going on in this book from beginning to end. China Strike is a pseudo-techno military detective thriller sort of thing, involving international conspiracies, computer hacking, and some ICE agents who don't really seem to know their actual job description.
The author keeps up a fairly relentless pace, which is okay for this genre, but he does it to the detriment of actually allowing the reader to stick their head up and have a look around at what is going on in the broader world outside of the protagonists viewpoints. Several significant - or what I would consider significant - events occur in the book, but as they are dealt with so swiftly it felt like they were not important at all. There is also a bewildering array of names, pseudonyms, and english-versions-of-names bandied about that made it difficult to follow who was who, and I really did not care for any of the main characters because I just didn't get a connection with them.
I have not read the first book in this series, and perhaps that is a downfall on my part, but based on the second book I really don't think I will be going back to the first. I like to have a good grounding in reality with my military thrillers, and this just felt a bit too wild and woolly. There were some interesting ideas there, with the hacking of cars' onboard computers, but ultimately the stakes were not established for me, and so I didn't know why it mattered.
I thought China Strike had some interesting ideas, but they were poorly executed, and was too busy trying to be a thrill-a-minute without asking me to come along for the ride.
I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Thank god for the synopsis provided by the publisher, because I really had no idea what was going on in this book from beginning to end. China Strike is a pseudo-techno military detective thriller sort of thing, involving international conspiracies, computer hacking, and some ICE agents who don't really seem to know their actual job description.
The author keeps up a fairly relentless pace, which is okay for this genre, but he does it to the detriment of actually allowing the reader to stick their head up and have a look around at what is going on in the broader world outside of the protagonists viewpoints. Several significant - or what I would consider significant - events occur in the book, but as they are dealt with so swiftly it felt like they were not important at all. There is also a bewildering array of names, pseudonyms, and english-versions-of-names bandied about that made it difficult to follow who was who, and I really did not care for any of the main characters because I just didn't get a connection with them.
I have not read the first book in this series, and perhaps that is a downfall on my part, but based on the second book I really don't think I will be going back to the first. I like to have a good grounding in reality with my military thrillers, and this just felt a bit too wild and woolly. There were some interesting ideas there, with the hacking of cars' onboard computers, but ultimately the stakes were not established for me, and so I didn't know why it mattered.
I thought China Strike had some interesting ideas, but they were poorly executed, and was too busy trying to be a thrill-a-minute without asking me to come along for the ride.
I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.Thank god for the synopsis provided by the publisher, because I really had no idea what was going on in this book from beginning to end. China Strike is a pseudo-techno military detective thriller sort of thing, involving international conspiracies, computer hacking, and some ICE agents who don't really seem to know their actual job description.
The author keeps up a fairly relentless pace, which is okay for this genre, but he does it to the detriment of actually allowing the reader to stick their head up and have a look around at what is going on in the broader world outside of the protagonists viewpoints. Several significant - or what I would consider significant - events occur in the book, but as they are dealt with so swiftly it felt like they were not important at all. There is also a bewildering array of names, pseudonyms, and english-versions-of-names bandied about that made it difficult to follow who was who, and I really did not care for any of the main characters because I just didn't get a connection with them.
I have not read the first book in this series, and perhaps that is a downfall on my part, but based on the second book I really don't think I will be going back to the first. I like to have a good grounding in reality with my military thrillers, and this just felt a bit too wild and woolly. There were some interesting ideas there, with the hacking of cars' onboard computers, but ultimately the stakes were not established for me, and so I didn't know why it mattered.
I thought China Strike had some interesting ideas, but they were poorly executed, and was too busy trying to be a thrill-a-minute without asking me to come along for the ride.
I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews