Strange book. Another strange woman, aka Harry Bauer’s girlfriend, Kate. She is like no Texas chick I know (being one myself, ahem). And she sleeps a lot. He drugs her and she sleeps through a massacre. The drug seems to have quite an affect on her and she keeps on sleeping through further massacres.
Harry Bauer is an elite assassin and, man, does he ever wrack up the body count. If you read a book about carnage, expect…well…carnage. And don’t complain. For a man who keeps stating he doesn’t hit or shoot women or children, he has killed some spectacularly (remember Rashida from the previous book?)…and it continues.
Each of the three (so far) Harry Bauer books has had a fascinating plot in exotic settings and each is quite different from the others. In this story, there is a reference to the previous book’s antagonists and a deeper theme seems to be playing out somewhere in the background; we’ll see as the books progress.
In this book, Bauer is set to retire but must take on one more job, which he does reluctantly. It takes him to Andorra, in the mountains between Spain and France. Two topics that will satisfy conspiracy fans are arranged in this story: the existence of an illuminati that control the world of finance and thereby the entire real world, and artificial intelligence (AI), both strong AI and hard AI and yep, there is a difference between them. They dredge up all sorts of concepts regarding intellect vs. emotion, the brain vs. the heart.
Sidebar: why have no characters realized that power will come to whomever can combine the two? A difficult concept to be sure, for both computer and social scientists.
Readers will have raised their eyebrows in surprise to hear Harry Bauer talk with longing about getting married, having a house with a picket fence and children. That’s quite a stretch and appears to be the reason behind his resignation notice. Astute readers all will withhold belief because it sure does seem far-fetched. As we have come to expect there is a nice twist at the end and we breathe a collective sigh of relief…or can we…?
Sometimes there is a disconnect, something that makes the reader go, “huh…?” In the previous two books it was the EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) device. Here it’s a concept: Bauer spends a good deal of time telling the reader how little time it takes to kill someone, even gives us a to-the-second account of the timing. Yet when it comes time to kill Ashkenazi, he doesn’t have time. As readers who were there with Bauer, there was time. This feels like an intrusion by the writer cum puppet-master. It appears to have been necessary to leave Ashkenazi alive to move the plot along, although Bauer really did have the time to off him…he just didn’t. It was odd.
Colonel Jane Harris is back and we learn she is the Head of Operations at Cobra. She has not been impressive so far; she’s simply been a foil against which Bauer applies his knowledge and wit. Still unsure of her actual purpose…she must be good at something. But I say again, as in previous reviews, this writer does not create living, breathing three-dimensional women the way he does men. Perhaps that is the actual problem. She may be good at her role within Cobra; she just isn’t written that way.
There are a few errors, nothing harsh and glaring, but one in particular made me laugh:
“…owned by J. P. Morgan, Rockefeller and their palls….” I’m pretty sure that should be “…and their pals…” but “palls” almost works.
The Harry Bauer books have all been action-packed thrillers with impressive prowess on the part of Harry Bauer and with striking antagonists to serve as his worthy opponents. This book does not disappoint and keeps the reader on her/his toes right up to the end. Definitely an enjoyable read…!