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The Fourth Perimeter
VALUE-PRICED at $4.99 while supply lasts! From the bestselling author and new host of TV's "A Current Affair." Former secret service agent Kurt Ford is elated when his son Collin follows in his footsteps--but is shattered when Collin is found dead. When his son's death is ruled a suicide by police, Kurt uncovers evidence that his son was murdered, and the president of the United States is involved.
400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 4, 2002
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541 people want to read
About the author
Tim Green
92 books732 followersTim Green, for many years a star defensive end with the Atlanta Falcons, is a man of many talents. He's the author of such gripping books for adults as the New York Times bestselling The Dark Side of the Game and a dozen suspense novels, including Exact Revenge and Kingdom Come. Tim graduated covaledictorian from Syracuse University and was a first-round NFL draft pick. He later earned his law degree with honors. Tim has worked as an NFL analyst for FOX Sports and as an NFL commentator for National Public Radio, among other broadcast experience. He lives with his wife, Illyssa, and their five children in upstate New York. Football Genius is his first novel for young readers. For more updates, visit www.facebook.com/authortimgreen
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
March 26, 2023
What’s the idiom, that the only certainties in life are death and taxes? In Tim Green’s 2002 novel, The Fourth Perimeter, those two “certainties” reinforce each other to make for a rip-roaring good time, like a fun Gerard Butler film in paperback form. When I’m oscillating between fiction and nonfiction, it’s fun to fall back into escapist fiction like Green’s book. Nothing I need to take too seriously, but plotted well enough to keep me turning the pages. And I have to say, getting my adrenaline up! When your premise is that a former Secret Service agent is going to avenge his son by trying to assassinate the president of the United States, that imbues a story — and my reaction to it — with adrenaline. Even in fiction, there are few plot elements that raise the stakes more than killing (or attempting to kill) the American president. Along with that adrenaline, is the sort of awe around the stone-faced visage of the Secret Service members as an impenetrable human shield protecting the president. So, how is our main protagonist going to penetrate it, and since it’s not a suicide mission, escape therein? That shield is the namesake of the book: the fourth perimeter, i.e., those Secret Service agents who are steps away from the president ready to take a bullet for him or her, if need be.
Of course, history tells us it’s not impenetrable, and that’s what Kurt Ford is banking on. Quite literally. After he left the Secret Service, Kurt became a billionaire off of a tech company he founded. So, he has three things working in his favor to, he hopes, successfully assassinate the president and abscond from the might and fury of federal agencies in the aftermath: 1.) He’s formerly Secret Service; 2.) He’s a billionaire, making the planning and importantly, the escape, easier, and which also lends itself to meeting the president one-on-one; and 3.) He has tech prowess and connections, which enable him to break into security systems when need be.
To back up, Kurt thinks the president ordered his son, Collin, who also went into the Service, to be killed, but they made his death look like a suicide. Two other Secret Service agents were also killed in mysterious ways. Kurt, with the help of a loose friend from his time in the Service, David Claiborne, learns that Collin and the two other agents went with the president on an off-schedule meeting, with the insinuation that they witnessed something they weren’t supposed to and it cost them their lives. From that point on, Kurt is hell-bent on assassinating the president, which belies some belief, to be sure. I don’t think he should have only taken Claiborne’s word for it, but you could chalk up his credulity to grief. First, though, Kurt starts with the woman who lured her son from a bar and set-up his murder.
When the woman gets the better of Kurt, Claiborne saves the day and executes her. At that point, I knew Claiborne was bad news and the man pulling all of the strings. I’ve read a lot of these types of books! So, I was right, he didn’t want her telling Kurt anything to mess up his plans. I don’t mind being right in my prediction; people use predictable as a bad word, but if it’s done right, it’s still fun to read how the journey will unfurl, and plus, Kurt doesn’t know! Not yet. It’s fun to be a witness to when Kurt finds out. I also, of course, didn’t know precisely Claiborne’s motivation, although it’s heavily implied that Kurt left Claiborne out in the cold when he founded his tech company that made him a billionaire. Money is always a nice motivator to kill.
Early-on, when Kurt was trying to track down the aforementioned woman, a new detective with the police, Carol Dipper, believed Kurt that it wasn’t a suicide because of the way Collin’s body was positioned. If I have one demerit against Green’s book, it’s that unfortunately, Dipper quite literally dips out the rest of the book! She never factors in again, which was weird. She never got to have her moment of asserting herself as a detective and proving herself as a woman in that male-dominated field, and proving herself to Kurt, who was highly skeptical of her skills.
The president, who is on the campaign trail, is coming to a lakeside town where Kurt happens to have a home, in order to visit a judge. At first, Kurt is thinking he’ll penetrate the Secret Service’s “fourth perimeter” at said judge’s house until he concocts a way to bring the president to him: By donating $5 million to his campaign, and also with the pitch of wanting to discuss with the president his proposed internet tax he’s about to sign into law.
Yup, that’s right, the big issue that motivates the nefariousness simmering in the book is the threat of an internet tax. Another tech billionaire, the vice president himself, and Claiborne are against it, so, they use Collin’s death to deceive Kurt into being an unwilling patsy in the assassination of the president, thus allowing the VP to become president and veto the new tax. What a great plan! (We never do learn if the VP gets taken down for such a conspiracy, by the way.)
Speaking of plans, a wrinkle in Kurt’s plan he didn’t foresee was Jill, his fiancé, who he had proposed to the same day he learned Collin was dead, and her newfound friendship. She befriends a New York State trooper, Jeremiah, who is also a big ol’ farm boy. They met after he nearly hit her while she was riding her bike. How sweet. He clearly fancied her, but she kept it platonic (and still felt guilty about it all, anyway). He simply became a friend she needed while dealing with Kurt’s aloofness and grief. When Jill, trying to assert herself, uncovers Kurt’s plot to assassinate the president, she asks Jeremiah to “arrest” Kurt and keep him in a barn until the president’s visit is over, so he can’t kill the president. I also predicted that because otherwise, Jill’s friendship with Jeremiah made no sense to me why it would be in the book.
Jill and Jeremiah’s plan doesn’t work, obviously. Kurt escapes, and then one of Claiborne’s henchman, who have been surveilling Kurt this entire time to ensure he carries out the assassination, kills Jeremiah. Which was sad. Poor guy. I didn’t predict that! I thought Kurt would save him.
In the end, when the adrenaline-fueled moment happens — I’m not going to lie, I had goosebumps because it’s a a wild thing to imagine! — where Kurt pulls out his gun to shoot the president while on his fishing boat, Kurt realizes he’s been setup by Claiborne, and he doesn’t kill the president. He’s able to escape (after being shot in the side by Claiborne) via the way he originally planned. The president survives, obviously.
Instead of escaping like he originally planned, Kurt now wants to kill Claiborne to avenge his son. Claiborne, scrambling, tries to pay his two henchman extra money to go ahead with the assassination of the president. Instead, one of them, sensing something is off, kills the other henchman and then goes to Claiborne’s house to kill him where Kurt is already present to kill Claiborne. Kurt is able to kill both of them, although he gets shot in the freakin’ head, which I guess was a mere flesh wound.
Kurt and Jill abscond to Italy to live out happily ever after with a baby on the way. The closest Secret Service agent to the president, Mack Taylor, shows up just to gloat that he could find Kurt and let him know the president appreciates what he did. (Weird to choose Italy, by the way, since they do have a treaty with the United States regarding extradition.)
Overall, I enjoyed Green’s book. Like I said, I wish Dipper factored more into the rest of the story because her character was owed a good moment, but that aside, I enjoyed the frenetic pace of the book, and despite the beats being largely predictable to me, the journey was fun and worthwhile for a weekend read.
Of course, history tells us it’s not impenetrable, and that’s what Kurt Ford is banking on. Quite literally. After he left the Secret Service, Kurt became a billionaire off of a tech company he founded. So, he has three things working in his favor to, he hopes, successfully assassinate the president and abscond from the might and fury of federal agencies in the aftermath: 1.) He’s formerly Secret Service; 2.) He’s a billionaire, making the planning and importantly, the escape, easier, and which also lends itself to meeting the president one-on-one; and 3.) He has tech prowess and connections, which enable him to break into security systems when need be.
To back up, Kurt thinks the president ordered his son, Collin, who also went into the Service, to be killed, but they made his death look like a suicide. Two other Secret Service agents were also killed in mysterious ways. Kurt, with the help of a loose friend from his time in the Service, David Claiborne, learns that Collin and the two other agents went with the president on an off-schedule meeting, with the insinuation that they witnessed something they weren’t supposed to and it cost them their lives. From that point on, Kurt is hell-bent on assassinating the president, which belies some belief, to be sure. I don’t think he should have only taken Claiborne’s word for it, but you could chalk up his credulity to grief. First, though, Kurt starts with the woman who lured her son from a bar and set-up his murder.
When the woman gets the better of Kurt, Claiborne saves the day and executes her. At that point, I knew Claiborne was bad news and the man pulling all of the strings. I’ve read a lot of these types of books! So, I was right, he didn’t want her telling Kurt anything to mess up his plans. I don’t mind being right in my prediction; people use predictable as a bad word, but if it’s done right, it’s still fun to read how the journey will unfurl, and plus, Kurt doesn’t know! Not yet. It’s fun to be a witness to when Kurt finds out. I also, of course, didn’t know precisely Claiborne’s motivation, although it’s heavily implied that Kurt left Claiborne out in the cold when he founded his tech company that made him a billionaire. Money is always a nice motivator to kill.
Early-on, when Kurt was trying to track down the aforementioned woman, a new detective with the police, Carol Dipper, believed Kurt that it wasn’t a suicide because of the way Collin’s body was positioned. If I have one demerit against Green’s book, it’s that unfortunately, Dipper quite literally dips out the rest of the book! She never factors in again, which was weird. She never got to have her moment of asserting herself as a detective and proving herself as a woman in that male-dominated field, and proving herself to Kurt, who was highly skeptical of her skills.
The president, who is on the campaign trail, is coming to a lakeside town where Kurt happens to have a home, in order to visit a judge. At first, Kurt is thinking he’ll penetrate the Secret Service’s “fourth perimeter” at said judge’s house until he concocts a way to bring the president to him: By donating $5 million to his campaign, and also with the pitch of wanting to discuss with the president his proposed internet tax he’s about to sign into law.
Yup, that’s right, the big issue that motivates the nefariousness simmering in the book is the threat of an internet tax. Another tech billionaire, the vice president himself, and Claiborne are against it, so, they use Collin’s death to deceive Kurt into being an unwilling patsy in the assassination of the president, thus allowing the VP to become president and veto the new tax. What a great plan! (We never do learn if the VP gets taken down for such a conspiracy, by the way.)
Speaking of plans, a wrinkle in Kurt’s plan he didn’t foresee was Jill, his fiancé, who he had proposed to the same day he learned Collin was dead, and her newfound friendship. She befriends a New York State trooper, Jeremiah, who is also a big ol’ farm boy. They met after he nearly hit her while she was riding her bike. How sweet. He clearly fancied her, but she kept it platonic (and still felt guilty about it all, anyway). He simply became a friend she needed while dealing with Kurt’s aloofness and grief. When Jill, trying to assert herself, uncovers Kurt’s plot to assassinate the president, she asks Jeremiah to “arrest” Kurt and keep him in a barn until the president’s visit is over, so he can’t kill the president. I also predicted that because otherwise, Jill’s friendship with Jeremiah made no sense to me why it would be in the book.
Jill and Jeremiah’s plan doesn’t work, obviously. Kurt escapes, and then one of Claiborne’s henchman, who have been surveilling Kurt this entire time to ensure he carries out the assassination, kills Jeremiah. Which was sad. Poor guy. I didn’t predict that! I thought Kurt would save him.
In the end, when the adrenaline-fueled moment happens — I’m not going to lie, I had goosebumps because it’s a a wild thing to imagine! — where Kurt pulls out his gun to shoot the president while on his fishing boat, Kurt realizes he’s been setup by Claiborne, and he doesn’t kill the president. He’s able to escape (after being shot in the side by Claiborne) via the way he originally planned. The president survives, obviously.
Instead of escaping like he originally planned, Kurt now wants to kill Claiborne to avenge his son. Claiborne, scrambling, tries to pay his two henchman extra money to go ahead with the assassination of the president. Instead, one of them, sensing something is off, kills the other henchman and then goes to Claiborne’s house to kill him where Kurt is already present to kill Claiborne. Kurt is able to kill both of them, although he gets shot in the freakin’ head, which I guess was a mere flesh wound.
Kurt and Jill abscond to Italy to live out happily ever after with a baby on the way. The closest Secret Service agent to the president, Mack Taylor, shows up just to gloat that he could find Kurt and let him know the president appreciates what he did. (Weird to choose Italy, by the way, since they do have a treaty with the United States regarding extradition.)
Overall, I enjoyed Green’s book. Like I said, I wish Dipper factored more into the rest of the story because her character was owed a good moment, but that aside, I enjoyed the frenetic pace of the book, and despite the beats being largely predictable to me, the journey was fun and worthwhile for a weekend read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 15, 2021
Totally unbelievable. I only kept reading to find out how the author would end this mess. The Fourth Perimeter was both silly and inane. Example: "if this whole thing was for real, Reeves was pretty certain of one thing: There would be a good chance somewhere alon the way for someone, probably Kurt Ford, to be killed, and that was the ultimate high, really. Life-and-death stakes --that was excitement. That was living on the edge. And if someone did have to be killed, odds were that Reeves would be the one who got to do the killing. It was the kind of killing you didn't go to jail for, either. It was like in the movies, like James Bond, 007 --licensed to kill. The idea made him smile."
The Fourth Perimeter is the story of a very successful businessman whose son, a Presidential Secret Service employee, is murdered. Through his best friend (who really isn't) he learns that his son was killed on orders of the President (but not really). So the businessman sets out to find the best way to assassinate the President and get away with it. His best friend (but really not) helps him work out a plan. Meanwhile, the successful businessman falls in love (maybe) with an employee of his. At the same time she becomes involved with a NY State Policeman. (still with me).
The ending is a mess as is the entire story. Drivel.
The Fourth Perimeter is the story of a very successful businessman whose son, a Presidential Secret Service employee, is murdered. Through his best friend (who really isn't) he learns that his son was killed on orders of the President (but not really). So the businessman sets out to find the best way to assassinate the President and get away with it. His best friend (but really not) helps him work out a plan. Meanwhile, the successful businessman falls in love (maybe) with an employee of his. At the same time she becomes involved with a NY State Policeman. (still with me).
The ending is a mess as is the entire story. Drivel.
August 7, 2025
This review is for my own memory.
I enjoyed reading this one. It feels like a stale movie from the early 2000’s, with a slow burning plot. There is almost no action, even when there is action. The stakes never felt real high. There is a number of times where the author just forgets something (the dogs that point out the main character when he tries to sneak up on a female secret service agent, are just…gone, when she dies. Where are the dogs, guy!?)
At one point in the book, the love interest gets hit by a car, and the chapter ends with her thinking “great, now he mourns two people” (Gasp!) Then on literally the next page we find out she just bumped her head and started having feelings for the driver..
I found myself a little upset because if she died, the main character could have pulled off the murder of the president without trying to get away! We could have had a whole pivot that allowed for a suddenly gritty and violent revenge story. Instead the “twists” were laid on kinda thick, and nothing felt original.
Mostly fun to read, but I see no reason to ever pick it up again.
I enjoyed reading this one. It feels like a stale movie from the early 2000’s, with a slow burning plot. There is almost no action, even when there is action. The stakes never felt real high. There is a number of times where the author just forgets something (the dogs that point out the main character when he tries to sneak up on a female secret service agent, are just…gone, when she dies. Where are the dogs, guy!?)
At one point in the book, the love interest gets hit by a car, and the chapter ends with her thinking “great, now he mourns two people” (Gasp!) Then on literally the next page we find out she just bumped her head and started having feelings for the driver..
I found myself a little upset because if she died, the main character could have pulled off the murder of the president without trying to get away! We could have had a whole pivot that allowed for a suddenly gritty and violent revenge story. Instead the “twists” were laid on kinda thick, and nothing felt original.
Mostly fun to read, but I see no reason to ever pick it up again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2025
two and a half stars. Ludicrous and preposterous premise poorly executed. Author did not know an adjective or adverb he didn't like. Simple sentences are extended and drawn out with multiple flowery adjectives and adverbs, which really did not add any excitement or suspense to the story. Big inconsistency occurs early on and predicts who the real killers are. Some glaring editing errors: on p 131 Jill crashes her bike which makes it unrideable, but on p 145 she goes on a long bike ride (where did this bike come from?), then on p 175 she gets a new bike. On p 150 a character named Clara appears with no warning; on p 188 she is introduced as a housekeeper. Author plays word games on p 301: there are gunshots, Kurt drops his gun, the president went down hard to the deck. But this is not what it seems.
September 11, 2024
A good, easy to read, revenge story. This may not have had a lot of twists and turns, but I could appreciate the effort the main character put into plotting not only his revenge on the person he believes is responsible for the death of his son, who also happens to be the president, but also his escape after completing this.
It kept me occupied while waiting for my car to be serviced, and kept me out of my wife's hair while she was in her office. I consider this to be brain candy.
It kept me occupied while waiting for my car to be serviced, and kept me out of my wife's hair while she was in her office. I consider this to be brain candy.
January 16, 2022
I throughly enjoyed this book. I loved the intrigue and crossing of plots. The characters were well developed with great growth. The plot was well developed and had a great pay off in the end. I did not see the end coming but I was happy to get there when it did. If you enjoy political intrigue with some great twists and a twist ending I would recommend this book.
May 28, 2019
It was good - chapters left you wondering so you had to keep going. There were multiple endings on different story lines - all predicable. Wouldn’t read again- but enough interest to power through plots you knew you could forage/skim that you didn’t miss anything.
December 21, 2021
Collin Ford is in the secret service and his father used to be. Collin was found dead and his death was ruled a suicide. His father not only refused to believe it was suicide, he quickly figured out that it was murder and the President of the United States was behind it. Therein hatcheth the plot.
July 15, 2017
I thought this book was pretty good although the premise of the book was a well used plot. It took me awhile to get into the book and for some reason it was hard for me to work my way through it.
July 6, 2019
Kurts son was dead, looked like suicide but he knew it was murder and set out to get revenge.
December 9, 2019
Typical political murder mystery. Revenge & retribution.
March 16, 2020
Good easy reading, lots of the usual derring-do secret agent stuff..
June 23, 2020
Another great mystery although I did figure it out pretty early on in the book. Still a huge fan of this author’s writing style and already have my book of his ready to go.
September 3, 2021
3.5
Not quite worth 4 stars. Many minor things bothered me and they added up.
Not quite worth 4 stars. Many minor things bothered me and they added up.
April 13, 2023
Thin plot and predictable.
July 13, 2023
The book started out at a good pace but then got bogged down. I ended up skimming the ending so I could see the outcome without taking a lot more time.
January 25, 2024
At best it was okay. Not much of a story line, not very plausible. Best thing I can say about it was that it is short.
December 20, 2025
Found an old Green book. very good.
May 3, 2022
Really fast and easy read. Interesting story line of greed and lust for power. Not sure revenge was worth every that happened to Kurt Ford, but I suppose you don’t know how grief will effect someone. I really like how fast paced the story was and the writing style. I give it a solid 4 Stars.
August 12, 2023
I thought this was ok. It is about a man who's son is killed and it is staged as a suicide. He tries to get revenge on the person who he believes is at the centre of the killing.
December 18, 2013
I did not really need another example to demonstrate that Goodreads does not prevent me from rereading books that I have forgotten about, but when I finished the first chapter of this novel, I had an inescapable belief that I had read it before. Through the next three or four chapters that feeling continued, but I could not remember the ending, which left me wondering if I had perhaps started the book but not finished it sometime in the past. The feeling became so strong, in fact, that I went through all my Goodreads listings (including both the ones I have entered in the ones I have not yet gotten around to entering) and did not find the book where the author listed. Anyway, I was already so far into the story that I could not stop. And then, when I got to page 173, I found a few words underlined with a note written in the margin, with my favorite: pen color and with my very recognizable hand printing. And yet, I could not remember the ending. I read on, until finally I decided that I did recall the ending … but then when I got there, I found that the ending wasn’t at all what I had remembered!
In essence, the novel is about a former Secret Service agent, Kurt Ford, who left the government to start his own high-tech company and became a multimillionaire. He raised his son, after his wife died, to share his values of patriotism and integrity, and his son became a Secret Service agent just as he had been. At the beginning of the book Kurt has met another woman (in fact they have been sharing a bed for at least three years), who was one of his most outstanding employees in his company, and while sharing an excellent meal at their favorite restaurant he asks her to marry him; she says yes but their mutual happiness is short-lived, as the head waiter immediately afterward comes to the table and tells Kurt there is a phone message – it is his sister, calling to tell him that his beloved son has committed suicide. Kurt cannot believe this to be true (we know it is not; that was the first chapter), and his own investigation soon turns up clues that in fact his son was murdered – murdered, in fact, at the command of the president of the United States as part of a cover-up of something he has done! Kurt decides there is only one rational response: to assassinate the president. Assassinating the president of the United States is no easy task, of course, and the majority of the book involves the detailed plotting Kurt goes through to bring this about in such a way that he will be able to escape safely and live happily ever after with his lady love in a villa somewhere on the Coast of Malfi.
This is a nicely twisted plot that obviously involved a lot of thinking on the part of the author, and I shall be looking for other books by Jim Green in the future.
In essence, the novel is about a former Secret Service agent, Kurt Ford, who left the government to start his own high-tech company and became a multimillionaire. He raised his son, after his wife died, to share his values of patriotism and integrity, and his son became a Secret Service agent just as he had been. At the beginning of the book Kurt has met another woman (in fact they have been sharing a bed for at least three years), who was one of his most outstanding employees in his company, and while sharing an excellent meal at their favorite restaurant he asks her to marry him; she says yes but their mutual happiness is short-lived, as the head waiter immediately afterward comes to the table and tells Kurt there is a phone message – it is his sister, calling to tell him that his beloved son has committed suicide. Kurt cannot believe this to be true (we know it is not; that was the first chapter), and his own investigation soon turns up clues that in fact his son was murdered – murdered, in fact, at the command of the president of the United States as part of a cover-up of something he has done! Kurt decides there is only one rational response: to assassinate the president. Assassinating the president of the United States is no easy task, of course, and the majority of the book involves the detailed plotting Kurt goes through to bring this about in such a way that he will be able to escape safely and live happily ever after with his lady love in a villa somewhere on the Coast of Malfi.
This is a nicely twisted plot that obviously involved a lot of thinking on the part of the author, and I shall be looking for other books by Jim Green in the future.
July 26, 2012
Excellent book. I really enjoyed the insights into the Secret Service past and present. I highly recomend this one.
The story is about former Secret Service Agent who has lost his son in what appears to be a suicide. The father, Kurt Ford is a wealthy, high-tech entrepreneur. And he doesn't believe that his son, an active agent himself, committed suicide. Using his money and connections, his first hand knowledge of just how the Secret Service operates and the computer technology at his command, Kurt Ford uncovers a link between an out of the ordinary and strange midnight meeting held by the president and the untimely deaths of the other agents on duty with his son that night. And even worse, he finds evidence that indicates that the president himself played a part in his son's death.
An angry and incredulous Kurt Ford vows to make the president pay for his crime. And pay with his own life! Kurt Ford uses his inside knowledge of the Secret Service to undertake an attempt to kill the president and to survive the attempt and live out his own life to enjoy his revenge, something that no other presidential assassin has ever accomplished.
The plot turns several times and some othere characters are brought in to further the plot. Each one brings a twist on the story and a complication for Kurt Ford as he broods and plots and plots and broods.
I would love to see this book made into a movie.
The story is about former Secret Service Agent who has lost his son in what appears to be a suicide. The father, Kurt Ford is a wealthy, high-tech entrepreneur. And he doesn't believe that his son, an active agent himself, committed suicide. Using his money and connections, his first hand knowledge of just how the Secret Service operates and the computer technology at his command, Kurt Ford uncovers a link between an out of the ordinary and strange midnight meeting held by the president and the untimely deaths of the other agents on duty with his son that night. And even worse, he finds evidence that indicates that the president himself played a part in his son's death.
An angry and incredulous Kurt Ford vows to make the president pay for his crime. And pay with his own life! Kurt Ford uses his inside knowledge of the Secret Service to undertake an attempt to kill the president and to survive the attempt and live out his own life to enjoy his revenge, something that no other presidential assassin has ever accomplished.
The plot turns several times and some othere characters are brought in to further the plot. Each one brings a twist on the story and a complication for Kurt Ford as he broods and plots and plots and broods.
I would love to see this book made into a movie.
August 18, 2013
I don't know. The concept of this story felt contrived and the rest of the book was trying to convince me that it wasn't. You could almost hear the author asking the ‘What ifs’ that gave him something to write about. ‘What if a former secret serviceman…’, ‘What if the former secret serviceman wanted revenge against the President…’, ‘Let's see, Ok, what if that former secret serviceman’s son was…’ That's it. Write it down.
And it isn’t a terrible story. It was fleshed out pretty well, but never enough meat to become fully convincing. I couldn’t pinpoint what ‘The Fourth Perimeter’ lacked until I started reading, Paul McElroy’s ‘TRACON’, which had everything this book was missing… the intimate details about the subject that allows a reader to truly experience the events of the story. Maybe if we could have had more inner workings of the secret service and a better portrayal of Kurt Ford’s business operations as he divested himself of his software security company, I would have cared more. As it was, the focus is on Kurt Ford’s barely contained lunacy while the author tries to hold our interest with justifications for Ford’s actions. It didn't work for me.
And it isn’t a terrible story. It was fleshed out pretty well, but never enough meat to become fully convincing. I couldn’t pinpoint what ‘The Fourth Perimeter’ lacked until I started reading, Paul McElroy’s ‘TRACON’, which had everything this book was missing… the intimate details about the subject that allows a reader to truly experience the events of the story. Maybe if we could have had more inner workings of the secret service and a better portrayal of Kurt Ford’s business operations as he divested himself of his software security company, I would have cared more. As it was, the focus is on Kurt Ford’s barely contained lunacy while the author tries to hold our interest with justifications for Ford’s actions. It didn't work for me.
July 4, 2012
I have a thing about these types of books; for me, it is imperative that they accurate in detail so as to be believable. Brad Thor is an excellent author in his attention to accuracy.
As implausible as the plot may seem -- Kurt Ford, former secret service agent and the head of a huge tech company, finds out that the President of the United States ordered his son (also a Secret Service agent) to be murdered and staged as a suicide -- as they say, the devil is in the details. And the head of a major tech firm does not use floppy disks ca 2002. Seriously.
Peppered with eye-rollingly bad metaphors ("One minute the strange calm was loitering about like an unemployed teenager..."). Characters seem contrived and transparent. Kurt, who is described as exceedingly intelligent and capable of making fast, accurate assessments of situations, buys the explanation that his son was set up by the President without any proof whatsoever and develops as his ad hoc response a plan to assassinate the President.
There's a reason why this was on the $1 clearance rack at Half-Price Books.
As implausible as the plot may seem -- Kurt Ford, former secret service agent and the head of a huge tech company, finds out that the President of the United States ordered his son (also a Secret Service agent) to be murdered and staged as a suicide -- as they say, the devil is in the details. And the head of a major tech firm does not use floppy disks ca 2002. Seriously.
Peppered with eye-rollingly bad metaphors ("One minute the strange calm was loitering about like an unemployed teenager..."). Characters seem contrived and transparent. Kurt, who is described as exceedingly intelligent and capable of making fast, accurate assessments of situations, buys the explanation that his son was set up by the President without any proof whatsoever and develops as his ad hoc response a plan to assassinate the President.
There's a reason why this was on the $1 clearance rack at Half-Price Books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 16, 2015
The Fourth Perimeter is about a former secret service agent, Kurt Ford, who has become a tech billionaire. He as a son named Collin who like his father is also in the service and he has recently engaged. His life s shattered when Collin is assassinated by another agent in the service. The killer adjusts the crime scene to leave the image of suicide but Kurt is convinced that his son would never do such a thing. He sets out to learn his son's murderer until he finds out that he is no other than the US president.
I particularly did not enjoy reading this book because was tedious. Every time I sat down to read it I started to count the pages left to finish the book. I eventually gave up and started reading something else.
I particularly did not enjoy reading this book because was tedious. Every time I sat down to read it I started to count the pages left to finish the book. I eventually gave up and started reading something else.
July 14, 2009
I haven't grown tired of conspiracy theory/action type books like this. Kurt is a wealthy tech guy who was a former Secret Service agent. While the idea of finding his son's killer and then taking revenge are intriguing, I found that the some things were a little too obvious. His old friend David whom he lost touch with - clearly a bad guy, especially since in the early chapters Kurt goes on about his guilt for not hiring his friend, and his friend is obviously jealous. Also, the obsessive detail on how he's going to kill the person responsible for his son's death went on for a few too many pages. I was hoping for more action, less obsession.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 28, 2010
I love this book .Thebook is mostly about a boy name Collin that follows into his fathers foot-steps in the former Secret Service but then found dead in his apartment and his father wanted to slove his son's murder knowing Collin wouldn't kill himself,Kurt searches for the truth and uncovers shocking evidence that the person behind the murder is none other than the president of the united states. Now Kurt is about to attempt the impossible: to assassinate a leader who has spun out of control.But as he sets his plan in motion,he fnds out how much he really has to lose and what dark forces ar lying in wait for his next move.
September 5, 2009
Picked up at a library booksale. Sometimes a hit, this time a miss.
Tim Green doesn't know whether to write a romance novel or a thriller. He strikes out on both.
The relationship with his girfriend was artificial and distracting. The thriller side of the book took place about 1 sentence per page.
I found it to be a tedious read. Too much irrelavant scene building and too many wasted words.
After looking at other reader's comments, I see most 4 star ratings from the female readers and 3 stars or less from the male readers. Does that mean anything?
Tim Green doesn't know whether to write a romance novel or a thriller. He strikes out on both.
The relationship with his girfriend was artificial and distracting. The thriller side of the book took place about 1 sentence per page.
I found it to be a tedious read. Too much irrelavant scene building and too many wasted words.
After looking at other reader's comments, I see most 4 star ratings from the female readers and 3 stars or less from the male readers. Does that mean anything?
September 28, 2009
I discovered this book at a library sale for used books. I paid 50 cents for it. I figured that even if the book wasn't that great, it would be a bargain.
The beginning of the book is fascinating and exciting. I didn't want to put it down. However, I felt the middle of the story lagged somewhat with revenge being the main point of focus. I hoped the story would get better.
It did improve and became more enjoyable.
This book is more than anything an intriguing mystery with political ramifications. It's good enough to read once.
The beginning of the book is fascinating and exciting. I didn't want to put it down. However, I felt the middle of the story lagged somewhat with revenge being the main point of focus. I hoped the story would get better.
It did improve and became more enjoyable.
This book is more than anything an intriguing mystery with political ramifications. It's good enough to read once.
July 15, 2014
A former Secret Service Agent becomes a .com billionaire. His son, who as a young adult joined the Secret Service, is found dead, a presumed suicide. Kurt, the father, not only investigates the death but embarks on a complex plan to assassinate the suspected culprit. The story is complex and filled with twists and angles. In much of it, the reader is involved with the planned assassination and, ultimately, begins to side with Kurt (at least I did). The ending is well planned and an excellent summation of the tale.
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