Intercept

Mack Bedford #2

by Patrick Robinson

A left-leaning appeal court judge liberates four of the most dangerous al-Qaeda terrorists from Guantanamo Bay and the CIA field officers track them back to Pakistan’s northwest frontier mountain range. But disaster overtakes them and the four men vanish, to rejoin the dark and mysterious forces trained by Osama bin Laden high in the Hindu Kush. These are men with hatred in their hearts, with hatred for the United States and Great Britain, and they are sworn to hit back at the USA, which imprisoned so many of their high command.

A fateful communication from the mountains of the Afghan side of the border is intercepted by Britain’s secret surveillance station on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Al-Qaeda is almost certainly planning a new hit on the US mainland. The CIA is at its wits end, all their fears coming home to roost.

They know there is only one man who can stop them—retired Navy SEAL Lt. Commander Mack Bedford—and he is called in to assist on one of the most highly classified missions ever launched from CIA headquarters. Bedford names his price, and once more, the nobility of the man is spun into a breathtakingly fast action novel.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Audiobook, Military Fiction, Action, War, Military Thriller

334 pages, Hardcover

First published May 11, 2010

About the author

Patrick Robinson was a journalist for many years before becoming a full-time writer of books. His non-fiction books were bestsellers around the world and he was the co-author of Sandy Woodward's Falklands War memoir, One Hundred Days.

Reviews

[M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Intercept by Patrick Robinson is well written to keep its audience tense to know what will happen next. That is probably why it appeareed on the New York Times best sellers list. However, Robinson's political point of view was obviously formed from substituting playing violent video games for attending any high school or college government or history classes. His racist attitude toward all middle eastern folk is only exceeded by his blind reverence for and faith in the U.S. military. His story of the tracking and assassination of four terrorists released by due process from Guantanamo caries the same fascist tone one might find in a Arian militia group living in Utah. His contempt for those who cherish our protection of civil rights would win him a literary award from the Fox network. Though his antagonists were religious zealots set on bringing down America and willing to ignore any humanity in the name of Allah, his hero was only different by wrapping his behavior in a equal zeal for America, right or wrong. If you believe that we do not owe due process those who hold America wanting you will love this novel.

[Kt · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

When four of the world’s most dangerous terrorists are released from Guantanamo Bay due to an Appeal Court Judge deeming their incarceration unlawful; the US military goes into meltdown with frustration. The CIA attempts to track the terrorists back to Afghanistan only to lose them.

With the CIA and Military convinced that it’s only a matter of time before a terrorist attack occurs; there is only one person that can be relied upon to locate and assassinate the terrorists; former US Navy SEAL Mack Bedford. Can Mack kill the terrorists before they attack again or is not even he up to this near impossible task?

The blurb describes Intercept as “a breathtaking and unputdownable action thriller”, what it neglects to continue on to say is “from about chapter four onwards”. The preface and first three chapters were verbose, unnecessary and almost boarded on a personal rant by author Patrick Robinson. The blurb clearly states that the terrorists are released, so why that needed to be so painfully prolonged from a preface and three chapters instead of just a preface, I don’t know. It seemed to me that Robinson had done a lot of research on this subject and was keen to include it all, no matter how much it took away from the plot. I detest this and it’s the worse thing a writer can do to their book in my opinion.

Having said all that, things finally took a turn in the right direction from chapter four. The plot begins to thicken; the red herrings appear, leaving you guessing; characters from the first book show up and the suspense actually starts to build; just like you would actually expect from Robinson on a good day.

I liked that a lot of the characters from Diamondhead (the first of the four books in this series) were back and that we got to know a bit more about them. Although Mack is clearly the hero, I’m fast developing a soft spot for Jimmy, who tells it like it is.

Despite the excruciating slow start, I still recommend Intercept. It’s a solid read in the genre of military thrillers and suspense and best of all, written well enough that you can read it as a stand alone book; although I would recommend reading the books in order.

To play along with my book bingo and to see what else I’m reading, go to #ktbookbingo and @kt_elder on Instagram.

(I read the paperback version of Intercept, published by Canelo but this edition is not listed as an option to choose from.)

[Luca Cresta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trovatoin offerta qualche mese fa, mi sono deciso a leggere questo testo che ricade appieno nella tradizione dei migliori Clancy. Di Robinson ho apprezzato molto i romanzi sui sommergibili e questo nuovo filone non fa rimpiangere il precedente. La narrazione è leggermente lenta ma si apprezzare per la completezza della trama che viene sviscerata in ogni particolare, senza lasciare aperta alcuna sottotraccia. Insomma una vera chicca per gli appassionati di questo genere.

[David Snape · Rating 2 out of 5]

Four enemies managed to appeal their way out of Guantanamo Bay. Mack Bedford has been called not only to find them but to kill all of them. Story lacked excitement and detail. Not for me I’m afraid.

[Giovanni Gelati · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a political animal. I have my opinions just like everyone else, but I am going to keep them to myself on this one. Patrick Robinson I am sure, is going to tweak a few people’s strings with this one. and rightfully so. Intercept is an excellent novel and I think he chose a great way to tell his story. Retired Navy SEAL LT, Commander Mack Bedford is back and he means business; that is good news for all his fans.
The novel goes to great lengths in the beginning to describe the atmosphere in Guantanamo Bay and the treatment given to the inmates. The story focuses on four inmates in particular, labeled the worst of the worst. These terrorists have never been broken or given us any info at all. The jacket of the book describes these terrorists as: “men with hatred in their hearts , hatred for the United States and Great Britain, and they are sworn to hit back at the United States, which imprisoned so many of their High Command.” The novel then goes on to create a scenario that has an appeals court judge freeing these four. That is where Mack Bedford comes in. He is tasked with the job of finding the four once they disappear and go to ground, plotting their biggest attack against us yet.
The novel has many twists and turns as you can imagine. Patrick Robinson injects many political viewpoints into the novel. I enjoyed this part of it. It raises many questions and may affirm the thoughts and feelings of many people, just as it may infuriate others. I am interested to know where you stand on his viewpoints. Are we getting too soft? As a nation have we had enough of this business or are we as strong and vigilant as ever? Has the Obama Administration taken a wrong turn and sold us down the wrong path? I have to admit I enjoyed it. Mack & Company are set to rock & roll to keep us safe .
I am going to go out on a limb here. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, for all the right reasons. It is getting close to July 4th, Independence Day. To be able to read the Navy SEAL oath and have the character live and breathe it the way that Mack Bedford does, is incredible. The skill and craftsmanship that Patrick Robinson displays in this novel are first rate. I am going to say this is his best work to date, and I have read all his work in the fiction category (he has penned some non-fiction work also). The plot is intense; the action is swift and moving. The characters are excellent as he infuses them with humor & heart. I don’t know what more one could ask from a novel like this. I loved reading it on the beach with the waves pounding in my ears. Don’t miss the opportunity to read this novel, this time of year, and face the questions that Robinson puts in front of us. Put this novel in your Goodreads –to read- list and challenge yourself with a novel filled with suspense and action.
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[Bjoern · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oookay, i should know by now that down this path lies madness.
I could never truly enjoy something a true "patriot" and teabagger-loudmouth like Robinson would write including themes like Afghanistan and US Military interventions. At the end i'm always frustrated about the sabre-rattling and pompous self righteousness of the true believer that comes through the otherwise enjoyable text with annoying regularity.

Worse is only that it seems that the one time technical specialist Robinson whose Nimitz- and Kiloclass technothrillers were near perfect in all of the important details seems to dumb down profundly to catch the eye of the action loving fast paced scene demanding cinematic fandom of thriller stories of the likes of James Bond and co. Calling the cousin of the M16, the M4 carbine a "light machine gun" when there is the perfectly fitting description of assault rifle is hurtful, even if the stupid average american gun lover won't know the difference if it bit him. An expert and author who earns his pay by writing about such things should not go "popular" in his minutes.

The rest is quickly summed up. We good. they BAD. Guantanamo is the will of god and unholy lawyers that want to take advantage of the unlawful conditions of that hell hole will only succeed in killing more "innocent" lifes when the all too guilty inmates continue their killing sprees after being released for formalities. Oh and it's alright to send assassins after legally freed ex convicts (or non convicts in the case they could not be pulled before a court because nobody has any proof of identity on them) to save the USA and all the great lawful superb human beings living in there. Although they might do something good by killing some of the fucking illegal immigrants that will one day tear down the great states into ruin.
the rest is all more or less running in circles, stating some more or less believeable sights on the world and shooting of course.

Solid "G.I." entertainment. But nothing near the books of the same author at the height of his career some fifteen years ago. It just went from political and technological interesting thrillers to political rants filling up space in almost technological interesting thrillers.

[Rob · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mack Bedford seems to have acquired delusions of being stronger than a locomotive and faster than a speeding bullet.
After four terrorists were released from Guantanamo Bay prison, the military asked Mack to hunt them down. Mack names his price - return to active duty.
Mack was smart and invincible, while the terrorists were stupid and inept.
Goodbye, Patrick. Sure enjoyed your previous books.

[Pierre Tassé (Enjoying Books) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad book, the reading was not always that easy as I found Mr Robinson had a point to make about some of the political issues in Guantanamo Bay. Not sure about how some of the "elite" jihadist would have acted in the later part of the book compared to what Mr Robinson states...other than that...it is a Navy Seals can do it all. Having said all that, I will try one more of his books and see if I can get through it with easy and no doubts about the research and activity of the antagonist.

[RJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ebrahim and Useff, two of the most dangerous Taliban jihadists in Afghanistan, are now held at Guantánamo Bay. Ben al-Turabi, another Guantánamo guest, presented himself likable with a humorous personality. This allowed him to pick up tidbits of information from talkative guards. This info he shared with Ebrahim and Useff. One other prisoner, Abu Hasan Akbar was also privy to Ben’s information. These four terrorists kept their hopes high that they would be freed someday. President Clinton wanted the Middle East to love him, and with that in mind, he pushed for Guantánamo's closure. With the blessings of the civilian-minded United States Supreme Court, special thanks to Justice Kennedy, terrorists were released from Guantánamo, given the same rights as any U.S. citizen. Allah is great, there is no other god but Allah. Leaders of the Taliban and al-Qaeda rejoiced. On the other end of the spectrum, the CIA and Mossad went into panic mode. The four terrorists were in Pakistan, on a train headed north to the al-Qaeda training grounds in the Hindu Kush. CIA, NSA, and Navy Seal leaders needed a man of extreme training, bravery, and honor to covertly eliminate the terrorists. They flew to Maine to see Mack Bedford. Continuing, we follow the cat and mouse account tracking down the terrorists. The story is fairly interesting but there are still some issues. Revolvers are still the sidearms of choice. The term fuselage is still misused. At least Robinson is consistent. Personally, I don’t like the voice Leggett attributes to Mack. It’s certainly a nor’easter but the tone doesn��t fit the big, ferocious, “strong as a bear” Navy Seal. That’s my opinion of course but I just had to throw it out there. The tale is a bit drawn out as well; five hours setup, ten hours tracking them down. I still liked it.

[Ajitabh Pandey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Intercept fell short of expectations, especially when compared to the earlier books in the series. One of the major drawbacks was the excessive amount of descriptive writing—too much time was spent detailing unnecessary elements, which significantly slowed the pace. The entry of the protagonists came quite late into the story, and even then, the lead character didn’t seem to do much beyond tracking down a terrorist released from Guantanamo Bay by a U.S. court.

At many points, the book felt more like reading a news article or brief, listing damage caused by terrorists, mentioning how many people were killed, and so on, rather than immersing the reader in a compelling narrative. This style created distance rather than engagement.

The antagonists were underwhelming. The so-called terrorists didn’t carry out anything that created real suspense or danger. Their dialogue was flat and filled with cliché statements, lacking any real menace or complexity. While the author tried to maintain a tense atmosphere, I don’t think he succeeded.

Charles Leggett’s narration was serviceable, but the voice modulations—particularly for South Asian characters—were unconvincing and occasionally jarring.

Overall, I was disappointed with this installment. It lacked the action, intrigue, and character engagement that made earlier books enjoyable. Although I’ve already acquired the next audiobook in the series, I’m now uncertain about continuing.

[Dan Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

First, I need to say that the story line for this book was good, but the author writing was not so good. It was very wordy and there was a lot of useless information thrown in. It seems that the author was just trying to fill in pages to make the book long enough.

It was also very predictable-not a mystery at all..Cannot say that it was a great read. I struggled to finish, but was determined to do so.


A left-leaning appeal court judge liberates four of the most dangerous al-Qaeda terrorists from Guantanamo Bay and the CIA field officers track them back to Pakistan’s northwest frontier mountain range. But disaster overtakes them and the four men vanish, to rejoin the dark and mysterious forces trained by Osama bin Laden high in the Hindu Kush. These are men with hatred in their hearts, with hatred for the United States and Great Britain, and they are sworn to hit back at the USA, which imprisoned so many of their high command.

[Raymond · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a highly entertaining and unbelievably action-packed account of a lone Navy Seal who is tasked with the mission to eliminate four terrorists who had been captured and incarcerated in Guantanamo as a result of their participation in slaughters but inconceivably released as a result of an appeals court action by USA justice. Masada takes action against their law firms but the USA military has their hands tied and have to resort to this alternative action.
The activity of this lone crusader has many amusing and effective results as the wide-ranging global activity is detailed and finally the outrages are terminated.

[The Villan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read with good detailed Military techniques. I realize that the ending was to heighten the plot but when only 1 tracking device was fitted to the hostiles vehicles it seemed poor field tradecraft as you’d want to monitor ALL possibilities for maximum elimination of ALL the targets. The remaining terrorists that did escape could still have gotten away as they did but the manner in which they were tracked down could have been a bit more realistic.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the whole Mack Bedford series (https://www.goodreads.com/series/8697...) while I was laid up with hip surgery and broken computer.
It helped keep me sane.
I've borrowed my wife's work MacBook to do some catchup, but I don't know far I'll get before she catches me.
Good Rah! Rah! series to keep your spirits up.

[Stuart Haining · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10 16% A good old fashioned terrorist plot, fast paced but spoilt by special forces antics that seemed foolish and perpetrators who would be too stupid to notice / neither scenario seeming realistic IMHO. Might try more by the author but won’t read this again especially due to long chapters and small print.

[John Boyda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just okay...treatment of terrorists in the process of planning an attack was unrealistic. The cabal would never be allowed to progress to the target before being arrested or eliminated. One man going into a tribal village in an overt attack would never be able to get away - tribesmen would not be "cowering in their huts". I finished it out of stubbornness.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once I got through the extensive background stuff in the beginning of this book it turned out to be actually interesting. Although the repetitive terminology was annoying. If I had never read W.E.B. Griffin, I might not have finished this book. Very similar style.what a grand hero!

[Chris Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story of a retired Navy Seal that is asked to come back to help the U.S. Government track down a couple of terrorists. Author gives many details on the terrorists, so it was interesting to get the point of view of the villain and the hero.

[monmouthprof · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nice Robinson thriller, but limited the political bias. Leave the politics to the politicians and just write thriller fiction with a slight stance. This book was a bit in the face with politicalism.

[Mike Grady · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid second entry into Patrick Robinson’s Mack Bedford series. With not much time spent on development of the main character, the book assumes that you have already read the first book in the series.

[Sds · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was a fan of PR's early books, and thoroughly enjoyed.
This latest work can only be described as BAD.
Thin plot and generally very poor.
What a shame a previously good writer has stooped to this - I suggest he give up now

[Ronald F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book

The Intercept is an excellent read. It has a very interesting plot, with some great historical background. The book is very well written and most enjoyable to read. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[David Walley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It makes you realise just how dangerous a place Pakistan would be if the taliban ever took complete control, armed with nuclear weapons. I don't think they would hesitate to use them against us. Thank God for our military; brave men on awful salaries. Great piece of fiction by Patrick Robinson

[Todd Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very slow start, laden with tremendous, borderline excessive detail. However picked up and made for a very good read. Patrick Robinson is true to his form, providing a great storyline with more than ample, accurate supporting details.
I look forward to the next Mack Bedford adventure!

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

another exceptional book by Patrick Robinson

[Jeffrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written! I did not even finish it.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of hate to admit that I spent all day reading this. Interesting learning about capabilities of the intelligence organizations. Kept thinking this read like Steven Segal (?) movie.

[Don Weymouth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of the book was really, really difficult to get through, it read like a boring documentary. The second half got better and better.

[Jim Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

[Angela]

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