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Travis Chase #1
The Breach
Thirty years ago, in a facility buried beneath a vast Wyoming emptiness, an experiment gone awry accidentally opened a door. It is the world's best-kept secret-and its most terrifying. Trying to regain his life in the Alaskan wilds, ex-con/ex-cop Travis Chase stumbles upon an impossible scene: a crashed 747 passenger jet filled with the murdered dead, including the wife of the President of the United States.
Though a nightmare of monumental proportions, it pales before the terror to come, as Chase is dragged into a battle for the future that revolves around an amazing artifact. Allied with a beautiful covert operative whose life he saved, Chase must now play the role he's been destined for—a pawn of incomprehensible forces or humankind's final hope—as the race toward Apocalypse begins in earnest. Because something is loose in the world. And doomsday is not only possible...it is inevitable.
Though a nightmare of monumental proportions, it pales before the terror to come, as Chase is dragged into a battle for the future that revolves around an amazing artifact. Allied with a beautiful covert operative whose life he saved, Chase must now play the role he's been destined for—a pawn of incomprehensible forces or humankind's final hope—as the race toward Apocalypse begins in earnest. Because something is loose in the world. And doomsday is not only possible...it is inevitable.
388 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 10, 2009
574 people are currently reading
5871 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Lee
8 books984 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Patrick Lee was born in west Michigan in 1976.He started writing by working on screenplays but eventually moved to novel writing.
Patrick Lee was born in west Michigan in 1976.He started writing by working on screenplays but eventually moved to novel writing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 845 reviews
April 25, 2015
This was a totally fun but also ludicrous book. The story has so many twists and turns, especially at the end, that after I finished I tried to puzzle out the loopiness.
Then I gave up trying to understand because the plot required so much suspension of disbelief that I might as well have been walking on air.
Let's go back to the fun part! Travis Chase goes on what he thought would be a peaceful hike in the Alaskan wilderness. One day he finds an airplane that had crashed in the woods. He goes to try and help the victims, but he finds a strange scene inside the plane: It looks like some kind of government or military operation, and there was a high-ranking politician on board.
What did Travis just find? And why wasn't there a rescue operation under way?
Thus begins a thrilling, action-packed adventure that continues until the last page. Seriously, this book was non-stop action all the way to the end. I've never said this before, but I needed a little more denouement.
This was Patrick Lee's first novel, and I picked it up because I had really enjoyed his 2014 thriller Runner. His craft has improved since The Breach. Aside from the loopy plot, Lee has a writing tic that bugs me: he overuses the word hell. It seemed that every other page, sometimes twice in the same paragraph, had a variation of "dangerous as hell," "sure as hell," "what the hell," "why the hell," and "exaggerated all to hell." It's a lazy and cliched form of writing, and once I noticed it, it irritated me as hell. (Ha! See what I did there?)
But this was still an enjoyable read, and just like Runner, I gobbled it up in less than a day. I plan on reading more Patrick Lee books, especially when I want a novel that's fun as hell.
Then I gave up trying to understand because the plot required so much suspension of disbelief that I might as well have been walking on air.
Let's go back to the fun part! Travis Chase goes on what he thought would be a peaceful hike in the Alaskan wilderness. One day he finds an airplane that had crashed in the woods. He goes to try and help the victims, but he finds a strange scene inside the plane: It looks like some kind of government or military operation, and there was a high-ranking politician on board.
What did Travis just find? And why wasn't there a rescue operation under way?
Thus begins a thrilling, action-packed adventure that continues until the last page. Seriously, this book was non-stop action all the way to the end. I've never said this before, but I needed a little more denouement.
This was Patrick Lee's first novel, and I picked it up because I had really enjoyed his 2014 thriller Runner. His craft has improved since The Breach. Aside from the loopy plot, Lee has a writing tic that bugs me: he overuses the word hell. It seemed that every other page, sometimes twice in the same paragraph, had a variation of "dangerous as hell," "sure as hell," "what the hell," "why the hell," and "exaggerated all to hell." It's a lazy and cliched form of writing, and once I noticed it, it irritated me as hell. (Ha! See what I did there?)
But this was still an enjoyable read, and just like Runner, I gobbled it up in less than a day. I plan on reading more Patrick Lee books, especially when I want a novel that's fun as hell.
May 9, 2023
Entertaining hyperinflation of time travel Cekhovs´ and MacGuffins´, packed into a sci-fi technothriller device with a badass character and some meta world problems lurking in the series.
Old ideas in new clothes
The extra goodness comes for sci-fi prone readers, who have seen many of these physics manipulations, kind of magic abilities, in different settings. But condensing them in one such mysterious machine makes it a tour de force of sci-fi tropes. It´s often amazing how just reusing or reinterpreting well known, often stereotypical elements, or just using massive amounts of them in well written fiction, can make it a fresh experience for readers who are already a bit fed up and don´t expect this astonishing new use, interpretation, or how it´s instrumentalized to achieve new effects.
Clever genre element mix
The clever switching between the protagonist, the portal, and the meta actions around, some backstory here and there too, and a clever premise over to the second part, make it a somewhat else hybrid, one of the interesting new novels, such as Sakeys´, Suarez´, and Howeys´work, that give a seemingly dead horse tropes a new life, something especially easy to manage with the endless space of sci-fi options.
By far not as famous as it should be
I don´t get why Lee hasn´t had that much success, it may be because of some of the, not really, hard sci fi elements or because of the quick, interwoven plot, but there is no real reason why this author isn´t as big as other new sci fi writers. It´s the meta edition of the protagonist ridden Blake Crouch hits that are more dealing with the protagonist´s personal temporal paradoxes, and one of the prime examples that readers often prefer characters in a small setting with some tropes instead of the big picture with more superficial characters.
Old ideas in new clothes
The extra goodness comes for sci-fi prone readers, who have seen many of these physics manipulations, kind of magic abilities, in different settings. But condensing them in one such mysterious machine makes it a tour de force of sci-fi tropes. It´s often amazing how just reusing or reinterpreting well known, often stereotypical elements, or just using massive amounts of them in well written fiction, can make it a fresh experience for readers who are already a bit fed up and don´t expect this astonishing new use, interpretation, or how it´s instrumentalized to achieve new effects.
Clever genre element mix
The clever switching between the protagonist, the portal, and the meta actions around, some backstory here and there too, and a clever premise over to the second part, make it a somewhat else hybrid, one of the interesting new novels, such as Sakeys´, Suarez´, and Howeys´work, that give a seemingly dead horse tropes a new life, something especially easy to manage with the endless space of sci-fi options.
By far not as famous as it should be
I don´t get why Lee hasn´t had that much success, it may be because of some of the, not really, hard sci fi elements or because of the quick, interwoven plot, but there is no real reason why this author isn´t as big as other new sci fi writers. It´s the meta edition of the protagonist ridden Blake Crouch hits that are more dealing with the protagonist´s personal temporal paradoxes, and one of the prime examples that readers often prefer characters in a small setting with some tropes instead of the big picture with more superficial characters.
January 7, 2017
After several false starts, I got into this book. I read most of it on the way to Illinois for Thanksgiving. This is one of those books that takes a while to get started, but once you're in, you're in. The concept is so crazy, it takes a while to figure out what's going on. I think the closest comparison I could make is the TV show "Fringe". It's that kind of crazy. Also it's the kind of thing that people who have tons of conspiracy theories and deep distrust for the establishment, corporations and the government will read and say, "I told you so." The ending is a bit of a mindblower. I am still trying to decide how I felt about it.
I am no physics genius, but I love the concept of time travel. I like the ethics and philosophical aspects. You know, the whole grandfather complex thing and the "if you could go forward or back, would you?" kind of thing. Also, there's the whole what happens when we open doors to places we don't know anything about. Should some doors stay closed?
As a scientist, I have asked myself that many times. I tend to be a big fan of scientific ethics and I think that you can't throw that out just in the search of knowledge. Seek it, but seek it carefully and cautiously. Some of the inventions in this book, I can't even. I mean, they should be buried in a very deep hole somewhere. I pray some of this will never exist in real life.
So anyway, my opinions of science and time travel aside, this trippy book really grabbed me and didn't let me go. There is a high body count and I asked myself what the hell is wrong with some people. They abandon right and wrong for power and ugly stuff happens. That's a big part of this book. Also, on the good side, there are people who will put their lives on the line to do the right thing. That takes a lot of moral courage and I feel that even from fiction, we can draw courage to face those tough ethical decisions in our own lives.
This one has some blood and guts, but nothing gratuitous. I would advise readers to plan to pick up the next book. I have it, and I will try to get to it in the nearish future.
This is my second book by Patrick Lee. I read Runner first, and I like his style. He's not afraid to go there and put the reader through their paces. He doesn't give them a cut and dried book. He makes them think about what they are reading. I like that in an author.
I am no physics genius, but I love the concept of time travel. I like the ethics and philosophical aspects. You know, the whole grandfather complex thing and the "if you could go forward or back, would you?" kind of thing. Also, there's the whole what happens when we open doors to places we don't know anything about. Should some doors stay closed?
As a scientist, I have asked myself that many times. I tend to be a big fan of scientific ethics and I think that you can't throw that out just in the search of knowledge. Seek it, but seek it carefully and cautiously. Some of the inventions in this book, I can't even. I mean, they should be buried in a very deep hole somewhere. I pray some of this will never exist in real life.
So anyway, my opinions of science and time travel aside, this trippy book really grabbed me and didn't let me go. There is a high body count and I asked myself what the hell is wrong with some people. They abandon right and wrong for power and ugly stuff happens. That's a big part of this book. Also, on the good side, there are people who will put their lives on the line to do the right thing. That takes a lot of moral courage and I feel that even from fiction, we can draw courage to face those tough ethical decisions in our own lives.
This one has some blood and guts, but nothing gratuitous. I would advise readers to plan to pick up the next book. I have it, and I will try to get to it in the nearish future.
This is my second book by Patrick Lee. I read Runner first, and I like his style. He's not afraid to go there and put the reader through their paces. He doesn't give them a cut and dried book. He makes them think about what they are reading. I like that in an author.
December 31, 2021
Just finished The Breach, and the only thing I can say is that it was simply AWESOME! A very quick and easy-to-follow read which I didn't exactly expect as I thought it'd be more labyrinthine with too many hard to understand techno/scifi jurgons. And though there were never any shortage of "scifi talk", it was just as much to give reader a perfect headway of things, and never went over the head. First and foremost, it is an action-suspense novel, and in that criteria it delivered in spades. The story never lost its suspense-steam and the pages were just flying themselves!
There were plenty of action too, and the one thing that struck me most with the action sequences (and the overall story) was the shear UNPREDICTABILITY of it. Yeah, I know from the looks at the beginning where a tough ex-con who was also an ex-cop just happened to be there in the Alaskan wilderness when a plane crashed and was just the right man at the right time to save the day sounds pretty cliched and unoriginal, but trust me, nothing in this book just "happened" and everything had a reason. The twists and turning of the situations are totally unpredictable that keeps you guessing literally till the very end. It's hard to believe that this is Patrick Lee's very first novel, as he never once faltered telling the story and drew the settings and situations so well that you could just visualize the whole thing in front of your eyes. In my opinion, he has everything it takes to make not just as a good author, but a great one, for whom I suspect I'll be waiting impatiently to read the next books in the future.
Alright, another thing I'd say that in the end the whole story feels like only the introduction of a much bigger arc, but on its own its still a very entertaining read and stands alone quite well. I have to caution that while the story itself had a proper ending with necessary resolutions, this is the first part of a trilogy, as the story continued almost directly to the next. So if anyone wants to start it, be prepared for a 3-book read. As I quite enjoyed The Breach, I'm off to the next one Ghost Country, and after that, the finale Deep Sky.
There were plenty of action too, and the one thing that struck me most with the action sequences (and the overall story) was the shear UNPREDICTABILITY of it. Yeah, I know from the looks at the beginning where a tough ex-con who was also an ex-cop just happened to be there in the Alaskan wilderness when a plane crashed and was just the right man at the right time to save the day sounds pretty cliched and unoriginal, but trust me, nothing in this book just "happened" and everything had a reason. The twists and turning of the situations are totally unpredictable that keeps you guessing literally till the very end. It's hard to believe that this is Patrick Lee's very first novel, as he never once faltered telling the story and drew the settings and situations so well that you could just visualize the whole thing in front of your eyes. In my opinion, he has everything it takes to make not just as a good author, but a great one, for whom I suspect I'll be waiting impatiently to read the next books in the future.
Alright, another thing I'd say that in the end the whole story feels like only the introduction of a much bigger arc, but on its own its still a very entertaining read and stands alone quite well. I have to caution that while the story itself had a proper ending with necessary resolutions, this is the first part of a trilogy, as the story continued almost directly to the next. So if anyone wants to start it, be prepared for a 3-book read. As I quite enjoyed The Breach, I'm off to the next one Ghost Country, and after that, the finale Deep Sky.
August 10, 2015
I read this book because David Goyer is adapting it to film. Reading this book reminded me of The Onion's accusations that Fast & Furious was written by a 5-year-old child, because that's the only logical explanation for the illogical sequences and stupendously trite tropes in that film, just as it is the only logical explanation for what happens in this book.
It has a main character who is a nobody with a troubled past, thrust into a huge government cover-up when he finds the President's wife, dead (WOW!!!!!). The character later receives a chapter-ending-cliffhanger private call from the President himself (WOW!!!!!!!!!!). The chapter literally ends with, "[who was on the phone?] Richard Garner. The President of the United States." This is how a chapter ends in a real book for adults.
Then there is a mysterious rip in space-time that is described as looking exactly as a rip in space-time has looked since the SciFi channel got a CGI department, all the way through those seen in Valve's Portal 2.
There are some mysterious devices whose purposes are so generic and uninteresting, and whose applications can be seen miles away (this gun heals! IT ISNT KNOWN TO REVIVE THE DYING - Will they use it on someone who is dying??? This thing duplicates matter! WE WILL NEVER USE IT ON A HUMAN BEING - Will they use it on a human being?????), that they really ought not have bothered.
There is a setpiece in the beginning of the third act that is so monumentally insane, that the zero repercussions that follow it are more disconcerting than the terrifying violence it invokes seemingly for the sake of thrilling the readers.
The characters seem to lack any deductive capabilities, finally coming to conclusions after dozens (and, in some cases, tens of thousands) of people die; conclusions that the reader reached as soon as the subject was broached, making the reader feel smarter than the all-knowing Whisper device the characters so desperately seek. One character retrieves a healing device while hemorrhaging blood from an escape attempt, only to hold the device and wonder what he'll do about the trail of blood he's about to leave. He then leaves a profuse blood trail and heals himself later.
I am glad I wrote this review. It was the best part of reading this book. Watch the movie. Maybe they'll cast Markie Mark in it and everyone is pissed at first but then they see it anyway and who cares. It can't be worse than this.
It has a main character who is a nobody with a troubled past, thrust into a huge government cover-up when he finds the President's wife, dead (WOW!!!!!). The character later receives a chapter-ending-cliffhanger private call from the President himself (WOW!!!!!!!!!!). The chapter literally ends with, "[who was on the phone?] Richard Garner. The President of the United States." This is how a chapter ends in a real book for adults.
Then there is a mysterious rip in space-time that is described as looking exactly as a rip in space-time has looked since the SciFi channel got a CGI department, all the way through those seen in Valve's Portal 2.
There are some mysterious devices whose purposes are so generic and uninteresting, and whose applications can be seen miles away (this gun heals! IT ISNT KNOWN TO REVIVE THE DYING - Will they use it on someone who is dying??? This thing duplicates matter! WE WILL NEVER USE IT ON A HUMAN BEING - Will they use it on a human being?????), that they really ought not have bothered.
There is a setpiece in the beginning of the third act that is so monumentally insane, that the zero repercussions that follow it are more disconcerting than the terrifying violence it invokes seemingly for the sake of thrilling the readers.
The characters seem to lack any deductive capabilities, finally coming to conclusions after dozens (and, in some cases, tens of thousands) of people die; conclusions that the reader reached as soon as the subject was broached, making the reader feel smarter than the all-knowing Whisper device the characters so desperately seek. One character retrieves a healing device while hemorrhaging blood from an escape attempt, only to hold the device and wonder what he'll do about the trail of blood he's about to leave. He then leaves a profuse blood trail and heals himself later.
I am glad I wrote this review. It was the best part of reading this book. Watch the movie. Maybe they'll cast Markie Mark in it and everyone is pissed at first but then they see it anyway and who cares. It can't be worse than this.
August 7, 2020
Picking up and putting down this book, I'm left with a huge impression that this was designed to be a video game.
Action, shootem-up, video game. Along the way you can pretend you're the MC of "24" and you go from one bloody step to the next bloody step as the otherwise fairly high-concept SF trope driving it gets revealed.
Like I said, a video game.
Unfortunately for me, I like role-playing video games much more than the straightforward shootem-ups. I want to feel the consequences of my actions, not just move on from one horrific scene to the next in a glorified homage to bullets and guns and explosions.
But hey! This is what Western Civilization is known for, right? This is the epitome of what we're good at! Building beautiful things to provide a backdrop to kill lots of people. Oh, and explode it.
Like I said -- there are a lot of people who would probably love the hell out of this. A part of me has spent years watching similar movies or playing similar video games, so I guess I used to be one of them. Maybe I'm a bit over it, now.
Action, shootem-up, video game. Along the way you can pretend you're the MC of "24" and you go from one bloody step to the next bloody step as the otherwise fairly high-concept SF trope driving it gets revealed.
Like I said, a video game.
Unfortunately for me, I like role-playing video games much more than the straightforward shootem-ups. I want to feel the consequences of my actions, not just move on from one horrific scene to the next in a glorified homage to bullets and guns and explosions.
But hey! This is what Western Civilization is known for, right? This is the epitome of what we're good at! Building beautiful things to provide a backdrop to kill lots of people. Oh, and explode it.
Like I said -- there are a lot of people who would probably love the hell out of this. A part of me has spent years watching similar movies or playing similar video games, so I guess I used to be one of them. Maybe I'm a bit over it, now.
December 8, 2014
You know...I like this book more than I expected to. I'm hoping that this leads into a good series that holds up. Our protagonist here is one who's got a past or maybe I should say a Past that's with a capital P. He was a dirty cop and we learn real quick (so it's not a spoiler) that something he did cost the life of the woman he loved.
He's spent the last years in prison and is looking at re-starting his life at 40.
Then fate intervenes.... Or is it fate? Humm....
The way the story unfolds, the characters and the plot all wind together to lay out a story that leads us down a rough road that sometimes seems to be a dark path where you can't see at all and then seems to double back on itself and maybe even vanish a few times.
I can recommend this one, and I plan to follow it up. I think it will very likely draw you in. It did me. Enjoy.
He's spent the last years in prison and is looking at re-starting his life at 40.
Then fate intervenes.... Or is it fate? Humm....
The way the story unfolds, the characters and the plot all wind together to lay out a story that leads us down a rough road that sometimes seems to be a dark path where you can't see at all and then seems to double back on itself and maybe even vanish a few times.
I can recommend this one, and I plan to follow it up. I think it will very likely draw you in. It did me. Enjoy.
April 21, 2013
Please note: I read and reviewed this in 2010 from a copy I received from Amazon Vine.
My Story outline: The Breach starts out like a thriller - the main character, Travis Chase, just released from prison, stumbles upon the wreck of a 747 that contains, among other things, the dead body of the First Lady and a cryptic note alluding to "Tangent." There is no sign of a rescue operation - in fact, there is no sign that anyone else heard the crash.
From there, things start to get weird, and slowly but surely veer off into science fiction. Before Chase knows it, he is involved with Tangent, a top-secret agency that is literally underground and maintains control of a breach in space-time through which strange and wonderful (and occasionally VERY deadly dangerous) things periodically arrive.
My Recommendation: I don't wish to spoil the story by providing too much information on the plot, so I'll leave things there. But this is definitely a book that fans of thrillers, suspense, conspiracy nuts and sci-fi won't want to miss.
My Story outline: The Breach starts out like a thriller - the main character, Travis Chase, just released from prison, stumbles upon the wreck of a 747 that contains, among other things, the dead body of the First Lady and a cryptic note alluding to "Tangent." There is no sign of a rescue operation - in fact, there is no sign that anyone else heard the crash.
From there, things start to get weird, and slowly but surely veer off into science fiction. Before Chase knows it, he is involved with Tangent, a top-secret agency that is literally underground and maintains control of a breach in space-time through which strange and wonderful (and occasionally VERY deadly dangerous) things periodically arrive.
My Recommendation: I don't wish to spoil the story by providing too much information on the plot, so I'll leave things there. But this is definitely a book that fans of thrillers, suspense, conspiracy nuts and sci-fi won't want to miss.
May 28, 2020
4.5 Sterne - spannender Technik-Science-Fiction Thriller ...
Die ersten Seiten waren noch sehr beschaulich: Travis Chace, der nach langer Haftstrafe in der abgeschiedenen Landschaft von Alaska eine neue Zukunft für sich sucht - und dort aber unverhofft auf ein Flugzeugwrack voller Leichen stößt.
Dann geht es Knall auf Fall weiter und direkt auch ziemlich brutal, denn das Geheimnis, das sich Travis eröffnet, offenbart ein unglaubliches Phänomen mit spektakulären Möglichkeiten. Eine davon leider auch die verhängnisvolle Zukunft für die Erde.
Der Autor hat es geschafft mich komplett in den Bann zu ziehen und mich auch mit den technischen Details nicht zu überfordern, sondern sie auch für Laien verständlich zu erklären, ohne in langatmige Ausführungen abzudriften.
Es ist etwas schwierig, näher darauf einzugehen, ohne zuviel zu verraten, aber die Ideen sind wirklich originell und die Zusammenhänge logisch dargelegt - sogar das Zeitparadoxon wird kurz angeschnitten und einfach und schlüssig erklärt. Das ist ja oft beim Thema Zeitreisen eine schwierige Sache, wobei hier die Zeitreisen (noch) keine Rolle spielen, aber zu Mutmaßungen anregen, was hier vielleicht auch möglich sein könnte.
Vor allem hält die Geschichte viele Wendungen parat und technische Innovationen die spannend eingesetzt werden und auf mehreren Ebenen verblüffen und für Überraschungen sorgen. An manchen Stellen hätte ich mir noch mehr Tempo gewünscht, obwohl es eh schon recht rasant vorwärts geht, was aber meiner eigenen Ungeduld geschuldet ist, weil ich nicht erwarten konnte zu wissen wie es weitergeht.
Travis Vergangenheit wird übrigens in kleinen Rückblicken Stück für Stück aufgedeckt und überrascht ebenfalls mit einem brillanten Schachzug, der alles wieder in einem neuen Licht erscheinen lässt.
Auch am Ende, in der die Situation mehr oder weniger aufgelöst wird, gibt es ein neues Rätsel, das mich mega neugierig auf die Fortsetzung macht und ich mich dadurch schon sehr auf den zweiten Band freue!
Ein gut zu lesender, innovativer Thriller mit steigender Spannung und interessanten Figuren, deren Rolle in dem ganzen Szenario noch einige versteckte Möglichkeiten bereit hält.
Weltenwanderer
Die ersten Seiten waren noch sehr beschaulich: Travis Chace, der nach langer Haftstrafe in der abgeschiedenen Landschaft von Alaska eine neue Zukunft für sich sucht - und dort aber unverhofft auf ein Flugzeugwrack voller Leichen stößt.
Dann geht es Knall auf Fall weiter und direkt auch ziemlich brutal, denn das Geheimnis, das sich Travis eröffnet, offenbart ein unglaubliches Phänomen mit spektakulären Möglichkeiten. Eine davon leider auch die verhängnisvolle Zukunft für die Erde.
Der Autor hat es geschafft mich komplett in den Bann zu ziehen und mich auch mit den technischen Details nicht zu überfordern, sondern sie auch für Laien verständlich zu erklären, ohne in langatmige Ausführungen abzudriften.
Es ist etwas schwierig, näher darauf einzugehen, ohne zuviel zu verraten, aber die Ideen sind wirklich originell und die Zusammenhänge logisch dargelegt - sogar das Zeitparadoxon wird kurz angeschnitten und einfach und schlüssig erklärt. Das ist ja oft beim Thema Zeitreisen eine schwierige Sache, wobei hier die Zeitreisen (noch) keine Rolle spielen, aber zu Mutmaßungen anregen, was hier vielleicht auch möglich sein könnte.
Vor allem hält die Geschichte viele Wendungen parat und technische Innovationen die spannend eingesetzt werden und auf mehreren Ebenen verblüffen und für Überraschungen sorgen. An manchen Stellen hätte ich mir noch mehr Tempo gewünscht, obwohl es eh schon recht rasant vorwärts geht, was aber meiner eigenen Ungeduld geschuldet ist, weil ich nicht erwarten konnte zu wissen wie es weitergeht.
Travis Vergangenheit wird übrigens in kleinen Rückblicken Stück für Stück aufgedeckt und überrascht ebenfalls mit einem brillanten Schachzug, der alles wieder in einem neuen Licht erscheinen lässt.
Auch am Ende, in der die Situation mehr oder weniger aufgelöst wird, gibt es ein neues Rätsel, das mich mega neugierig auf die Fortsetzung macht und ich mich dadurch schon sehr auf den zweiten Band freue!
Ein gut zu lesender, innovativer Thriller mit steigender Spannung und interessanten Figuren, deren Rolle in dem ganzen Szenario noch einige versteckte Möglichkeiten bereit hält.
Weltenwanderer
July 30, 2021
Notes:
In theory, I should have loved this story or at least had fun with it. Nope! Low end of 3 stars and I doubt I will pick up the other books. Well, if they're at the library, I'll read them.
In theory, I should have loved this story or at least had fun with it. Nope! Low end of 3 stars and I doubt I will pick up the other books. Well, if they're at the library, I'll read them.
February 5, 2025
This book is the love child of Marcus Sakey's Brilliance series, crossed with whatever B-movie is on the SyFy channel at 4a on Saturdays. I found myself often distracted, not following the plot and not caring.
My first clue should've been Lee Child's endorsement that this book is "...uncannily believable." What a dolt.
Much like an interstate pileup, I don't know if I should floor it at the first chance I get, or rubberneck the hell out of this soup sandwich. Ah, what the hell - I'll throw Ghost Country on the heap. Who knows when I'll get to it anyway.
My first clue should've been Lee Child's endorsement that this book is "...uncannily believable." What a dolt.
Much like an interstate pileup, I don't know if I should floor it at the first chance I get, or rubberneck the hell out of this soup sandwich. Ah, what the hell - I'll throw Ghost Country on the heap. Who knows when I'll get to it anyway.
April 22, 2012
Wow, amazingly fun and fast paced! Since I'm far too lazy to write a proper summary, I'll just say this:
Travis Chase comes across a downed 747 that leads him into a worldwind of intrigue and supernatural suspense. And it's all centered on a mysterious alien device called the Whisper.
I usually only read about 50 pages at a sitting before I get antsy. I devoured about 200+ pages of The Breach in one sitting, pausing only to pee a few times.
Exciting, pulse-pounding, intriguing . . . kind of like the Da Vinci Code on steroids, but more fun and more cataclysmic. Mr Lee does not pull punches when it comes to the action, either. I was aghast at some of the stuff that happens.
Fantastic, fun stuff!
Travis Chase comes across a downed 747 that leads him into a worldwind of intrigue and supernatural suspense. And it's all centered on a mysterious alien device called the Whisper.
I usually only read about 50 pages at a sitting before I get antsy. I devoured about 200+ pages of The Breach in one sitting, pausing only to pee a few times.
Exciting, pulse-pounding, intriguing . . . kind of like the Da Vinci Code on steroids, but more fun and more cataclysmic. Mr Lee does not pull punches when it comes to the action, either. I was aghast at some of the stuff that happens.
Fantastic, fun stuff!
December 27, 2020
An ex-cop ex-con goes to Alaska and discovers a downed 747. Someone is torturing the surviving passengers. He deals with that situation, but finds himself pursued by a mysterious organization out to get wonder tech from The Breach.
Pretty decent, but occasionally senseless.
Pretty decent, but occasionally senseless.
March 2, 2012
Be forewarned: This book is BRUTAL.
No, really. It's brutal. While the descriptions are never over the top - for the scenarios involved, the prose is remarkably restrained and lets the reader's imagination fill in the horrifying details - the situations themselves are horrific and the physical violence done is immense. If you have a weak stomach and/or a strong imagination, you may not want to read this book.
Then again, you may want to, because for all its brutality, it's inventive, engaging, and fast-paced - a really ripping action-adventure tale with a fascinating sci-fi spin.
The Breach combines the trappings of your typical action-adventure thriller - a mysterious organization, some evil terrorists, an everyman hero with a dark past - with some great sci-fi elements that I haven't seen used very often. The titular Breach is the best of these - a rip in reality caused by a large particle accelerator, out of which THINGS appear from time to time. These things are seemingly alien artefacts or technologies...but we know so little about the Breach, let alone what comes out of it, that anything is possible, really.
These Breach Entities form the basis of the entire novel, in a complex, interweaving plot that will throw you for a loop about three times by the end. It's all about control - who has what Entity? Who's using which for what purposes? What the hell is going on here, anyway? Lee keeps you on your toes throughout, throwing curve balls all the way through, so that even when you think you know what's happening, something comes along to surprise you. The Breach Entities also act as convenient deus ex machina elements - allowing, say, an inexhaustible supply of arms and ammo - that are actually internally consistent and totally acceptable given the storyline. Well played, sir.
The sheer brutality of the novel is echoed in the prose, which is a little overly analytical at points - do we really need to know how many feet away that boulder is? - but which suits the conspiracy-thriller genre well. The scope of the violence, and the depth of the torture, is unnerving, but it also enhances the book's sense of urgency, and drives home the point that everything that's happening is INSANE, and twisted, and utterly dangerous to the world.
My only real complaint - the only thing that really dings the book down from being a 5-star "bloody good romp" of a story - is that the end is just...disappointing. It's not an ending at all; it's a setup for a series. Yes, the loose end of the Entity is tied up and the bad guys get what's coming to them, but...what the heck? All this, for THAT? It's not just a lot of sizzle for very little steak, but it seems as though the whole escapade was petty and self-serving, in the end...both within the context of the plot, and as a way to set up further adventures for Travis Chase. Boo. That said, though, that lack of conclusion and the teaser chapter for the next book have pretty much ensured that I'll read Ghost Country eventually, just to see if it's as wild a ride.
No, really. It's brutal. While the descriptions are never over the top - for the scenarios involved, the prose is remarkably restrained and lets the reader's imagination fill in the horrifying details - the situations themselves are horrific and the physical violence done is immense. If you have a weak stomach and/or a strong imagination, you may not want to read this book.
Then again, you may want to, because for all its brutality, it's inventive, engaging, and fast-paced - a really ripping action-adventure tale with a fascinating sci-fi spin.
The Breach combines the trappings of your typical action-adventure thriller - a mysterious organization, some evil terrorists, an everyman hero with a dark past - with some great sci-fi elements that I haven't seen used very often. The titular Breach is the best of these - a rip in reality caused by a large particle accelerator, out of which THINGS appear from time to time. These things are seemingly alien artefacts or technologies...but we know so little about the Breach, let alone what comes out of it, that anything is possible, really.
These Breach Entities form the basis of the entire novel, in a complex, interweaving plot that will throw you for a loop about three times by the end. It's all about control - who has what Entity? Who's using which for what purposes? What the hell is going on here, anyway? Lee keeps you on your toes throughout, throwing curve balls all the way through, so that even when you think you know what's happening, something comes along to surprise you. The Breach Entities also act as convenient deus ex machina elements - allowing, say, an inexhaustible supply of arms and ammo - that are actually internally consistent and totally acceptable given the storyline. Well played, sir.
The sheer brutality of the novel is echoed in the prose, which is a little overly analytical at points - do we really need to know how many feet away that boulder is? - but which suits the conspiracy-thriller genre well. The scope of the violence, and the depth of the torture, is unnerving, but it also enhances the book's sense of urgency, and drives home the point that everything that's happening is INSANE, and twisted, and utterly dangerous to the world.
My only real complaint - the only thing that really dings the book down from being a 5-star "bloody good romp" of a story - is that the end is just...disappointing. It's not an ending at all; it's a setup for a series. Yes, the loose end of the Entity is tied up and the bad guys get what's coming to them, but...what the heck? All this, for THAT? It's not just a lot of sizzle for very little steak, but it seems as though the whole escapade was petty and self-serving, in the end...both within the context of the plot, and as a way to set up further adventures for Travis Chase. Boo. That said, though, that lack of conclusion and the teaser chapter for the next book have pretty much ensured that I'll read Ghost Country eventually, just to see if it's as wild a ride.
February 9, 2022
I spent way too much time preparing for this review by oscillating wildly between “This was a fun little mindless pulpy scifi romp” and “This was one of the worst books I’ve ever read”. Either approach would have been valid, and it really depends on the mood you’re in when reading. I mean, it has it all, cardboard characters with the perfect action anti-but-not-too-anti-hero with the troubled past and the initially strong and capable female sidekick that suddenly becomes just a passive observer who basically follows him around nodding at how amazing he is until it’s time for a shag, viciously murderous action and high body count bloodbaths with zero consequences (except the aforementioned cardboard characters spend a bit of time staring out the window in melancholy… until the next bit of action and bloodshed), a cheap SciFi channel CGI plot device, world governments full of caring and capable individuals who have the best interests of the world at heart, and last but most certainly not least, the magic “QUANTUM” getting tossed around to abracadabra the plot into shape so it can travel to the unfortunate ending that honestly surprised me since it was so obvious pretty early that I assumed that it could not possibly be it, so I expected something, anything else. Well.
August 24, 2012
This is the first Travis Chase book by Patrick Lee -- I'd never heard of the author before, but I saw a couple of his books at the bookstore and they seemed interesting. It looked like a trilogy, and I couldn't tell which was the first book, so I waited until I got home and researched it on the Web -- turns out the bookstore didn't have the first book in stock, so I ordered it from the library.
The book did NOT disappoint -- it read quite a bit like a Dan Brown novel, minus any of the Biblical/Knights Templar stuff . . . just a straightforward action/thriller/intrigue plot wrapped around some fairly decent science fiction elements. I actually kind of got a "Dan Brown plot meets LOST" vibe, which kept me turning the pages.
I'd never heard of Patrick Lee before, but this was a VERY solid story, and I'm surprised it slipped by without garnering any fanfare (or without me noticing any fanfare).
Looking forward to the next installment, and I'd recommend this fairly highly. I'd give it 4-1/2 stars, but Goodreads only allows whole stars. It's been a while since I plowed through a book as fast as I did this one, so I'm giving it a full 5 stars based on how it drew me in and did not disappoint.
The book did NOT disappoint -- it read quite a bit like a Dan Brown novel, minus any of the Biblical/Knights Templar stuff . . . just a straightforward action/thriller/intrigue plot wrapped around some fairly decent science fiction elements. I actually kind of got a "Dan Brown plot meets LOST" vibe, which kept me turning the pages.
I'd never heard of Patrick Lee before, but this was a VERY solid story, and I'm surprised it slipped by without garnering any fanfare (or without me noticing any fanfare).
Looking forward to the next installment, and I'd recommend this fairly highly. I'd give it 4-1/2 stars, but Goodreads only allows whole stars. It's been a while since I plowed through a book as fast as I did this one, so I'm giving it a full 5 stars based on how it drew me in and did not disappoint.
November 21, 2010
Reminds me of some of the better Twilight Zone and Outer Limits episodes I've seen. A science experiment goes awry, smart people try to solve the problem while villainous people try to exploit and abuse the consequencs, and the protagonist somehow connects to it all. Questions drive the plot, and half-answers keep things interesting. Best of all, I still have no idea what Patrick Lee is up to with this book or its forthcoming followup - and I'm keen to find out. So: entertaining in the moment and tantalizing on the horizon.
September 13, 2020
Travis Chase is an ex-cop/ex-con who is trying to find some meaning to his life in the Alaskan wilds. After coming across a downed 747 jet, carrying the First Lady of the US, he is drawn into a secret world where a breach into another dimension has been opened in an underground facility.
Great story, good characters and looking forward to the next one. I like the sci-fi aspect and the action was just rolling along!
Great story, good characters and looking forward to the next one. I like the sci-fi aspect and the action was just rolling along!
December 27, 2018
Ich glaube als TV Serie hätte mir das ganze besser gefallen. Es ist objektiv betrachtet eine interessante Geschichte, die mich aber nicht packen konnte, da ich mir so manche technischen Details einfach schwer vorstellen konnte. Ich mag im Prinzip Sci-Fi sehr gerne, bisher aber wohl mehr als bewegtes Bild. Leider ist auch der Sprecher in meinen Ohren schrecklich, weshalb mir das Ganze auch ein wenig die Freude am Höhren genommen hat.
April 28, 2020
Kad počneš čitati ovu knjigu, možeš zamisliti kako se osjeća čovjek koji par mjeseci vozi auto po gradu, a zatim izađe na autoput, da gas i odvrne zvučnike :) Patrick Lee se čita u dahu, ko da nožem prolaziš kroz maslo, nije na tebi da razmišljaš, tvoje je da čitaš, pa iako nisam ljubitelj SFa nisam se mogao odvojiti od radnje, a još me čekaju 2 nastavka ...
December 10, 2017
This novel appeared to be listed as a thriller, it was that but it was also more science fiction. No spaceships but aliens, other intelligence's and time travel making a good read. The main character is Travis Chase, who is an ex-convict, ex-police detective and the son of drug barons or is he. Appearances are never quite as they seem. Read more if you dare! but don't Whisper.
April 4, 2014
This seemed, from the description, to be right up my alley. Sci-fi military(ish) survivalist(ish) thriller! Let's go!
I was gripped from the beginning and horribly interested when he found the downed plane, but from there it started to go downhill. Travis was a bit too much of a perfect action hero without enough explanation, leaving him flat, Paige was a bit too perfectly badass and stoic, also coming off as pretty flat, and their immediate trust and bond felt forced. Still, I wanted it to be good...
Invisi-suit guy was fascinating and I wanted to know more about his background. No luck there. Tangent could have been really cool, but it was a hair too cliche and too utopian (and why does Paige seem to be in charge?) But the real pain, for me, started when they got to the building in Germany and Lee got distracted and wandered into a zombie-apocalypse movie. "We have to justify killing thousands of people to save a dozen of us because if they break into the building, they might trigger the bomb!" So go. Out. Side. That whole scene was gratuitous, disgusting, and so completely free of any repercussions whatsoever that I almost stopped reading right then and there.
What kept me going all the way to the end, however, was the Whisper. How will our heroes outsmart the device that sees the future and predicts their every thought? What trick, device, or stunning cleverness will they ultimately employ?
Nothing. Nada. Zip. In the world's most disgusting "and then he woke up and it was all a dream" climax, the hero discovers that it was his future self who invented the device and dropped it into the past to cause every single action that he and hundreds of other people took over the course of the last 20 or 30 years, so, ta-da, there was never any problem at all because things worked out EXACTLY THE WAY YOU DESIGNED THEM TO BUT YOU FORGOT (or, technically, didn't know yet.)
It feels like a friend telling you about the daring racecar dash he made through city traffic, running lights and miraculously dodging accidents and killing a dozen people to get to his appointment on time... and then he realizes that he was never late in the first place and has to wait a half an hour.
I was gripped from the beginning and horribly interested when he found the downed plane, but from there it started to go downhill. Travis was a bit too much of a perfect action hero without enough explanation, leaving him flat, Paige was a bit too perfectly badass and stoic, also coming off as pretty flat, and their immediate trust and bond felt forced. Still, I wanted it to be good...
Invisi-suit guy was fascinating and I wanted to know more about his background. No luck there. Tangent could have been really cool, but it was a hair too cliche and too utopian (and why does Paige seem to be in charge?) But the real pain, for me, started when they got to the building in Germany and Lee got distracted and wandered into a zombie-apocalypse movie. "We have to justify killing thousands of people to save a dozen of us because if they break into the building, they might trigger the bomb!" So go. Out. Side. That whole scene was gratuitous, disgusting, and so completely free of any repercussions whatsoever that I almost stopped reading right then and there.
What kept me going all the way to the end, however, was the Whisper. How will our heroes outsmart the device that sees the future and predicts their every thought? What trick, device, or stunning cleverness will they ultimately employ?
Nothing. Nada. Zip. In the world's most disgusting "and then he woke up and it was all a dream" climax, the hero discovers that it was his future self who invented the device and dropped it into the past to cause every single action that he and hundreds of other people took over the course of the last 20 or 30 years, so, ta-da, there was never any problem at all because things worked out EXACTLY THE WAY YOU DESIGNED THEM TO BUT YOU FORGOT (or, technically, didn't know yet.)
It feels like a friend telling you about the daring racecar dash he made through city traffic, running lights and miraculously dodging accidents and killing a dozen people to get to his appointment on time... and then he realizes that he was never late in the first place and has to wait a half an hour.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2015
The Breach by Patrick Lee is absolutely first class entertainment. It is more fun than any book I have read in the last year, one of those, "I can't put it down," types.
The book is anything but your straightforward good versus evil story although it does have that appearance at times. There are a couple of twists that I absolutely couldn't see coming and I look for these things!
The story is about a secret multinational group that is the guardian of a startling scientific development. It involves gadgets that have remarkable capabilities. The hero is an ex-con, recently released from prison who just wants to get away from it all and, as a result, moves to Alaska. He encounters the aforementioned group and ... well that would be telling.
Patrick Lee's incredibly fertile mind has developed a plot that is very intricate and, except for one scene that might be termed a "battle", moves along at a very quick pace. The focus is almost entirely on two characters which is quite different from most books I have read. There is also a good deal of focus on one particular gadget, which makes the book more fun to read.
On my 1 to 10 enjoyment scale (1 = didn't enjoy it; 10 = couldn't wait to get back to it each evening), I would give The Breach a 9 or maybe even a 9.5 and I strongly recommend it to readers who love suspense, major twists and a bit of science fiction.
The book is anything but your straightforward good versus evil story although it does have that appearance at times. There are a couple of twists that I absolutely couldn't see coming and I look for these things!
The story is about a secret multinational group that is the guardian of a startling scientific development. It involves gadgets that have remarkable capabilities. The hero is an ex-con, recently released from prison who just wants to get away from it all and, as a result, moves to Alaska. He encounters the aforementioned group and ... well that would be telling.
Patrick Lee's incredibly fertile mind has developed a plot that is very intricate and, except for one scene that might be termed a "battle", moves along at a very quick pace. The focus is almost entirely on two characters which is quite different from most books I have read. There is also a good deal of focus on one particular gadget, which makes the book more fun to read.
On my 1 to 10 enjoyment scale (1 = didn't enjoy it; 10 = couldn't wait to get back to it each evening), I would give The Breach a 9 or maybe even a 9.5 and I strongly recommend it to readers who love suspense, major twists and a bit of science fiction.
October 29, 2019
Patrick Lee me zarobio romanom "Trkač" , prvim objavljenim u HR, prije svega zbog nedostatka bilo kakvih tech gluparija tipa "nedostatak polariteta" kojim obiluju knjige katastrofalno (ne)obrazovanih američkih pisaca.
Zbog toga, a i meni simpa napisane knjige dao sam mu čistu peticu.
Kasnije sam tražeći info o autoru našao kako ima dva serijala po tri knjige, onaj gore spomenuti je noviji "Sam Dryden", a sada su u "Znanju" izgleda odlučili izdati i prvu trilogiju zvanu isto po glavnom junaku "Travis Chase" što mi je drago.
To su desetak godina starije knjige no Lee je i tada bio jako dobar.
Nadam se (a tako i izgleda) da ćemo dobiti i treći nastavak oba serijala.
Ova knjigica je u biti SF no to ne mora uznemiravati one koje zaziru od žanra jer je 99% čisti adrenalinski akcić koji mi i dalje nije podigao obrvu u čuđenju, kad jednom (brzo) krene nema stajanja do kraja.
Čista četvorka za nepatvorenu zabavu, nešto kao kolega Lee (Child) uz više techno stvari.
Zbog toga, a i meni simpa napisane knjige dao sam mu čistu peticu.
Kasnije sam tražeći info o autoru našao kako ima dva serijala po tri knjige, onaj gore spomenuti je noviji "Sam Dryden", a sada su u "Znanju" izgleda odlučili izdati i prvu trilogiju zvanu isto po glavnom junaku "Travis Chase" što mi je drago.
To su desetak godina starije knjige no Lee je i tada bio jako dobar.
Nadam se (a tako i izgleda) da ćemo dobiti i treći nastavak oba serijala.
Ova knjigica je u biti SF no to ne mora uznemiravati one koje zaziru od žanra jer je 99% čisti adrenalinski akcić koji mi i dalje nije podigao obrvu u čuđenju, kad jednom (brzo) krene nema stajanja do kraja.
Čista četvorka za nepatvorenu zabavu, nešto kao kolega Lee (Child) uz više techno stvari.
January 15, 2011
3 Star book, 5 Star Fun!!!!
This book delivered exactly what it was supposed to deliver. It was a fun, fast paced, and a light science fiction thriller that is easily devoured in an afternoon. I have not read anything by Patrick Lee before, but I will definitely look more of his works up now. This is a sci-fi that revolves around "The Breach", a rip in space, in time, leading to who knows where?? The protagonist Travis is likable even though he clearly has a disturbing dark side. I enjoyed this so much that I will move on to book number 2, Ghost Country... I recommend this to readers of the Thriller genre that like a little science fiction thrown in to the mix.
This book delivered exactly what it was supposed to deliver. It was a fun, fast paced, and a light science fiction thriller that is easily devoured in an afternoon. I have not read anything by Patrick Lee before, but I will definitely look more of his works up now. This is a sci-fi that revolves around "The Breach", a rip in space, in time, leading to who knows where?? The protagonist Travis is likable even though he clearly has a disturbing dark side. I enjoyed this so much that I will move on to book number 2, Ghost Country... I recommend this to readers of the Thriller genre that like a little science fiction thrown in to the mix.
July 19, 2015
I've wanted to read this author for awhile. I loved that this story takes place in Alaska, since I am from there. So that was fun for me. Basically this was a fun little read, but it was so incredibly far-fetched. Sometimes, far-fetched can be fun too, but this seemed beyond me. I had a hard time truly embracing this, but I can't deny that it was enjoyable. So 3 stars and I will read more by this author. I liked his characters and the plot seemed well thought out.
July 24, 2017
An awesome thriller with sci-fi elements that reminded me of early Koontz. Travis Chase is a man trying to run away from his past when he stumbles on a conspiracy of other-worldly proportions. After finding a crashed plane full of murdered people, including the president's wife, he finds himself in the middle of a battle to control something called The Breach. 5 stars!
June 22, 2022
The Breach follows Travis Chase as he steps off the Boring Action Hero assembly line to murder lots of people, romance a woman 20 years his junior, deliver one bearable line of dialogue for every four things he says, and struggle against a villain who's such an obvious red herring that you won't even bother to remember his name.
May 25, 2017
The Breach is one of those books that's a real pleasure to read and draws you in from the first page to the last.
A unique plot and plenty of action as well as plot twists keeps you turning the pages will into the night.
Looking forward to the following book 'Ghost Country' now.
A unique plot and plenty of action as well as plot twists keeps you turning the pages will into the night.
Looking forward to the following book 'Ghost Country' now.
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