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E-Force
State Of Emergency
Book by Fisher, Sam
376 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
5 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Sam Fisher
24 books7 followersThere is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Pseudonym of Michael White.
Pseudonym of Michael White.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 17, 2015
I persisted until I'd read 50% of this. And I still don't really know why.
It's like Thunderbirds. But with SHIELD-type technology. And the PC collection of characters. Charismatic, enigmatic leader who looks like Denzel Washington? check. Wheelchair bound, 19year old, brilliant computer hacker who had to be sprung from jail to join E-Force? Check. Japanese super-brilliant female NASA astronaut? check. Ex-olympic swimming gold medallist with a dead SAS husband? check Reluctant white-guy on the team... I don't need to go on.
This really is a cross between Thunderbirts and Agents of SHIELD - cliché bad guys, cliché good guys and a cast of characters who are supposed to get under our skin so we care about them, or hate them...
I'll stick to Thunderbirds, thanks.
It's like Thunderbirds. But with SHIELD-type technology. And the PC collection of characters. Charismatic, enigmatic leader who looks like Denzel Washington? check. Wheelchair bound, 19year old, brilliant computer hacker who had to be sprung from jail to join E-Force? Check. Japanese super-brilliant female NASA astronaut? check. Ex-olympic swimming gold medallist with a dead SAS husband? check Reluctant white-guy on the team... I don't need to go on.
This really is a cross between Thunderbirts and Agents of SHIELD - cliché bad guys, cliché good guys and a cast of characters who are supposed to get under our skin so we care about them, or hate them...
I'll stick to Thunderbirds, thanks.
January 9, 2011
Hmmmm..... not bad but I couldn't help comparing it to Thunderbirds...
Remote tropical island base - check
Futuristic technology - check
Outlandish modes of transport - check
Evil nemesis - check
Wooden actors - check
Remote tropical island base - check
Futuristic technology - check
Outlandish modes of transport - check
Evil nemesis - check
Wooden actors - check
March 26, 2024
Thunderbirds are go!! Well, that's what this book basically is.. an over the top, far more violent International Rescue episode, updated to the 21st Century.
E-Force is a brand new International Rescue force that is created to go anywhere in the world, and perform multiple different tasks. To perform these tasks, they have magical... ummm, technological advances so amazing they sound totally made up, but basically are dupes for Thunderbird One and Two, complete with mole machine cargo...
They get sent to Los Angles, where an evil plot aimed at killing an Al Gore Climate Change style politician is giving a speech to the climate faithful. However, the Four Horseman (who are never actually named, but who probably correspond to real people, have hired an assassin known as the Dragon to kill him.
His method is to place 2 extremely large bombs in the convention centre, which basically kills 90 % of the people there, and causes the building to half collapse, hence the need for International Resc.. Sorry, E-Force to be sent to rescue the Senator. Bugger the rest of the people, they are ONLY to rescue the senator.
So they show up, only to discover the Dragon is waiting across the road from the convention centre on a rooftop armed with twin M60 Machine guns with armour piercing bullets. He proceeds to shoot the first responders, and them manages to escape because the story needs him to. You see, E-Force have the power of magic.. Umm, I mean, a quantum computer, that can see thru several layers of concrete and other material down into the sub basements of the centre, but cannot somehow track a human target dressed in black that flees from a rooftop.
E-Farce proceed to attempt to enter the building in their super tricked out machines, but keep getting stopped by debris, or fires.. If only someone had thought to equip fire fighting equipment and a bulldozer blade to their machines! So after several aborted attempts, they somehow miraculously find the senator and two others still alive, kill the assassin, even though they didn't realise who he was, but then find out there is another, far bigger bomb that is about to go off, completely destroying the entire shell of the building.
It's about this time they have a glitch in their plans, as a cyber hacker employed by the Four Horseman, manages to hack into their super secret, super secure computer system, suffering a catastrophic failure of all their nanobot equipment. Luckily, their own cyber hacker actually knew her in real life, before he went to prison, and was released to work for E-Farce, so he somehow manages to defeat her, even though she was defeating his every attempt to stop her.
With a minute to go, our cyber hero manages to send a message about the bomb, and coincidently, the bomb EOD expert is in the precise place to be able to disarm the bomb. Except he doesn't, and the bomb explodes, and everyone thinks he dies, except he doesn't.
Do I want to read the sequels? I really don't know. I might give the next book a try, if only to see if the story improves, but I'd probably recommend you give this book a miss.
E-Force is a brand new International Rescue force that is created to go anywhere in the world, and perform multiple different tasks. To perform these tasks, they have magical... ummm, technological advances so amazing they sound totally made up, but basically are dupes for Thunderbird One and Two, complete with mole machine cargo...
They get sent to Los Angles, where an evil plot aimed at killing an Al Gore Climate Change style politician is giving a speech to the climate faithful. However, the Four Horseman (who are never actually named, but who probably correspond to real people, have hired an assassin known as the Dragon to kill him.
His method is to place 2 extremely large bombs in the convention centre, which basically kills 90 % of the people there, and causes the building to half collapse, hence the need for International Resc.. Sorry, E-Force to be sent to rescue the Senator. Bugger the rest of the people, they are ONLY to rescue the senator.
So they show up, only to discover the Dragon is waiting across the road from the convention centre on a rooftop armed with twin M60 Machine guns with armour piercing bullets. He proceeds to shoot the first responders, and them manages to escape because the story needs him to. You see, E-Force have the power of magic.. Umm, I mean, a quantum computer, that can see thru several layers of concrete and other material down into the sub basements of the centre, but cannot somehow track a human target dressed in black that flees from a rooftop.
E-Farce proceed to attempt to enter the building in their super tricked out machines, but keep getting stopped by debris, or fires.. If only someone had thought to equip fire fighting equipment and a bulldozer blade to their machines! So after several aborted attempts, they somehow miraculously find the senator and two others still alive, kill the assassin, even though they didn't realise who he was, but then find out there is another, far bigger bomb that is about to go off, completely destroying the entire shell of the building.
It's about this time they have a glitch in their plans, as a cyber hacker employed by the Four Horseman, manages to hack into their super secret, super secure computer system, suffering a catastrophic failure of all their nanobot equipment. Luckily, their own cyber hacker actually knew her in real life, before he went to prison, and was released to work for E-Farce, so he somehow manages to defeat her, even though she was defeating his every attempt to stop her.
With a minute to go, our cyber hero manages to send a message about the bomb, and coincidently, the bomb EOD expert is in the precise place to be able to disarm the bomb. Except he doesn't, and the bomb explodes, and everyone thinks he dies, except he doesn't.
Do I want to read the sequels? I really don't know. I might give the next book a try, if only to see if the story improves, but I'd probably recommend you give this book a miss.
September 15, 2021
Glad I didn't persist after reading some other reviews. The book is written like bad fanfiction of an action movie. No characters are introduced in the first three (short, one being a single page) chapters that I read. The "action" scenes are not written in any way which promotes excitement. They are neither particularly well done or particularly gratuitous in their gore, there is no great sense of shock. There is nothing to keep one captivated.
At the end of chapter three, a bus crash rescue in which lighting hits a cable and kills a rescuer is described as being the most world captivating thing "since two airliners ploughed into the twin towers in new York city." I am Australian. I was 10 at the time. the biggest impact that the 9/11 attacks had on me was that everything apart from news shows were off air in favour of re-running the footage constantly so I had to play outside instead of watching cartoons. I still found that comment really fucking tasteless. That kind of comparison needs to be earned, and the writing of the events of this book didn't even earn a comparison to me stubbing my toe last night.
At the front of the book is a helpful diagram of a fairly standard building in case readers get confused. I feel this accurate to the type of reader who will enjoy this book.
At the end of chapter three, a bus crash rescue in which lighting hits a cable and kills a rescuer is described as being the most world captivating thing "since two airliners ploughed into the twin towers in new York city." I am Australian. I was 10 at the time. the biggest impact that the 9/11 attacks had on me was that everything apart from news shows were off air in favour of re-running the footage constantly so I had to play outside instead of watching cartoons. I still found that comment really fucking tasteless. That kind of comparison needs to be earned, and the writing of the events of this book didn't even earn a comparison to me stubbing my toe last night.
At the front of the book is a helpful diagram of a fairly standard building in case readers get confused. I feel this accurate to the type of reader who will enjoy this book.
February 2, 2019
Not my thing, nearly put down after50pp, only persisted because i nedded something like this after reading a couple dodgy books! Off the wall but i enjoyed it!
Read
June 9, 2021Thought I would try something different and really enjoyed it - lots of adventure
June 14, 2021
Боза...бавна,мудна!!
November 9, 2022
Wow an amazing read
I loved all the cool tech but the main bad guys where a bit lame. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes scifi and cool tech.
I loved all the cool tech but the main bad guys where a bit lame. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes scifi and cool tech.
January 27, 2013
The publisher advertises this book as being "As exhilarating as Matthew Reilly", let me save you some pain & suffering - it isn't. It is no where near as exhilarating, nor is it even anywhere near as readable.
If you have any basic understanding of science & technology the absurd technology used in this 'present day' story detracts heavily from the ability to enjoy the story. Not only that but despite near magic-level technological devices they are crippled by idiotic flaws that programmers from the 1980s onwards realised were bad ideas.
In short: It was a terrible book.
If you have any basic understanding of science & technology the absurd technology used in this 'present day' story detracts heavily from the ability to enjoy the story. Not only that but despite near magic-level technological devices they are crippled by idiotic flaws that programmers from the 1980s onwards realised were bad ideas.
In short: It was a terrible book.
September 16, 2013
A pretty good action/rescue mission story. The writing is a little stilted, but there's more than enough explosions and action, plus really bad guys and over-achieving good guys to make up for that.
Over all - recommended for action fans who read fast enough that the writing issues won't be noticed.
Over all - recommended for action fans who read fast enough that the writing issues won't be noticed.
February 3, 2015
A very shallow, comic-bookish story. Found it hard to keep track of the characters, especially the protagonists let alone sympathize with them. Rather watch an episode of Thunderbirds (the puppet ones).
August 28, 2010
claimed to be better then matthew reilly.... a blatant LIE!
November 21, 2010
I thought this was going to be all action war-type stuff. Am on p.35. This is thunderbirds for the 2010 crowd surely?
April 14, 2012
Suspense, conspiracy theory.
June 2, 2013
No good, it's badly written and reminds me of the thunderbirds!
July 19, 2016
A very interesting read. Not what I usually read but it was still enjoyable.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews