The Shadow Patrol by Alex Berenson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I want to first note – since I haven’t before – that, besides Vince Flynn, it’s Alex Berenson that has flung me into the espionage genre that I had avoided all of my reading life. Now I have stacks of books I’ve gathered over the last five years all of crafty individuals trying to save the world.

Involving ‘The Shadow Patrol’, it was this book that that I realized what a terrific job Berenson does capturing the dialogue of the different characters. The variety of the lingo of soldiers portrayed is excellent. Also excellent is the heroes dialogue in his head, what he communicates in the field and how he communicates to his CIA connections. Mighty tough to keep that consistently.

About the story: This story is a light effort for the hero. One with bad guys that are not to destroy the world, but internal grief in the ranks of the soldiers, if I may understate. The story written does seem understated. The bad guys are not as well delineated as to their motivations as would be needed to want the hero to save the day. There were the final chapters to stop the bad guys, but I wasn’t cheering the hero on as I have in previous Berenson books. The ending was also week.

The writing, besides the excellent dialogue, is extremely good in setting description. There is a real feeling for where all occurs. The character descriptions and background are also well explored. As I typically complain about contemporary books this one could have used some editing. Especially considering the rather simplicity of the plot.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 7 out of 10 points.

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The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

‘The Faithful Spy’ is a fantastic thriller of terrorism in the U.S. The various sides are well covered with the viewpoints of each well laid out. Author Berenson has so well laid out the Muslim view that I could see people who are not Muslim take the religion in consideration. The view of being a radical Muslim can have a reading start to sympathize with the terrorists drive.

Same true for the efforts of the C.I.A. as various characters navigate through the bureaucratic maze to get a job done. The hero is very well illustrated as one straddling two worlds at times not knowing for sure which one he’s firmly in.

I really like the location descriptions. Whether US or Middle East, the author gives a great feeling of place.

At nearly 500 pages you’d think this is one I would point to as needing editing. Not in this case. There is some extraneous stuff here and there, but this still adds up to a mean and lean thriller that will have any reader much more aware of the world around themselves after reading.

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