Path of the Assassin: A Thriller

Great book like all in the series that combines real technology knowledge with a story line filled with danger and intrigue. Fast read!

Fast moving and the ending was a surprise.

Thor’s Harvath books are good B+ thrillers. They have cliched elements but are decent special-op procedurals.After rescuing the president In the first book, Secret Service Agent Scot Harvath is now on special assignment tracking down the terrorists responsible. It’s personal: he lost friends in the attack.Meanwhile, horrific attacks on Muslim holy sites raise Middle East tensions to the breaking point. The group taking credit claims to be fanatically pro-Israel, but no one knows who they are. Israel denies all knowledge but its neighbors mobilize to invade.Harvath suspects a link between the presidential attack and these, and thinks a Mossad contact knows more than he’s saying. Washington has meanwhile begun tracking a new group believed led by a leading terrorist’s son.Harvath is summoned to help when an airliner with various dignitaries gets hijacked in Cairo. Meg Cassidy, a female passenger, leads a Flight 93-style revolt against the hijackers even as Harvath and a CIA group begin their own assault.Meg now becomes a target. Harvath feels compelled to protect her even as the CIA uses her to lure escaped terrorists out into the open. The threads draw together as Harvath and Meg, the only person to see the hijack leader’s face, go on a daring mission to take the terror cell down.Harvath is at odds with CIA special ops leader Rick Morrell, whom he thinks cavalier about risking civilian lives. Thor creates this tension not only to create an in-house nemesis for Harvath but also to set the table for him sticking close to (the of course beautiful) Meg to protect her, not only from jihadis, but from Morrell’s overzealous crew.Some elements don’t hang together well, particularly when the realistic technothriller morphs into a more melodramatic pageturner. War looms but the story doesn’t feel like it. Harvath and crew know the clock is ticking, but life goes on as normal in most places. Israel’s neighbors hold off invading. Israel seems unusually passive. I didn’t find Meg’s crash-training for a secret mission convincing, although Thor lines up the story elements requiring it.Warning: spoiler alert. Don’t read further if you haven’t read the story.The Mossad contact, who has his own it’s-personal motives, goes to an awful lot of trouble to screen Harvath from what he’s really up to. In the real world, they’d share everything they had.Yes, I know Thor wants to leave dangling the possibility that the contact, with a past doing Mossad hits on Palestinian terrorists after the Munich Olympic attack, is himself behind these attacks, but readers may sense as I did that this is a red herring.It would neither make sense for Israel to goad its neighbors to war this way, nor a fanatical ultra-patriot acting on his own. After fighting four major wars Israel no longer faces large conventional armies bristling on its borders. Why provoke them? Neither does Israel have any history of mass attacks on civilians and holy sites. It’s not part of the national ethos.Also, not to give too much away, but as we learn who the terrorist leader is, the story goes a little bwa-ha-ha, right down to the extravagantly appointed billionaire’s-lair secret hideaway in the desert. Thor works hard to provide a plausible back story, but taken as a whole, the story moves from reality into fantasy as it turns out to be more about personal grudges. It features fantastically capable terrorists able to vanish and materialize at will, never missing a trick, never losing a fight, doing it all with little or no help, and with the story neatly tied up with a bow at the end. I like my drinks neat but not my technothrillers. Reality is messier.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series so I figured I’d continue on. I wasn’t disappointed. This was a great book of cat and mouse and the criminal slipping away in the nick of time, multiple times. You could feel the frustration of hero (Scot Harvath) each time. This was also a good continuation of the previous book due to chasing some of the criminals that escaped. There was also some good rivalry between the various law enforcement agencies and some funny moments. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was due to a few small things. One of the small things was the female hero. She was definitely bad ass and I wouldn’t mess with her. But I was a bit bothered by the fact that she was given access to high level training and managed to master it in a few short weeks, even with her fears of performing certain tasks. (I’m not being sexist, I’d say the same if it was a man). You don’t go from having “some” skills to running with special forces in a matter of weeks. It was still a great book, great characters, and I thoroughly enjoyed the story. I’m looking forward to the next one.

I’m a fan and pretty sure I discovered Brad on Book Three… been reading ever since. Went back and read book 1 but discovered I had missed book two. Saw Brad in Corpus Christi and have enjoyed reading Scott’s adventures and misadventures. You won’t be disappointed once you’ve picked it up.

This is a turn pager, I took my time with it cause I was reading another book at the time. But I flew threw it when I had time.

When it comes to combat, may it be firearms or hand to hand, the visceral and tragic reality of it is lacking…. It’s more of a PG version. If you want a PG version these are the books for you! I am reading them any way 🤔And Mr. Thor; they are called magazines. Not what you mentioned here in the book “… Then he removed a blue-black nine-millimeter Browning Hi-Power pistol with two extra clips of ammunition and a small holster.“Your plots are quite great. Firearms fundamentals…… humm

Fast paced. High action. Lone Ranger appeal. Good read. I recommend the series to any spy novel fan. Will read them all

[bookcover:Path of the Assassin|7520]My type of book, and another author to add to my favourites...Obviously I like a book with lots of action, international plot, a great main character, and as usual some great villains.. sounds easy...It's not, I have read through some rubbish books.After rescuing the President from kidnappers in Brad Thor’s roaring national bestselling debut, Navy SEAL turned Secret Service Agent Scot Harvath shifts his attentions to rooting out, capturing, or killing all those responsible for the plot. As he prepares to close out his list, a bloody and twisted trail of clues points toward one man—the world’s most ruthless terrorist. One problem remains: Harvath and his CIA-led team have no idea what the man looks like. With no alternative, they are forced to recruit a civilian—a woman who has survived a brutal hijacking and is now the only person who can positively identify their quarry. From the burning deserts of North Africa to the winding streets of Rome, Harvath must brave a maelstrom of bloodshed and deception before a madman’s twisted vision engulfs the world in the fires of all-out war.The Hand of God, an apparent Israeli terrorist group, is blowing up mosques in Saudi Arabia, assassinating Arab leaders and hijacking airplanes, all in an effort to provoke the Arab world into war with Israel. Harvath tries to derail the terrorist plot and avenge the deaths of buddies killed in the first book. Aided by Meg Cassidy, a beautiful Chicago public relations expert, Harvath chases the terrorist leader and a silver-eyed assassin from Hong Kong through Europe to North Africa. However, since Cassidy is the only one alive who has seen the face of the terrorist leader, the assassin chases them, too, trying to kill Cassidy before she can point him out. The story is one bloody episode after another, with a touch of romance and colourful turf battles between the CIA, FBI, Delta Force and Harvath himself. Thor stacks the deck in favour of his hero-Harvath never makes a mistake, and his view of how counterterrorism operations should be conducted is invariably proven correct. To top it off, he boasts about his remarkable talents. With its infallible hero, fetching sidekick and wicked bad guys, this international shoot 'em up sticks close to formula, but the well-choreographed action and thrills will keep readers engrossed.Brad Thor has added some great touches of humour, that do make you grin, a great main character but did enjoy Meg Cassidy, and also Morell. Great pace, some really good twists, fast paced and action packed.Highly recommended. Five StarsJust one question, what do I read next?As my list of favourite authors becomes bigger, my collection of books to read is ever growing.Some are some great action authors to read and Brad Thor is one of them, alongside Ben Coes, Tom Wood, Mark Dawson, Mark Greaney, Lee Child, Simon Kernick, Vince Flynn, Joshua Hood, Brad Taylor, Victor Methos, J.B Turner, Will Jordan, still to read Dalton Fury, I could add many more favourites thriller/mystery authors as well !Sean Peters. Moderator of "A Good Thriller"

Two things stood out to me in this book: Firstly, it felt a lot less like we were constantly being thrown into action for the sake of action and there was better story-telling with deeper characters building. Secondly, I bloody loved the female character in this. I always concentrate on female characters in books to see if the author actually gives them a purpose or if they're just the love interest. But this one was a really strong character who helped Scot Harvath with no real sexual or romantic intentions.

The story continues, but this book stands alone. Scott is still on the trail of the terrorists who slaughtered so many of his comrades in The Lion of Lucerne. Another fast paced, full on adventure with a different female side kick. I like that the women in these books are strong and capable instead of the moaning Minnie's that appear so often. Really enjoyable fiction ..... and totally immersing fiction. Just lets you completely switch off from the real world.

After finishing the Mitch Rapp books I was pining for another thrill ride.Boy did I find it.Add a little bedroom action and these would be awesome.Cant believe how old this book is and yet it still feels current. Well, apart from the Gaddafi bit.Cant wait to read the whole series.Thanks Brad

A fine novel for most of the time but found boring at time with to much description of scenes .But can only wait for the next effort from my bestauthor