A littl too much over the top for me. This guy is too unbelievable!

I picked up this book because I usually enjoy thrillers - especially political and legal. I wish I'd paid more attention to the negative reviews. In my opinion, this is a pale imitation of the Baldacci, Ludlum, Follett, Forsyth etc. I've enjoyed in the past. The few chapters I've read thus far are formulaic (at best) and the characters are so over-the-top that they read like a Saturday Night Live parody. I don't think I'm going to waste my time finishing the book.

Brad Thor never fails to not only write a exceptional thriller but to include in his fiction some fact such as the bio-chemical possibilty of Hannibals armys from centurys ago. I also enjoy his own visions of the world we live in today and how foolish we as a nation are dealing with people that are still living in caves and eating with their hands considering bringing Democracy to them. As he expresses in a underlying way we are wasting our time. A good book everyone looking for a thriller will certainly enjoy.

Brad Thor knows how to write an entertaining read. It comes out of the gate at full-throttle and hardly lets up. I like the brainy women, the suave, tough-as-nails hero. But it's not as predictable as that sounds. His heroes bleed and fail and find the gumption to try again. Intrigue and "newsiness" make it always interesting. Sometimes, "Blowback" feels a bit manipulative, but it doesn't get in the way of the enjoyment. Buy it with confidence: you'll like it.

Another fast paced action thriller by Brad Thor. Our hero, Scott Harvath is racing to stop a chemical attack against the United States. While Harvath is a bit too much of a super hero (do bullets ever hit this guy?) it still a guilty pleasure kind of a read that is very well researched and deals not only with modern day terrorism but also the ancient's use of biological and chemical weapons.

Brad Thor is great. First time I read one of his books was when I was searching for something to read while relative in hospital. The book and another were finished before my relative was out of the hospital.

Brad Thor scores again with Blowback, a whipcrack thriller that tackles religious fanaticism and international terrorism with verve and style to spare. His protagonist, Scot Horvath, has been sent out to pasture by a meddling politician, but soon is brought back into the fold to take on a villain with a taste for biological weaponry. Alarmingly prescient and well-researched, it delivers the goods. Definitely check out James Macomber's A Grave Breach if you enjoyed this one.

This is a good thriller, that is fast paced, and with interesting characters and dialoged, very entertaining. That's the good news, the bad, is the plot is absurd; the science behind the bio weapon is laughable, a trip down the Jurassic Park style crypto-biology fiction that's a million times less likely. And the main characters is an active duty US Navy SEAL, but who worked for the US Secret Service (can't happen, violation of federal law), then went to work for a supper secret foreign intel/ counter terrorism unit in US Dept. of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Homeland Security has no control over...... WHAT?

BUT, it is entertaining, Thor gets the terrorism thing, and understands modern fascist Islamic radicalism, and his characters are likable. This is not his best book, but it is worth the read.

For a recent trip I ordered both Blowback and Takedown. Both were great books and very entertaining.

I've never read a novel by this author so I can't compare this book with his other novels.

BLOWBACK is a fast-pace and entertaining novel. The author did his background homework, but there are times when the scenario wasn't very believable. You really have to let your imgaination run wild to really enjoy and accept this book as plausible (similar to the "Da Vinci Code"). Nevertheless, it's a good summertime beach book.

Blowback is a decent book so far. Brad Thor reminds me a lot of Tom Clancy and this is a good thing. The concept of an ancient weapon with repurcussions to modern Earth is a little far fetched. Sorry Moonfleet I thought that the KI were hermaphrodites but now i know they are the Kennedy Aye Mutts. Using messages back through time the following people had their DNA sent to the Moonfleet and were made into clones. Emperor Shadow President Jack F Kennedy age 89, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, Queen Elizabeth II Winsor my highly favored Auntie, American Shadow President King Brad HD Morgan of England myself, my Daughter Princess Julia Ann Ruth Morgan of England the American Shadow Vice President in 2017 her clones have been known for thousands of years as ApophisYahwehGod, Ambassador Joseph Kennedy, his clever, charming wife Rose Kennedy, Capable President George W Bush and Godlike King Henry V Lancaster. My Clones Skippering Moon 168 a real moon that has rocket comets and is protecting Texas and England the two chesssquares in the corner that I move through the internet back and forth on as King. All of these actions are with the okay of our Creator ET alien Stealth who looks a lot like Yoda from Star Wars and a little bit like ET the Extraterrestrial. May the Creator bless you and keep you, lift up his countenance to you and give you peace. I am sane and telling the truth. Thank you to Amazon for allowing freedom of speech. Buy Amazon.

Blowback certainly deals with current issues--the Middle East political caldrone. It was like Dirk Pitt solves the DaVinci Code--a hero who can do everything and a lot of historical information. It just lacks real depth--but maybe that wasn't the intent.

I was in an airport looking for something to read. The selection was thin. Basically there was the NYT best seller rack and Dr. Phil. I generally like political thrillers and Brad Thor's Blowback seemed promising. I never read Thor, or even really know much if anything about him and his work. The book is "ripped from the headlines" which is another way of saying if it's paperback, the plot points are probably dated.

The book was enough to keep my attention from the in-flight Jennifer Anniston movie. After the trip, I found it hard to find the motivation to pick it up and finish it. The hard-boiled military hero is nothing new nor real original. The main antagonist is a cut-throat Democrat Senator "who will stop at nothing" to take down the President. The character is named Helen Remington Carmichael, and the initials aren't the only comparison to a certain New York senator. The effort to frame the character as Clinton is so transparent, it would be ridiculous by itself if the character wasn't ridiculously cartoon-like in partisanship. Needing to demonize a sitting senator in order to make an effective protagonist doesn't say much about Thor's imagination or character development. After a few chapters the wink and nod partisan commentary got old. If you have Ann Coulter on your bookshelf, you may get a few chuckles as Thor gleefully tries in indoctrinate readers, but others who don't share the neo-con ideology will likely find many distractions.

I have to start by saying that this was one of the most exciting thrillers I have read in a very long time.

I take exception with the review by J. Valentine below. Actually, it wasn't even a review. He gave the book only one star because he doesn't like what he sees as the book's politics. That doesn't seem at all fair to me. This isn't a political forum, this is a book forum.

The war on terror is aimed at Muslim extremists who are bent on destroying the West. And as far as Thor basing the Carmichael character on Hillary Clinton, so what? It's fiction and if Valentine hates people taking shots (literally and figuratively) at Muslim terrorists or power-hungry senators who are willing to do anything to gain more power and ultimately ascend to the Oval Office, I suggest he stay away from this genre altogether.

This is fiction and with Thor at the helm, darn good fiction at that! It is fast-paced, fascinating, well-written intelligent fare that will have you whipping through the pages until late into the night.

The Scot Harvath series has gone from being a mediocre guilty pleasure to downright racist claptrap with a side order of liberal bashing. Harvath (and/or Thor?) has always skewed right, but this installment introduces a perfunctory character (so obviously modeled on the reactionary's view of Hilary Clinton that Thor may as well have used her name) representing the purported selfish and decadent evils of liberalism. Harvath is admittedly her perfect foil: a sadist who fantasizes repeatedly about hurting and killing people and views U.S. policy as an inconvenience and hindrance to his mission of meting out unilateral justice. Harvath's superhuman abilities used to be fun, but when things turn to intellectual pusuits his output is simply incorrect and his outlook embarassing. Thor tries to balance the pervasive swipes at Muslims with a token passage extolling the virtues of the Muslim community at large but his beloved protagonist explicity states that "Not all Muslims are terrorists, but without fail all terrorists are Muslims". I am not sure if Thor was around during the Oklahoma City bombing, the Olympic Park bombing, the Unabomber manhunt or decades of IRA bombings, but I would think the copy editor would have noticed a statement that wildly inaccurate and offensive. To be fair, I would probably be skimming by that point as well. The bottom line is that poorly written airport books can be fun, but not when they are insulting to anyone sensitive to furthering understanding between religions or even political parties, not to mention the constitutional promise of due process. Read a Lee Child book instead if you need a hero formula story.

The novel starts off with some intriguing elements, and it kept me entertained enough to finish reading, but the overall experience was a disappointment.

The author misses some major chances to add much-needed suspense to the novel by making the bad guys all essentially pushovers. The coolest part of the story, as well as its biggest letdown, is the deadly weapon possessed by the enemy. The concept behind it is both interesting and terrifying at the same time - perfect for this genre. But then the author practically forgets about it to focus on mostly lackluster shootouts where the bad guys dodge a few bullets before predictably getting smoked. Had we seen the ultimate weapon get some more action (thereby keeping the pressure on), then perhaps the predictable parts would have had more of a page-turning appeal.

There were a few other issues that dimished the experience. The parts focusing on history and science were quite interesting, but didn't seem to blend in properly. The sideplot about the senator getting her comeuppence ended up having little value to the main plot, and felt like gratuitous liberal-bashing. The constant derogatory Muslim-bashing (" ... Mo(hammad) , Larry, and Curly ..." ) belittles the enemy in this book and further takes away from the sense of danger that should be present in a thriller.

Overall, the bad guys rolled over too easily, and after the first 200 pages out of more than 550, I felt little sense of the impending doom that the back cover promised.

Blowback is a great book for an airplane, which is where I picked it up. Thor is good at drawing pictures for you, which makes for a very engaging read. It also went fast, and was really addictive. This is one of the first books in this genre I've read, and it reminded me of the TV series 24, which I love. A great summer read, too!

This is the genre of story I usually prefer and since Brad Thor has been touted by well-known authors such as Dan Brown as being hot stuff, I was expecting a great deal in this latest book. As I got into the story I had a vague feeling of deja vu nagging at me until I realized that this was at best a clone of other stories by writers who have made a mark in this genre, most notably Vince Flynn. I had a hard time remembering that this hero was named Scot(sic) Harvath and not Mitch Rapp. Both are ex-military deadly covert ops experts, both speak Arabic and both secretly work for the President. Each is apparently the only man in the universe who can accomplish the task of capturing and/or killing the al-Qaeda-related terrorist bad guys while almost romancing a beautiful companion whom they drag, unprofessionally, along into the most dangerous situations ever conceived. And then there's the usual Washington D.C. intrigue and back-stabbing liberal Democrats to deal with. The nemesis on the political front is a bitchy woman senator of high ambition and lacking a moral compass whose husband chases skirts while she plots dastardly political maneuvers. Her name is Helen Carmichael. Do the initials seem familiar?
In any event, the book is not bad, but I found it rather tedious in places, such as two and a half chapters devoted to dialogue between scientists and Harvath about Hannibal. No, not Hannibal the Cannibal, but the guy who crossed the alps on Dumbo and his cousins. This story is an action-adventure, but every so often Thor drifts into the professorial lecturing mode and seems to think we all need a text book review of historical facts about Islam, Hannibal, heraldry, biology, etc. Other than making the book about two hundred pages too long, it was well written and the plot was fairly imaginative in places. I would be more impressed with the plethora of post 9-11 terrorist-fighting books if they had some more original facets and plot twists. The benchmark for this type of book in my opinion, was Arabian Assignment, which came out two months before that fateful attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Back then, very few people had any idea who bin-Laden or al-Qaeda were. If you like authors Brown, Clancy, Flynn, or Carpenter, then you probably will like Thor and enjoy reading this book more than this critic, who admittedly is becoming somewhat jaded.
- Barker Reviews

Thor as always produced an exciting read. Tight racey and a page turning. He is one of the all time greats . I look foward to his next book.

Entertaining, but lacking in plot twists. I would have liked to have been surprised a bit more.

Brad Thor has exceeded the excellent wiork in his first three novels. Not only does he have a style that is exciting but also creates a story that keeps the reader wanting more. His research is superb and the factual basis extends and amplifies the fiction. Highly recommended and looking forward to his next endeavor. Both Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum fans will enjoy his novels.

This is Brad Thor's greatest effort even though the previous three novels are superior in the espinogue genre. The book is tightly and well researched that ties in currect events and historic events. I can hardly wait until his next novel is published in June, 2006. Until then I will miss Scott Harvath and Thor's excellent writing style.

This book was captivating to the very end. Great read with some very precise tidbits of historical data included.

I'd call Brad Thor a great up and comer, but he arrived with his debut novel, Lions of Lucerne--easily one of my top 10 favorite books.

Blowback ranks high up there as well. It's the non-religious Da Vinci Code of the ancient Roman Empire. History entwined with mystery and heart pounding action makes Thor's fourth book a MUST READ.

His main character is Scot Harvath, a former Navy SEAL/current Secret Service agent. Harvath is right up there with Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp in the category of "Bad A$$ who you want on your side"!

I'm glad Scott Harvath is on our side. His books, by Brad Thor, were good from the start and are getting better as the series progresses. If you like "action and adventure" thrillers, you'll be pleased.

It isn't absolutely necessary that the action and adventure in a book come non-stop, but in Blowback, and the earlier books, they do. The story moves literally as well, to places that it seems likely Mr. Thor knows quite well. It all makes Blowback hard to put down and highly recommended.

Brad Thor has continued to amaze me with his wonderful International thrillers. Filled with intrigue and suspense that puts him at the top of my 'must read' list. His well researched novels, this time around, includes Hannibal's crossing of the Alps, some history of bio-chemical warfare, the divide between Muslims two major groups and much more. With all this, you get a great adventure to boot. Doesn't get much better than this for great entertainment.

Highly Recommended.

If you like your thrillers in the form of international espionage then Brad Thor's latest book may be the next good read for you. If waiting a year or more, is too long a time for you to learn how Dirk Pitt has saved the whole world from destruction yet again, then Brad Thor has a larger than life hero who might be just the intermediate fix you need! Welcome Scot Harvath!

Like all good thrillers, in Blowback Thor gives us a hero (protagonist) with a serious problem. This would be Scot Harvath, ex-seal, ex-secret service agent, and intrepid patriot. You don't have to wait long to figure out what the problem is, the actions starts in the first couple pages of the book, and the problem is not limited to just one big problem, there are all sorts of tangential issues to worry about as well. And again, like all good thrillers, the more our hero tries to solve the problem the worse the problem becomes. Harvath has all the skills and talents you would expect from someone with his background, but incredibly as soon as one bad guy gets eliminated, we learn that he was just a front for another much "badder" guy.

Blowback has Harvath in search of an evil genius who has figured out how to spread a plague around the world that will kill all but the most faithful Islamic extremists. While good guy Harvath has a lot of allies (no surprise, he teams up with a really smart, great looking woman), time is certainly working against him. As the story races to the big confrontation you will be treated to spectacular scenery, impregnable fortresses, lots of destruction, and you definitely won't be disappointed with the conclusion.

Brad Thor makes great use of current events and many of the characters are real life people/politicians with their names changed (presumably to protect the innocent). Thor serves up a great rendition of Hillary Rodham Clinton Rodham. Of course "great" really depends on which side of the fence you sit! In the end Brad Thor ties up all the lose ends and leaves the reader satisfied but anxious for the next story! It is just fiction, but escapist fiction in the most enjoyable sense.

Highest recommendation for captivating, up all night reading.

If for no other reason, Brad Thor's hilarilous thinly veiled (cellophane-veiled) parody of Hillary Rodham Clinton in "Blowback's" bitch-Senator Helen Remington Carmichael is worth four stars by itself. The carpet bagging Carmichael (Pennsylvania in this case, not New York) has weaseled her way into the Senate on the coattails of her powerful husband, and now will stop at nothing to reach the White House.

But old Hillary - I mean Helen - is only a sideshow in this rollicking and ambitious tale of radical Islam and terrorism. Give Brad Thor credit for originality: few would consider Hannibal's second century BC trans-Alps raid of Rome as the hook for an Islamic plot to finally rid the world - starting with the US of course - of all of us pesky non-believing infidels. While Thor takes some liberty with the ancients' understanding of contagious diseases, this is a unique and refreshing take on the standard spy-vs-spy thriller, complete with a handy primer on Sunni, Shi'a, and Wahhabi beliefs, as well as some interesting history of Hannibal and his trek across the Alps.

Having said that, this novel is not without its flaws. Seems all the brainy babes have PhD's, and could easily be appearing straight from the pages of Playboy's "The Women of Blowback" pictorial. And I found our hero, Scot Horvath, a bit annoying, the stereotyped ultra-macho ex-SEAL who nonetheless seems to get the stuffing kicked out of him consistently for the first two hundred pages or so. Overdosed with testosterone and under dosed with intelligent dialogue, Horvath just never clicked with me. And even at a generous 433 pages, Thor simply had too much going on to do anything more sophisticated than to wrap up the numerous story lines in a perfunctory, yadda-yadda-yadda-type climax. But I quibble. "Blowback" is a fun read, escapist entertainment that purveys just enough credibility to eliminate the "guilty" from pleasure.

Liked his subtle sense of humor between male characters - even my husband thought this was the best one he has written.

Thank you Brad Thor for a fantastic book! Timely, exciting, thought provoking only begin to describe this fast paced thriller. The research is incredible! I will recommend this book to everyone I know.

This is a book that most readers will find unsettling. Not so much for the terrific story contained within, but more for the history lesson the reader receives about the Saudi Royal family, the tenuousness of the world's oil supply, and the danger posed to the non-Muslim world by the Wahhabis, the radical Muslim movement from which all modern Islamic terrorisim has sprung. We can hope and pray that there are many Scot Harvaths out there doing the work of defending us from the plots and plans of the radical Muslims, but no one should be sanguine that the threat is not real and the situation is not truly dangerous.

Brad Thor weaves a chilling tale involving the release of a disease which can cause a pandemic in the non-Muslim world with its roots in the crossing of the Alps by Hannibal hundreds of years ago. There is no need for a suspension of belief in reading this book as the author lays out his case very well and convincingly.

This book is hard to put down and the world situation it describes will give you some sleepless nights, however you owe it to yourself to read and learn from one of the masters of this genre.

In his chase for a wanted terrorist, Scott Harvath is caught on camera beating up an "innocent bystander" dressed like the terrorist. To avoid political fallout over the incident, Scott is forced to resign, by the President's Chief of Staff, but immediately given the chance to redeem himself by chasing down the origin of a bio-weapon designed to kill alll but the most dedicated followers of Islam.
His search for the disease leads us on a chase across Europe, and the Middle East, as he, and other spies attempt to find, not only the origins of the mysterious bio-weapon, but also those who developed it, and plan to use it against the U.S. and all who oppose Islam.
Blowback is Brad Thors best book to date! The characters are better developed than in his past novels, and the action is non-stop in what is sure to be his best-selling novel to date!

Scot Harvath was introduced in the first novel by Brad Thor, "The Lions of Lucerne." It was such a spectacular book that I couldn't believe it was Thor's first. Happily, he has continued with the exciting life of Agent Harvath. In his fourth novel, Blowback, Harvath is captured on Al Jazeera TV chasing down and beating ruthlessly an innocent shopkeeper in Baghdad. It has been a deliberate set-up by a top-ranking Al Qaeda terrorist who Harvath was closing in on, who paid the merchant to switch places with him. Harvath's face was not shown, but a conniving female senator you love to hate relentlessly investigates the national embarrassment in hopes of derailing the re-election of popular President Rutledge (who has also been a "regular" in the Harvath books). Senator Carmichael uses every resource at her disposal to discover the identity of the American operative involved in the apparent black ops incident. A beleaguered president sends Harvath out of the country before the senator can have the supoena served and expose him publicly. So begins the story.

To my initial puzzlement, this book almost departed from any believability as a convoluted plot developed to restore the Ottoman empire and annihilate most of the US population using a biological weapon derived from a discovery of Hannibal's expedition over the Alps. No, I'm not kidding. I wasn't sure I could "get into" such a far-fetched story, but after going through the dubious origin of the mysterious poison-cum-biological weapon, the author steered the story back into the familiar area of high-tech weaponry, betrayals, near escapes, and strong characters who were lifelike. By the middle of the book I was enthralled and I have to admit I ended up enjoying Blowback every bit as much as Thor's previous three novels. The action scenes are masterfully executed. With Thor, you get either heroic, noble characters or complete scoundrels; you don't see much in between. Naturally the hero is always right in his instincts and always smarter than his rivals or foes. This works perfectly when a reader wants to enjoy an armchair escape from a complicated world and just enjoy being entertained by nonstop action. I recommend Blowback very highly. I do think it's best to buy all four books and read them in order: The Lions of Lucerne, Path of the Assasin, State of the Union, and Blowback. I can promise that anyone who opens the first one will hungrily read (and love) all four novels. In fact, I can't wait for the next installment...hope he brings back Scot Harvath soon!

This is a breakthrough novel for Brad Thor. His work on this book places him into the very good category of writers of thrillers and positions him to move into the ranks of the great.

The plot: Scot Harvath, a trouble-shooter for the President of the United States, is suckered by Khalid Alomari, a henchman of Osama bin Laden, into an Al Jazeera videotaping which apparently shows him beating up an innocent Muslim merchant on the streets of Baghdad. This careless mistake, the resultant world outrage, and the opportunistic maneuvering of a clever woman U.S. senator, who wants to be president, force Scot to resign and prepare to go into hiding to avoid the senator's wrath and revenge.

But before Scot can get away, events begin to pile up on the President; and he is forced to call upon Scot for help. An U.S. Army combat team, looking for missing American relief workers, finds itself in a village in northern Iraq where most of the Christian inhabitants have died in a ghastly fashion from some sort of highly contagious outbreak. Only Muslim residents survive. U.S. agents determine that the villagers have been intentionally infected. Some of the soldiers soon succumb to the same illness. Then, one by one, Muslim scientists who worked on an international research project begin to die in apparent accidents. Because of this intricate interweaving of setbacks, because he is not one to toss away loyalty and effectiveness, and because he knows that the U.S. is facing its greatest danger ever, the President decides that Scot is the person with the necessary attributes and background to save the United States. Scot and a handful of resourceful specialists race from point to point around the world and from disaster to disaster to carry out this mission.

Author Brad Thor does a masterful job of designing a plot that keeps readers interested and in suspense as he has his protagonist et al try to solve the deadly problems they encounter. The relationship between Scot and Jillian Alcott, the female lead character, is particularly well done. Thor keeps the interaction close and professional, but not romantic. Jillian and several of the other characters deserve revisiting in future novels.

Best of all, however, is the author's thorough, precise research. Thor presents a realistic assessment of the Saudi Arabian dilemma, delineates the Sunni vs. Shia division of Muslims, and gives an enlightening history of al-Queda and Osama bin Laden (author's spelling). He provides insights into a multitude of topics, including the history of Hannibal of Carthage, exotic reptiles, and ancient warfare technologies.

His clear-headed discussions of the Muslim world are perhaps even more valuable than his considerable contribution in this book as a writer of good fiction.

The hero of Brad Thor's books Scott Harvath is caught forcefully subduing a supposed terrorist on the Al Jazeera news
station. This incident causes an uproar in the Arab and Muslim
world.A Senator from Pennysilvania is going to use this incident to make a run for the Vice-Presidency of the Democratic Party.The President is forced to relieve Harvath of
duty to the United States.
In the meantime an iceberg in the Alps is starting to defrost.
A sinister group that has the goal of destroying the United States has come into possession of a powerful weapon that was invented to bring about the destruction of the Roman Empire.The
President is forced to call upon Harvath to stop this sinister plot before America is destroyed.Harvath clashes with an Al-Queida torrorist assassin named Khalid Shiek Alomari and other
villains who are involved in this conspiracy.The action moves all over the globe and the action is nonstop.This is Brad Thor's
best book yet.

Brad Thor's "Blowback" is an action-packed spy thriller about the complex world of international terrorism, biological warfare, religious fanaticism, and political corruption. The macho hero is Scot Harvath, a former SEAL who works for the Office of International Investigative Assistance in the Department of Homeland Security. He has repeatedly sacrificed his personal happiness and peace of mind in order to serve his country. Scott's archenemy is Khalid Sheik Alomari, a high-ranking al-Qaeda operative and ruthless assassin. Alomari has been traveling around the world killing Muslim scientists who may have unlocked the key to a devastating super weapon.

This scenario plays out against the background of a vicious power struggle between an ambitious Democratic senator named Helen Carmichael and Republican President Jack Rutledge. Carmichael will do anything to unseat the popular president, and she has been secretly compiling damaging information about Rutledge in order to turn public opinion against him. Scott Harvath soon becomes Carmichael's pawn in her scheme to destroy President Rutledge.

"Blowback" is timely story that is "ripped from the headlines," with references to people and organizations that we read about in the news every day. Brad Thor provides well-researched and detailed background information about the Muslim world, and he explores the many ways in which the United States is battling the terrorist threat posed by radical fundamentalists. Scot Harvath's courage, knowledge of weaponry, and unerring instincts make him a worthy and appealing hero, and for a change, the author doesn't provide his protagonist with a love interest to distract him from his duties. Although Scot does have a beautiful and brainy partner, a molecular biologist named Dr. Jillian Alcott, his relationship with her is strictly platonic. Jillian provides the scientific expertise that Scot needs in order to fight a terrifying biological weapon that may soon be unleashed against the United States.

At over four hundred pages, this novel is a bit too long. However, Thor keeps the narrative from dragging by shifting rapidly between characters in far-flung locales, such as France, England, Cyprus, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, and Washington, D. C. You may need a scorecard to keep tabs on who is doing what to whom and why. However, "Blowback" packs an undeniable wallop, especially in light of the very real dangers that we face in today's frightening and unpredictable world.