Patrick LarkinCritiques

Classic late cold war novel from the creator of the game Harpoon. I have read the book several times and find it still to be entertaining.

452 / 34 - Κινηματογραφικό βιβλίο , άλλωστε ο συγγραφέας του είναι διάσημος για τις μεταφορές των βιβλίων του .
Συνεχή δράση , όχι αρκετή αγωνία , αφού ο ένοχος αποκαλύπτεται αρκετά πριν το τέλος .
Παρόλαυτα είναι ευκολοδιάβαστο , ενδιαφέρον , παρόλο το "αηδιαστικό του θέμα " που τώρα τελευταία παίζει πολύ ως υπόθεση ή σενάριο.
Μαζική εξάληψη ανθρώπων με ιούς για να " σωθεί " η Γη .

Lightweight military action novel - an ok beach read but not the best (or worst) example of the genre. The bad guys start out being sneaky and smart and end up being dumb and predictable.

In the aftermath of a series of student riots in Seoul, the U.S. Congress rushes a bill into law which calls for complete withdrawal of American troops from South Korea. This sets off a chain reaction: North Korea attacks across the DMZ, Russia supports North Korea, the Chinese remain neutral, and the United States fights again with its South Korean allies.

Great book. I would have given it four stars but I felt that it became a little too over the top with the patriotism; a little "Top Gun-ish"

You get what you pay for and would expect with this book. It's a spy-thriller with all the requisite ingredients, a cold-war type threat, a mysterious disease, a hero spy-doctor, an evil billionaire villian, and their supporting casts.

I admit it, I am fond of military "what if" novels, and even though some of them are terrible, this is one is fine. Larry Bond was the co-author of the classic [b:Red Storm Rising|318525|Red Storm Rising|Tom Clancy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1173729031s/318525.jpg|5054712] book by [a:Tom Clancy|3892|Tom Clancy|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1407672935p2/3892.jpg] so he knows what to do.

The story here is, in short, it is around 1989 (publication day of the book) and North Korea invades South Korea, with enough pre-politics/actions to make it possible. As a reader you are left with the "can this actually happen" thoughts, and I think, hmm, probably not.

As usual the authors try to weave some personal stories and some romance into the books. Also as usual, that is not the authors' strongest cards. Personal parts, fine. Romance and female view... not the worst I have seen by far, but not great either. I guess, it is a male military history buff writing this in the late 1980s so from that point of view it is surprisingly really well done.

surprisingly enjoyable, despite (or because of) all the anachronisms

Not bad, if certainly dated at this point. A covertly Soviet- (and Chinese-) backed North Korean conventional offensive into South Korea is repelled at great cost to the undermanned U.S. and ROK troops already there. The great power patronage is perhaps the most interesting angle, even with the Chinese deficiencies of the time, while considering this in anything like a modern light is difficult given the total lack of nuclear weapons or indeed, even ballistic missiles possessed by the North.

Suffers from the usual techno-thriller drawbacks of characterization (including an awkward love story subplot), and some early-on period racism mars things a bit (I can't speak to the "accuracy" of including it in this timeframe). But some sequences, particularly those focusing on the submarines and P-3 Orion aircraft involved in the cat-and-mouse play of ASW, are very engaging. At the very least, a great primer for the next round of Command: Modern Air and Naval Operations.

I may be being a bit harsh on this! With the current Stupid Missile Crisis in the news, some things that might otherwise be overlooked jump out in this. This is also a tighter read than the other novels of Bond's that I've made it through, Vortex and Cauldron.

I mean, I'm a sucker for happy endings, but somehow an even MORE neoliberal EU G7 doesn't seem like it was worth fighting for (also lol nefarious French)

Fast paced but predictable.

Not as good as some of the other Covert One novels, but okay nonetheless.
None of the characters really came off as real however. Details and some actual personality would be have been nice to throw in.
It's what makes the difference between a real author and a hack

This is one of those "Robert Ludlum's ____" books so it's inspired by him, not written by him. The actual writer for this book is Patrick Larkin. He also wrote the prior book in the series 'The Lazarus Vendetta' which I read in Feb 2013 and was much better than the prior 4 which had been written by Gayle Lynds and were pretty average.

So Moscow Vector is the 6th book in the Covert One series, the second entry by Patrick Larkin. Sadly however, it's not as good as his prior entry in the series. It wouldn't surprise me if it was ghost written or fleshed out by a hired hand as in parts it's up to standard whereas in other parts it gets a little cheesy and the quality seems to dip.

Overall it's a decent entry into a series which is all a bit far fetched aimed squarely at the action and intrigue at the price of realism end of the market yet that being said it is an entertaining read, much like a movie can be impossible in reality yet still be entertaining. Just not up to the standard set by his earlier work in the series.½

The old school hard-line Russians are up to their old tricks, trying to return Russia to its former glory from the days of the old Soviet Unions. In this novel, the Russians have developed a new weapon that delivers a poison based on the person’s DNA. This is the ultimate assassination weapon. With the use of this weapon, they are wiping out political opponents in an attempt to reclaim some of the republics of the former Soviet Union. Lt. Col. John Smith is leading a covert unit investigating this new weapon. Also, as part of the conspiracy the Russians are targeting the president of the US for assassination.

This novel is not quite as far-fetched as some of the Robert Ludlum novels that I have read, which is a problem I usually have with them. There is a good bit of action and drama, but the overall writing and characterization left me a little ambivalent. The characters themselves felt a bit faceless, making this story more about plot than anything else. This was a solid, but unspectacular novel.

Carl Alves – author of Blood Street

Surprisingly good. The writing is solid, if not spectacular; the characters are likable; the plot is fast-paced and exciting, if rather predictable in places for those who know the source material--more on that below. Fine attention is paid to historical detail--though The Tribune, like many other modern novels on ancient Rome, portrays its Roman characters with comfortably modern religious sensibilities. (Ursula Le Guin's [b:Lavinia|2214574|Lavinia|Ursula K. Le Guin|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328834317s/2214574.jpg|2220362] continues to be the best fictional treatment of Roman religious thought I've read.)

For the most part I was impressed by the author's weaving of the Biblical narrative into the story. The Tribune generally avoids preachiness, and the author clearly did his research into both Jewish and early Christian tradition. Certain characters are readily identifiable--Paulus, Marah (Magdalene), Yeshua--and all fit into the plot quite plausibly. I was a bit more surprised by the realization that the main character, Tribune Lucius Aurelius Valens, is supposed to be the gospel writer Luke. Since a number of Roman soldiers figure prominently in the Biblical narrative, I'm a bit curious as to why the author didn't just build his main Roman character around one of these, rather than changing Luke's background so drastically. From what I understand, though, this is the first book in a series; perhaps this question will be addressed more satisfactorily later.

All-in-all, an enjoyable read.

Predictive story.... didnt interest me as much as Ludlum's previous books

Mildly interesting story of a soldier mentored by Germanicus, given command in Judea, and determined to solve the murder of a Roman Senator there. The Bad Guys in this one are no mystery, in spite of the longish time it takes our hero to figure it out. The Jews are the scapegoats for all that plagues Roman occupiers and protecting them from the nefarious elements takes a lot of our hero's time and attention.

For me, I found the Celtic sidekick more interesting than the star and wished the novel had been his story, from his p.o.v. The kicker is the revelation of "historical" identity at the end. The book suffers from unearned coincidental encounters with biblical personages. It's at its best when Lucius and Aristedes, his company medical man, engage in discussion. At best, average Imperial Rome adventure.

Lucius Aurelius Valens, a military tribune serving in Syria, is caught up in the feud between Germanicus and Piso. After Valens defies Piso, Germanicus puts him in charge of a Gallic auxiliary unit on its way to serve in Judaea to keep him out of Piso's reach. On the way, Valens finds the remains of a murdered senator and his bodyguard outside a village called Nazara.

The front cover displays a recommendation comparing this book to The Name of the Rose. All I can say is the author of the recommendation either hasn't read "The Name of the Rose" or hasn't read this book. Anybody who expects a similar level of complexity and subtlety is going to be sorely disappointed.

Basically the book combines two genres, Roman detective fiction (which I enjoy) and Biblical fiction (which I can't say I've read much of). Do not expect any nuanced exploration of character. We are left in no doubt who the goodies and baddies are. The twists and turns of the plot, though predictable enough, are reasonably well done, except for the final twist in the epilogue, which was totally pointless and turned me off reading the sequel, whenever it comes out.

Contrary to the billing on the cover of the book, these books are merely a series created by Robert Ludlum, but written by different authors. Books 1-4 were written by Gayle Lynds and this installment has been written by Patrick Larkin.

I found this to be the best in the series so far, the writer change has led to a definite improvement in quality. Whilst it falls into the realm of bio-terrorism techno-thriller using emerging/fictional nanotechnology it uses this fictional technology in a manner which isn't too unbelievable or grating.

The story itself is fast paced like a good action movie and extremely enjoyable, hard to put down. I'm looking forward to the next Patrick Larkin installment in 'The Moscow Vector' hopefully it is of this standard also.

South African radicals decide to to invade neighboring country and soon full war is on the way. When the war culminates with exchange of weapons of mass destruction from both sides international community decides to stop the onslaught.[return][return]Great action.

Een idealistische beweging van antiglobalisten is overgenomen door een gewelddadige groep onder aanvoering van de mysterieuze Lazarus. Aan Jon Smith de taak de groep te infiltreren.

The 1980's brought forth a flood tide of political thriller authors. Bond was better then most. This book is a good example of the genre.

Un avión que transporta a una comisión norteamericana de inspección de armas se estrella misteriosamente en Rusia. Poco después, un imporante diplomático es asesinado. La alarma se ha disparado. Un audaz plan para destruir a los Estados Unidos está en marcha. El artífice es el principe Ibrahim al Saud, miembro de la familia más influyente del Medio Oriente y brillante cabeza de un conglomerado de empresas multimillonario. Su secuaz es Rolf Reichart, temido es agente Stasi y ahora asesino a sueldo. Por su parte, el coronel Peter Thorn y la agente del FBI Helen Gray intentan desbaratar el golpe de Ibrahim y sus aliados.

Larkin writes a good book but in some spots he is a little sloppy in his writing style, including dialogue that is a little cheesy, in other cases unneeded dialogue. Overall, it's a fun read and full of good descriptive language to keep the reader's interest. A small amount of language that could be left out.

An excellent story that maintains your interest page after page. The plot is a bit far-fetched but then it wouldn't be intriguing if it didn't explore some new technological fantasies. Love the writing style of Patrick Larkin. I'd recommend the book although it could do without some of the language.