At its core, a techno-thriller needs three things: a high concept (technology or device de jour), an irresistible force (the villain and his scheme) and an immovable object (the hero and his convictions). All three have to be believable to make the book hold together. The rest -- characters, plot, settings and writing -- are what make the book enjoyable. Dean Crawford's "Apocalypse" has all of the above, in various measures, and turns out to be a reasonably enjoyable read.

The device de jour in this case has something to do with time travel, and it takes pretty much the first half of the novel to get any kind of traction into what that's about. The latter half of the novel continues to ruminate on this concept, pretending to go into details (though sometimes contradicting itself) about how that might be accomplished. It's a high concept alright, and tons of fun (until someone gets hurt), and complete hogwash if you think about it hard enough.

The irresistible force in this case is Joaquin Abell, who the world sees as a philanthropist. But whose true motivations, of course, turn out to be questionable at best. He plans to use the time travel technology for the betterment of mankind. The problem is that he isn't all that interested in what mankind has to say about the matter or how many casualties there are along the way.

The immovable object is Ethan Warner (and his partner Nicola Lopez) a freelance private investigator with government ties and a suitably unfortunate background that is alluded to from time to time, but doesn't affect the enjoyment of the current situation. They're brought in when one of Abell's scientists is suspected of killing his own family, but calls the police himself and causes quite a stir when he seems to accurately predict the future. He inexplicably insists that they call in Warner to get to the bottom of things.

What works: The time travel concept is presented with just enough hand-waving to make it seem plausible enough for the purposes of the story. It is used to good effect to create an intricate plot that mostly holds together over the course of the story. There are no egregious bouts of info-dump to spoil the pacing. Just a few pages here and there that could have been pared down a bit more. The large cast of characters is well wrought and well used, though I think there are a few too many. The fight and battle scenes are pretty detailed and realistic.

What didn't work: I think both the character problem (which led to a few pacing issues) and some glaring issues I have with the author's prose could have been remedied by a couple more ruthless rounds of editing. There are some turns of phrase that are repeated, paragraph after paragraph, page after page, as the author keeps trying to string together too many thoughts into a single sentence. And as he stumbles his way in and out of situations, instead of just letting them transpire. To top it off, there is a glaring violation of the story's own rules about how time travel works. For a page or two, I thought the writer was going to turn it into a certain kind of plot twist, but instead he blundered right into and through it, and left it lying there, ignored, as he wrapped things up. Oh well, it wouldn't be a time travel story without a paradox of causality.

All the good stuff adds up to at least a four-star novel. Some rigorous editing would have gotten it there. With one star knocked off for the bad stuff, this is still an enjoyable three-star book. It's definitely something to read on the plane or beach this summer.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review. ( )

Very good thriller with tons of scientific detail. ( )

Apocalypse is the latest novel in Dean Crawford's Ethan Warner thriller series. In this novel Ethan and his partner Nicola Lopez are called upon by the Defense Intelligence Agency to help find scientist Charles Purcell, a man wanted for the murder of his wife and daughter but who claims to be innocent. With Purcell correctly predicting events of the near-term future, however, it soon becomes apparent to both Warner and Lopez that there is much more to their search for Purcell than it first appears. What follows is a race against time itself.

In Apocalypse Dean Crawford has crafted a well-written, quick-paced scientific thriller that keeps the reader eagerly turning the pages. The science is (thankfully) well-explained, although some of it didn't seem entirely plausible (although this could just be a result of me not being able to wrap my mind around the possibility of some of the science). Ethan Warner is a complex protagonist and, while I've not read the other novels in this series, it is obvious that previous events in Ethan's life have played a large role in who he is and how he sees the world. Crawford has also created an intriguing cast of supporting characters, many of whom you can't help but root for -- including Charles Purcell. I found the novel's villain to be a bit over the top in terms of his vileness, but can't deny that his actions and Warner's attempts to foil them made for an entertaining read. The novel's conclusion is gripping, and includes some unexpected twists that have definitely left me curious to know what's next for Ethan Warner.

While part of a series, Apocalypse can be enjoyed without having read the two novels in the series. However, I definitely plan to go back and read them.

Recommended to fans of suspense and thriller novels.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars
Source: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review ( )

Although this is the third book in the series it is not necessary to have read the other novels before reading this one; that said, I think the reader would get more from this novel if they had. This reader, however, had not read the other novels so will be reviewing this book as a stand-alone-novel.

The characters are well rounded, as one would expect from book three in the series; with some further development as the plot required. There was probably more to the ‘hero’ than was fully revealed and had been the subject of previous books. Once again the female was fiercely independent but soppy when it comes to love. I did not really connect with her and feel that perhaps the book would have been better if she had been left out entirely. Although Ethan’s wife was an equally under developed character this reader would like to read more of this back story which appears more interesting that the front story with Nicola.

Our attention is grabbed with a fantastic opening line which hooks you into the plot straight away. The additional second story line does keep the reader’s attention right to the end. There is plenty of science fiction (black holes and potential time travel), political intrigue, a fast paced plot and twists and turns to keep the reader interested from cover to cover. Yet the story is a page turner it is clearly written to a tried and tested formula so for this reader the ending is interesting but did not come as any great surprise.

At times though the science fiction elements were a bit too deep and complicated for my non science mind; and caused the plot to slow to a crawl. A further negative was that there were phrases repeated along with paragraphs and phrases as the author appears to get bogged-down with the science himself. There were also instances where the author had too many ideas for a single sentence and seemed to lose the plot himself; veering off in one way and then blundering his way back leaving large question marks.

I do have a query though as to why the book is called ‘Apocolypse’ as there was nothing apocalyptic about this book.

Full Disclosure: ARC received from Netgalley for an honest review. ( )

Apocalypse is the 3rd book in the Ethan Warner series. This is a fast-paced book with a lot of action. It reminds me a lot of Dan Brown and Steve Berry, including plot holes and poor physics. While I enjoyed reading most of the book, the single biggest problem I had with it was the poor physics. Crawford tried putting in a ‘reasonable’ amount of ‘science’ to explain how someone would be able to ‘see’ into the future. I couldn’t swallow any of it, at least not the explanation on how it worked. The physics in the ending was absolutely horrible.

Ethan and his partner Nicola Lopez are currently private eyes in Illinois. Ethan’s old friend Jarvis just happens to show up with some important credentials and whisks Ethan and Nicola off for another adventure to save the world. Turns out that a man named Charles Percell is wanted for questioning in the murder of his wife and daughter. Charles knows who killed them and tells the police the same man will kill Charles himself in less than 24 hours. Percell also tells the police (over the phone) several predictions that come true right in front of the detective's eyes. Before he hangs up, he tells the detective to find and work with Ethan Warner. And time is of the essence.

If you like fast-paced books and don’t think much about the plot this can be a fast read that can be very fun. But the more you think about what you read the harder this book is to be believable. There are so many questions that can be asked that would have a better answer than the ones given. Occam’s razor is not used here. Even though I’m pointing out the negatives I still mostly found this book to be fun and like Brown and Berry, I’m sure I’ll try another one when I need some light entertainment. ( )