Joseph Finder is a great storyteller and this book is no different. The plot is antiterrorism, unlike the business genre of previous Finder books I've read. However, this book is very technical and depends on several great leaps of faith. It's also very long and could have concluded in about half the time. I like Finder's business based books better. ( )

A little too technical and dated now...I agree with many of the reviews that parts of the book were very unbelievable. It was an amazing "twist" that Sarah began a relationship with the killer. I guessed it before the reveal, so it wasn't too much of a twist and pretty much unbelievable!!! Slow reading because of all the technical info. shared... ( )

Description
The Zero Hour focuses on villain Henrik Baumann, a suave, cold-blooded mastermind who seeks to demolish the Wall Street computer network system that is central to the world's financial markets. Not only is The Zero Hour a jolting story with plenty of memorable murders and lusty intrigue, its mix of finance, terrorism, and high technology are meticulously described and mostly accurate: such a computer network actually exists and its destruction could disable financial markets.

This was a fast-paced story with quite a few characters from a number of different government agencies, including the FBI agent in charge – Sarah Cahill. There was a lot of detail sprinkled throughout the book about the tricks terrorists use, how financial transactions work and different technologies used by the government. It was mostly plausible except for one big mistake that Sarah makes that I found disappointing. Overlooking that, this was an interesting story with a lot of suspense in the last part of the book. ( )

This was fun, but a little far-fetched. Especially the main character - she just wasn't believable. Here she is, head of a counter-terriorist FBI unit, and she starts dating a man that she doesn't do a background check on. Give me a break! And he turns out to be the killer. Finder filled his book with all kinds of information about the FBI and the cops, but the story itself was just funny. Oh - the killer, who turns out to be the worst killer ever, kidnaps her son and then when she finds them together she asks him if he really wants to hurt the kid and he has a moment of hesitation. Not believable.

I'm surprised that it took me so long to finish this book. I guess this just isn't my type of book.

The book is split up into two main POV's: the good guys (Sarah, FBI...) and the bad guys (Baumann). I actually found the bad guys' POV much more interesting than the wild goose chase at the other end. But even that interest wasn't enough to keep me from putting the book down. Only the drive of completing this book to start another one finally pushed me to finish this book.

Perhaps another reason why I liked the bad guys' POV because Baumann was more developed in this story. Sarah Cahill, the protagonist, was a typical, let's-save-the-world type character.

I have mixed feelings about the technical aspects in this book. On one hand, they were very informative and I always like to learn when reading. On the other hand, they were sometimes tedious to read and boring.

There was really only one part in the book that had me interested, one twist. True, I did see it coming, but it was nevertheless, a nice addition to an otherwise, typical story.

Perhaps I had an unreasonably high expectation for this book because it was written by Joseph Finder, an author I had previously enjoyed immensely, but this book just wasn't for me. However, I do recommend this book to anyone else who enjoys crime fighters with a touch of bombs. ( )