Use of Force by Brad Thor

This year’s foray into the realm of Thor/Scot Harvath.

 

A shipload of refugees goes down in a storm off the coast of Italy. A tragedy indeed. But the chatter picked up by the governmental eavesdroppers is more about one passenger. A VIP. A chemist. And it’s not just the guy, but also his laptop and phone. The Italians Navy gets it all.

The Burning Man festival in the Nevada is targeted for a terror attack. Harvath finds his guy’s tent and plenty of bomb making stuff. He gives chase through the tent city of festival goers. The guy is in a silver mask and a floor length cap. Harvath’s 4-man team is closing in from all sides. Each has the guy in sight, but they are scattered throughout the tent city. Could it really be 5 bombers? Each man on Harvath’s team takes down the guy they see as does Harvath. But a bomb still goes off.

There was a sixth.

Harvath and his Carlton Group team are called back to DC. The laptop and phone of the chemist contain a wealth of actionable intel but not the bottom line. Chief amongst the intel is reference to a massive attack coming soon. The President, the CIA and The Charlton Group’s head (Reed Charlton) task Harvath to track down the chemists last known activities to learn what made him so important.

A pilgrim’s mass in Spain is bombed. Hundreds dead and wounded. The park and fairground outside the Louvre is hit by 4 suicide bombers on a weekend afternoon. Even more casualties.

The first place to track the chemist is the boat. It left from Libya. Using the chemist’s phone, Harvath and team learn where the phone was obtained and ‘persuade’ the seller to give up the name of who he contacted to smuggle the chemist out of the country. 

The smuggler is big time. Even has the protection of the Libyan Liberation Front, a well-trained and even better armed militia. Getting this guy did not go as planned. Harvath and friends, with the smuggler in tow, barely manage to get out.

But they do learn where the chemist was headed and who was to meet him. A regional Mafioso. Tough guy, but not so much when Harvath encourages cooperation. This Mafia sub-Don wasn’t so tough after all. Tells Harvath where and when he was to deliver the chemist.

Harvath arrives at a warehouse in Rome only to find whatever job that was underway had been completed.  Chemicals. Lots of chemicals. Everything needed to prepare Sarin gas. The bad guys had a backup plan if the chemist failed to show. And an even more deadly plan that Spain and Paris.

Thor has a legion of fans that breathlessly await his annual Scot Harvath book. Taught, tensely written. Thor's hallmarks. It’s has everything Thor’s fans drool over. Depending on one’s schedule, this could easily be read in a single setting. Thor is that good of a writer.

For the uninitiated, be forewarned. This is hard charging, fully stocked with alpha males, loaded with weapons, and graphic descriptions of ‘enha

nced interrogations.’ All that is code for this is not for the squeamish. While Thor fans nervously await each new installment, I’m betting there are an equal number who would be appalled at the violence presented and call for Thor to be muzzled.

But I don’t think Harvath would like that too much.

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