Book Review - Gauntlet: A Novel of International Intrigue by Richard Aaron
Category Book Review Richard Aaron Gauntlet: A Novel of International Intrigue
One of the publicists I interact with offered me a copy of Gauntlet: A Novel of International Intrigue by Richard Aaron for reading and review. The genre is definitely one that I like, and I was starting to run a bit low on recreational reading. Given that Gauntlet is Aaron's first novel, I'm impressed. With a bit more time, Aaron could become quite the writer, and the TTIC agency could turn into a "franchise" brand, much like Clancy has done with his novels.
Gauntlet's main story line involves the theft of over four tons of Semtex explosive, part of a larger stash that is being blown up by the US military in the Middle East. This stolen Semtex ends up in the hands of an Afghani terrorist, intent on using it to make a strike against the US. The "Emir", as he is known, uses a very rich drug smuggler to finance the purchase, deliver it to its intended target, and prepare for the blow. A newly formed intelligence agency, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), has an incredible wealth of computing and satellite resources available to them to track and stop threats such as this. One of the members of the agency, an autistic whiz kid by the name of Hamilton Turbee, can use the equipment to figure out things that others wouldn't even be able to recognize. He's got the best chance to track and find the Semtex before it's used, but the head of TTIC doesn't think much of Turbee due to his strange behavior and lack of formality. The tension mounts between his boss (who no one else in the agency cares for either) and himself as Turbee struggles to explain his mental gyrations well enough to get people to act on them before the Emir can strike the killing blow.
Secondary to this story are plotlines that have two Canadian RCMPs tracking down a drug smuggling and money laundering ring between Canada and the US. As they dig deeper (literally), they find a connection between this multi-million dollar operation and the terrorist threats against America. There's also a thread involving the capture of some US spies in Pakistan, their imprisonment in a hidden prison high in the mountains, and their attempts to escape and relay what they've found out about the targeted location of the strike.
At 488 pages, this is quite a bit longer than normal "first novels" I've run into. Generally speaking, that's not a good sign, as it's hard to keep the plot and pacing going at a consistent level over that long a period. Aaron did it better than I expected, however. Some of the plots seemed to be dropped for long periods of time, and one plot in particular still has me wondering why it was there (unless a sequel puts him in play). The Turbee character is unique in that he's autistic, and that's not a normal lead character trait. But the behavior is a bit inconsistent, in that he's barely able to function at first, and then after a devastating event, he seems to be more normal than most. I would have expected him to completely lose touch with reality. Even with that, I still seemed to be driven to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next. All in all, I enjoyed my time spent here.
Had this been Aaron's fourth or fifth book, I'd probably tend more towards the "3" range of the ratings. But there's a lot of promise there, and I could see myself becoming addicted to the whole TTIC concept should a series start to emerge.
One of the publicists I interact with offered me a copy of Gauntlet: A Novel of International Intrigue by Richard Aaron for reading and review. The genre is definitely one that I like, and I was starting to run a bit low on recreational reading. Given that Gauntlet is Aaron's first novel, I'm impressed. With a bit more time, Aaron could become quite the writer, and the TTIC agency could turn into a "franchise" brand, much like Clancy has done with his novels.
Gauntlet's main story line involves the theft of over four tons of Semtex explosive, part of a larger stash that is being blown up by the US military in the Middle East. This stolen Semtex ends up in the hands of an Afghani terrorist, intent on using it to make a strike against the US. The "Emir", as he is known, uses a very rich drug smuggler to finance the purchase, deliver it to its intended target, and prepare for the blow. A newly formed intelligence agency, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), has an incredible wealth of computing and satellite resources available to them to track and stop threats such as this. One of the members of the agency, an autistic whiz kid by the name of Hamilton Turbee, can use the equipment to figure out things that others wouldn't even be able to recognize. He's got the best chance to track and find the Semtex before it's used, but the head of TTIC doesn't think much of Turbee due to his strange behavior and lack of formality. The tension mounts between his boss (who no one else in the agency cares for either) and himself as Turbee struggles to explain his mental gyrations well enough to get people to act on them before the Emir can strike the killing blow.
Secondary to this story are plotlines that have two Canadian RCMPs tracking down a drug smuggling and money laundering ring between Canada and the US. As they dig deeper (literally), they find a connection between this multi-million dollar operation and the terrorist threats against America. There's also a thread involving the capture of some US spies in Pakistan, their imprisonment in a hidden prison high in the mountains, and their attempts to escape and relay what they've found out about the targeted location of the strike.
At 488 pages, this is quite a bit longer than normal "first novels" I've run into. Generally speaking, that's not a good sign, as it's hard to keep the plot and pacing going at a consistent level over that long a period. Aaron did it better than I expected, however. Some of the plots seemed to be dropped for long periods of time, and one plot in particular still has me wondering why it was there (unless a sequel puts him in play). The Turbee character is unique in that he's autistic, and that's not a normal lead character trait. But the behavior is a bit inconsistent, in that he's barely able to function at first, and then after a devastating event, he seems to be more normal than most. I would have expected him to completely lose touch with reality. Even with that, I still seemed to be driven to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next. All in all, I enjoyed my time spent here.
Had this been Aaron's fourth or fifth book, I'd probably tend more towards the "3" range of the ratings. But there's a lot of promise there, and I could see myself becoming addicted to the whole TTIC concept should a series start to emerge.
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