TITLE: The Apostle (Scot Harvath #8)
AUTHOR: Brad Thor
GENRE: Fiction/Military
PUBLISHED: June 30, 2009
RATING: ★★★☆☆
PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon
MOBILISM LINK: The Apostle
Review: Every politician has a secret. And when the daughter of a politically connected family is kidnapped abroad, America’s new president will agree to anything—even a deadly and ill-advised rescue plan—in order to keep his secret hidden. But when covert counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath is assigned to infiltrate one of the world’s most notorious prisons and free the man the kidnappers demand as ransom, he quickly learns that there is much more to the operation than anyone dares to admit. As the subterfuge is laid bare, Harvath must examine his own career of ruthlessly hunting down and killing terrorists and decide if he has what it takes to help one of the world’s worst go free.
With that being said this book was my introduction to Brad Thor as a writer and his "hero" Scot Harvath. This was high on action and drama that literally pulls you into the book.
Scot had resigned himself to living the life of a civilian with his girlfriend he fell in love with on a previous mission and his dog. When I read this in the book immediately it made me think of the sequence in The Shooter minus the girlfriend part of course. But when he's called upon by the very man who disbanded his elite tactical unit, he has to decide is his allegiance with his country or with his president? Being the consummate fighter though it's his country that he honors first. While Scot is being briefed, a secret service agent meets with an old friend who worked the scene of a horrific accident that involved a family of 4 and an aide of the now President, who was campaigning for election at the house of one of his biggest proponents who used their influence in media to help him get the higher office and uses this as a bargaining chip to rescue a loved one.
This sub-plot though it could be considered part of the plot, works almost simultaneous and separate from the rest of the book but is also used to bring about the circumstances of Scot being involved. That being said Mr. Thor weaves eloquently the political morals of a soldier and officer with the morality of personal responsibility that no one is above the law in government.
The detail with which Brad writes is legitimate as Mr. Thor took part in the chance to shadow Special Operations members of the U.S. Military during the research of this book in Afghanistan were most of the action takes place. The dialogue is intensely heartfelt. There is a sense of realism to the writing, the way he interweaves the Afghan/American relations show truth that though some tribal communes welcomed the American invasion, there are still tribes who revolt and wish to adhere to the strict Islamic nature of the former Taliban regime. But then again this is all secondary to what is the overall purpose of the book: Do the political connections among the rich and powerful sway the ideals of one man who takes no allegiance to the politics of Washington D.C.? No, even if the money is right.
