Monday, October 25, 2010

Silent Thunder

After Silent Thunder, a Russian nuclear submarine, is purchased by the U.S. government, Hannah Bryson is hired to make sure it is safe for use as a maritime museum. However, American and Russian operatives have a specific interest in the submarine so when Hannah's brother makes an unusual discovery, a deadly attack follows. One of the Russians, Nicolas Kirov, and Hannah eventually team up to find the killer and uncover the mystery surrounding the discovery.

This was another library sale find and would have been a good international thriller read. Since the book was mainstream and the story revolved around submarine sailors and espionage, I didn't expect it to be profanity-free; however, the use of the Lord's name as an expletive sprinkled throughout the book was offensive and unnecessary.

Friday, October 15, 2010

The Sanctuary

The Sanctuary prologue opens in Naples, Italy in 1749 and the circumstances surrounding a book's lost secrets. It then jumps to Baghdad 2003 before moving forward to 2006 in Lebanon and the kidnapping of Evelyn Bishop, an archeology professor. The search for Evelyn, her evil captor, and the mysterious book's secrets is led by Evelyn's daughter Mia, a CIA agent named Corben and a UNESCO worker named Mr. Kirkwood. The trio moves in an out of Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq while the book flashbacks to other characters in eighteenth-century Italy, France, Portugal and America and takes side trips to the present day arch-villain's lab.

I bought this book at recent library sale because the inside cover said it was a suspense thriller. I was disappointed on several levels. It reads more like a fantasy-mystery, the main protagonist shifts from one character to another, the flashbacks are confusing and the ending was anti-climatic, with the arch-villain committing horrific crimes throughout the book dismissed. I also found the excessive use of adverbs distracting.