2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Yet another great read from Paul Adam, 11 Mar 2004
By A Customer
Oh, don't you just love it when you stumble across a great author for the first time? Following Genesis II, which I think is even better than this one, I am now hooked and am steadily making my way through the Paul Adam collection. Set in Tibet/China, this adventure involves the search for the new Dalai Lama. It's gripping stuff and a great holiday read. Fast paced, the book doesn't get overly bogged down with detail, yet there's enough there to take you on a journey right out into the heart of the mountains of Tibet. Good read.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Really good read, 28 May 2008
This review is from: Flash Point (Paperback)
I really enjoyed this book and did find it to be a page-turner. I read a lot of crime novels and thrillers mainly because I don't have the time or energy to read anything more challenging. However, I am often disappointed because of corny plot lines, irritating characters, etc. This book didn't disappoint at all. The information about Tibet was informative and interesting without being patronising and going into too much detail. The characters were mainly likeable, although Maggie got a bit annoying at times. Although it was predictable to a certain extent, it still had some surprises. I will definitely be looking out for some more Paul Adam books and certainly recommend this one.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid but lacking real excitement, 9 Nov 2004
This review is from: Flash Point (Paperback)
Flash Point is a perfectly respectable adventure thriller and nothing more. The setting for the tale, occupied Tibet, is a little different and the descriptions of life in that occupied country under Chinese rule and wider Tibetan culture are well handled. The plot, which follows three Tibetan monks' and their English camera-woman companion's attempt to find the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and avoid capture by the Chinese authorities, is well structured, moves on at a decent pace and just about holds the attention.
What Flash Point isn't however, is a real page turner. Its remarkably easy to pick up and put down and it never prompts the desperate need to find out what happens in the end. In other words it lacks one crucial element that would have lifted it above the ordinary; namely excitement. At no point does the story set the pulse racing. Considering that the first half, as the monks search for the Dalai Lama, is a quest story and the second half, as they attempt to escape Tibet whilst pursued by the Chinese, is a chase story, a reader could be forgiven for expecting more tension. Instead everything seems just a little too easy and even scenes where there should be a palpable sense of danger, such as a late night escape from Chinese patrols or the final pursuit on foot towards the Indian border, never really raise a 'will-they-wont-they?' feeling.
This lack of real, edge-of-the-seat excitement leaves Flash Point as a bit of a missed opportunity. Its refreshing to read a thriller that doesn't deal with the 'War on Terror' and it offers insight into a part of the world and a culture that most in the west will be on-the-whole unfamilar with. It would just have been nice, and more rewarding to the reader, if Adam had concentrated a little less on painting such a vivid picture of Tibetan life and a little more on giving his story a real sense of threat and danger.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No