Pandora's Succession [Kindle Edition]

The Arms of Ares, a global criminal organisation staffed by former KGB officers, has gained
possession of the most powerful biological weapon in history and is intent on selling it to
terrorist groups worldwide. Standing in their way is elite CIA operative Ridley Fox with
his own personal vendetta: Ares murdered his fiancee. When the weapon is stolen by a
doomsday cult called The Promise the chase is on. Who will get to them first, Fox or Ares?
Or will The Promise with its brainwashed followers and army of ninjas succeed in its plan to
exterminate mankind?
This action-packed, globe-trotting thriller has all the classic ingredients of an enjoyable, if
rather cliched, James Bond style adventure. However, the novel also has its flaws, some
minor, and some rather more serious.
The book is unashamedly cliched. In terms of the general plot this is not necessarily a
problem and can help the book feel instantly comfortable, but in the dialogue and action, the
corny moments quickly become annoying. A little more imagination in the execution would
have significantly improved the novel.
The author has clearly researched his overseas locations well and generally does a good
job at making them feel believable by inserting little tidbits of local information. Unfortunately,
this level of research does not extend to the science, computers and weaponry. In a novel,
such as this it is permissible to take a few liberties in order to improve the story but they
should be taken in a calculated manner and only where necessary. Particularly important
are details about weaponry as thriller fans will instantly spot mistakes - simply knowing the
names of a few exotic weapons is not sufficient.
Further damaging the credibility of the story are the numerous flaws in logic and continuity
errors. These should have been fixed during the editing process, as should the typos (I
counted 39 but bet there are more!)
The most important element in any thriller is tension. Ultimately, this is the biggest failing in
this novel. The hero is too perfect for us to ever doubt his success and the main characters
instantly figure out what's going on with insufficient evidence to inform them. This is a
real shame as having created a plot involving insiders, impostors and frequent double-
crossing the opportunities for building tension are legion. The most glaring failures (and
the easiest to fix) are those where the hero finds himself in a sticky situation. The hero's
plan is consistently described in detail and then soon afterwards we read the near identical
description of his actions as the plan is executed perfectly (except for on one occasion in
the opening chapter). It would have been far more satisfying if, instead of telling us what the
hero is about to do, the author had built up the difficulty of the situation before surprising us
with the hero's solution.
Overall, this novel reads like a first draft. There is potential in the plot and this could, after
several re-drafts, become a real page-turner. Even in it's present form, there are far worse
novels to pick up. However, in this competitive genre, you will never run out of thrillers to
read that are of far better quality and so I cannot recommend purchasing this one.

Didn't finish this book, the story is good, the plot great.

But this book is another one that has not been proof-read and because of this I could not finish reading it, I didn't sign up to correct mistakes that should have been caught before publishing.

The thriller genre is one where the characters, both heroes and villains, tend to be larger than life, with plots that are over-the-top, at least when compared with the real world. Yet readers are trained to suspend their disbelief and are rewarded with a few hours of vicarious adventure and an escape from the real world. "Pandora's Succession" fits this formula well, with a clever, complex plot and ever-increasing tension. The character of Ridley Fox is a larger than life hero, yet has enough human foibles and emotions for us to like and identify with him.

Unfortunately, "Pandora's Succession" also suffers from the too common problem of insufficient copyediting. There are too many instances of typos, incorrect or missing words, and occasional clunky sentences. The big picture is good, but lack of attention to the nitty details dilutes the impact. Thriller fans with a high tolerance for mentally tripping over sentences should give "Pandora's Succession" a try.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **