State of the Union: A Thriller [Mass Market Paperback]

Reacting to the threat, the US moves to deploy it's agents, only to discover that all but two have been killed, one has been brutally interrogated and the other is being used to bait a trap.

Scott Horvath is once again called on by the president to save the day and in doing so, Mr. Thor has woven an ingenious plot, filled with interesting and dastardly characters which will keep you turning the pages and reluctant to put it down.

Long thought to be an ex-world power after losing the Cold War and denouncing Communism, Russia has actually been a sleeping giant playing possum. In a plan twenty years in the making formulated by diabolical Russian general Sergei Stavropol, the stature of the United States on the world stage in being threatened. President Jack Rutledge in a communique has learned that more than 20 suitcase nuclear bombs have been hidden in major cities throughout the country by Russian "sleeper" agents.
To avert their detonation, the President while giving his state of the union address in eight days must resign the U.S. from just about every world organization, thereby creating national economic suicide. Retaliation would not be possible as Russia has also secretly instituted an impregnable air defense system that would thwart conventional warfare.

Super agent Harvath is summoned by the President to thwart this ingenious Russian plot. Unfortunately Harvath's boss and father figure, deputy director of the FBI, Gary Lawlor is presently missing and implicated in the blackmail of the country.

Thor in a riveting plot conjures up a scenario, which with present day technology being what it is, seems plausible and therefore frightening.

There is concern at the highest levels that Gary Lawlor has been a double agent, quite possibly for decades. The notion is unthinkable to Harvath because of the close bond they have shared in the wake of the death of Harvath's father years ago. However, as he is briefed, it becomes clear that everything he believed about Lawlor in the past has been a lie pushed forward by a cover image he needed on behalf of the United States Government. Now thanks to string of murders of other members of his intelligence team, several of which called Lawlor just before their deaths, those in charge believe he turned traitor years ago and has now fled. After telling Harvath the background on a "need to know" basis, they warn him off and instead he is supposed to sit back and wait for contact from Lawlor if and when it happens.

After everything he did in the first two novels, it should have been obvious to bosses, just like it is to the casual reader, that the last thing Harvath is going to do is sit back and wait. Harvath begins to work the case in an attempt to clear Lawlor's good name and unwittingly uncovers a Russian plot hatched during the last days of the Cold War. The plan is to return Russia to the ranks of the Super Powers and reduce America to a smoldering pile of nuclear contaminated rubble by way of backpack nuclear weapons in the hands of sleeper agents scattered throughout the country.

Relying more on character development, plotting, and believable scenarios, this novel is a great improvement over the caliber of writing seen in "Path Of The Assassin." While working on the secondary storyline of the slowly developing romantic relationship between Harvath and Meg, the author manages to convey new background information on the Harvath character. Neither storyline gets in the way of the main complex plot that is almost Ludlum like in its complexity.

The storylines also do not get in the way of Brad Thor preaching about the value of Democracy as he sees it or the need for Patriotism. While both are laudable goals, at time the author wields a sledgehammer in regards to both topics. As such, especially towards the end as events build towards a climatic showdown at the National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., the events depicted are pushed to the side to lecture the reader. Such heavy handedness is unnecessary and detracts somewhat from what should be an exciting ending.

However, overall this is a read more on the level with his first effort "The Lions Of Lucerne" and a significant improvement over the second very shallow novel, "Path Of The Assassin." Fortunately for readers new to this series, the author covers the events in the second novel in considerable detail thus sparing readers from wading through that novel. With background details quickly handled, the author plunges full ahead and the result is a fast paced constantly twisting tale in this 333 page novel that is well worth the read.