The Cobra [Kindle Edition]

Being a big fan of Frederick Forsyth since his debut book, The Day of the Jackel, I was looking forward to reading his latest, The Cobra. However, much to my surprise, The Cobra is a major disappointment and, in my opinion, Forsyth's worst book to-date by far. To Forsyth's credit, the premise of The Cobra is an interesting and timely one. The premise is that the President of the U.S has decided to destroy the cocaine industry once and for all, and paves the way for a man called The Cobra (who used to run Special Ops for the CIA) to develop and execute a plan to accomplish this assignment. The Cobra is given carte blanche for anything he needs to accomplish this assignment -- no boundaries, no rules, no questions asked. Unfortunately, Forsyth's book reads like a boring, overly detailed chronicle of the events taken to carry out the President's decision rather than a suspenseful story with good dialogue and well-developed characters. Forsyth wrote The Cobra in a style that is highly narrative, with dialogue kept to a minimum, making the book very slow-paced. And, The Cobra, unlike many of Forsyth's previous books, is virtually devoid of character development, which contributed to my feeling that I never got to know any of the characters well enough to like or dislike them. I imagine that many of you who read my review and are fans of Frederick Forsyth will be skeptical that this author can write a book as bad as I'm describing. All I can say to you is that I hope you heed my advice and not read The Cobra. I'm sure you have better ways to spend your time and money.

This work of fiction was easy to read and it may be because I already had a working knowledge of almost ninety percent of the acronyms used. There is no need to have knowledge of all the acronyms for they are listed in the front of the book and explained as they are used in the narrative. The concept for the novel is rather bold, the president of the United States has decided that cocaine is a clear and present danger to the country; though those exact words are not used. An old school Central Intelligence Agency operative, Paul Deveraux, who was retired from the agency because of his violent yet effective methods is summon to accomplish the task.

From the formulation of the basic desire of the president and with an executive order in hand Mr. Deveraux begins his prep work of building the organization he will need to combat the world cocaine trade and try to stop it. The book does go into detail on this organization building and research performed on the cocaine trade. We the reader are also introduced to the inner workings of the cocaine trade from the inside and can watch the actions and reactions of both sides as the book progresses. The realistic action in the book spans the cocaine using world.

All the above mentioned background is told in great detail and takes about half the book to get us where most readers of action want to be, the actual operation. The reader is privy to the operations as they take place and the cocaine organizations response as these operations to destroy the cocaine industry unfolds. A calculated plan of action with a plot that is easy to read. The background of the inner details we learned earlier about the formation of the anti-drug teams and the drug cartel bear fruits as the story unfolds. A rich yet violent work of fiction that is filled with accurate facts on existing governmental agencies and their capabilities.

I was really looking forward to this book, since reading a news article over a year ago that indicated Forsyth was writing a book about Colombian drug cartels. But The Cobra is no Clear and Present Danger.

This book turned out to be a major disappointment, and I'm being generous by giving it two stars. The subject matter and premise is great. The premise, like many of Forsyth's books, is a little outlandish or over-the-top but made believable through the author's extensive research, tight plotting, and detailed descriptions.

A major problem is that, like his more recent books, Forsyth seems to be getting lazy with the writing. The majority of the narrative is simply Forsyth very dispassionately describing the events that are taking place. It reads more like an outline of a novel or a non-fiction account of events. In what could have been a gripping, action scene, only one page is devoted to an assault by FARC guerrillas on a secret American military base in Colombia and the subsequent battle which kills a hundred people. And it's not the just action. Conversations between characters are quickly summed up in a paragraph or two. It's really annoying and feels more like an extensive outline than a proper novel. I can't believe it took him 3-4 years to write this. It feels like he wrote it in a couple months.

The first half of the book is good, as the US and British prepare for their covert war against a powerful Colombian cocaine cartel. It's toward the second half of the book where things go downhill. Navy SEALs and British SBS marines intercept drug shipments on the high seas. A contracted Brazilian fighter pilot shoots down aircraft carrying cocaine. This happens several times, over and over again, and each scene is just a repeat of an earlier scene with no new twists or surprises. Meanwhile, law enforcement and intelligence go after various agents of the drug cartel and corrupt officials.

It just goes on for almost 200 pages until the President decides to shut the operation down and then that's basically it. There's no suspense or sense of looming danger in this book, unlike the nuclear weapon in The Fourth Protocol, the impending assassination in The Day of the Jackal, or the terrorist plot in The Afghan. Just intercepting and destroying drug shipment after drug shipment, with no real threat or danger posed to anyone other than the drug smugglers. The book really isn't much of a thriller at all.

Finally, toward the end, something a little unexpected does happen and the book becomes mildly interesting again.

The characters are completely lifeless and interchangeable, and it's very convenient that there's a list of characters, because they do become hard to keep track of. Forsyth brings back ruthless CIA operative Paul Deveruex and vigilante/bounty hunter Cal Dexter from Avenger. But why? He could have changed these characters' names and it would have made no difference at all. They were great characters in Avenger, but completely wasted here (especially Dexter, the Avenger).

There are a few positives. Forsyth provides great insight and detail into the workings of the global cocaine industry, Colombian drug cartels, and international law enforcement and counter-narcotics agencies.

It's the worst Forsyth book I've read, but it could be worse. He's still way ahead authors like Brad Thor in terms of quality and substance.