This is the third thriller in a series from Ward Larsen, following The Perfect Assassin, and Assassin's Game. Assassin's Silence is highly reminiscent of the Jason Bourne series, not to say it's derivative, but this is not the first globetrotting high-octane thriller I have read.
Ex-Mossad soldier David Slaton starts off undercover in Malta as a bricklayer, when he is attacked by an unknown team. Knowing his cover is blown, he barely escapes on an oil a fighter bound for Sardinia, and then makes his way to Zurich where his contact maintains a large bank account for him. Attacked again in Zurich, he is on the run with a secretary.
Frankfurt to Cyprus to Syria to Beirut...
Meanwhile, in the jungle of Northern Brazil, a junked commercial airplane has been bought by a secret consortium, stripped and painted, and refitted with a large tank. When it takes off for a trial run, it disappears off the radar.
Meanwhile in Iraq, a discovered stash of radioactive material has been watered down, prepared for filling the airplane tank for chemical dispersal.
With the world's government agencies secret and known running full out, David Salton still manages to keep one step ahead of the maniacal plan to fly this deadly material into populated areas.
Oh, and in a previous book, David has been declared dead and buried according to everyone including his wife and child. She's in for a surprise.
This had everything you could want in a thriller, but somehow, it seemed run-of-the-mill. Well written but with a slow pace that didn't hold my attention, the action rolled along with very little tension and a lot of drag. It seemed to take forever to get to the end finale, and even at that point, another stall. It must take a lot of research and effort to pull together these political thrillers, which I admire, and they pulled it off, but with very few surprises.
I would say this was the least exciting thriller I've read lately, with no desire to read the others in the series. I started it at the airport before a 1.5 hour plane ride, read on the plane, and was done the 520 pages when I got off.
2015 / Paperback / 520 pages
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