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Title: Fast paced and topical thriller
Review: Forsyth weaves actual events and people throughout this novel, placing his two main characters throughout various conflicts in recent history. It comes dangerously close to a "Forrest Gump" sequence but in the end, most of these chance meetings do play a significant role as the plot unfolds.The characters are developed mainly by their actions with little, if any, exploration into their thoughts or motives. Consequently, the book moves along at a good clip and the action is intriguing enough that it doesn't really matter. The idealogies of the players in the "War on Terror" are published enough elsewhere and fresh enough in the headlines that the reader may just follow the action.If I were to nitpick, there are some worn plot devices used: experts brought in to brief us on history, a "deus ex machina" moment for one of the main characters, but really, I ate it all up. It was a gripping, intriguing thriller and I'm likely to read more from Frederick Forsyth as a result.
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