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Last Snow. Eric Van Lustbader (2013)

by Eric Van Lustbader(Favorite Author)

3.34 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1781850771 (ISBN13: 9781781850770)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Head of Zeus

series

Jack McClure/Ali Carson

review 1: Should most likely be rated at 2.5*. The first half is well written and interesting. The second half drags as Lustbader subjects the reader to long stretches of uninteresting dialogue and sub-plots that only tangentially relate to the main story. The ending is totally disappointing as if the author said to himself, "It's time to wrap this up and I have to do it in 10 pages or less."Jack McClure, Special Advisor and closest friend to the new President of the United States is dyslexic and sees the world differently - able to conceptualize and problem solve in three dimensions which is an asset in most situations but a liability in others.The story starts with a murdered American Senator who's killed on the Isle of Capri when he's supposed to be in the Ukraine. The Preside... morent dispatches McClure to find out why.Struggling with coming to terms with the death of his daughter and the dissolution of his marriage, he, accompanied by Annika Dementieva, a rogue Russian FSB agent, and Alli Carson, the President’s daughter, heads to Kiev. On the way he finds himself pursued by the Russian mafia, the Ukrainian police, the FSB and his own NSA. Eventually he realizes he is totally surrounded by corruption and lies. Using his unique skills he figures it all out and saves the President from a major political embarrassment. What follows is a melodramatic ending that, while tying up all the loose ends left me deflated. Some of it made sense, a lot of it didn't. Most of the last few pages felt rushed and anti-climatic. Maybe Lustbader was trying to meet a deadline. I really liked this author's early books, most of which took place in Asia. His continuation of the Jason Bourne series and this novel do not measure up to his early efforts. I suspect this will be the last Lustbader offering, I read.
review 2: This book was plodding, and at the end, I found myself simply bored with the many intertwining characters, many of whom I simply did not care about. The book deteriorated into exposition, finding it necessary to explain subplot after subplot in excruciating detail rather than moving the main plot along to conclusion. I found myself skimming much of the final pages just to get to the end of the book, which I almost never do. Too many details done wrong - "pizza with pepperonicci" (this from Pappa John's in Washington DC according to the book), an almost sudden death by "arsenic", duh, arsenic is a heavy metal and death, like lead takes months to manifest. If the details can't be done right, and the book is boring and its conclusion bynzantine, there's not much in for most thriller readers.The characters are not believable and the reader is forever pulling back, questioning their authenticity which makes for unsmooth, jerky reading. A guilt-ridden dyslexic main character who sees visions (Are they? We never know) of his dead daughter; a Graves disease suffering daughter of the US President; a beautiful and lethal Russian agent with carnelian eyes. I asked an opthalmologist-He's never seen carnelian color eyes. The setting is Russia, but the novel's Russian characters speak not only perfect English, "Gurov shrugged, 'Six feet under, I imagine. We required verisimilitude.'" Yeah, I can just hear Gurov saying that. The names, as in any Russian novel become confusing, but that is expected.Mr. Van Lustbader attacks conservatives, neocons and a person born out of "entitlement" throughout the book. Smart way to allienate 50% of American readers. I guess I'll save my capitalist dollars on any future Van Lustbader novels.1) This book is a follow-up to his novel "First Daughter." In that book, Agt. Jack McClure saves Alli Carson, the daughter of the President from a kidnapper. Much of this book draws from the previous novel. If you never read "First Daughter" certain preferences might be oblique to the reader.2)We are asked to believe that this agent is allowed to take Alli on a dangerous, secret mission to Russia because her mother says it's ok. Really?3) McClure is dyslexic and because of that disability he sees things in 3D. Again,really?? I asked my dyslexic friends about this and none of them see in 3D. Does that mean that the ghost(yes,ghost)of his daughter is also seen in 3D?4) There are more characters in this novel than in a Russian phonebook. Many of the names are similiar enough to each other that it is easy to get confused. less

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