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The Kill List (2013)

by Frederick Forsyth(Favorite Author)

3.62 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0399165274 (ISBN13: 9780399165276)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Putnam Adult

review 1: An almost nonfiction account, or so it seems, about a government organization to wipe out (as in kill) dangerous terrorists. In this case, the terrorist is an Islamic preacher whose sermons are encouraging random murders in the US and Great Britain, each detailed as the narrative unfolds. The pursuer is an "obsessed" US operative, driven to end "the Preacher"s" lengthy terrorist career with the aid of both the British and Israeli governments. The hunt makes good reading, the framework of reality adds interest to the novel, but at times the novel seemed to drag for this reader who would not rate it among Forsythe's best, though his research seems impeccable.
review 2: After reading The Afghan and rereading The Day of the Jackal, I was really looking forward to ... moreThe Kill List. But I was a little bit underwhelmed, I'm sorry to say. Don't get me wrong -- it was a decent book. It just wasn't the page turner the other ones were. It's about a Muslim radical called the Preacher who preaches a gospel of hate and jihad on the Internet, causing Muslims in the US and Britain to assassinate various individuals in those countries. On the case comes The Tracker, a former Marine colonel who's father is among those killed. So it's personal. Since the identity of the Preacher is unknown, you'd think it'd be difficult to find him, but no, not for the Tracker. All he has to do is find a teenage hacker living in his parents' attic near DC and he finds him for him. Yep, the power of cyberspace. Call me cynical, but that's a pretty easy solution for Forsyth and I didn't like it. Meanwhile, a Swedish tanker gets hijacked by Somali pirates and is held for ransom. You'd wonder what the connection is, right? Well, the Preacher wants to buy one of the crewmen for a million dollars so he can behead him live online to reestablish his legitimacy after the Tracker and his hacker buddy ruin his street cred. But thank goodness for drones, right? Drones play a major role in this book, as well as other espionage organizations like the Massad and Britain's. Since the Tracker has the ear of the President (which I found hard to believe), he conducts a strike by some British special forces and himself on the two groups exchanging the Swede and the money. And that's it. It's actually pretty anticlimactic. I felt a little disappointed after finishing it, like I had just wasted a couple of days on a book that was decent, but not great. If you like Forsyth, you might like this book, but it's definitely not his strongest work. Cautiously recommended. less

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