Rating: 
Summary: Hagberg's worst work
Review: I'm a huge David Hagberg fan, and I know that he's gotten a lot of credit for being psychic (given the fact that this book was written before 9/11), but even before September 11th I would have said that Hagberg made Osama bin Laden far too sympathetic. Worse still, the time the book devotes to McGarvey trudging through the desert to meet bin Laden is mostly wasted. I have no problem with Hagberg making bin Laden's daughter looking sympathetic, but too much time was spent. The worst part, though, is that out of all of Hagberg's novels, this is the only one I consider to be truly predictable. Less than an hour into the book I had just about everything figured out, whereas Hagberg's other books usually throw the reader enough plot twists to induce whiplash. The main interest to people not familiar with Hagberg is clearly connected to 9/11. Those who know Hagberg's work, however, will likely be disappointed in this one - read it only if you've read every other novel he's written. If you've only read one or two, skip this dog and go straight to "High Flight" or "Assassin."
Rating: 
Summary: Timely
Review: Interesting how close to home this novel is after 9/11. Fast-paced story and interesting perceptions behind the fanatical mind of bin Laden. Also, now with the new threats of terrorists possibly targeting California's bridges, it really seems scary.
Rating:
Summary: Timely
Review: Interesting how close to home this novel is after 9/11. Fast-paced story and interesting perceptions behind the fanatical mind of bin Laden. Also, now with the new threats of terrorists possibly targeting California's bridges, it really seems scary.
Rating: 
Summary: This guy is scary
Review: Since I first read Critical Mass, Hagberg has had me hooked as a reader. I read Clancy, Bond, and others, but Hagberg seems to have more of an edge, like he's actually lived this life of covert operations. When I read Joshua's Hammer and the plot unfolded to involve Osama Bin-Laden, I was again hooked. When I learned that Bin-Laden indeed was thought to have cancer, it hit me that either Hagberg had this information through his intelligence circles well before us, or he just made a really good guess. I believe that his dynamic, realistic writing style owes a great deal to credible research done in the field by either Hagberg or some of his unnamed associates. The Bin-Laden storyline gives further credibility to this and in my mind establishes Hagberg as the pre-eminent author of this genre.
Rating:
Summary: Liked most of it.
Review: Story line above Overall I think David Hagberg does a fine job in his latest thriller. The action and dialogue in the first two thirds of the book is great. Towards the end it seemed that Hagberg couldn't keep it as intense and I found myself drifting. I also found interesting, McGarvey's-or is it Hagbergs?-love of the philosophy of Voltaire Recommended
Rating: 
Summary: Needs work
Review: The plot intrigues, and the dialogue works, more of less, but someone fell down on editing this book. It is redundant to the point of being overwritten, and the skill level of the writing is sophomoric---high school, not college.
Rating:
Summary: A Frightening Plot
Review: This is a very fast moving novel that captured me almost from the first moment. It is simultaneously a sympathetic view of Osama bin Laden and the United States intelligence and antiterrorist efforts. In Kirk McGarvey, the deputy director for operations Hagberg has created a believable hero with a believable family and very human frailties. This book is a cross between Tom Clancy and Ian Fleming. Assume that bin Laden acquires a tactical nuclear weapon that is easy to hide (they do exist, both we and the Russians have them, some of the Russian depots have been unpaid, and the system could leak.) The plot involves bin Laden sympathizers in Central Asia that may have infiltrated the vulnerable Russian system. Bin Laden wants to use this threat to achieve an American withdrawal from his homeland of Saudi Arabia. The United States deciding it can take no chances launches a preemptive strike using Tomahawk cruise missiles to hit bin Laden's camp. Nevertheless, the action neither kills him nor hurts the nuclear weapon. Bin Laden then decides to use the weapon in the United States and specifically targets someone close to the President who is in a very public setting along with thousands of other people. It will get you to think hard about the real dangers of terrorism and the challenge of creating a strong enough system to defeat it. I am going to look for more novels by Hagberg.
Rating:
Summary: Another enjoyable Kirk McGarvey installment
Review: This is in many ways a book about fathers and daughters, Terrorisim and revenge. Kirk is now DDO at the CIA and is now settling down. He is back with his ex-wife Kathleen and his daugher Elizabeth is also in the CIA. Things start to unravel for Kirk when the negotiations with a Terrorist in Afganistan go bad and he has to intervene personally. The terrorist's take away Kirk's traking device and Washington assumes the worst and hit the terrorist encampment with missiles. From therin it's downhill and the terrorists have a nuclear weapon they bought from a disintergating soviet republic..... I enjoy these Kirk McGarvey novels of David Hagberg. Like all adventure novels they are a bit unbelievable, but Hagberg does a good job with his characterisations and his bad guys are generally well written and his plots move at a good pace. I don't know anything about weapons, so I never noticed the previous reviewers problems. Unless you know weapons you wouldn't spot these problems. But he does have a point. Hagberg could probably do a bit more reasearch here, especially when you consider the author's photo on the back cover of the book! This book ends on an interesting note and it sets the scene for the next book in this series. These books are a good alternative to Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan.
Rating:
Summary: Superb thriller!!!
Review: This is one of those books that once you start reading, you cannot put it down. Superb thriller about Bin Laden trying to blow up the famous San Francisco bridge as revenge for his daughter's death. The characters are excellent, story just flows chapter after chapter. Writing is excellent, as always by David Hagberg. One of his best and worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: Do you also get chills thinking of Hagbergs premonitions?
Review: What with happened September 11 th, 2001 at the World Trade Center, The Pentagon and the plane in Pennsylvania, fiction just
met reality and it injured my soul deeply.
A good good read.
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