I just finished Patrick Lee’s second book, Ghost Country. It’s a sequel to his first novel featuring both Travis Chase and Paige Campbell. As those of you who read my review of Lee’s previous novel, The Breach, I really enjoyed how Lee ended the story and so I had high hopes for Ghost Country. As I read Ghost Country I was pleasantly surprised to note that, although it is a sequel to The Breach, it is not just a re-warmed version of the same story. Lee worked hard to ensure that the new book is fresh, and it is. In Ghost Country, Paige is captured by some nameless bad guys in Washington D.C., but before they can cuff her and carry her away she sends out one last desperate phone call to her assistant, who recruits Travis Chase (who is retired from awesomeness) to rescue her. From there the plot of Ghost Country expands from saving Paige to saving the whole world. The story gets started because another Breach technology is discovered that allows people to open a window into the future. Paige looked and saw a world where everyone is dead and gone. She goes to ask the president if he knows what is going to happen, he plays dumb, but it turns out he really knows…and the goons (remember, the ones who kidnapped her at the beginning of the book) are his!!! The plot only gets crazier from there and involves crazy megalomaniacs, radio waves that drive people crazy, and crazy plans to wipe out the world as we know it.
The thing I most enjoyed about Ghost Country is its original plot and story line. The Breach and all the little trinkets it throws out add more variety to Lee’s books that one generally sees in the thriller genre. Additionally, Lee’s novels (so far) aren’t about terrorists who want to blow up New York (yawn, yawn), they’re about the destruction of the entire world!!! That’s got to make things a little more interesting. And not only is the whole world at stake, but Lee has an uncanny ability to make it all plausible. There was never really a point in Ghost Country where I was totally incredulous.
Unlike The Breach when the climactic ending caught me breathless and left me wanting more, Ghost Country started the wind-up about halfway through the book, which means that by the time I was finished reading the book I had already moved on mentally. I’m the kind of guy who likes to be kept guessing all the way to the end of the book and Ghost Country didn’t do that for me. Although Lee has definitely honed his writing style in lots of good ways, the decision to spell out the ending way before it happened was a bit disappointing. All in all a good way to spend an afternoon. Again, probably not a great choice if you get queasy around Star Trekkie gadgetry, but otherwise a refreshing break from the average thriller.
To learn more about Patrick Lee and the Travis Chase series check out his website here... http://www.patrickleefiction.com/. We're giving away a copy of The Breach and Ghost Country to one lucky commenter. Just leave a comment using the word incredulous and you'll be entered into the drawing. Winner will be announced Monday.
This review was written by The Senator.
9 comments:
Great review and nice play of the word incredulous. If we have no takers in this contest...I win the books, right?
I am afraid to read the review since i am reading The Breach right now! I am incredulous in really thinking you would want me to read this review before i read the book myself!
(yeah, i don't really know how to use that word)
Science fiction is not something that holds my attention for more than 10 pages, therefore I do not read that type of books.
Does that leave you incredulous?
this book review gave me "an incredulous gasp"
Man, I'm glad the word wasn't "megalomaniac"! I am glad that I'm not incredulous about sci-fi things...I can usually get into a story, no matter what the subject matter. Great post, Senator!
Note: Please read this entry with the ever-slightest hint of an English accent. Please read slowly and distinctly with a hint of “Rod Stewartishness” (or whatever that guy’s name was from “Twilight Zone”. It helps set the mood that I’m trying to create.
On the day that Sim Gill officially took control of the reins as the Salt Lake County District Attorney, Leah incredulously pondered over the promise of hope that she and her colleagues had been gifted…a future which included a return to peace and harmony amongst all staff, regardless of position, race or political affiliation.
The mental health officials had predicted that it would be years before the employees recovered from the “battered-and beaten-you’re-a-worthless-piece-of-staff-scum syndrome” (better known as BBYWPSSS, pronounced phoenetically as buh-by-yëw-püss, and occasionally referred to as “battered-and-beaten-you’re-a-worthless-piece-of-shit syndrome”), a disorder and sub-condition or the most volatile and severe form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (or PTSD, as survivors of the Holocaust and victims of torture who have been held captive in the jungles of Guatemala for periods exceeding three years, are prone to call it) which the eminent and world renowned psychotherapist Basil Hornsthwarpe identified, diagnosed, recorded, researched, developed, entitled and presented to the amazement and great applause of the world’s psychiatric community in the autumn of 2008.
But on this day…just an average day…as she watched the slate gray morning turn to an even slatier, grayer morning…Leah closed her eyes and recalled the unexpected return of upturned mouths that she’d been seeing on her friends’ faces over the previous weeks. Yes, they were hesitant smiles, but they were smiles, nonetheless…and when she opened her eyes, her world was filled with the warmth of knowing that this small progress would amaze the therapeutic counselors (the ones the county council was required to hire and pay for out of their own pockets after the lawsuit filed by an anonymous patron was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount of damages awarded in favor of the DA’s office staff) and shatter the incredulosity of the ever-supportive community who only dared to hope that the staff would recover by the next election in 2014. Yes, this was a small victory…and it was a glorious day, indeed.
I have nothing to offer, after Leah’s beautiful store of the hopes, dreams, and recovery of the DA staff. I will just sit by and wonder what our future will bring now that we are no longer going to suffer the incredulous rain of the past. I wish I could put my feelings out there so eloquently. Leah you’re an inspiration to us all. PS U crack me!!!
What an incredulous review. ;) Thanks for doing this giveaway - I'm a big fan of The Breach and can't wait to read the sequel!
If I win, my email is grig at gmx dot com
Hey Grig...you are the winner of the books! I've sent an e-mail to the address listed above. Send me your address and I'll get the books in the mail. Thanks so much for stopping by the blog and I really hope you enjoy Ghost Country by Patrick Lee!
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