Spymaster

I enjoyed this as much for the various long-arc aspects as for the story itself.Harvath feels old. He keeps his beat-up mid-40s body in action with performance enhancing drugs, which I assume means steroids or stuff like that. He knows he can't keep it up forever. Meanwhile he's got the inducement of a normal life with Lara and her son Marco if he can ever settle down. And keep himself from going out in the field constantly.The Old Man, Reed Carlton, is suffering from dementia and the company's reins have been taken by Lydia Shaw, a former deputy CIA director.Carlton had offered the job to Harvath but he didn't want it. Couldn't stand the prospect of being stuck behind a desk. Couldn't face the administrative responsibilities. And he couldn't stand the prospect of the Free World not having him, Scot Harvath, the Norseman, fighting to save it, because, well, the Free World needs him because he's, well, better.We see him in action with a good team here. Harvath comes to see he's got people who can turn the trick in the field. He doesn't have to do it all and you can see the transition coming.So that's all wonderful, except there's a cliffhanger at the end and we have to see how that's resolved. No spoilers. I enjoyed the twist at the end of the action plot; I really didn't see that coming.Thor does a fine job setting the scene in Sweden and then Eastern Europe, where a lot of the action takes place. That a Swedish island I'd never heard of could have such strategic importance in a future war, was news to me.

Brad - good read as most of your books usually are ! Love how you tied in a non fictiional story with your spy novel. Had read From Warzaw with Love by John Pomfret and he reveal the true story that you wove into you book - found that fasinating!

Glad I discover Scot Havarth when I did and really hope they do a movie or series about this books.Fully recommended.

I have just finished all the books from number one through seventeen in Brad Thors series on Scot Harvath. The detail Mr. Thor brings to all of his novels is amazing. This book had more twist and turns and the plot lines are always ahead of the time they were written. World events happening today in 2023 are right on point even though the book was written many years ago! Well done and I can’t wait to start number 18.

This is a very, very good new novel from Mr. Thor. Completely aligned with the current headlines political issues. It is somewhat frightening in that Mr. Thor seems to have a better grip on global geopolitics than any of our current elected representatives. Spy Master tugs at the frightening and still unresolved issues at the heart of the U.S. intelligence community, and raises the critical question of whether our current government agencies are still capable of competing in the modern world of espionage. I think that, ultimately, his answer is that they cannot. I have no background in intelligence ops, but I tend to agree, based on a lot of reading I have done. In my mind, the question that hangs over this novel is whether the Blackwater (now named something else) model is any better? What about accountability. The crux of the Horvath novels is that he, alone (with a competent but small team of specialists) can reliably solve world-shaking issues. I'm not sure that is realistic. But this makes for a great novel! Many of us have seen the video of contractors shooting innocent (?) people from a helicopter in Iraq and laughing about it. Perhaps they weren't all innocent, but the ones attempting to rescue the wounded didn't deserve to be obliterated by gunfire. In our current asymmetric warfare endeavors, which are ongoing in about 133 countries, the boundary between aggressor and defender is nebulous. This concerns me greatly, because our incursion into so many countries, especially in Africa, is not making us any friends. Just review history to see how previous interference in other countries' affairs has worked out for us.OK, enough political stuff. Back to the novel. I bonded with the characters, especially the new addition, Jasinski, and, although the novel was too long for me to read in one sitting, I definitely wanted to! I would say that this is one of Thor's best. Warning: here is a cliff-hanger ending. But that only means that we can at least expect one more novel featuring Scot Horvath.

Book Review - In Brad Thor’s “Spymaster”, I love seeing Scot Harvath grow and I love how Thor mentioned the events from previous books in the series. This book has so much details and seems eerily accurate with what's going on in the world today, which is sort of frightening but makes you think. As the others in the Harvath series, this book's plot was just as intriguing. I did not, however, like the cliffhanger but I must admit that for the first time I was intrigued and anticipate the next book in the Scot Harvath series. Normally when I read a book with a cliffhanger it leaves a sour taste in my mouth, but this is Brad Thor, so... Nevertheless, I love Harvath's character so I want him to hang around for a while! Good read...!

It was very hard to put this book down

Excelente narrativa y suspenso

I'm a big fan of this series. I didn't think it was possible to make me more eager to pick up the next book, but he's outdone himself this time!

Russia hat Hunger. Hunger auf die baltischen Staaten. Hunger nach Macht und Einfluss. Nach dem Vorbild der Crimea Invasion infiltrieren russische Special Forces, getarnt als grüne Männchen, Gotland, um die strategische Bedeutung der Insel für die Invasion russischer Truppen zu sichern. Zeitgleich erschüttern mehrere Anschläge durch eine fiktive Terrorgruppe den Westen und die Nato.Scot Harvath und sein Team suchen Beweise für eine russische Beteiligung, die die perfiden Pläne offen legt, um somit einen möglichen dritten Weltkrieg zu verhindern.Die Story ist politisch hochaktuell. Eingebettet in das Zeitgeschehen, entwirft sie ein mögliches worst case scenario, das realistischer kaum sein kann. Scot Harvath arbeitet wie gewohnt professionell, berechnend und ohne Superman Behavior. und Allüren. Hier hätte ich mir vielleicht etwas mehr Action gewünscht, etwas mehr Thrill. Auch wirken die Terrorakte in Rome und Istanbul eher eingeschoben. Teilweise wird der geschichtliche Background zu sehr bedient, zu viel lecture und zu wenig Action. Aber ok, das ist Geschmacksache.Den Cliffhanger am Ende finde ich persönlich genial. Ich freue mich auf das neue Buch.

Very good , if you like Robert Ludlum or lee child and the likes then this is an action thriller that you will enjoy. For me this was an enjoyable discovery