Where Tobie Sees Bad Guys

The Solomon Effect by C.S. Graham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the second of three books in a series written by Candice Proctor and Steven Harris under the name C. S. Graham. The premise is that Tobie Guinness, a young navy vet, is able to do "remote viewing" under certain circumstances. The CIA agent assigned to work with her from time to time finds it hard to believe she can do what she can do, even though his experience shows that she really can. And when there is something dangerous going on in the world with too few leads, her ability becomes really important.

In this novel, someone has floated a sunken German U-boat from the end of WWII, looking to take possession of something important on board. The details are sketchy, but Jax and Tobie learn they have only a few days to solve the riddle and track down whatever was on the submarine before something catastrophic occurs, and they are nearly on their own, being hunted the whole time by men with guns everywhere they go.

If you can accept this one rather fantastic premise, that Tobie can see and describe a scene somewhere distant, somewhere she's never been, the rest of the series is believably realistic in a "best-seller action thriller" kind of way. It's not meant to be fantasy (though even if it was, I'd be cool with it), but instead focuses on the way intelligence agencies really work, telling a dramatic and exciting story. Just with that one twist. I think it works great.

The pacing is very good, almost as good as C. S. Harris's (another Candice Proctor alias) Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries, and this also has likable, interesting, sympathetic characters. I'm gonna grab the third book, all the while lamenting the lack of books #4-infinity.

If you like fast-moving globe-trotting spy mysteries, you've gotta give these a look.

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Where Tobie Sees Too Much

The Archangel Project by C.S. Graham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don't often read thrillers; they're really hit or miss with me. And I started to think lately that I just don't really like them, with only a few exceptions, after finding so many similar novels not to my taste.

My new theory is that I've just been reading boring thrillers. *This* one was one was great, and I loved it.

I got to this series from Jane Austen--as so often happens. My love for P&P and S&S, etc., led me to the Jane Austen mysteries by Stephanie Barron. (Love them.) That led me to C.S. Harris and her regency mystery series with Sebastian St. Cyr. (Also great.) Then I learned that "C.S. Harris" was actually Candace Proctor, and that under another name (with a co-writer), she had written this series. This is book 1, and I was very entertained. I shouldn't be surprised, but I'll admit I was.

Like her Sebastian St. Cyr series, this book has a well-plotted mystery, excellent action, high stakes, fantastic pacing, and, crucially, characters I quickly learn to care about. TBH, I think that's where I find other books and authors of this genre miss the mark, at least for me--I usually don't care very much about the main characters. I can't say exactly how she has done it, mind you, what the secret ingredient is. I can just point to it as something that worked for me here, like in the other series. (Sebastian is cool in that one, and I adore Hero. His doctor friend is great, too, and there are several other recurring characters I enjoy.)

In this book, I find I really like October Guinness, who is really easy to root for. And it took a few more pages, but I warmed up to Jax Alexander, too, who was cool by the end. I'm psyched for sequels.

The plot: October (Tobie) is gifted at "remote viewing," and accidentally uncovers a conspiracy. The conspiracy involves powerful, violent men and women who want to kick off a war that would be costly and destructive in every possible way, and they need to silence her. From the first page, she is in danger and overmatched. Luckily, she's not helpless. She is intelligent and brave and has skills from her years in Iraq, and she also has friends. Later, she has the support of Jax, a CIA operative.

The feel and tone of the novel is familiar to me from her other series, but this is set in (near) modern day. (Phones and spy tech have changed so much in about 15 years!) I don't usually love stories set in the present, or near the present, but this was a lot of fun. It's just a matter of time before I track down the rest of the series and get myself caught up.

Recommended for people who like fun things.

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Where I Liked the Story Better Than the Author

Agente exterior/ Foreign Agent by Brad Thor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

(I read the Spanish version. I was fine with the translation; my comments will be focused on the story.)

I've never read Brad Thor before, and I found the story generally entertaining. Lots of flying around the world, international action, spy stuff, all of which I usually enjoy and more or less did here. I didn't love the pace, but part of that, no doubt, is how much slower I read in Spanish. Still, I didn't find as much to love as I thought I would. Yes, it's a thriller, with lots of action and intrigue; sure, I could picture it as a slick movie; but tbh, I think it would be a kinda boring movie, the kind you watch on a Sunday afternoon and then forget what it was called.

It's about that good in my head. It's possible I would have found it slightly more entertaining in English.

But I also might have enjoyed it more if I hadn't found the writer's tone suspect. It's not a surprise that his MC is conservative; he's a foreign agent fighting terrorists. That's the kind of guy that you get for such stuff, apparently. But the whole book seems to take for granted the kind of dude-bro, kick ass, rolling coal attitudes that I associate with ignorant and narrow-minded people on social media. This seems especially true with how comfortable the author seems to be with black sites and torture, which was treated with the same Go America! enthusiasm usually reserved for technology like aircraft carriers and missiles and night-vision goggles. But the frat boy tone emerges too in the way almost every woman in the story is gorgeous and ogled by the narrator in a very 1970s way. Are there no regular women in this universe? Why did he people his story with so many hot women? I found that grating. A bit icky, actually.

In fact, the tone of the whole thing, the worldview emerging from the authoritative voice, is so conservative and reactionary from page 1 to the end I had to google the author to discover--not surprisingly--that he works with a rightwing think-tank.

Doy. Of course he does.

Other readers might like this quite a bit. The books are popular, and I thought this had very good action scenes with convincing research behind it. I don't fault any of that--that's why I gave it 3 stars. I might even read another book by him again, see if there's more of what I liked and less of what I didn't.

But probably not.

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