THE APOSTLE
Brad Thor
Atria Books
Political Thriller
ISBN: 9781416586579
Whenever I need a reality check I reach for a Brad Thor novel. His latest, THE APOSTLE, arrives just in time to set an upside-down world right again.
The Apostle, as Thor hastens to inform us in the opening pages, is the new breed of operator in the war on terror in the United States. While the term “war on terror” has fallen into disfavor in some circles, as a practical, real-world matter it still applies and is still being waged. So it is that at the beginning of the book, in a world identical to ours, covert counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath finds himself out of a job due to a change in presidential administrations. President Robert Alden is more interested in appearances than reality, to the detriment of the United States at home and abroad. Harvath’s employment status changes quickly and dramatically, however, when Julia Gallo, an American doctor with CARE International, is kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Gallo is the daughter of one of the new President’s major financial and media supporters, so her selection as a target for abduction is anything but an accident. The terms of her ransom, communicated to the newly minted and wholly inexperienced President, are simple: Gallo is to be exchanged for Mustafa Khan, an al-Qaeda terrorist who is the mastermind behind several Afghan attacks. The Afghan government is not about to release the maniac, insisting, understandably, that Khan must stand trial for his actions. Harvath is recruited to spirit Khan from the high-security Afghan prison where he is incarcerated and to exchange him for Gallo. It is an extremely high-risk, off-the-books mission; Harvath and a specialized group of private contractors are on their own in a savage environment where the line between friend and foe is a permeable one.
To make matters more interesting, Harvath decides in the middle of the mission that releasing Khan upon an unsuspecting world is too large a risk for the country he has taken an oath to protect, an oath that, unlike President Alden, he takes seriously. What few people know, however, is that the kidnapping and the exchange are part of a larger plot to embarrass the United States in the Middle East and restore Russia as a major player in the area.
Meanwhile, as Harvath is fighting for his life and attempting to rescue Gallo from her captors, a secret that President Alden has successfully kept from the public threatens to be revealed, creating a scandal that could upend the administration. As the stories spin out along twin tracks, events on opposite ends of the world raise toward conclusions with the potential to change the course of history.
Thor continues to top himself with each successive novel and reaches new and even more exciting heights with THE APOSTLE. Harvath, a contemporary man for all seasons, has the potential to become an icon for our time, one that we need now more than ever. Recent events will give Thor a target-rich environment for future books for at least the next few years, and given the uncannily prescient abilities that he has displayed in past works, the conclusion may be cause for standing and cheering.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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