Okay,
I’m a few days late, but here is the second part to my review of The Terminal
List by Jack Carr.
I
want to get into the conspiracy theories promoted in this story. To tell you the truth, I started getting
pissed. First from the prologue, wanting
to know who the hell sent this SEAL team to die, to murder them while they are
doing what they’ve been trained to do, while they believed they were serving
their country. I can only imagine
thoughts like that have to be in the back of the mind for those out there
putting their lives on the line. What a
betrayal! These guys risk their life for the mission, for their country,
because they believe in their country. They are trained to trust their teams,
and the people in authority over them. These teams are made up mostly of
fathers, sons, husbands, and brothers with a deep sense of duty and honor. It’s a hard job and they can get lost at
times, lose sight of the mission, lose themselves beneath stress and pressure,
but at their heart they’re our heroes.
To have someone betray that trust, and then use that betrayal to cover
their own selfish agenda is deplorable.
I’m
not naïve. I know the world is full of greedy bastards that kill, manipulate
and plunder for their own material gains.
There’s a lot more than I’d like to admit, but that’s the way of the
world. In this story, this betrayal comes from the leaders that our
protagonist, Lieutenant Commander James Reece, trusted and obeyed, not only who
tried to kill him, but killed his brothers-in-arms. So, I was asking, ‘What the
hell was this level of betrayal for?’ thinking money was the root. Yes,
ultimately, money was the root to this evil, but author Jack Carr doesn’t just
give us that simplistic single reason – no, we get slapped with another double
whammy with an even bigger betrayal – the Team guys were murdered because they
were evidence, they were guinea pigs for experimental drugs. Before they were terminated by enemy bombs,
they were first terminal victims of a biological weapon.
Man,
oh man. Fear is a bitch, and I can
imagine that again these types of fears of betrayal are on our Team guys’ mind
at times. I found myself getting angry the more I read this story. I know its
fiction, but its plausible issues that our SEALs could face and it just makes
me irate that it probably has happened in some fashion, or probably will happen
at some point. What a messy
business. Rescuing and killing. I can’t
imagine how hard that can be on a soul.
The
Terminal List by Jack Carr definitely stirs the mind and pushes my buttons. I
do recommend it, it’s very well-written, it’s a great read, but it’s not for
the faint-hearted or the weak-minded. An
ostrich can’t read it, a sheep couldn’t understand it, a wolf would be
offended, and a shepherd would be ashamed.
I
planned on a third part of this review to talk about all the guns and weapons described
in this book, but I really don’t understand them. I love that a glossary was
added, but while I can’t appreciate the beauty of the weapon (but I’m sure a
weapons guy would love those parts best) I got the gist the story. They served
their purpose, but I’ll leave those details to those who know what they’re
talking about; I’ll stick to the writing, the pacing, and dialogue, the moral
of the story, the emotion, and the writer’s voice.
Jack
Carr is a natural story-teller, a silver-tongue, and I love listening to his
interviews and podcasts. He writes a
really well story, with great pacing, and good structure. I look forward to reading True Believer.
If
you haven’t read Terminal List by Jack Carr – go read it now! You won’t regret it.
Till
next time,
~T.L.
Gray
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