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ghostroom217's review against another edition
4.0
Steven Konkoly turns in a taut and compelling thriller that, despite a slower start, quickly surpasses the first book in the “Black Flagged” series. The cast and geography are bigger, though by no means overwhelming, and the plot ticks along like a well-crafted watch. Konkoly has a real knack for putting the reader right into the thick of a firefight, maintaining a fine balance between description and detail that never gets tedious or repetitive. His characters are distinctive and enjoyable and, best of all, are drawn in (realistic) subtleties of grays rather than blacks and whites.
I particularly enjoyed the team’s foray into the doomed city of Monchegorsk, Russia, whose water supply has been poisoned by a weaponized grade of encephalitis, causing violence and madness on a massive scale. It would have been easy for Konkoly to have turned this into a zombie thriller at this point, but to his credit he maintains a plausible realism that serves the book much better, instilling it with a chilling touch of outright horror (ie - Dr. Valeria Cherkasov’s apartment) before moving on.
I’m giving this book 4 ½ stars, my one complaint (being a personal bias) was that the description of weapons, transports, tactical equipment (right down to the model number) was distracting, nudging me out of the story at times. Very likely, this won’t bother most readers; in fact, hardcore readers of the genre will probably consider it a plus, but I don’t have the military background for such subtle distinctions, and would have preferred more general terms that flowed better with the prose of the story.
Looking forward to the third book in the series!
I particularly enjoyed the team’s foray into the doomed city of Monchegorsk, Russia, whose water supply has been poisoned by a weaponized grade of encephalitis, causing violence and madness on a massive scale. It would have been easy for Konkoly to have turned this into a zombie thriller at this point, but to his credit he maintains a plausible realism that serves the book much better, instilling it with a chilling touch of outright horror (ie - Dr. Valeria Cherkasov’s apartment) before moving on.
I’m giving this book 4 ½ stars, my one complaint (being a personal bias) was that the description of weapons, transports, tactical equipment (right down to the model number) was distracting, nudging me out of the story at times. Very likely, this won’t bother most readers; in fact, hardcore readers of the genre will probably consider it a plus, but I don’t have the military background for such subtle distinctions, and would have preferred more general terms that flowed better with the prose of the story.
Looking forward to the third book in the series!
reubend1ca9's review against another edition
3.0
Lots of action, but lacks soul. The characters don't have a lot of personality.
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