A review by ericbuscemi
A Lista Negra by Brad Thor

5.0

I've seen [a:Brad Thor|5088|Brad Thor|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1201288917p2/5088.jpg]'s name countless times on book store shelves, but hadn't read anything by him until this book, which I picked up because of this interesting premise:

Somewhere deep inside the United States government is a closely guarded list. Members of Congress never get to see it—only the President and a secret team of advisers. Once your name is on the list, it doesn’t come off . . . until you’re dead.

Someone has just added counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath’s name.

Somehow Harvath must evade the teams dispatched to kill him long enough to untangle who has targeted him and why they want him out of the way.

It sounds like the preview for a blockbuster action movie, and it reads like one too. Despite a few information dumps that went on a bit too long, it definitely delivers on its action-thriller premise. The main character is -- of course -- an unstoppable killing machine, but also deep enough for the reader to suspend their disbelief. The story is also terrifying because of how plausible it is -- which is made more so by this 'Author's Note' that prefaces the novel:

All of the technology contained in this novel is based on systems currently deployed, or in the final stages of development, by the United States government and its partners.

My only complaint is that I now have another long series of spy thrillers I feel compelled to read, in addition to [a:Vince Flynn|14989|Vince Flynn|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1360095804p2/14989.jpg]'s Mitch Rapp books.