Use of Force

September 4, 2017
Opening with an ISIS bombing at the Burning Man festival in Nevada, book 17 in the Scot Harvath series sends the covert counterterrorism operative and his crew on a breathless, nonstop mission to find the mastermind behind the attack, Tajikistan terrorist Ravshan Tursunov. The novel shifts from team Harvath, engaging in combat and advanced interrogation (including waterboarding) in locations such as Libya and Mafia-run Sicily, to Tursunov as he visits crowded tourist destinations like the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain and Paris’s Tuileries gardens, where more bombs take many lives. In reading this red-meat adventure tale, actor Schultz (Mr. Robot, The Normal Heart) provides a lean, straightforward narration with credible accents for different characters: Harvath crew member Matt Morrison is from Alabama and speaks with a good ol’ boy drawl, an Italian mob boss and a charismatic Italian lawman speak with unexaggerated Italian accents, and Tursunov and his villainous cohorts converse with what passes for credible Tajiki pronunciation. Schultz’s clear, plain talk is an added blessing when it comes to the techno- and military-speak and weaponry and machinery details that this novel offers in abundance. An Atria/Bestler hardcover.