Yesterday I was finally able to dedicate more than 20
minutes at a time to read and I finally got a chance to finish this book! To start off the review, I do want to stress
that I did enjoy this book…it was a good espionage read and tackled quite a bit
of history, land and characters as the plot developed. Always wanting to end on a good note, I’ll
highlight some things that did not like followed by the good stuff…
To begin, here’s the bit from the publisher:
One Man.
Covert agent Briggs Tanner doesn’t like coincidences. In his business, they always mean trouble. So when a man is professionally assassinated right in front of him, Tanner wants answers.
One Mission.
Who pulled the trigger and why? And what is the mystery behind the key the man clutched in his dying hand—the key that Tanner now possesses?
One War Without End.
His search will lead him on an international trail, city to city, from the depths of the Pacific Ocean to the bullet-ridden back alleys of Beirut, all the way to a deadly secret—buried since the end of World War II—that only Tanner can keep from falling into the wrong hands.
For me, if a book is part of a series that is supposed to be
surrounding one central character, I expect the book to be surrounding the one
central character. This is not the case
with End of Enemies.
The book does start with Briggs on vacation in Japan where he
is dining and a man is assassinated in front of him. This begins his journey to uncover who the
man was and why he was assassinated. Then
the story takes off from there and introduces us to about 20 other main
characters across the globe as we follow a part of their investigation on
something seemingly out of context (but the reader isn’t fooled…it merely
becomes a guessing game as to how it will all tie in together).
Honestly, I don’t mind reading about multiple
characters. It added to the story and
gave a wider perspective. But I don’t
feel it’s fair to call it a “Briggs Tanner” novel when he isn’t even present
for about 300 of the 500 pages either.
(For the record, I have the same complaint about the Seal Team Six novels
that follow only one character and not the team as the series suggests)
That being said, the book is laden with information and at
times feels like a history lesson.
Espionage and war novels are not my book of choice but I do like them
from time to time and I did enjoy the story in this one. In my opinion, there are about 200 pages of
text that could easily be truncated to move the pace of the story along and
gain the desired edge to call this book a thriller. Given the excessive amount of information in
the middle of the book and the dedicated attention to the supporting characters,
I felt the ending was a bit abrupt and disloyal to the vast array of characters
that were so important to drive the story and were forgotten with the ultimate
climax. Many seemed placed in the ending
like cardboard cut-outs as the attention shifted back to Briggs in the lead.
Overall, I give the book a three star rating. It is the first in a series and I will probably
pick up the next one some day if for no other reason than to see how the second
tale pans out.
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