Customer Reviews

The Archangel Project

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

October "Tobie" Guinness, in an effort to better understand strange visions that have affected her life, and maybe find a way to use her "gift," has been working with Tulane professor Henry Youngblood and his remote viewer studies. When he is murdered and the killers with government badges and unlimited resources seem to be hunting her down too, Tobie has no idea why or where she can turn.

Jax Alexander is a maverick CIA agent sent to investigate professor Youngblood's death-and the first thing he finds is that this is not a random murder. When Jax and Tobie pool their information, they discover this may be just the tip of the iceberg and that the conspiracy someone is trying to cover up has links all the way to the White House.

The Archangel Project is an outstanding political conspiracy thriller. The story contains just enough true tidbits mixed in to keep it intriguing and the plot frightening. The book isn't pointing fingers at one particular person or party but illustrating a warning that we shouldn't be too quick to blindly allocate powers to the government without a way to defend our rights. Our government must contain a balance of powers as our founding fathers intended and checks must remain in place to protect us.

I loved the story and the characters of Tobie and Jax. The book also contains a teaser for the next book in the series and I was delighted to learn that Tobie and Jax will still be featured. Both these characters embody characteristics we would all like to claim: loyalty, patriotism, and the willingness to stand up for what is right even in the face of death.

The conspiracy plot is diabolical and a frighteningly real suggestion of what someone might be willing to do because of greed. This book presents a sterling example of the old adage that "absolute power corrupts absolutely!"

I can't wait for the next book to come out and see what new plot Tobie and Jax will set out to thwart.

Armchair Interviews says: Outstanding political thriller.

This was based on the notion of remote viewing. I.E., people who can see things not in their presence. An interesting look at the political/military-industrial complex and what some people will do to maintain or increase their profits or status. I kind of wish there was more elaboration on the background and thinking of the villains. I enjoyed it and recomend it.

I picked this book up because the premise interested me, and the Amazon ratings were good. I find the concept of remote viewing interesting, and thought I'd give this one a go.

While I enjoyed this book, I was not blown away, and don't know that I recommend people go out of their way to read it. The plot moves along pretty nicely, and there is plenty of action and excitement, but somehow it seemed rushed, like the authors edited out the moments in between when you catch your breath and figure out what is going on.

The main characters themselves have potential, but neither seems fleshed out enough for a reader to truly feel connected to their well-being. And you never feel like they are in real peril, there is no sense that they might not get out of this one.

All told, it was a nice escapist novel, but for me, nothing more.

I met the authors of this book at a book festival in Baton Rouge, La. The gentleman half of the authors spent 20 years as Army Intelligence Officer. This book used actual classified programs that were used to train officers. The Remote Viewing Program and how successful it was in certain situations was facinating to hear about. This is a great read.

I read a lot of thrillers, and I thought THE ARCHANGEL PROJECT was an okay effort. The story is tightly written and moves along smoothly. The plot essentially deals with a young woman with a secret talent who finds herself in the middle of a huge conspiracy involving the US military and terrorism. It isn't the least bit believable, but it was interesting enough for me to finish.

However, THE ARCHANGEL PROJECT suffers from two major flaws. The first is the flatness of all the major characters. There are simply too many different people in this novel, and almost none of them have interesting personalities. For the most part they are bland stereotypes of one kind or another.

Second, it's clear that the authors have a very large political axe to grind. Almost every chapter in this novel is filled with shots against US Foreign Policy, the Bush Administration, the War on Terror, the War in Iraq, The Patriot Act, fundamentalist Christians, tax cuts for the rich, and so on. I normally don't mind political content in a book as long as it's relevant to the plot. But this book is so repetitive and heavy-handed in its political messaging that it gets in the way of the enjoyment of the storyline.

In short, THE ARCHANGEL is an okay political thriller, but there are better novels out there worth reading. I would recommend David Baldacci or Richard North Patterson over this.

I'm a fan of spy-thriller series along the vein of Robert Ludlum, Vince Flynn & Stephen Coonts. This story has elements of the genre: high political power plays, fast action scenes and a good blend of putting our protagonists in difficult situations that force them to be cunning & daring in order to escape. I like the paranormal tools that aid our hero and keep the action moving much in the same way other authors depend on spy satellites, computer hacking & other techno-gadgets. I give the authors kudos for an auspicious start.

Unfortunately, the authors get bogged down with thinly-veiled jabs at Bush/Cheney, military special forces, the CIA, the Catholic Church, corporations, 9/11 conspiracies, Katrina, racial-profiling, etc ad naseum. This might have been more palpable if these diatribes were 1) limited and 2) channeled through a single conspiracy nut character (there is one), but everyone in the story takes up a soapbox. Ugh. Some readers will surely recommend the book on these "merits", however, I found them to be distracting because they are forced and unchallenged. Most are the rants stuffed amid cynical character dialog in a way that just isn't natural. Scenes of evil special forces soldiers come off especially contrived.

The authors also tend to linger on unnecessary facts like street addresses and driving directions that don't propel the action. The post-Katrina New Orleans backdrop is redeeming, although it uses "hot and sticky" so often it becomes a crutch. I notice other authors set location scenes through the eye of history, something I'd like to have seen more in this story. Key characters are introduced late in the storyline, the antagonists are unrealistic paradoxes & the supporting cast (Jax, Col McClintock, Matt) are forgettable.

All of these are forgivable first-book errors, presumably from the lack of thorough editing. With more experience, I'd expect the writers to tighten the storyline and introduce more layers of conflict & drama. It's too bad the extreme leftist political rants sour an otherwise promising series.

One of the previous reviewers found a great deal of fault in this conspiracy thriller's using, of all things, conspiracy as its primary vehicle. If you want to read a non-conspiracy thriller with no mention of conspiracy, this is probably not the genre for you.

Now that we have that out of the way - this book reads very quickly and delivers on suspense and excitement throughout. Though not a "true story" by any means, the authors here provide enough background and references to actual government documents and goings-on to lend a sense of urgency and realism (yes, much like Dan Brown's work, this novel dwells more in alternate reality than in pure fiction). Having grabbed this book for a quick read because I liked the cover, I was suprised to find that I couldn't put it down and that the general notion left me puzzling long after finishing.

As with many "conspiracy" novels, it is apparant that there must have been some thought to the screen adaptability - this one has that in spades. Perhaps the strangest thing is that, rather than a movie, the book evokes more of the classic "graphic adventure" PC game (Gabriel Knight et.al.) aesthetic. I wouldn't be suprised if the novel went to this form before finding an audience that pushed it to the big screen. So, fellow nerds, this seems to be one to hop on early so we can all "snob it up" on opening weekend in a few years.

In all, this book is excellent and worth sitting down with for a weekend. Looks like the next of the series will hit in September of 2009 (a couple preview chapters are included at the end of this one).

Look, I'm not a professional reviewer or anything, but I read and write a bit, and I have to say that it took a supreme effort on my part to read this book as far as I did (about 1/3 of the way through).

First, the book reads like it was written by a committee -- pulled this way and that from the non-essential, non-background details noted by other reviewers.

Second, I'm always disappointed by the revelation of suddenly convenient skills. For example, we learn early that the protagonist has some physical issues from military duty, but only when faced with a trained killer do we learn that not only has she martial arts experience, but that she's apparently practiced enough to swiftly defeat him. Please.

Third, apart from the not-so-thinly-veiled political agenda (it's apparently not enough to have the CEO hire hit men, she has to wear aligator shoes -- and one wonders which is the greater sin to the authors), I felt like I was spending more time wading through parentheticals than the story itself.

Please do not buy this book. Do not read it or recommend it to anyone. And to the authors, I commend you for getting published, but for the next book, one of you needs to go far into the background. And upgrade to a better editor -- not a cross-the-t-dot-the-i type, but someone not afraid to point out places where the writing jerks people out of the story.

This book was a fast paced thriller, something I've been finding myself enjoying more lately. The style is reminiscent of James Rollins and Steve Berry, and this did lead me to compare the writing style to theirs.

I really liked the setting, as New Orleans is one of my favorite cities in America, and the main characters were engaging. The only thing that keeps me from rating this book higher is the abrupt way it ended. There were too many loose ends to resolve that quickly.

Ultimately, though, I am willing to seek out the next book in this series and see if the writing keeps on par and if the ending is a little less rushed.

I found this book to be a good read. Despite other reviews claiming it espouses "leftist drivel", I found the plot quite believable, even if the heroes escape danger too many times by means not always so plausible (like almost every other thriller). Nothing in the book is inconsistent with what we've discovered about the past administration, except that the VP turns out to be the good guy! I have the next 2 books in the series on hold at the library and can't wait to pick them up.