Customer Reviews

The Capitol Game

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Brian Haig can write a thriller. This book moves along at a great pace to a not obvious conclusion. The book opens with a US soldier in Iraq killed by an IED while he is in an unarmored patrol vehicle. The main character, Jack Wiley is a new one for Haig. Wiley is a Wall St. corporate takeover artist who has discovered a small company that has a Holy Grail type product - a polymer that when painted on vehicles acts like 30 inches of steel. With the US at war in Afghanistan and Iraq this invention will make billions for the company that sells it to the government. Wiley engages The Capitol Group, one of the country's most powerful corporations (read Halliburton) with much experience navigating the military procurement process. The Capitol Group with an assist from Wiley makes a hostile takeover of the small company and goes forward to threaten, bribe and strong-arm the product through the procurement process. A military special agent, Mia Jensen investigates the legalities of the deal and takes aim at the Capitol Group and the senior executives that run the company. The plot proceeds with the reader unable to quite decide if Jack Wiley is one of the good guys or one of the sleazebags who have been part of the military industrial complex cheating the tax payers and under serving the US soldier. You are treated to a stomach turning close up look at this process. I don't want to write any spoilers into this review but the plot is believable and engrossing through the entire book. The character motivations are credible but I would have appreciated a little more of a back story for Wiley and Jensen.

Haig is a 22 year US Army veteran and has the inside knowledge to make this story realistic and authentic. Unfortunately the theme of corruption among big business, politicians and the military has a real ring of truth to it! A very good read for those who enjoy the action thriller.

Brian Haig's THE CAPITOL GAME is the first book I've read by Haig that doesn't feature Sean Drummond. Haig readers will recall that Drummond carried those novels. They were written in first person, and Drummond was a funny, witty, and complex lead character. Regardless of plot, I enjoyed those novels because of the unique character Sean Drummond.

THE CAPITOL GAME is a totally different novel, written in the style of a John Grisham legal thriller. The story flows fast and furiously, as Haig describes multiple characters and how they feel and what they are doing. I trust Haig enough to know that he is nailing the culture of Washington DC and the corruption he writes about made me both angry and sad.

Jack Riley, a financial whiz, has disovered the next big thing: a coating that makes military vehicles resistant to roadside bombs. He peddles it to several investment firms and settles on the Capitol Group. Billions of dollars are at play as CG runs with the idea and pushes it to the market. There is money, women, backstabbing, spies, trickery and lies.

Unfortunately, there's no Sean Drummond. There's no one to drive the story, to anchor it, to care about. There's a really good story. The characters all have great stories and great motivation for what they're doing. But, none of it is included in the novel. Haig fails to bring the reader into the story, and the entire time I felt like I was reading a entertaining newspaper account of the action. Haig spends pages telling the reader what is going on, and never gets down to the level needed to make it interesting.

Haig has tried something new here, and failed. But, he's talented, and the story kept my interest. He's a really good writer and I'll continue to read his books. I hope his next is better.

The Capitol Game is another wonderful read from Brian Haig.

Although, for the most part, I have disconnected from thrillers, mainly because they are all the same, in my opinion, Haig manages to stand out from the crowd.

Firstly, he has a wonderful way of creating characters that you just love to hate - and in Capitol Game, he mixes in the world of high finance/corporate who have no problem killing or doing whatever needs to be done in order to make more and more $$ and to get more and more power - I loved it.

The writing is always breakneck speed and the pacing is perfect. The intrigue is always there and Haig has managed to incorporate a bunch of surprises in the plotline - making it difficult to figure out who are the good guys and just who will end up with the money and the power in the end.

I loved, loved this story. The book did not feel long enough to me.

Haig's latest novel is not up to his usual standards. The characters are one dimensional and the plot is overly complex in details while at the same time obvious in its direction. The bad guys are all stereotypes and the eventual hero is thinly veiled throughout and unconvincingly explained at the end. This one reads like it was written because it was on the schedule to write another book.

This book was clearly Not written by the Brian Haig who wrote all the previous Brian Haig books with Sean Drummond. Those books were funny and irreverent and personable. Those books were full of clever dialogue and smart romantic attraction. Those books were Fun to read. I've read all Those books at least twice, not because I didn't remember the plot, but because I so enjoyed the wit and style and attitude. Brian, if you're reading this, please get a better ghost writer, or start writing again yourself.

I loved this work (I had the Audible version).

Don't expect strong three-dimensional characters or perfect realism. There's plenty with which to quibble on these scores. After all, this is a thriller. It's driven by plot. And on that score, it is GREAT; the best plotting I can recall in a long time.

The story line has been well covered by other reviewers. A young Wall Street hotshot causes a small firm to be acquired using, as the main allure to attract the buyer he selected, a polymer that shields military vehicles from damage from explosives. The meat of the story involves pushing the polymer through the byzantine U.S. defense procurement process and the results.

One thing that enhances this plot is the absence of some of the most overdone cliches, mainly the violence, chases, and spine chilling-getaways. (There is some people tracking here, but not the heavy action sort we see in other thrillers). Mainly, though, Haig gives readers just enough to keep them interested in seeing what happens next. Rather than big things, he dishes out a lot of well-connected, well-sequenced small (by thriller standards) occurrences. Based on some disappointments I've had lately with other thrillers, I kept wondering if there would come a point where the writing falls apart. (There were several lately where I got so disgusted, I stopped reading and didn't bother to go on look enough to learn the resolution.) Not so here; Haig maintained the pace from beginning to end.

If you haven't discovered Brian Haig, you are in for a treat. This is another deviation from his formula and he proves that he is one versatile writer. Haig is probably one of the better thriller writers on the scene today but doesn't get all the credit he deserves. Hopefully he doesn't go the same route as Flynn/Thor/Clancy and just start turning out books for the sake of having something on the shelf. So far, he's batting 1.000, now if he would just become a bit more prolific and not make his fans wait so long between books!

Haig channeled his inner Grisham with this novel. Unlikeable, distant characters, unrelentingly cynical, and wholly plot driven... but Grisham would have known better. The firm simply could not be led by people so stupid or infantile. The main character could not have predicted their ridiculous actions so accurately, the law would have been better understood and related.

Brian Haig is one of my favorite writers. His Sean Drummand books are fun, funny, and zesty. The characters shine, the dialog zings, and while the world view is a bit dark, the characters redeem it.

His last novel was a disappointment, this one was better, but nowhere near the promise Haig promotes with his earlier books. Why he chose to distance us from the main character rather than dropping us into their lives (the twist wasn't remotely surprising, just implausible because it was too complex and the bad guys too easily jumped through his hoops), I don't understand. The bones of this story were good, if poorly researched.

Two strikes so far. While his next novel be a hit or a miss?

At Caldron Security equity firm, no one has risen to the ranks of partner and senior vice president as fast as Jack Wiley has. The Wall Street guru thinks he has a great deal to set up as Arvan Chemicals is ripe for the taking. Jack approaches the Capitol Group with the opportunity to purchase Arvan to gain hold of their patent that enables the painting of polymer coating to make combat vehicles impenetrable.

The company legally owning the product will make billions as the Pentagon will save so much more by not having as much replacement buys. The Capitol Group takes over Arvan; however harvesting the return on investment in a short turnaround proves unmanageable as the Pentagon investigates in order to find a civilian to take the incoming hit.

The Capital Game will be short-listed as one of the best financial thrillers of the year. The key to this super tale is the deal as Brian Haig escorts the grateful reader through a critical path analysis leading to the project failure and the blame game as the top brass at the defense Department, Caldron Security and the Capitol Group need a fall guy to pin the tail onto the donkey. This is a winning suspense laden tale.

Harriet Klausner

Just when you thought you couldn't love venture capitalists any more than you do comes this tale of obscene greed and institutional amorality. Jack Wiley is a slick deal maker, tough and aggressive, and he's got a proposal that will make billions for the former Washington elite who make up the Capitol Group. A small company in New Jersey has formulated a polymer that can repel heavy artillery when painted on military vehicles. The problem is the company is on the brink of bankruptcy. All the Capitol Group needs to do is move in and take over, paving the way for nearly unlimited government contracts. Washington lawmakers are primed and the legislative road is greased. This is one high octane thriller that unfortunately rings true. The plotting is intricate and the pace is relentless. You really don't want to miss this one.