Customer Reviews

Gates of Hades

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Much as Victoria in Washington mentioned, this book left me wondering why I was still spending my time reading it. I too read the cover acknowledgements, and went as far as reading the first chapter in the store. I thought, 'It has potential. Sure . . . why not.'

My biggest complaint is that I never felt like I truly understood the plot or felt compelled to care that the lead character was racing all over picturesque island locales. It was almost like the author expected me to understand that there was some environmental issue at hand and it had to do with gas emitting plants. I consider myself a pretty intelligent dude, but I'm no mind reader.

Also, as Victoria mentioned, I felt that I had to muscle my way through the typo's. My thought is this, if the editor didn't care enough to correct, or point out the errors, why should I care? But fortunately, the writing style was fairly easy to follow and it didn't take too much more time out of my previously scheduled summer reading. I found the interlude with Shirlee towards the end of the story to be the most interesting and compelling portion of the book. I actually chuckled and found myself smiling after that read.

I'm not writing this to bash Gregg Loomis, hell . . . I hear it's not so easy to write a novel, let alone get one published. But, I am writing this to warn those who find the premise interesting. It is intersting . . . and all starts well and good, but be thrifty. Find the book used. You'll thank me later.

I would say that the jacket and review comments were the best part of this book. They were certainly interesting enough that I bought it. Sadly, the book itself was so poorly written and typo'd that I quit forcing myself to 'give it a chance' at the halfway mark. I read a wide variety of books and greatly enjoy a good story of any gendre. I will gladly suspend a measure of believability for a ride through fantasy, but I must have some sort of foundation and this book offered none. It was a huge disappointment and waste, which is all the more unfortunate because the idea had potential. Do yourself a favor and read Clive Cussler, Dan Brown, Tad Williams or most anyone else. I won't bother with another Gregg Loomis book.

I am a fan of Gregg Loomis and was excited when I got this book. But I have to warn you it moves really slow in first half. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to finish it, but then it picked up and took off like a rocket. I recommend it just warning you about the first half.

I was first in line at Barnes & Noble to get Loomis' new book. I lost a night's sleep as I turned page after page of this exciting thriller. Loomis leads us on a hopscotch worldwide journey following a cast of characters with terrific personalities. The plot is complex and carefully woven into a tapestry of intrigue that can only be done by a master story teller with incredible breadth of personal experiences. Loomis is a gifted writer with the ability to combine the mysteries of antiquity and today's realities. His biting wit and humorous observations about people and cultures spices up the storyline and provides moments of comic relief as the characters work themselves in and out of serious trouble. His previous books, Pegasus Secret and The Julian Secret were excellent but Loomis exhibits a growing maturity in this work that draws you into the storyline faster and deeper. A great summer read.

The main character of this story is Jason Peters a former Delta Force
so;dier. He is employed by Narcom. This is a company that does contract work for the American government because it is politically risky and gives
the government deniability. Peters attempts to capture an arms dealer
named Aziz Saud Alazar. Peters winds up with a laptop computor. His house
is burned down and attempts are made on his life. The villain is the head of an enviromental group named Eco. Their leader is Boris Eglov a former
KGB agent. Peters picks up an ally in the person of Dr. Maria Bergenghetti
a volcanologist. They are constantly being pursued by Eglov and his goons.
Eglov is planning on using a new gas called "Breath Of Earth" to conduct
an assassination on the President of the United States.Their pursuit of Eglov takes them all over the globe from the United States ,the Dominican Republic to Sicily. They even discover in Baia. All in all an exciting book to read. I have now bought the Sinai Secret.

Having read two previous Gregg Loomis novels, I was looking forward to this one and bought it online when I couldn't find it in my local bookstores. Now I know why I couldn't find it. The plot was a mess, and the only message I took away from the book was that all environmentalists are terrorists and murderers. The characters were poorly developed, and I just didn't care what happened to any of them.

Like the previous Loomis books, you encounter many twists and turns that keep you turning pages. I can't wait for the next book. I look forward to the next Chapter with Jason.

pretty good book. the one thing i didnt like was the reasoning behind why the bad guys did their crimes. when the story gets too serious, there are a few jokes and some humor thrown in to lighten the mood.

I had to read this to the end to see how in the world he was going to try to make sense of this ridiculous plot. It reads like a Dan Brown parody. Rather than giving his characters, well, character, he gives them ridiculous accents. (Russian eco-terrorists? Are you serious?)

His initial partner in crime is a Latino who ends up dying because he's too fat and greedy to pass up a free bottle of champagne rather than escape bad guys with guns. Later it's a Scot who uses the words "bonny" and "wee" in every sentence. Then there's an Italian pacifist volcanologist with a PhD who looks like a swimsuit model who is waiting for her life to start by being seduced and rescued by our American hero.

This guy writes as a ethnocentric (ignorant and racist) white American, for not-very- educated white Americans. They are the only ones who might find any of this crap believable. It's obvious that while we may have visited some of the locales he writes about, he never spoke with anyone who actually lived there or did any other type of research. He assumes the reader is going to be ignorant as he obviously is.

His characters are running from Russian bad guys in Naples with no mention of the Kamorra whatsoever, and he writes assuming that law-enforcement thinks and operates the same all over the world.

He's so anxious to emphasize how cool and glamorous his character is and how exotic and interesting the locations that he forgets to actually move the plot along. Somewhere in between the bullets and the running from the bad guys he seems to remember that there is supposed to be a story in there. So he does his best to tie it up in the end, but when the plot itself is lame, not much can be done in the end.

I am an American veteran who lives (and bought the book) in the UK. I also lived in Naples for 5 years. I am embarrassed when I think that Europeans might read this and think all Americans are this dumb.

Coming on the heels of Barry Eisler's Requiem for an Assassin, I was pleasantly surprised by this book... mostly because I didn't expect it to be another non-official operative story.

Jason Peters is an American living abroad---he's also an assassin with a love of painting seascapes, his dog, and his anonymity. A former mid-level military man, he turns to fighting bad guys up close and personal after his wife was killed in the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon.

After a job goes bad, Jason's world is turned upside down when his home is discovered and eco-terrorists try to take him out. Jason's only choice is to get to the bottom of why... and to eliminate a threat that puts the president, himself, and the world's economy in jeopardy.