Hell in a Briefcase: A Matt Cooper Novel [Paperback]

Phil Little (Author), Brad Whittington (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2006

Private security executive Matt Cooper goes behind the curtain of Middle East terrorism in order to stop a plot involving eleven stolen briefcase nukes.

Product Details

• Paperback: 410 pages
• Publisher: B&H Fiction (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805440801
• ISBN-13: 978-0805440805
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,323,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ...And An Explosive Novel, July 16, 2006

By 

Spiro (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hell in a Briefcase: A Matt Cooper Novel (Paperback)

A departure from Brad Whittington's first three books - Welcome to Fred, Living With Fred, Escape From Fred - all of which were wonderful coming of age stories and very funny besides. Like those tales, Hell in a Briefcase, too, is grounded in spiritual truth and purpose, but with a fierce injection of adrenaline. If you know the kinds of elements and tension making devices required to race a story along, burn rubber and peel its tread on those tight curves, you'll appreciate this action-packed story about terrorism. The characters have real depth and are engaged in their own individual spiritual journeys, making this a cut above anything I've read by, say, Tom Clancy. As high octane as any Grisham fluff I've read, too. Strong characters devoted to their careers and their individual problems make this not only a fine action thriller but a psychological ride as well, which, to my mind, distinguishes the more substantive reads from your every day fluff. Whittington's writing just gets better and better. Thumbs way up.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Strange Combination, June 15, 2006

By 

Russell Lutz "reader and writer" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hell in a Briefcase: A Matt Cooper Novel (Paperback)

I found parts of this novel, particularly in the back half, quite diverting. Watching Matt Cooper marshall the resources of the Federal Government to track down terrorists was pretty fun. But other aspects were less interesting. The eccentric millionaire Christian philanthropist character went nowhere. The early action sequences that take place in the Middle East were somewhat confusing and did not intrigue me at all.

The strangest part of the book was the dichotomy between the hard-nosed, Clancy-esque action with Cooper, and the evangelical Christian drama centered on Stevie, Cooper's actress girlfriend. I'm sure there's a place for this kind of faith-based character study. I'm just not sure it's in the middle of a book called "Hell in a Briefcase".

It's interesting as a study in preventing terrorism, but I can't really call it great.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I Could've Missed Out, January 1, 2007

By 

Todd Greene "aspiring novelist" (NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hell in a Briefcase: A Matt Cooper Novel (Paperback)

I received this novel in the mail as part of my participation in a website that features and supports fiction novels from a variety of genres. I read suspense/thrillers. It's what I write and hope to publish someday soon. With all this in mind I cracked this book open and began to read, even though I wasn't all that impressed with the title, cover art or for that matter the back cover blurb that's supposed to hook a potential buyer.

In a lot of ways this story is about contrasts. There are characters who are larger than life. Some who are everyday people like you and me. There are quirky, off center characters, there are troubled people with real problems with no easy answers. There are devout people of faith. There are people far from faith. And others who don't know where they stand on anything it seems. Characterwise there seems to be a little something for everyone to enjoy.

The beginning of the story, for me, didn't do justice to the plot. It was slow and tedious. The story is supposed to be about 11 or so briefcases gone AWOL and the nukes inside could go off at any moment killing millions of Americans. And yet, this element didn't even come into play for several chapters. It seemed to me the first few chapters were about character development. The set up to get you to care that nukes are going to threaten these lives. I'm used to the reverse. Present a problem and then learn about the characters involved and become invested in seeing them stop the threat or at least live to tell. For this reader, that formula works better.

There were characters who seemed to pop up from nowhere and then just disappear after they'd done there bit. And ya know, those characters didn't add or take away anything from the story for me. They could've been left out. For example, I kept thinking the millionaire would come back into the story and mean more. He didn't. The character I was drawn to the most was Matt's daughter. Her story of guilt and how she acted out really gripped me and made me want to skip over to the sections devoted to her to see how it would play out.

This is a techno-thriller so there's a lot of detail about technology and things that I personally didn't need and, for me, slowed the story down causing me to step out of the moment and understand. If you're used to this kind of thing in your reading you probably won't miss a beat. I did. Often.

There were elements to the story that seemed forced and out of place. Much of the spiritual arc with Stevie just didn't ring true for me. It seemed too easy. I did like how these changes in Stevie affected Matt and the fact that Stevie wasn't suddenly a Super Christian. She faltered in her new found faith. Both were real. For myself, I more enjoy novels that are Christian themed rather than bold, in your face, here's a Christian story. In my own writing I'm trying to learn to write like the writer of the Biblical book of Esther. Here is a power story with a lot of religious themes and yet there is no religious jargon, not even the mention of the word, God. For me, Hell In A Briefcase would've worked better had it been done in that way.

The story really kicked in for me about half way or so through. The stakes grew, the action ramped up. There was the revelation that those trying to stop the threat didn't know everything they needed to and key baddies were killed. The ones who held the answers. By the end, it was a good read and I'm satisfied with it as a whole. It's not a perfect novel. It's not one that left me wanting more.

Hell In A Briefcase is a book that I've seen on numerous trips to the bookstore. I was never moved to make the purchase. I blame this on the packaging. It is a good read. Just know that it starts slow and builds up. If you like Clancy and Ludlum, you'll probably love this book.