The Lions of Lucerne (Mass Market Paperback)

by Brad Thor (Author) "Senators," said Fawcett as he strode across the polished floor in his monogrammed Stubbs and Wootton opera slippers, "I'm so very pleased you could make..." (more)
Key Phrases: glare guns, cogwheel railway, protective detail, Secret Service, Agent Harvath, White House (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
In this incredibly fast-paced thriller, a conspiracy hatched close to the Oval Office results in the kidnapping of the president and the slaughter of a company of Secret Service agents commanded by ex-Navy SEAL Scot Harvath. The story careers from the ski slopes of Utah to the top of Switzerland's Mount Pilatus and sets Scot on an impossible mission: recover the president, evade renegade Swiss spy Gerhard Miner and his cadre of trained agents, and elude the American conspirators who are hot on his trail. Framed for murder, his reputation in tatters, his former colleagues turned against him, Harvath finds an unlikely ally in a beautiful Swiss prosecutor who's been checkmated by Miner once too often. Together they play a high-stakes game of mixed "doubles" to save the president and uncover the conspiracy. Brad Thor's debut novel is a tightly wound spy tale that makes up in excitement what it lacks in subtlety and character development. Ludlum fans will love it. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
He's fearless. He's tireless. If you get him angry, as does the chief of staff of the vice-president of the United States, he'll pop you with an uppercut. He's Secret Service Agent Scot Harvath, the hero of Thor's rough-and-ready debut. As the action opens on the ski slopes outside Park City, Utah, the 20-something Harvath has screwed up. Under his watch, terrorists not only kill 30 agents but kidnap the president midway down his final run of the day. When the Secret Service, the FBI, the CIA and a suspiciously inept and indecisive vice-president wring their hands, the disgraced Harvath picks up the few scant clues left behind and launches a one-man search-and-rescue mission. The terrorists publicly demand $500 million and privately insist that an anti-fossil fuel proposal in Congress be killed. When those demands aren't immediately met, one of the president's fingers arrives at the White House. By this time, Harvath is on his way to Switzerland, where he's gotten word of a mysterious cell of mercenaries named the Lions of Lucerne. With unflinching determination and an uncanny ability to escape danger and assassination, the young buck pieces together the plot and girds himself for a showdown at the terrorists' secret hideaway inside the frozen exterior of Mt. Pilatus. Thor, host of the PBS television series Traveling Lite, shows a gift for dramatic storytelling. The momentum of the plot alone may satisfy some readers. Yet it's hard to get past the novel's many graceless shortcomings clichd language (time passes "at a snail's pace," old habits "die hard"), cartoonish scenes and a protagonist whose superhero character desperately needs fleshing out. Agent, Heide Lange of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Jan.)Forecast: Pocket is launching this pumped-up debut with billboard advertising in Times Square and an eight-city author tour. Swiss mercenaries may seem tame villains in times like these, but this is adequate escapist fare for readers seeking a quick action fix.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Star (February 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416543686
• ISBN-13: 978-1416543688
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #499 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #3 in	Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue
  #5 in	Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Political

• This is item 1 in The Scot Harvath Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a good, fastpaced, fun read, March 7, 2002

By	N. Gargano "nokegchris" (Waynesville NC and Bradenton, Fl) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Lions of Lucerne (Hardcover)

Well, let me start off by telling you why this book received 4 stars from me instead of five. It was predictable, and the hero was almost too good to be true.Now....that said, I really did enjoy this book. I love thrillers (like Ludlum and Forysyth) and this book fits the bill. It was fast paced, very well written, I could see the action and feel some of the emotions. I think it is a great beginning for this author, and I look forward to his next book, and look forward to seeing this character again. So don't let the four stars stop you from reading it, just go into it with the knowledge that you will probably know where the author is going, but you will have fun if you go along for the ride.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The lions of Lucerne - predictable and mediocre, March 14, 2002

By	Raghav Singh (Minneapolis) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Lions of Lucerne (Hardcover)

Eminently forgettable.

Contrary to Vince Flynn's comment on the dust jacket "I just couldn't put it down" - I could (and did) put this one down many times.

Overall I was not very impressed by either the writing or the story. Brad Thor's novel is more a description of exotic locales and improbable scenarios strung together around a weak story than a coherent, plot driven novel. I expect books of this genre to have good plots, average writing, and lots of tension. This one has a weak plot, bad writing and whatever tension there is Thor manages to dissipate with some corny lines and inept dialogue:

- "I'm bulletproof."
- A strange but all-too-familiar feeling began to creep over him in the murky night.
- "He's gone to have cocktails with Allah"
- "A little prick from a little prick with a little prick."
- "I vas supposed to be here for another three veeks, but now with zis baby coming early, vee do vat vee can, no?" (The hero masquerading as a German).

Thor's protagonist - Superman Scot Harvath, AKA Timex (Takes a licking and ....) is a former SEAL working for the Secret Service (These guys are never accountants working for the office of Management and Budget) cast in the Jason Bourne, Dirk Pitt, James Bond mold. Assigned to protecting the President, his reputation is maligned when his charge is kidnapped and 30 of his fellow agents are killed. After some quick soul searching our hero concludes that he is not to blame but that he must avenge the deaths of those killed and redeem his pledge to protect the President. The rest is obvious.

Despite some well written parts, much of the book is cluttered with irrelevant details and missing some important ones. What started out as an interesting story fails to retain interest since the plot is not well developed. It doesn't quite rise to the level of detail that Alistair MacLean had in "Golden Gate" - the definitive novel about the kidnapping of the President. It spooked the Secret Service to the point where they tested the scenario.

The Lions of Lucerne seems to be struggling to find a middle ground between Clive Cussler and Robert Ludlum. The result is a rather ho-hum story with neither the fascinating, though improbable scenarios created by Cussler or the intensity of Ludlum. There is no situation that Scot has not planned for and no contingency he is not prepared for. He's McGywer and The Terminator rolled into one. Yet, despite all his abilities Scot never manages to sleep with any of the women he meets - starting with the President's daughter that has a crush on him to the beautiful Claudia. Scot and the rest of the cast come off as two-dimensional characters. They have no lives outside their jobs and nothing much is ever written about what makes them tick. The conspiracy itself is too dependent on coincidences and implausible explanations to make the ranks of books like Dr. No or Seven Days in May.

Thor gets a C for effort and a D for the story.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thor Soars!!!!, May 12, 2003

By	John R. Linnell (New Gloucester, ME United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Lions of Lucerne (Hardcover)

This was one heck of a good read. It had all of the ingredients that people like Ludlum, Clancy,Flynn and Cussler like to mix into their stories. There is a dastardly villian - a brave and handsome hero - an interesting cast of characters, some villians, some brave men and women - a love interest - intrigue - adventure - action and a turning and twisitng plot that will keep you interested to the end.

Scott Harvath, a Secret Service Agent is part of the detail that is protecting the President and his daughter while on a skiing vacation in Utah. A conspiracy at the highest levels of government causes the skiing party to be ambushed and only Harvath, the President and his daughter survive the assault. However, the President has been kidnapped and the remainder of the book deals with Harvath's crusade to avenge his fallen comrades and recover the President alive. How he goes about that makes for interesting and page turning reading. This book is the first in a series of at least two as there is a sequel which has been released and which I will be reviewing shortly. It's good to have another top flight action writer on the scene.