Path of the Assassin: A Thriller [Mass Market Paperback]

Brad Thor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 2008

Brad Thor's national best-selling debut, The Lions of Lucerne, was hailed as "high-voltage entertainment reminiscent of Robert Ludlum" (Literary Journal). Now, he again delivers a non-stop action as one man's quest for revenge thrusts him into a battle to save his country....

After rescuing the President from kidnappers, Navy SEAL turned Secret Service agent Scot Harvath shifts his attentions to rooting out, capturing, or killing all those responsible for the plot. As he prepares to close out his list, a bloody and twisted trail of clues points toward one man -- the world's most feared, most ruthless terrorist, Hashim Nidal. Having assembled an international league of Islamic terrorist networks in an ingenious plot to topple both Israel and America, Harvath and his CIA-led team must reach Nidal before it's too late. One problem remains -- they have no idea what the man looks like. With no alternative, Harvath is forced to recruit a civilian -- a woman who has survived a brutal hijacking and is now the only person who can positively identify their quarry.

From the burning deserts of North Africa to the winding streets of Rome, Harvath must brave a maelstrom of bloodshed and deception -- before a madman's twisted vision engulfs the world in the fires of all-out war....

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If Thor's second international thriller had any more testosterone, it would grow hair. This follow-up to The Lions of Lucerne is loaded with explosions, gunfights, car chases and hairbreadth escapes as Secret Service agent Scot Harvath battles religious extremists and incompetent CIA spooks to save the world from WWIII. The Hand of God, an apparent Israeli terrorist group, is blowing up mosques in Saudi Arabia, assassinating Arab leaders and hijacking airplanes, all in an effort to provoke the Arab world into war with Israel. Harvath tries to derail the terrorist plot and avenge the deaths of buddies killed in the first book. Aided by Meg Cassidy, a beautiful Chicago public relations expert, Harvath chases the terrorist leader and a silver-eyed assassin from Hong Kong through Europe to North Africa. However, since Cassidy is the only one alive who has seen the face of the terrorist leader, the assassin chases them, too, trying to kill Cassidy before she can point him out. The story is one bloody episode after another, with a touch of romance and colorful turf battles between the CIA, FBI, Delta Force and Harvath himself. Thor stacks the deck in favor of his hero-Harvath never makes a mistake, and his view of how counterterrorism operations should be conducted is invariably proven correct. To top it off, he boasts about his remarkable talents. With its infallible hero, fetching sidekick and wicked bad guys, this international shoot 'em up sticks close to formula, but the well-choreographed action and thrills will keep readers engrossed.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Brad Thor is as current as tomorrow's headlines."

-- Dan Brown

"One of the best emerging thriller writers on the continent."

-- Ottawa Citizen

"...a blood-soaked sequel to the presidential-kidnapping debut that so arrested critics....Thor leaves little to the imagination when it comes to the cut and thrust of terrorist-busting; the action is relentless and gory, the pacing sublime, as is the authenticity of everything from weaponry to locales."

-- Ottawa Citizen

"Clancy fans will love this. Brad Thor has packed this riveting and timely thriller with enough military technology, CIA intrigue, and exotic settings to kidnap even the most demanding readers, deprive them of sleep, and convert them into instant devotees."

-- Dan Brown, New York Times bestselling author of The Da Vinci Code

"If Thor's second international thriller had any more testosterone, it would grow hair....the well-choreographed action and thrills will keep readers engrossed."

-- Publishers Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Star; 1st ptg. edition (August 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141654366X
• ISBN-13: 978-1416543664
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #309,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I always get asked if Brad Thor is my real name or if I made it up because it sounded perfect for an international thriller writer. My standard reply is that if I was going to chose a nom de plume, it would fall in the C's somewhere between Clancy and Cussler so that all of my books could be displayed at eye level.

As the son of a United States Marine and a former TWA flight attendant, travel has always been in my blood. In fact, the title for my first novel, The Lions of Lucerne came to me while I was in Switzerland shooting an episode of my Public Television travel series, Traveling Lite (still seen in many countries outside the U.S.).

It happened when I went to visit what Mark Twain called the most moving piece of rock in the world. The Lion of Lucerne is a sculpture of a dying lion with a spear broken off in its side. It had been commissioned to honor the 700+ Swiss Guard who died defending King Louis and Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution. Fast-forward a couple of years to my wife and me sitting in a cafe in Amsterdam. I was reading a story in the International Herald Tribune about a Swiss Intelligence officer who had embezzled money from the Swiss Army and was caught training his own shadow militia high in the Alps with high-tech weapons from his own private arsenal. Just like that, the idea for my first novel was born.

Since then, I have written many more with the same protagonist - Navy SEAL turned covert counterterrorism operative, Scot Harvath. Thanks to my readers, all of the novels have been national bestsellers and book club favorites. They are also being made into major motion pictures. By the way, many people ask me what order they should read the books in. You can read them in any order. They are all written to stand on their own. But for those who are interested, the order is: The Lions of Lucerne, Path of the Assassin, State of the Union, and Blowback.

I am currently hard at work on my next Scot Harvath thriller.

Thank you for visiting my Amazon.com page. Please scroll down to learn a little bit more about me and my novels.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Get real....it's fiction., August 17, 2006

By 

R. Shaff "Velocipede" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Path of the Assassin (Mass Market Paperback)

It still amazes me at times to find the literary critiques of "fictionalized fiction" from some reviewers. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, when a reader picks up a novel, plastered with fiction on the jacket and within the description on the inside jacket, why one would attempt to apply heavy doses of reality is beyond me. Fiction, short of posh fiction (read: Oprah Book Club) and literary fiction (e.g. Catcher in the Rye {a classic read to be sure}), is nothing more than an escape to an unreal world, one filled with over-the-top heroes and dastardly villians. So, when I read the reviews of Brad Thor's PATH OF THE ASSASSIN, I must chuckle at some of the reviews indicating that "Scot Harvath is not real." You think? If you want real, read McCullough, Philbrick, Goodwin, Beschloss, or any quality biographer/non-fiction author. If non-fiction is too heady or boring, then you're left with...yep, fiction.

OK, now that I'm through my cyncial snickering, yes, PATH OF THE ASSASSIN is definitely over-the-top relative to the skills, bravery, and simple aura of our hero Scot Harvath. But hey, so is James Bond. That said, Thor has written an entertaining and exciting novel in ASSASSIN, one definitely worth reading if fiction is your bag.

Scot Harvath, our near-perfect secret agent, teams with a beautiful ad exec to track down a new terrorist group (or anti-terrorist group) called the Hand of God. This group seeks maximum destruction on the Arab/Muslim population, which sends the Middle East into a frenzy of retribution, speculation, and concern over the start of WWIII (timing is fairly ironic). Harvath is brash, ubersuave, and easily "the guy you want on your team," while Meg Cassidy, our ad exec, is beautiful, brave, and vulnerable. Quite a duo, eh?

As Harvath and Cassidy travel the globe in search of this new cell, they run across the traditional terrorist groups, and the assassins they employ. The theme to this novel is pure adrenalin and action. While, without any doubt, this novel lacks the meat to be considered with Ludlum, Clancy, et al, it is a fun, easy, and action-packed read, well worth a weekend afternoon.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Could Not Put This Book Down, November 1, 2007

By 

Steve "El Jefe" Boss (Creston, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Path of the Assassin (Paperback)

This was an amazing book. I picked it up and read it almost non-stop for a couple of days. If you like spy thrillers, this is it. I hope they make it into a movie. I believe this was the first in the series.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This Path is a Wild and Wooly Ride, May 12, 2003

By 

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

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Path of the Assassin : A Thriller (Hardcover)

As the Lions of Lucerne, Thor's first novel, concludes the reader is clear that there is much unfinished business ahead. That is what this book is all about. Bringing those that need to be brought to justice to that end, one way or another.

As the story continues, there are attacks in the Middle East on Moslem places of worship for which an extremist group called The Hand of God takes the credit. While these attacks move the Arab countries closer to war with Isreal, it is clear to some that a shadowy figure by the name of Hashim Nidal is the one behind the attacks. Hashim is the son of Abu Nidal and is also one of the masterminds of the kidnapping of the President of the United States and the slaughter of almost all of his Secret Service protection. One problem for those trying to track him down is that no one knows what he looks like other than he has "silver" eyes. Scott Harvath, the lone SS Agent to survive the attack has looked into those eyes and nearly failed to live to tell the story. Others are not so fortunate. Fans of the CIA will not be happy with the pattern of ineptitude that is painted concerning their part of the undertaking, but every hero must have his hurdles to overcome and the CIA is clearly one of them for Harvath. The story moves around various parts of the world as the cycle of violence grows and the danger of all out war in the Middle East builds. This has all of the bells and whistles of the first book with some new and interesting characters and the liklihood that the whole story has still not been told. That is very good news for Thor fans.