Customer Reviews

The Shadows of Power

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After a great start with his first book about naval aviation, James Huston seems to be cranking out novels that are at best pot-boilers. Plots have gotten even more fantastic, dialogue (if not connected to flying) sillier and characters shallower and stereotypical.

This latest effort deals with a Hornet pilot who, in a confused encounter with Algerian MiGs who are enforcing their unilateral "no fly zone," shoots down a Foxbat. Not only does he become a national hero, get recommended for a Silver Star (yes, a Silver Star), but winds up flying with the Blue Angels! All of this, just as in a comic book or bad movie, really annoys the brother of the dead Foxbat pilot. He, along with assorted terrorists, sets out to get revenge on the Navy aviator and the Blues. Oh, did I mention that there's a SEAL working with the CIA and tracking the terrorists? He is coincidentally the aviator's USNA roommate and now his personal bodyguard. On and on and on... Sadly, not much is told about the Blues other than running names and it is clear that they are just wallpaper for the story. The unbelievable conclusion at the Paris Airshow removes any doubt that none of this is to be taken very seriously. By the way, the "Power" in the title has to do with some political maneuvering in the White House and the cabinet, one of a number of sub-plots.

There are the now expected typos as all editing is done by machines: "site" for "sight," for example. A read by the old "Mark One, Mod O" eyeball, operated by an actual person, would help the publishing industry.

All that said, the flying sequences are good. They have been in all Huston's books, including the abysmal FALLOUT, and somewhat redeem this novel. As a RIO graduate of TopGun, he knows naval aviation. Hopefully, he will take some care with his next book and produce a straight-forward account of carrier flying.

I liked this one a lot inspite of some extraneous action in the "halls of power" which is never fully explained or developed. I don't really care about some of the political power plays within the administration and they don't do much to move the story along. I am a private pilot so any book which involves flying always attracts my interest and the flying in this book is well done, as it should be because the prinicpal pilots are none other than members of the elite US Navy Demonstration Team -The Blue Angels and the author is a Top Gun graduate.

Lt. Ed Stovic while involved in testing Algeria's claim to a 200 mile territorial limit shoots down an Algerian MIG-23. While the circumstances of the shoot down are less than heroic to my thinking, Stovic is treated as a hero by his nation and the Navy and Stovic himself is more than happy to bask in the glory. This changes when he learns that Ismael Nezzar, the brother of the Algerian pilot who was killed in the action is not taking the loss well and in fact has decided to kill Stovic.

Ismael was studying in the United States (where else) when all of this begins and he therefore gets to watch the combat camera film of his brother's MIG being blown out of the sky every 10 minutes on CNN. He later learns of the fairly horrific way his brother died as he tried to escape from his burning plane. Initially, if one is to have sympathy between the two characters, Ismael has some things going for him.

Enter Kent Rathman, the third major character in the book. Rathman a/k/a "Rat". Rathman is the consumate counter-terrorist operative whose prior history (Navy SEAL) is never fully explained, but wherever he acquired the knowledge to put together an anti-terrorist organization which is more effective than those of major governments is beside the point. If the Rat is on your case, you are in serious trouble. The Rat is assigned by the White House to protect Stovic. Just to bring it full circle they were classmates at the Naval Academy.

It isn't long before Rat is earning his money in protecting Stovic. Then, soon after his return to the States Stovic is offerred a chance to fly Number 6 for The Blue Angels. The words "no thanks" never occur to him even though they do to his wife, who is less than thirlled with this assignment.

Ismael sees the opportunity, not only to avenge his brother, but to make a poitical statement in organizing an attack against the flying team at one of the most prestigioius air shows in the world, The Paris Air Show.

The balance of the book is a cat and mouse hunt for the Algerians whom everyone knows are waiting to bring the Angels to earth which focuses more on Rat's character who educates Stovic about how the war against terrorisim is fought. After a particularly brutal interrogation of an Algerian by Rat which Stovic witnesses and complains about, Rat advises him: " Look. What you do is important. I'm just telling you that today, most of the defense of the United States is done where you don't see it. And now that you've seen just a little of it, you're shocked...The world used to fight with armies, and uniforms, and rules... Not anymore. Ever since the World Trade Center, when the War on Terrorism got going, we started seeing that things were going to be different. Snake eaters like me ARE the front lines, because there aren't any front lines. And it's dirty and it's ugly. And we're wrong now and then, just like pilots are. But were where the fight is."

He has a point and he continues to make it throughout the book. Plenty of action for those who like this type of book. I do and I did. I think you will too.

In "The Shadow's of Power," James Huston gives us an unlikely plot, that of a terrorist attack on the Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team, that never seems to get off the ground. The characters aren't developed and his attempts at plot twists either fall flat or are too obvious. Unlikely plot elements include that the Navy is cancelling the Blue Angels - like Congress would ever allow that. It takes away their chance to be seen in their district and from a recruitment standpoint, the Blue Angels are one of the best things out there. Huston also gets on his soapbox about how pilots are the heros while the operators on the ground are really doing the work. While true, the dialogue and the scene where used doesn't fit the plot.

Huston's knowledge of Navy flight operations seems good but the Blue Angels would never deploy on a foreign tour without their C-130 and by transiting on an Aircraft Carrier. That would take too much time. His knowledge of Stinger missiles is very poor with mistakes in simple details that any Marine PFC at the Stinger School at Ft Bliss would know. Huston seems to like to use the nomenclature of military weapons but without understanding their employment.

This book is okay for the flight ops part but poor on the rest of the details. I wouldn't waste the time.

THE SHADOWS OF POWER begins with a quick air battle between two MiGs from Algeria, and two F/A-18 aircraft, escorting an E-3 reconnaissance plane in Algerian airspace. One of the MiG's gets shot down under apparently confusing circumstances, killing the Algerian pilot. The Algerian brother of the pilot, living and studying in the USA, decides to take revenge by trying to kill the US pilot responsible for his brother's death. The ultimate end of the novel is obvious from this point on. Along the way, we bump into the National Security Advisor and the Secretary of Defense plotting against one another, and we get (to my mind) a bit to much detail on the Blue Angels, effectively a flying show. Also along the way, the mandatory cloak-and-dagger element in the form of Ken (Rat) Rathman, who, much like Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp, confuses patriotism with revenge, and is capable of little else but mindless, gratuitous violence, which detracts from, rather than adds to, the story.
I found this read a little dull. The author is clearly most comfortable writing about flying and describing flying scenes. He should perhaps stick to that. Unfortunately, this background (for that is what it is, flying is the foreground here) of an Arab terrorist plot is common in popular fiction today, and needs some skillful handling to make it competetive with the plethora of other works that abound on this subject. It didn't get the skillful handling it needed in this book. Several stories were running together in this book. Political intrigue and manipulation, primarily between the National Security Advisor and the Secretary of Defense. But this sub-theme didn't really add to the story, and the reader is left wondering if perhaps something essential got edited out. I would have edited it all out!
I guess when you see "New York Times Bestselling Author" written on the spine of all places, you know that the publishers have their doubts....... My recommendation: Unless you love flying scenes, give this one a miss.

This book had a lot of action and reminded me of your average military type thriller movie. The author starts off trying to portray the Algerians objectively but quickly falls into using the middle eastern stereotype. I guess it works OK for this book but I found it a little predictable and definintely un-original. If you're interested in the Blue Angels you'll definitely enjoy this book, some of the flying scenes are cool. Otherwise, it's OK...not the best ever but reasonably entertaining.

Ed Stovic, a Navy pilot on patrol in the Med is confronted with a situation when two Algerian MiG-25s try to bounce an Hawkeye Intel plane. A missile is accidently fired and the Americans respond in kind downing one MiG and sending the other running for Momma.

Now the brother of the dead Algerian pilot wants revenge and he goes gunning for Stovic. It turns out Stovic gets a spot on the elite Blue Anegls flight team and the ticked off Algerian (with a little help from his friends) decides the best way to avenge his brother is to shoot down the entire Blue Angel team during the prestigous Paris Air Show.

Kent Rathman (Rat) is a one time SEAL, now a quasi private/government agent is assigned to keep Stovic in one piece and get the Algerians.

The story is analogous to an old west gunfight at noon. The flying scenes and action segments are obviously where Huston is most comfortable. There is an entire subplot taking place between the National Security Advisor and the SECDEF. Personally, I would have fired the NSA. While there is a need for executive level decisions for the plot, this entire sub-plot detracted rather than added to the story.

A good read from an up and coming writer.

In "The Shadow's of Power," James Huston gives us an unlikely plot, that of a terrorist attack on the Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team, which never seems to get off the ground. The characters aren't developed and his attempts at plot twists either fall flat or are too obvious. Unlikely plot elements include the Navy cancelling the Blue Angels - like Congress would ever allow that. It takes away their chance to be seen in their district and from a recruitment standpoint, the Blue Angels are one of the best things out there. Huston also gets on his soapbox about how pilots are the heros while the operators on the ground are really doing the work. While true, the dialogue and the scene where used doesn't fit the plot.

Huston's knowledge of Navy flight operations seems good but the Blue Angels would never deploy on a foreign tour without their C-130 and wouldn't transit on an Aircraft Carrier. It would be too risky to the aircraft and would take too much time. His knowledge of Stinger missiles is very poor with mistakes in simple details that any Marine PFC at the Stinger School at Ft Bliss would know. Huston seems to like to use the nomenclature of military weapons but limited understanding of their employment.

This book is okay for the flight ops part but poor on the rest of the details. I wouldn't waste the time.

This book has a lot of air plane flying (Blue Angels) as did his previous books, but I liked this one better.

The story revolves around Lieutenant Stovic, an American pilot who borderline justifiably shoots down an Algerian MiG-25 (Chakib Nezzar) wingman to an Algerian pilot that accidently set off a missle. This gets Stovic advanced to be a Blue Angel (one of his thoughts for shooting the MiG). Trouble is Ismael Nezzar (the brother of the MiG pilot) is a former terrorist that now decide he needs vengence on Stovic and of course the Blue Angels and America in general (even though he does blame the Algerian pilot for starting it). Much time, money and effort is expended on protection. Kent Rathman (Rat) is the main protection, a very capable multi-agency worker that tries to keep Stovic alive and stop Ismael and his fellow terrorists, of course with the help and interferance of the FBI, CIA, Navy, police, etc. Rat would have been a much better main character and I would like to see more stories with him. There was also some subplot with the National Security Advisor Sarah StJohn, which I did not see adding anything of use to the story.

Over all a good book with a lot of info on the Blue Angels which I assume is true since Huston was not only a pilot but also a graduate of TOP GUN.

In the style of Tom Clancy, this technical suspense thriller is a book dripping with testosterone. The author is knowledgeable and I will seek out another book by him.

Huston has rebounded a bit in quality with this new novel. Like Flash Point, he clearly knows what he is talking about when he describes air combat and Naval Aviation. This knowledge makes the book authentic and exciting.
His description of life in the Blue Angels is very interesting and shows that he did a lot of research with that demonstration team to make the novel as realistic and thrilling as possible.

He can describe with skill how a terrorist cell operates and could attack US interests with methods that realistically cause great concern for policy makers in real life. His characters, both protagonist and antagonist, are human and plausable, and act and interact as people would in the real world.

It is a great pure technothriller... but it has faults. Huston spends too much time with political infighting in the White House, which is frankly unnecessary to the plot, and bogs down the narrative a little bit. He also neglects a barely-mentioned love story that could make the characters even more believable.
He should avoid political intrigue and stick to the flying and fighting of life-like characters, and could then achieve more great novels like Flash Point.