Customer Reviews

The Skorpion Directive (Micah Dalton)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Traveling to Vienna to meet with a former Mossad
agent, Micah Dalton finds himself targeted by a
complex plot designed to shatter America's strategic
alliances, a conspiracy that pits him against a secret
U.S. agency and a cadre of trained KGB assassins.
This is the fourth in a series featuring Micah Dalton, a
CIA officer, also known as a cleaner and fixer in the
clandestine world.
This author and his protagonist has really grown on me.
I love all his thrillers, and to me they are all comparable
to Ludlum when he was in his hey days. If you love international
spy thrillers you can't go wrong with David Stone.

CIA "cleaner" Micah Dalton is in Vienna meeting with former-Mossad field operative Issadore Galan when he feels something is not right. Used to cleaning up the mess of failed operations, he fears he will need a cleaner too, as he quickly realizes that he is under surveillance by unknown assumed to be hostile enemies. Not one to sit back and wait, Micah catches one of them, Veronika Miklas.

After sex, he flees with her accompanying him following a failed assault on him. Someone wants Micah dead, but he is unsure why; especially since his CIA contacts and handlers are part of the death squad pursuers. He turns to his alcoholic psychopathic friend Ray Fyke to insure he has his back covered. As the trio travels to the Balkans, the former KGB assassins, an American top secret agency, other espionage groups, and Smoke the Serbian killer follow with death to the threesome as their mantra.

The latest Cleaner espionage thriller (see The Venetian Judgment, The Echelon Vendetta and The Orpheus Deception) is a great conspiratorial story line filed with action, action and more action. The cast is especially powerful including the enigmatic killing machine Smoke while the locales enhance the exciting plot. Genre fans will enjoy The Skorpian Directive as someone high up has decided to clean the cleaner.

Harriet Klausner

As usual Mr. Stone has written another truly action packed novel. I put the character Micah Dalton in the same class with Sean Dillon and Mitch Rapp.

I thought this was his best yet, beautifully written and impossible to put down. Stone hooked me with his first Dalton book and while I thought the last one was a letdown, the Skorpion Directive was top notch. Any new Stone reader should start with Echelon and follow the series if at all possible to really get into the character and others in the life of Dalton and his vocation as CIA "cleaner".

Stone takes a pretty good jab at the current administration in this book so if thats an issue be forewarned.

Stone has developed a character that is unique within the genre of spy/thriller novels. His talent as a writer surpasses Flynn and Thor and others of that ilk. His character is complex and well worth getting to know. I look forward to his next novel. Try Stone you will not be dissapointed.

Love the character Micah Dalton. He is the essence of what all warriors ultimately are and should be "Killing machines". Bad guys are bad and they should be punished and revenge is sometimes extremely theraputic. I was sad to read the tragic end of Galand. But in life people come and go either by death or by choice and it helps shape the character to your larger than life expectation. David Stone has a lovely formula that should stand the test of time with fans. I am also impressed with his characterization of women around Micah. They have a strong influence around him and his regard and valiant effort to stay on a professional level w/Mandy is epic, heroic and damned diplimatic. As I have has said in the past he is quite sexy and diplomatic for a "Crocodile". Glad to see he did get a lay in this book, he is after all a young man! I am looking forward to the next book. If you have not tried them in Audio format, it is well worth the purchace price or credit on Audible.

Others here have summarized the plot. So I'll address Stone's work. This is his best Dalton thriller yet. Stone has settled into a very readable and comfortable style. His writing is clearer and most of the awkward prose has evolved into interesting narrative. His characters are more like real people or people readers want to read about. They're likeable and the bad guys have real reasons for being bad guys. And the characters are growing and changing. I loved Mandy and her striking, acerbic dialog. Finally, his descriptions of all locations foreign and domestic make you think you're there while reading. He describes places in Austria, Israel, Itally, Morocco, Florida, Russia, more, in readable detail.

A strong entry in the spy novel/contemporary thriller genre, and much better than other books by more well known authors.

Typical Micah Dalton, fast paced, danger at every turn. His first three books were more "can't put it down" reading.

I am not familiar with this author but like international spy novels. The book takes a while to get into but once it starts 'rolling' hang on as it is a fast and wild ride. Well paced, kind of plausible and wraps up in the end with a surprise.

of places you probably won't see. But it sure helps pass the time. Great for what it does.