Customer Reviews

al-Qaeda Strikes Again

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is an exceptionally well written and entertaining book...and that is #1 on my list of importance for a good Read. I was captured and captivated by this fast paced story that doesn't give you time to breathe from start to finish.

The plot is so opportunistic and sly that it is almost scary. It drew me in as if I was there: seeing, feeling, experiencing the action...the plot was ALIVE! Mr. Binkley has a good ear for dialog and I liked the tone of the conversations; from the workplace "we're casual here but I'm the boss," the joshing between colleagues who like each other, the dialogue between people who aren't crazy about each other, the dry "just the facts" style of the FBI, to that all important patter between friends and lovers that keep a plot alive. Even Gene's (in the book) muttering to himself, his self-justifications and grousing, sounds natural. Unlike many other books I have read with implausible sounding dialogue, Mr. Binkley's dialogue is real.

Being a self proclaimed bookaholic, I was fortunate to support myself in Graduate School by proofreading books of all genre for a publishing company, therefore, I truly am amazed at how error free this first publication of al-Qaeda Strikes Again is. Kudos to Mr. Binkley's editor. Being an author (ghost writer) for several biographies and self- help books, I'm sensitive to layout and readability so I immediately noticed the extra attention to the easily readable font and the extra spacing between paragraphs.

I recommend this action packed work of fiction (or is it???) to anyone that wants to be entertained.

Will terrorists strike the U.S. again? Experts say yes. Will we stop them? Maybe.

Bill Binkley's debut thriller, "al-Queda Strikes Again," challenges America's top analysts and FBI agents to solve that problem. Failure is not an option.

"al-Qaeda Strikes Again" reminds me a lot of Frederick Forsyth's first novel, "The Day of the Jackal" (one of my all-time favorites). Forsyth's police Inspector Claude Lebel and the "old boys' network" of foreign intelligence and police contacts must stop the assassination of French president, Charles de Gaulle, without knowing who, when, where or how. In Binkley's book, it's the Jackal times twenty.

Twenty U.S. cities are targeted for catastrophe that will make 9/11 pale in comparison and all U.S. intelligence has is the list of cities. It will take everything that crack analyst Rennie Jordon and Special Agent Wayne Kelly and their teams can figure out and do to stop the devastation from happening.

The book has flaws, but these never stop "al-Qaeda Stikes Again" from beating a rhythmic tattoo (like the theme from "Jaws") toward an exciting, page-flipping, it-could-happen climax.

I usually read British mystery books, but I had been told by more than a few people al-Qaeda Strikes Again is a 'must read'.
This book has everything going on. There's murder, assassination plots, suicide, terrorists, the C.I.A., the F.B.I., romance and is sometimes funny.
At first the events seem random but soon it all pulls together, the result is an exciting and entertaining book.

I'm not usually a negative guy. I like many different types of books, and I enjoy different genres and story lines. I'm not an unsympathetic individual when it comes to flaws or things that are poorly done, provided they're not the center of what I'm reading. Believe me, I'm not usually the only negative reviewer of something.

This book is an attempt at a suspense novel, written by a guy who spent his life in the business world. He seems earnest, and a nice guy, and he sent me a copy of this book for free. That of course creates an obligation on my part towards him. Nice thing for him to do, but unfortunately the book he sent is pretty bad.

First, the author has had this book produced (I presume) by a self-published press, and either he or they chose an odd, sans serif font that's rather hard to read.

Second we get to the story. I couldn't follow what was going on very well, but it seems that there are murky al Qaeda types lurking around, and they commit suicide when they are about to be caught. The methods of the suicides are improbably, and this is just the beginning of the implausibility of the plot and character's actions. The author seems to think it would be fun to have Arab terrorists act as if they were Soviet spies from the Cold War (only more competent). For the most part, from what I've read, that's not the case.

Premise aside, this still isn't a good book. A premise of this sort doesn't by itself kill a book. Ken Goddard's classic "Balefire" used a variant of the same premise a quarter century ago, and is a very good book. The difference is that Goddard wrote reasonably good dialog and action, and so the book was a joy to read. Binkley, by contrast, has wooden dialog, cardboard cut-out characters, and a prose style that sort of runs together and assumes you know things. Alternatively, he repeats things when he doesn't need to. There's an episode where someone records a series of phone conversations, and the author sees fit to repeat those conversations not once, or twice, but three times before he has one of the characters replay the recordings again without reprising them. The writing is so bad that at one point he uses the word accommodations when he clearly meant (from context) commendations. Apparently there wasn't an editor around.

The characters are ridiculous, and poorly conceived, poorly portrayed, and they don't act as people would in real life. The dialog is wooden and unbelievable, and people say things that they wouldn't in normal life, discuss things with people that they normally wouldn't, etc. One of the main characters is a guy who works for the NSA in a Top Secret facility, and on a first date he tells his new girlfriend. Now this might be because he's an idiot, but the girlfriend, of course, is a terrorist, and of course things deteriorate from there.

Bad dialog, bad characters, poorly constructed plot, bad unbelievable premise...you get the idea. I didn't see anything here worth recommending to anyone.

In twenty cities throughout the United States, al-Qaeda members have infiltrated society. After altering their appearance and taking everyday jobs within their communities, they await the signal which will trigger a catastrophe more horrific than September 11, 2001. On the other side of the world, in Islamabad Pakistan, US operatives recover a list of these twenty cities during a raid in a known terrorist camp. But what to make of the list?

Though thwarted by her boss, Rennie Jordon - a low level government data analyst in Dallas Texas - begins to put the pieces of the terrorist puzzle together. Working with Wayne Kirby from the FBI, they soon identify some of the al-Qaeda operatives. Unfortunately, this success comes with a price as they both become targets and find their own lives in danger. Will they complete the puzzle prior to when the catastrophe is scheduled to occur, or will al-Qaeda take them out first?

In al-Qaeda Strikes Again, Bill Binkley offers an interesting premise but the execution of the novel unfortunately falls short. The characters are one dimensional and are in need of greater development. Also, the first half of the book lacks any significant dialogue; couple this with the extensive use of passive voice and the result is a novel that reads like an FBI case file leaving it difficult for the reader to become engrossed in the story. Once the dialogue picks up mid-way through, it reads rather flat and unnatural. While there were interesting elements to the story and the actual terrorist plot may be plausible, I found too much of the novel unrealistic to fully appreciate the central theme.

A riveting,relevant,and well researched book on a current theme. Right up there with Flynn, Clancy, and Grisham with character development. Would hope that Mr. Binkley continues with his new venture into the authoring business. An easy and enjoyable read; tough to put down.

JP Hotchkiss

Dallas,TX

This book at times, was roughly worded and a couple of the characters were not believable (too perfect). That being said, I could not put it down! Action was fast moving and the plot twisted enough to keep me curious throughout the book. I found some of the methods used by the bad guys to have come from one heck of a creative mind or from someone who has an insider's information. The plot is believable, I'm glad there are books like this. For a new writer, Binkley did a good job and I hope he continues to write more in this style. I'll buy again.

This well researched account of terror beyond imagination is a riveting read from cover to cover. I assure you, you won't want to put this one down.

A fictional but all too real story that could have been
taken from the front pages of the newspaper. A riveting
read from cover to cover. I assure you, you won't want to put
this one down, as it sent shivers down my back! It could happen!

I especially liked how the headings, with dates and locations,
always kept me aware of what was happening and where.

The dialogue was so well done that it immersed me into the story
like I was there, listening to them talk and wanted to turn the
page to see what was going to happen next.

Too bad I can't select 4 1/2 stars for this well written novel.
If you like thrillers then this book is for you.

al-Qaeda Strikes Again is a thriller that opens with a code red security alert at JFK International Airport. A woman is chased down a concourse and disappears into a restroom. In the mountains of Pakistan, a CIA agent finds a list of 20 U.S. cities in the rubble of a destroyed al-Qaeda training camp. The National Security Agency (NSA) passes the list to its top-secret super computer center, MPSIS, in Dallas, Texas, where analysts begin a feverish race to interpret what the list means. FBI and NSA agents leap into action. Meanwhile, terrorist cells across the country wait for the word "go."

Author Bill Binkley has written a hugely ambitious first thriller, a 340-page novel featuring not only the main al-Qaeda terrorist plot, but also murder, espionage, sexual liaisons, terrorists' personal vendettas, terminal illness, political issues involving torture, and an assassination plot against the U.S. president. Despite all this turmoil, two young heroes find the time to fall in love. That the author manages all these plot threads across several different locations is a feat in itself. Binkley has an ear for dialogue and no short-comings in the imagination department. This is action movie material. Ingenious booby traps! Mysterious disappearances! Political intrigue and sexual shenanigans! No doubt we haven't seen the last of Terrorism Task Force leader/FBI agent Wayne Kelly and MPSIS analyst/FBI special agent Rennie Jordon.