Book review: Alpha by Greg Rucka

AlphaAlpha by Greg Rucka

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My current favorite thriller genre authors are Greg Rucka, Brad Thor, and Lee Child (Tom Clancy’s earlier works are also favorites). Having just finished “Alpha,” the start of Greg Rucka’s new series, I have decided that he is my favorite of the three. His Queen and Country series, reviewed earlier, is excellent, with the added twist of having a compelling female heroine (unusual in this genre).
In this series, Jad Bell is a Delta Force operative who, along with his team, is trying to track down a dirty bomb/terrorist thread in what is a thinly disguised Disneyworld. The twist is that his ex-wife and deaf daughter are visiting the amusement park as part of a school tour. And as you can imagine, things start to go wrong. The book covers not only the terrorist events but also the path of a sleeper agent, and the plight of a deaf child. It is very well done.
What I like about the author’s books is that they have intriguing plots, fast pacing, and interesting characters. What distinguishes these books from Brad Thor’s or Lee Child’s is Greg Rucka’s lack of gratuitous violence. Violence there is, of course–it is a thriller, after all. But the violence has its place, and the author refrains from using it as shock value. In other words, I don’t get queasy reading his books. This is a huge plus for my reading pleasure.
If you haven’t read any of Greg Rucka’s books and are a fan of the thriller genre, I highly recommend his books.

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