You won't throw this one down...

An Afghan drug smuggler who passes himself off as a respected businessman is under orders from 'the Emir' to facilitate a terrorist attack on mainland America. Although he is initially unsure of his ability to carry off this mission, he never turns down a challenge. Using his international contacts, he manages to get hold of a large shipment of semtex that was due to be destroyed. He brings all of his experience to a fiendish plot to attack the US, destroy a sinful city, bring the country down and leave them reeling from the audacity of his plot...

The hopes of America rest with the Terrorist Threat Integration Centre, another of those great covert government agencies that seem to come straight out of 24. This one is staffed by a real mixed bag of stereotypes, who interact with agents in the field and staff from other agencies in order to try and stop the attack.

An undercover agent is captured and held for torture. A drunken ex-Navy pilot with an addictive personality tries to help out. Members of the RCMP become embroiled in the international crime fighting effort. An arrogant fool is in charge of TTIC. He cannot see what is in front of his face. An autistic maths and computer genius may hold the key to unlocking the whole plot.

This is a big book. All hardbacks can sometimes look intimidating, but this one is particularly dense. However, it does move at a very swift pace, and you'll still get through it a lot faster than you might expect. I'm guessing that the paperback will be pretty fat when it comes out.

Aaron seems to have done a vast amount of research for this book. He goes into massive amounts of detail in various areas (perhaps even too much at times), but it certainly makes for a complex plot and some reasonably developed characters. There are a hell of a lot of flashbacks, probably too many for my liking, but it gives you plenty of background to the characters.

Despite the density and number of characters, it does move along nicely. There are some tedious bits and some bits that could have done with some careful editing. And the ending feels a bit rushed, abrupt and perhaps slightly annoyingly open ended, but it does seem that sequels are on the way...

A good book and well worth a read. If you're a fan of international conspiracies, 24 or Robert Ludlum, this could be just the thing for you.