Full Black by Brad Thor

With Full Black, you know what you are getting. The main character, Scott Harvath, is an ex-Navy SEAL Team 6 member, now a covert counterterrorism operative heading Black Ops teams outside of the range of the CIA. More than undercover - off the radar of any organization. It looked like a dark and intriguing thriller with a heavy dose of solid action, and it delivered.

A team of Russian Spetsnaz agents hired by the Russian mafia breaks into a Hollywood mogul's LA home to kill him and retrieve a documentary he was working on.

Meanwhile, Scot Harvath is heading up a shadow team on a mission so sensitive, it simply doesn't exist. They begin by staking out a Muslim jihadist cell in Sweden that is poised to begin bombing several big business headquarters in America.

There is a larger picture, involving an American billionaire with a radical anti-American agenda funding terrorist training camps in China, and using Chinese funds to bring about an economic collapse on a global scale, including the complete wipeout of all finances and communications.

The plot was fast-paced without diversion. Scott's team is mainly ex-Navy, ex-Army, and while he works outside of the system, he has intel from the major players. I expected a lot of right-wing politics, as these books go, but I didn't find it irritating.

Unlike the leads of many thrillers, he is not a gourmet cook and doesn't have time to romance international beauties. Of course, he does live in a 4000 sq. ft., 18th-century stone church on several acres overlooking the Potomac. That's normal, right? He's a no-nonsense hero who knows how to achieve his goal without complaining. When the going gets tough, just pop another Motrin and chug a Red Bull.

There were many twists involving so many countries it was a little over the top, but it was a real page-turner. If you are looking for dynamite action with great characters, the Scot Harvath series was a surprise for me. I'd recommend Brad Thor for solid thrills.

2011 / Paperback / 496 pages