The last (that I'm aware of) Jake Grafton novel. Decent, and it was nice to catch up with some "old friends," but there really wasn't anything at all new here to make it stand out. "Serviceable" comes to mind. ( )

Nice adventure with enough twists and turns to keep turning the pages. Good characters. ( )

Draws on recent headlines--terrorist threat, presidential support, bad guys and shoot-em-up. Carmelini skulks around and does plants sneaky wires, Grafton is inscrutable as ever. Grafton's wife is an incredible woman, enduring hardships beyond those of mortal women. The book is politically naive, but who could write an enjoying and excitable book with our gutless politicians. I could not believe what I was reading when one of the victims is murdered by an icicle. Enjoyable and forgettable book. ( )

Abu Qasim, an al Qaeda terrorist leader is on the loose and private industry has banned together under the leadership of CIA operative Jake (what else?) Grafton and his trusty sidekick, Tommy Carmellini, to defeat him. I don't read serials or continuing-character fiction primarily because the author usually has nothing significant to say beyond the first introduction of the story or character. There are exceptions of course: Karen Slaughter and her ongoing cast of characters is one exception; Preston & Child and their odd FBI Special Agent Pendergast; the amazing trilogy by Justin Cronin, "The Passage" and story of Amy being others. So, having not followed Stephen Coonts' Jake Grafton, I can only judge THE ASSASSIN by the content of THE ASSASSIN. My complete review of the book is at my book review blog: http://www.tgblogger.com/?p=176. ( )

It has been too long since I read this kind of novel...or maybe not long enough. It absolutely is NOT my genre! I used to love [Robert Ludlam] and [John Le Carre]--could it be that Coonts is not of the same calibre or is it that I am not as gullible or as easily amused? Whatever, it is pretty horrible to think that even Bush would have allowed a group of over zealous (I want to say adolescent, and though that is clearly not the case you would never know by their behavior) rich patriots to run a CIA op...or that the cadre of dufuses (dufusi?) would include a REPORTER. Gimme a break. But like I said, I shouldn't have read it in the first place, and the book should rather be reviewed by spy thriller aficionados. ( )