Very pedestrian book. It tells the tale of a man who tricks college kids into carrying backpacks around the Mall of America on Black Friday. These backpacks have devices in them that will wirelessly disrupt commerce. But it's a ruse—the backpacks have bombs in them. The majority of the book is about the FBI trying to find the mastermind. It tries to bring in high-level government conspiracies, evil corporate owners, etc. but does so quite poorly. ( )

The plot was certainly real enough but the ending failed to meet the level of the previous books. ( )

Black Friday
3 Stars

Synopsis
Black Friday, the busiest shopping day in America, and three young men are about to wreak havoc by detonating an EMP pulse in the Mall of America. Unbeknownst to them, they are actually pawns in a much larger and deadlier conspiracy that will leave dozens dead and FBI profiler, Maggie O'Dell in a race against time to prevent an even more catastrophic terror attack.

Review
A good premise but the execution is poor and the finale does not deliver.

This is supposed to be a "race against time" scenario but the pace is slow and there is no sense of urgency. The book also finishes with too many loose ends and unanswered questions - As with "A Perfect Evil", I gather we will be seeing more of the villain of this piece.

The writing is choppy with events occurring out of the blue with no exposition or development i.e., Dixon and Becca's sudden rescue by SWAT. The chapters are also very short, often 2-3 pages, which makes it difficult to became engaged with the storyline.

Once again, there is little to no character growth - the cat and mouse between Maggie and Nick is getting old - too many hurt feelings and lack of trust. It is time to either put up or shut up with this relationship. On the other hand, Maggie's half-brother, Patrick Murphy, is given some much needed page time and the sections about him are enjoyable.

One positive aspect of the plot involves the exploration of the John Doe #2 conspiracy theory following the Oklahoma Bombing - as a non-American, this is my first time hearing about this and it added an interesting element to the terrorist plot.

On a final note, the book references numerous events from previous installments and it might be difficult for first time readers of the series to follow.

Overall, a disappointing addition and I hope that the next one will be better. ( )

I really like Alex Kava. Since I listened to this on my ipod, I got through it a lot faster than if I had read it. ( )

FBI profiler Maggie O'Dell is called to Minnesota to deal with a terrorist bombing at the Mall of the Americas on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year. The bombers were three clean-cut college boys carrying red backpacks which, unfortunately and unknown to the young men, contained bombs that were detonated by remote from outside the mall. They had been told that the packs contained nothing more than a jamming device that would interfere with the mall's computers, cash registers and credit card machines, basically nothing more than a well-planned prank. Before the bombs were detonated one of the young men received a phone call that a family member had been rushed to the hospital so he left his backpack with 2 friends one of whom inadvertently left the pack hanging on a door in the ladies restroom. When the 'project manager', as the man with the remote detonator is called, realizes that one of the college kids did not die in the explosion he is quickly on the trail of the kid and his two friends. One of the two friends is Maggie O'Dell's half brother, Patrick. The 'project manager' needs to find them soon as he has another plan for a larger bomb to be detonated in a major US airport in 2 days, the busiest air travel day of the year as families return home after the Thanksgiving holidays. Can Maggie catch the bomber before he finds the 3 young people and stop him before the next bomb is planted?

On the whole this was a very exciting and quickly-paced book. Conspiracy theories abound so the reader is always unsure about who is really behind the bombings. I was a bit disappointed with the ending though, but maybe it means there is a sequel to come.
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