Missions

LOCAL AUTHOR

Unexpected and just a little bit (okay, a lot of bits) exciting. Missions is an international thriller that starts out at a steady pace, giving the reader bits and pieces of information from two sides of a story. Set in France, a realistically horrible depiction of disaster is described when there is a large explosion left with bodies, rubble, and pieces of peoples’ lives scattered all over the sidewalk. Christine DuPont, a French investigator for French intelligence agency DST, has to dig through all of the debris and paperwork to find out what, or rather who caused this massive destruction. Working with the CIA, she is careful to not give up too much information or to take information that would be illegal for the DST to obtain. This makes the relationship between the two agencies very untrusting. As the author inserts character after character into the complex web of a story, the reader also learns about the terrorists and what they have done to prepare for this day. The induction of a man who wants to do right by Allah, the mechanics behind getting the cars needed for that day, and of course, the fact that there are messages that will be transmitted to throw the authorities off the beaten path. DuPont and her team hit what seem to be dead end after dead end. The author does a great job of implanting pieces of information that seem irrelevant to the main plot but bring everything together in the end. Missions is a well-written book with all of the elements needed in a suspenseful thriller. There were even a few bits of humor written in, such as the naming of the different SIM cards and their owners. They were nicknamed Big Mac, Fromage (cheese), and Pommes Frites (French fries). The one aspect of the book that I would have improved on is the number of characters. There were a few characters that could have been left out altogether. Keeping track of all of the characters was a bit difficult at times unless that character has a lot of interaction with the other characters. Alas, this book would not be complete without a major twist towards the end. The author saves the best for last as what seems like an easy ride turns into an unexpected turn of events. The end makes a person want to reread the story because it changes the point of view of the reader and does a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn. Slow and steady with a fabulous twist at the end. Just how I like my thrillers.