To the Death

My 1 second review of this book – its terrible. But that\’s not why I write this. I *finally* realized why the recent half a dozen books from Patrick Robinson have been so horrible that they should be required reading for the prisoners in Guantanamo. Its because of the dialogue!! It took me so long to realize that when people in Robinson\’s books speak (this one, and any other), its like they are from another planet. *No one* and I mean no one talks like how his characters talk. Its like the skits we used to make up in grade school. One line follows another, and the adults all have a laugh. The reason I absolutely loved Nimitz Class, and Kilo Class was because Robinson was displaying his mastery in full effect – naval warfare and tactics. When he comes to the realm of something that I have expertise in (like talking to normal people), he fails miserably. It becomes instantly transparent that here is a non-native (to America) trying to write a novel, imagining how the natives talk. Good lord. Even the English and the Irish in his books when they open their mouth don\’t sound like any people I would recognize on this earth. Yep. That\’s it. When his books have people talking – they suck bad. When they don\’t – they are brilliant. Get the hint, Patrick?

Perhaps it helps not to have read any of Patrick Robinson\’s previous novels, as some on here seem to be comparing this book to earlier ones in the series in an unfavorable manner. I liked this novel and I liked it a lot and I will probably pick up some of the earlier efforts in due time, but notwithstanding that I found this to be right in the genre of Vince Flynn and others and a very good stand alone read. The characters of the Hamas asassins, General Ravi Rashood and his wife Shakira are well drawn and I found them very believable both as to their motivation and their conduct. Shakira\’s part of the book as she traveled to the United States and then to Ireland and England were very well written. Admiral Morgan has been developed in other books, apparently, but enough is disclosed of his character to assist the reader in understanding his attitude, intellect and temperment. There simply is a lot about this story and the way it is told to hold the reader and make this a page turner and I recommend it to any who are fans of this type of modern day thriller.

Patrick Robinson has had a great run with Admiral Arnold Morgan. His crabby protangonist has grown tired saving the United States from various and sundry enemies. To The Death is intended to be the coda to Morgan\’s tale. Unfortunately, Robinson should have put Morgan to bed one book ago. To The Death starts out strongly. A terror attack on Logan Airport, some torture in Guantanamo, then a nice bombing in Syria. Things are looking great. However, looks are deceiving. By page 80 or so, To The Death dies! The rapid fire action and dialogue we have come to love disappears. Even a submarine cameo can\’t bring To The Death back to life. In a situation similar to Joel Rosenberg\’s Dead Heat, Robinson faces the dilemna of maintaining action while ending a series. He can\’t introduce new characters, he can\’t create new plot lines, he can\’t leave any loose ends. So, To The Death becomes, almost by necessity, a slow march to the grave. I would strongly urge new Robinson readers to go back to the beginning. Read Kilo Class and all the early volumes in the series. Then pretend To The Death was never written and create your own ending to Morgan\’s duties. Not only will you be able to create a better tale than Robinson did here, you will also save yourself 20 bucks.

This book concludes a fairly long running series of books. I was somewhat disappointed that Mr. Robinson strayed from what he is great at: submarines. But that said this was a good book. The criticism about political commentary is overblown, there just is not that much in this book. The book moves along fairly well. The only real criticism I have is in the middle of the book when we know that the Israeli commandos will fail since there are a couple hundred pages to go, but most authors do that. All in all more a political thriller, not his usual sub thriller but still worth a read. It would be worthwhile to read the books that begin the series to really see the background of the antagonists.

Having been an avid reader of all Patrick Robinson\’s books I do not feel that this is one of his better works. Perhaps it was because there was perhaps a bit too much padding out of the story line when writing about the scenery that Ravi and Shakira were driving through while in England but it did not hold my attention like his previous novels which were brilliant. Perhaps the next one will be better.

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