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Lies #1
Sea of Lies
Malaysia Airlines MH370 Hijacked!
A burned out codebreaker. Incriminating stolen NSA files. A maniacal ex-Ranger. A sultry spy master. The violent intersection of spies and politics thrusts an aging CIA codebreaker into a desperate race across Burma, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Australia. Crisp dialog drives non-stop realistic action across sweaty, sensual and brutal Asia. Interwoven plots deliver four climaxes in the first installment of the Countless Lies espionage and spy thrillers series.
The next eight days will see a war fought, a regime toppled, and lives upended as Nolan runs for his life, tries to protect his family, and unspools a dark web of murder and treason.
Fans of Sea of Lies
"This is a remarkable espionage thriller with more twists, turns and layers than Gordian's Knot. The author cleverly weaves together seemingly disparate storylines that ricochet across Asia and the Middle East. He clearly knows his way around Asia on all kinds of levels which makes the book all the more fun."
Former Expat in Asia, Amazon—5 Stars
“This is a cracking read, and an extraordinary debut. The research is meticulous, making you feel like you are actually in South East Asia, and the plot and characters are well developed.”
AJ, Amazon—5 Stars
“Sea of Lies is a tireless thriller that will leave you happily breathless through its pace, twists, sub-plots and detail. Brad West has written a cracker. Set, mostly, in the Asian tropics, the novel will transport you to the sweaty, sultry yet brutal landscape; with all its violence and sex.”
Shantanu, Goodreads—5 Stars
“Sea of Lies is terrific. I'm a huge fan of Tom Clancy, but this story is faster paced than Clancy's novels, which makes it a true page turner. And I was very impressed with West's technical knowledge of IT, security, and weapons, including nuclear programs. Can't wait for the sequel!”
Amazon Customer, Amazon—5 Stars
“Loved this book. Great locations, accurate details. I hate it when authors don't really have an understanding of where their novels take place. The characters are relatable, likeable and unlikeable.”
Melanie Peterson, Amazon—5 Stars
“Sea of Lies is a military thriller of the highest order. West narrates a fast paced fictional account on what may have happened to MH 370 drawing up on years of research on clandestine military developments in the region - starting from the Phoenix program in Vietnam to modern day tensions surrounding the South China Sea. West in his first attempt comes very close to the impact achieved by my all-time favorite, Forsyth's Day of the Jackal.”
Chanakya Dissanayake, Amazon—5 Stars
“Sea of Lies hits the Bull's Eye as an edge-of-your seat spy thriller. Studded with both classic Spy-Lit characters out of the CIA/NSA playbook and some original and highly believable espionage personalities from Southeast Asia and China, West's story flies along at a manic clip, flipping between numerous sub-plots stretching from the jungles of Myanmar to the Canadian mountains and the Australian outback. He brings them together in a massive denouement that tackles conspiracy theories and tragic current events, making both his story and the complex characters both extraordinary and believable. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel, and predict a motion picture version of the story, with Tom Hanks (think of his performance in "The Da Vinci Code") getting my vote for the star role.”
Hogi Hyun, Amazon—4 Stars
“A fact packed thriller taking the reader on a breathtaking ride through South East Asia, China and the clandestine world of global espionage. It's not just the excitement of the story itself but above all the minute details and facts with which the author keeps the reader glued to the pages that make this a MUST read. Hollywood - take note!”
Gobin AL, Amazon—5 Stars
“I challenge anyone to try and put this down having read the first page ... outstanding. I still can’t figure out why I was pulling for cheatin' Bob to end up in the arms of sexy spy Kaili, but this outstanding piece of fiction will challenge all your conventional thoughts!”
Amazon Customer, Amazon—5 Stars
“Mr. West is on his way to becoming a Best Selling Author: His novel reads like an insider’s view of REAL Deal International Espionage. I bought this as a gift to a friend! Yes it is that good!”
John Carl Roat, Amazon—5 Stars
“Best book I've read in a long time. Great action packed story ... couldn’t finish it fast enough.”
Michelle Salmick, Amazon—5 Stars
“I am reading the book when I wake up, in between meetings, before dinner, before I sleep. Superb writing and excellent research as well as a believable plot.”
Norman Macasaet, Amazon—5 Stars
Fans of Jack Ryan Jr., Alex Berenson/ John Wells and Far East crime thrillers will appreciate Sea of Lies.
A burned out codebreaker. Incriminating stolen NSA files. A maniacal ex-Ranger. A sultry spy master. The violent intersection of spies and politics thrusts an aging CIA codebreaker into a desperate race across Burma, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Australia. Crisp dialog drives non-stop realistic action across sweaty, sensual and brutal Asia. Interwoven plots deliver four climaxes in the first installment of the Countless Lies espionage and spy thrillers series.
The next eight days will see a war fought, a regime toppled, and lives upended as Nolan runs for his life, tries to protect his family, and unspools a dark web of murder and treason.
Fans of Sea of Lies
"This is a remarkable espionage thriller with more twists, turns and layers than Gordian's Knot. The author cleverly weaves together seemingly disparate storylines that ricochet across Asia and the Middle East. He clearly knows his way around Asia on all kinds of levels which makes the book all the more fun."
Former Expat in Asia, Amazon—5 Stars
“This is a cracking read, and an extraordinary debut. The research is meticulous, making you feel like you are actually in South East Asia, and the plot and characters are well developed.”
AJ, Amazon—5 Stars
“Sea of Lies is a tireless thriller that will leave you happily breathless through its pace, twists, sub-plots and detail. Brad West has written a cracker. Set, mostly, in the Asian tropics, the novel will transport you to the sweaty, sultry yet brutal landscape; with all its violence and sex.”
Shantanu, Goodreads—5 Stars
“Sea of Lies is terrific. I'm a huge fan of Tom Clancy, but this story is faster paced than Clancy's novels, which makes it a true page turner. And I was very impressed with West's technical knowledge of IT, security, and weapons, including nuclear programs. Can't wait for the sequel!”
Amazon Customer, Amazon—5 Stars
“Loved this book. Great locations, accurate details. I hate it when authors don't really have an understanding of where their novels take place. The characters are relatable, likeable and unlikeable.”
Melanie Peterson, Amazon—5 Stars
“Sea of Lies is a military thriller of the highest order. West narrates a fast paced fictional account on what may have happened to MH 370 drawing up on years of research on clandestine military developments in the region - starting from the Phoenix program in Vietnam to modern day tensions surrounding the South China Sea. West in his first attempt comes very close to the impact achieved by my all-time favorite, Forsyth's Day of the Jackal.”
Chanakya Dissanayake, Amazon—5 Stars
“Sea of Lies hits the Bull's Eye as an edge-of-your seat spy thriller. Studded with both classic Spy-Lit characters out of the CIA/NSA playbook and some original and highly believable espionage personalities from Southeast Asia and China, West's story flies along at a manic clip, flipping between numerous sub-plots stretching from the jungles of Myanmar to the Canadian mountains and the Australian outback. He brings them together in a massive denouement that tackles conspiracy theories and tragic current events, making both his story and the complex characters both extraordinary and believable. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel, and predict a motion picture version of the story, with Tom Hanks (think of his performance in "The Da Vinci Code") getting my vote for the star role.”
Hogi Hyun, Amazon—4 Stars
“A fact packed thriller taking the reader on a breathtaking ride through South East Asia, China and the clandestine world of global espionage. It's not just the excitement of the story itself but above all the minute details and facts with which the author keeps the reader glued to the pages that make this a MUST read. Hollywood - take note!”
Gobin AL, Amazon—5 Stars
“I challenge anyone to try and put this down having read the first page ... outstanding. I still can’t figure out why I was pulling for cheatin' Bob to end up in the arms of sexy spy Kaili, but this outstanding piece of fiction will challenge all your conventional thoughts!”
Amazon Customer, Amazon—5 Stars
“Mr. West is on his way to becoming a Best Selling Author: His novel reads like an insider’s view of REAL Deal International Espionage. I bought this as a gift to a friend! Yes it is that good!”
John Carl Roat, Amazon—5 Stars
“Best book I've read in a long time. Great action packed story ... couldn’t finish it fast enough.”
Michelle Salmick, Amazon—5 Stars
“I am reading the book when I wake up, in between meetings, before dinner, before I sleep. Superb writing and excellent research as well as a believable plot.”
Norman Macasaet, Amazon—5 Stars
Fans of Jack Ryan Jr., Alex Berenson/ John Wells and Far East crime thrillers will appreciate Sea of Lies.
- GenresThriller
548 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 5, 2016
About the author
Bradley West
6 books33 followersI've been blogging and writing full-time since 2014. After the Countless Lies trilogy concluded in 2019 with End of Lies, I took a year off as the sinister activities and mysteries on offer didn’t fuel my conspirator’s imagination. Starting in the second quarter of 2020, Singapore shut down along with most of the rest of the world. The combination of Covid-19’s unclear origins and a hermit’s lifestyle rekindled the writing bug and Dark Cure was the result.
There’s only a single major character overlap between Countless Lies and Dark Cure, so existing readers will have a new set of personalities to sink their teeth into. The timing is July 2020 and the setting is the San Francisco Bay Area. Covid-19 mutates into an even deadlier form, an experimental treatment confers immunity on a dying mother-to-be, mercenaries kidnap the baby to siphon his blood and we’re off to the races. The book takes place over a week and it’s an easy read that delivers plenty of intrigue, family tension, and action sequences against the backdrop of the U.S. in collapse.
The second book Hard Road appeared in the summer of 2021 and The Haven comes out in August 2022
* * * * *
I’m originally from Ohio but after a student stopover in London, I headed East and here I’ve stayed for thirty-nine years. Along the way, I’ve been fortunate enough to live mostly in Singapore but also logged many years in Hong Kong with stops in Kuala Lumpur, Bangalore and Colombo.
My fiction is the culmination of nagging doubts dating back over thirty years. In 1985 a leading Asia newspaper alleged that my housemate was the Singapore CIA chief of station. This came as news to both of us. I have questioned appearances versus reality ever since.
I’m a keen mountain biker, former baseball coach and avid fisherman. I enjoy red wine, dark chocolate and raucous friends around the table. If you’d like to connect, I’m on Twitter @TrueLiesBlog. I’m also on Facebook under Bradley West, Author.
There’s only a single major character overlap between Countless Lies and Dark Cure, so existing readers will have a new set of personalities to sink their teeth into. The timing is July 2020 and the setting is the San Francisco Bay Area. Covid-19 mutates into an even deadlier form, an experimental treatment confers immunity on a dying mother-to-be, mercenaries kidnap the baby to siphon his blood and we’re off to the races. The book takes place over a week and it’s an easy read that delivers plenty of intrigue, family tension, and action sequences against the backdrop of the U.S. in collapse.
The second book Hard Road appeared in the summer of 2021 and The Haven comes out in August 2022
* * * * *
I’m originally from Ohio but after a student stopover in London, I headed East and here I’ve stayed for thirty-nine years. Along the way, I’ve been fortunate enough to live mostly in Singapore but also logged many years in Hong Kong with stops in Kuala Lumpur, Bangalore and Colombo.
My fiction is the culmination of nagging doubts dating back over thirty years. In 1985 a leading Asia newspaper alleged that my housemate was the Singapore CIA chief of station. This came as news to both of us. I have questioned appearances versus reality ever since.
I’m a keen mountain biker, former baseball coach and avid fisherman. I enjoy red wine, dark chocolate and raucous friends around the table. If you’d like to connect, I’m on Twitter @TrueLiesBlog. I’m also on Facebook under Bradley West, Author.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
July 18, 2016
A fact packed thriller taking the reader on a breathtaking ride through South East Asia, China and the clandestine world of global espionage. Throughout the book, the reader picks up facts about a world where East meets West that must have taken the author years to research and compile. It's not just the excitement of the story itself but above all the minute details and facts with which the author keeps the reader glued to the pages that make this a MUST read. Some of those details perhaps unnecessary to advance the story itself, but essential for an atmosphere of believable reality and highly educational.
The research is so good that I would not hesitate a second to believe that the author himself might actually have crawled and crab-walked along Singapore's storm drains to form a better picture when he describes his protagonist Bob Nolan from doing the same. Similarly with some of the other situations in which Nolan finds himself that night and throughout the book.
As a result Bob Nolan comes alive as a realistic hero with the intellectual capability and passion of a Secret Agent combined with the vulnerability of a mid-level employee worried about his family, his survival and retirement.
The reader can only fear that after such a strong and fascinating first publication, the author has used up all of his knowledge and a follow-up will either take decades to complete or descend into a wave of repetitions. Sea of Lies is such a wonderful Fiction that almost morphs into reality.
If the author can avoid this sophomore slump then we might see in Bob Nolan the beginning of a secret agent reflecting the insecurity of our current century and ranking in fame with those invulnerable heroes from the previous one such as James Bond, Harry Palmer, Ethan Hunt, and Jason Bourne.
Hollywood - take note !
The research is so good that I would not hesitate a second to believe that the author himself might actually have crawled and crab-walked along Singapore's storm drains to form a better picture when he describes his protagonist Bob Nolan from doing the same. Similarly with some of the other situations in which Nolan finds himself that night and throughout the book.
As a result Bob Nolan comes alive as a realistic hero with the intellectual capability and passion of a Secret Agent combined with the vulnerability of a mid-level employee worried about his family, his survival and retirement.
The reader can only fear that after such a strong and fascinating first publication, the author has used up all of his knowledge and a follow-up will either take decades to complete or descend into a wave of repetitions. Sea of Lies is such a wonderful Fiction that almost morphs into reality.
If the author can avoid this sophomore slump then we might see in Bob Nolan the beginning of a secret agent reflecting the insecurity of our current century and ranking in fame with those invulnerable heroes from the previous one such as James Bond, Harry Palmer, Ethan Hunt, and Jason Bourne.
Hollywood - take note !
June 10, 2016
Sea of Lies hits a Bull's Eye as an edge-of-your seat spy thriller. Studded with both classic Spy-Lit characters out of the CIA/NSA playbook and some original and highly believable espionage personalities from Southeast Asia and China, West's story flies along at a manic clip, flipping between numerous sub-plots stretching from the jungles of Myanmar to the Canadian mountains and then off to the Australian outback. Be brings far flung places people and places together in a massive denouement that tackles conspiracy theories and tragic current events, making his story, as well as the complex characters that populate it, both extraordinary and believable. Good guys act bad, bad guys do good, the villain thinks he means well while the hero stumbles forward, studded with flaws that make him all too human but eminently credible. I haven't flipped through chapters consecutively as religiously since an addiction to the adventures of Keifer Sutherland in 24. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel, and predict a motion picture version of the story, with Tom Hanks (think of his performance in "The Da Vinci Code") getting my vote for the star role. Read it.
June 16, 2016
A page-turner centered around Asia that is so thoroughly researched that I was entertained and educated in equal measure as I got drawn deeper into the fast-paced plot. Mr. West weaves in fact and fiction with consummate skill, and left this breathless reader wondering what was true and what was imagined. While a few characters, and their motives, could have been developed a bit more, on the whole, the plot, the pace, the main characters, and the research, made this book difficult to put down for the better part of a week!
I particularly liked the authentic depiction of the geography, the culture, the geo-politics, the people of Asia by someone who has lived it; about time Asia had more story tellers as gifted as Brad West. I enjoyed the 'Sea of Lies' and I believe that fans of historical thrillers and of stories based on real world events will do so too.
I particularly liked the authentic depiction of the geography, the culture, the geo-politics, the people of Asia by someone who has lived it; about time Asia had more story tellers as gifted as Brad West. I enjoyed the 'Sea of Lies' and I believe that fans of historical thrillers and of stories based on real world events will do so too.
June 13, 2016
An exceptionally well-researched, fast-paced thriller. This read is a real thrill for the conspiracy lover, tying together unanswered questions from across Asia from the past decade or so in a credible and interconnected web. The characters are three-dimensional, and many will ring true to type for long-time Asia residents. The locations are meticulously detailed as well, providing a guided tour through Southeast Asia. The novel is so well-grounded in fact that you can't help but wonder if it all might not be a little but true. An excellent first work!
June 13, 2016
This is scintillating stuff! Conspiracy theorists will definitely get excited as the evidence mounts page by page, while there’s plenty of shoot‘em ups and hot pillow action to keep any reader excited and ready for more. Patriots, good and bad, abound, but ultimately doing what’s right and revealing the truth, regardless of the risks and consequences, is what sets apart this story’s real heroes. A gritty, no-holds-barred page-turner and researched to the hilt, this book is probably disturbingly too close to reality to stay available for long!
May 7, 2016
I was privileged to get a pre-publishing review copy: I believe Mr. West is on his way to becoming a Best Selling Author: His novel reads like and insiders view of REAL Deal International Espionage. It is written as the first book of a trilogy that include; PACK OF LIES and END OF LIES. Mr. West knows his topic and has built his cast of characters as believable players in the game international of espionage!
Check out his webpage: http://bradleywest.net/sea-of-lies/
Check out his webpage: http://bradleywest.net/sea-of-lies/
June 12, 2016
I know from experience that Brad West has incorporated accurate historical events and characters in a fascinating part of the world and woven these events into an exciting, fast-moving plot--this is a terrific read. This story will grab and demand your attention. Read it and you will be anxious for the next in this series ... Jim Hawes
June 14, 2016
Sea of Lies is a captivating read and it speaks well of the author that he keeps the reader interested and involved in Bob Nolan, its chief protagonist despite wishing to disembowel him in several of the chapters. The depth of detail in the book is very impressive and makes the plot line entirely believable.
June 15, 2016
A fast paced book which takes some great twists and turns. There is a deep level of detail without interfering with the flow. The characters are well developed and draw you in, rooting for the good guys and hating the bad guys. And there is a believability to this book - all this could have happened.
June 25, 2016
This is a cracking read, and an extraordinary debut. The research is meticulous, making you feel like you are actually in South East Asia, and the plot and characters are well developed. I was hooked from a few pages in (my usual point with a good thriller) and couldn't put the book down, reading it more or less in one go. I'm looking forward avidly to the next book from Bradley West. Bravo.
July 27, 2016
Intricate but fast paced with colourful characters. The story is exciting and well written and carries you through to the end. The author packs a lot of information in, which makes the book a little dense in parts but the story is so well written that it is barely noticeable.
July 30, 2016
Thrilling
A suspenseful mystery that kept you reading until the, although that was a " good old boy" finish. Aware that their is friction between agencies and staff's, but would like to believe, not as bad as portrayed.
A suspenseful mystery that kept you reading until the, although that was a " good old boy" finish. Aware that their is friction between agencies and staff's, but would like to believe, not as bad as portrayed.
August 22, 2016
Tensions on every page
Definitely in a class with Ludlum and Le Carre. Highly recommended contemporary thriller with lots of 3-letter agencies and most of the world's evil countries involved.
Definitely in a class with Ludlum and Le Carre. Highly recommended contemporary thriller with lots of 3-letter agencies and most of the world's evil countries involved.
August 20, 2016
Epic, in grab your eyes and keep reading.
I read for pleasure, I want to be entertained. I got the full Monty. Shaw kept a whole slew of balls in the and didn't drop a one. Throughly entertaining. I really hope to see more of his work.
I read for pleasure, I want to be entertained. I got the full Monty. Shaw kept a whole slew of balls in the and didn't drop a one. Throughly entertaining. I really hope to see more of his work.
May 29, 2017
Well this was well thought out and well written conspiracy espionage thriller! The whole story was something out of a Hollywood movie playing out scripts on each page! That Bob Nolan is a SOB if I might say so. He's damn blessed to still have his balls in tact after the two week fuckery he endured. I've known a hero of a conspiracy story get laid so much cheating, and still gets a happy ending? How Sway? Lol. There was alot of military jargon I understood being ex Navy, but some of the acronyms were doing too much on the eyes and went over my head! But in all this was a awesome read!
July 24, 2023
This paperback was 644 pages and marked, advanced reader copy, but, not the gratis kind - I bought it from Thrift Books. Been trying to get a copy for years. Worth the wait. Airships, guns, a train, a bicycle, hand to hand fighting, digital & other operational aspects of surviving as an intelligence agent, civilian side of the US government, how the US government operates overseas, the hospitality industry, what some American GIs get involved in when they don't want to go back to the States after a war. That's just some of the action. Kept my attention. Definitely needed editing.
September 4, 2017
'Sea of Lies' is not just for the tin foil hat brigade. It is a compelling action cocktail involving security services, dirty politics and individuals (some of whom are more or less rogue), The facet of the book I most enjoyed was the way that the author interweaves factual events with imaginative (but nonetheless plausible) fiction. Nobody - or perhaps I should say, 'almost nobody' - knows what happened to MH370; and Bradley West has cooked up a mighty fine stew around this modern-day mystery.
February 3, 2018
If MH370 didn’t disappear, “Sea of Lies” would have been a perfect thriller. Unfortunately it seems that after this Boeing 777 vanished almost four years ago, this novel is very close to reality.
“It was a hijack”.
Who did it and why? It remains a mystery.
What is also disturbing is the attitude of Chinese authorities who didn’t do or say much.
The crucial question is spelt out early in the book: “Do we have the passenger list and cargo manifests yet?”
“It was a hijack”.
Who did it and why? It remains a mystery.
What is also disturbing is the attitude of Chinese authorities who didn’t do or say much.
The crucial question is spelt out early in the book: “Do we have the passenger list and cargo manifests yet?”
October 15, 2017
AWESOME! Hooked from the very start and held my full attention with every page. WOW!!!
January 17, 2018
Great book
A, fun and entertaining read. Just, complex enough to keep you on your toes. And as always he. Highlights the difficulty and irony it takes to work in the CIA.
A, fun and entertaining read. Just, complex enough to keep you on your toes. And as always he. Highlights the difficulty and irony it takes to work in the CIA.
June 14, 2016
Ambitious and fun with a page-turning plot and realistic, multi-dimensional characters. Credible as alternative history. I score the author's portion five stars upon five. Only three stars for the editing which resulted in a final product with 20 to 30 per cent too many pages. My sense is that the editors focused on the details - for instance, preventing typo's; ensuring that the prose reads well at a sentence and paragraph-level. On the other hand, according to me, the editing missed the big picture of slimming the narrative down to a less daunting 450-500 pages.
There may be no hard-and-fast rule about book-length for stories in the international conspiracy-thriller genre. By comparison though, Barry Eisler's John Rain books tend to be 300-400 pages; Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon books are a bit longer at 400-450 pages; even classics like Frederick Forsythe's Day of the Jackal, Fourth Protocol, etc. top-out below 450 pages.
If this book were a male-athlete I would describe him as impressively strong but flabby and out-of-shape. Dropping back to playing-weight would preserve strength while increasing quickness, agility and athleticism.
The core of Sea of Lies is fine. The editing challenge lies in the considerable extraneous context. On a macro-level, there are simply too many of what I call "fun facts to know and tell" that aren't strictly necessary to advancing the narrative. At a micro-level, the author over-uses his strength of providing colour. Because adding too much of anything is . . . well, simply too much.
Using a colouring-book analogy, the author could have done a brilliant job already with just the standard 8-pack of Crayola Crayons. But the temptation of having the deluxe 64-colours package resulted in way too many adjectives and adverbs. Creatively and inventively used in many cases, sure. But if the language is a contest, then winning means writing much more tightly. Less can be more!
Closing the way that I began, I scored the writing 5-stars. Brad West is a writing talent and I look forward to reading more from him. My concern is that the physical size (paper-back) and overall length (all genres including e-books) of Sea of Lies may scare off casual impulse buyers. Those are the sort of reader who grabs a book to read on the flight from the departure-terminal book-kiosk.
There may be no hard-and-fast rule about book-length for stories in the international conspiracy-thriller genre. By comparison though, Barry Eisler's John Rain books tend to be 300-400 pages; Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon books are a bit longer at 400-450 pages; even classics like Frederick Forsythe's Day of the Jackal, Fourth Protocol, etc. top-out below 450 pages.
If this book were a male-athlete I would describe him as impressively strong but flabby and out-of-shape. Dropping back to playing-weight would preserve strength while increasing quickness, agility and athleticism.
The core of Sea of Lies is fine. The editing challenge lies in the considerable extraneous context. On a macro-level, there are simply too many of what I call "fun facts to know and tell" that aren't strictly necessary to advancing the narrative. At a micro-level, the author over-uses his strength of providing colour. Because adding too much of anything is . . . well, simply too much.
Using a colouring-book analogy, the author could have done a brilliant job already with just the standard 8-pack of Crayola Crayons. But the temptation of having the deluxe 64-colours package resulted in way too many adjectives and adverbs. Creatively and inventively used in many cases, sure. But if the language is a contest, then winning means writing much more tightly. Less can be more!
Closing the way that I began, I scored the writing 5-stars. Brad West is a writing talent and I look forward to reading more from him. My concern is that the physical size (paper-back) and overall length (all genres including e-books) of Sea of Lies may scare off casual impulse buyers. Those are the sort of reader who grabs a book to read on the flight from the departure-terminal book-kiosk.
October 12, 2016
The author clearly has a talent for writing, but this book is too wordy. I think using a professional editor would have improved the readability. It might also have picked up some of the misspellings and grammatical errors, although I have used professional editors and eagle eyed friends to catch my errors and some still slip through. I do think, however, a good editor would have downsized the book.
Unlike most suspense/mystery fiction I read, there was no "hook" in Chapter 1. So, from the beginning, I didn't understand the seemingly high priority international intrigue over the disappearance of Flight 370. I understood who Bob Nolan was, but not why his and other lives were being put at risk by the CIA. As I got more into the book, the number of characters and side plots became overwhelming and I slowly lost track who the characters were, where they were, and where the book was headed. It became difficult to plow on.
I note that there are two more books in the works. Good, the talent should be nourished.
Unlike most suspense/mystery fiction I read, there was no "hook" in Chapter 1. So, from the beginning, I didn't understand the seemingly high priority international intrigue over the disappearance of Flight 370. I understood who Bob Nolan was, but not why his and other lives were being put at risk by the CIA. As I got more into the book, the number of characters and side plots became overwhelming and I slowly lost track who the characters were, where they were, and where the book was headed. It became difficult to plow on.
I note that there are two more books in the works. Good, the talent should be nourished.
June 28, 2016
SoL is a tireless thriller that will leave you happily breathless through its pace, twists, sub-plots and detail. Brad West has written a cracker. Set, mostly, in the Asian tropics, the novel will transport you to the sweaty, sultry yet brutal landscape; with all its violence and sex. It will very credibly link CIA whistle blowers to a kidnap plot to the disappearance of MH370, which is then the heart of the entire plot. While it is fairly obvious that the author has spent a lot of time in Asia, its is admirable that he has internalized the cultural nuances such that they flow effortlessly. In addition, his descriptions of the inner workings of the myriad intelligence companies working in Asia, is credible and detailed. This is crucial to the novel as it draws one deeper into a world they have not seen and in the end that is what makes SoL work. The characters are maybe a tad too many for some, but that does not impede the plot in any way. Cant wait for the sequel!!
February 11, 2017
Unfortunately I did not get on with this book at all. Usually I enjoy this genre and so I was excited to be allowed to review an ARC copy via NetGalley.
At first I struggled with all the acronyms and then it became more confusing as the number of characters (and where they fitted in the scheme of things) mushroomed. Added to this I didn’t really like Bob Nolan, I found him rather smug but not in a James Bond way.
I did like the additional data that was provided by the book but it became a chore to constantly refer back to the list of characters, the acronyms and everything else before resuming the story.
Once I realised that I didn’t actually care enough about the plot, or the characters, I abandoned the book. This is something I very rarely do as I always hope that it is my lack rather than the book’s and that I will reach the point where I am eager to continue.
Sorry Mr West, but this one just wasn’t for me.
At first I struggled with all the acronyms and then it became more confusing as the number of characters (and where they fitted in the scheme of things) mushroomed. Added to this I didn’t really like Bob Nolan, I found him rather smug but not in a James Bond way.
I did like the additional data that was provided by the book but it became a chore to constantly refer back to the list of characters, the acronyms and everything else before resuming the story.
Once I realised that I didn’t actually care enough about the plot, or the characters, I abandoned the book. This is something I very rarely do as I always hope that it is my lack rather than the book’s and that I will reach the point where I am eager to continue.
Sorry Mr West, but this one just wasn’t for me.
December 30, 2016
The action in each chapter is fast-paced and keeps moving the plot forward. The plot revolves around the mystery surrounding the disappearance of MH370, and a military-inspired conspiracy theory involving CIA, rogue agents, and politics surrounding the South China Sea. The plot is driven by the protagonist, Bob Nolan, who is the unlikely, and somewhat reluctant investigator of this plot, who attempts to cut through the mystery that shrouds MH370. The story is made more believable through the characters that are relatable, while the setting of the events that occur are familiar, thus evoking feelings as the reader can connect viscerally with the protagonist's struggles and movements through actual physical places.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 16, 2016
Drips with authenticity, and applies a dry humour that nips at the heels of Asian aspects you’re interested in, but really never want to have to visit. A conspiracy yarn that avoids breathlessness. I thought, “author may have made it up, but I bet that IS the way they roll.” Will try the next in the series, if it comes. Yes, a bit long.
August 17, 2016
Whew! I'm exhausted. Quite an outstanding read.
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