January 2, 2006
The titular character of 24-year-old Britton's debut thriller is no patriot. Jason March, a blond al-Qaeda operative with a ferocious grudge against the U.S.A., kicks off an orgy of revenge by blowing up Senate Majority Leader Daniel Levy's motorcade, slaughtering the senator, his aide and assorted Secret Service personnel. Assigned to hunt down this killer is ex-CIA agent Ryan Kealey, March's former commanding officer when they were both Special Forces soldiers in the U.S. Army. While on a secret mission years before, March wounded Kealey and murdered everyone else on the team. Now, Langley sends the uniquely qualified Kealey—along with CIA counterterrorism expert Naomi Kharmai—after the unstoppable killing machine. Other than the mildly interesting March, there's little original material. The evil characters are numbingly familiar—al-Zarqawi and bin Laden loom large—and the usual Arab minions and murderers play out their predictable fictional roles. The writing never rises above the pedestrian: "The sands of the endless desert south of Kabul burned beneath the fiery orb above." Readers open to another formulaic Arab terrorist story may enjoy this one, but anyone looking for something new will find it ordinary and tedious.
Starred review from February 15, 2006
During a secret Middle East mission, Jason March, a South African -born American soldier, traitorously kills the other men in his squad and shoots their leader, Special Forces and CIA veteran Ryan Kealey. Kealey shoots back and survives. When an unknown assassin later kills a U.S. senator and scores of bystanders, Kealey discovers that March, too, has survived. Through direct contact with the director of al Qaeda plus Iranian funding, March now plans to kill the U.S. President, and Kealey is likely to use any means to stop him. Britton, just 24, offers an impressive first novel. His army background explains his skilled use of military and weapons terminology, but it is his considerable writing talent that brings this rip-roaring plot to life. Like Tom Clancy, he has produced a thriller that makes current terrorist threats all too real, in part by graphically depicting the behind-the-scenes world of spies, clandestine agencies, and everyday terrorists. Highly recommended for all suspense collections. ["The American" is the first of three thrillers to feature Ryan Kealey. -Ed.]" -Roland Person, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale"
Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
February 1, 2006
This debut thriller by a 24-year-old author stars an unconventional CIA agent who must track down a renegade former comrade-in-arms. Ryan Kealey, the hero, is a tough, embittered ex-CIA agent; he is engaging enough but hardly original. Jason March, the former U.S. soldier now allied with terrorists, is appropriately villainous, but, again, we've seen his like before. And the story itself, while solidly structured, doesn't stray much from formula. Is it a bad book? Not at all: it's a well-told tale, and Britton shows a great deal of promise. If his next novel is more inventive than his first, that promise may be realized.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)