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There are currently 24 member reviews
for Sentinel
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Catharine L. (Petoskey,
not a page turner
I really tried to like it because I enjoy spy/political thrillers (authors Olen Steinhauer, Alan Furst), but this left me cold. The main character, Will Cochran, has no personality. He and the other characters seemed one dimensional. The story itself was interesting - rogue Russian agent setting off a nuclear bomb that would be blamed on the U.S. and war would result. But the buildup was not exciting - 18 pages describing the tracking of a defecting U.S. sailor - boring. Detailed descriptions of weapons - boring. I would rather have a complex storyline with interesting characters.
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Georgette I. (Oxford, GA)
Sentinel
If you are familiar with the spy novel genre via Clancy, Le Carre and Ludlum etc., “Sentinel” by Matthew Dunn will disappoint. Although the book starts off with a bang, it quickly becomes one very long and tedious road trip. Traveling miles and miles of desolate, frozen roads from Ukraine to Russia both on foot and in cars occupies most of the novel. Granted, there are the usual forgers and counterfeiters, agents from various intelligence agencies, and double-crossers but their characters are undeveloped and pretty much left behind as the main character, an M16 field officer attempts to stop a war between Russia and the United States. The premise of the plot is not very believable and the surprise ending really isn’t much of a surprise. Hope that Dunn’s next Spy Catcher is more adept.
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Elizabeth L. (Salem, Oregon)
A Big Disappointment
The author may have the skills needed to write a report for one of his 70 successful missions (per the back cover) but he does not have the ones needed to write a novel. I found myself wincing at his phrasing and sentence construction on nearly every page and thus found it very hard to get into the story.
Luckily the plot was the same stone cold killer, super strategist and sexual dynamo with a (sadly alienated) heart of gold that I've read many times before - see Jason Bourne, Jack Reacher, etc. - so I didn't have to expend much brain power in following along. The one thing I didn't see coming was that the Will was a deer whisperer (pg. 149); a first in this genre!
