Brad Thor’s: The Lions of Lucerne

book-binding-mustreadIt’s always exciting to discover a new author, and I have certainly found one worth following, all thanks to Brad Thor’s The Lions of Lucerne. In the snowy recesses of Utah, the President of the United States is captured, while his entire Secret Service detail is massacred. Scot Harvath, ex-Navy SEAL, is the lone survivor of the attack, and finds himself travelling to the remote mountains of Switzerland in pursuit of the attackers. There, he teams up with the Swiss Federal Attorney’s Office’s agent Claudia Mueller, and begins his trek into the mountains in search of an organization of killers so skilled that they are of legendary status.

I have to say, I am extremely pleased that I found The Lions of Lucerne. As a thriller, it has everything it needs to be on par with the works of the genre: large setpiece moments, fast-paced action, and a hero that practically oozes coolness. What makes this novel stand out is the amount of realistic detail that Thor puts into the world. The book just plain feels like a high-profile mystery with some historical elements thrown in: think The Da Vinci Code, but with a bit less historical data and a good deal more action. Also, it is fairly believable. Besides the fact that the plot details a secret society of killers (which is, truthfully, entirely plausible), everything feels like it could really happen. Thinking back, I don’t really remember any moments where I stopped and said, “Now, there is NO way that person can still be alive.” That being said, the general setting of the novel appears huge, in terms of dramatic presentation. Climbing massie mountains in order to find a secret society’s lair seems like the kind of thing that is just a little too larger-than-life. But if you are like me, you will still find yourself completely engrossed every step of Harvath’s journey. As a character, Harvath is actually deeper than I expected. I can’t say too much about his past without giving some spoilers, but I will say that he is not just another slick agent, always one step ahead of the badguys. In short, he is written to be human and relatable, and Thor succeeds in making him such.

If you like military thrillers or mysteries, then you really owe it to yourself to check out Brad Thor’s The Lions of Lucerne. I won’t say that it is my favorite thriller (that honor still belongs to Matthew Reilly’s Seven Deadly Wonders), but it is a surprisingly fun and engaging novel in a genre that is too often saturated by mediocre writing. I will definitely be checking out the other novels in the Scot Harvath series, and I strongly advocate that other thriller/mystery fans do the same.

Source: Jake Depew, Assistant Editor