After two books about the expected terrorists of the time (the series started shortly after 9/11 and in these years, terrorist meant only one thing for most Americans), the third novel in the series goes back to the familiar enemy - the Russians.

Nuclear suitcases placed in a few American cities, a defense system over Russia which makes them invulnerable to attack and an old US program which was designed to deal with such situations being compromised end up being just the opening salvo of what may easily become the prelude to WWIII. When the president of the United States receives a letter asking him to announce the withdrawal of USA from international politics and economy during his State of the Union address (or the bombs will be detonated), it is time for some more unorthodox methods in trying to solve the problem. Meanwhile the Russians are denying any official involvement and Gary Lawlor, the newly appointed head of the counter-terrorism organization Scot Harvath ended up at the end of the last book, is missing. As it turns out, Gary was the head of that now compromised defense operation as well so his disappearing, in the wake of most of the old operatives being killed, raises more than one question.

Of course the reader knows a bit more about the situation than most of the players as we get to see the plotting of the Russian generals and at least some of what happens to Gary. Scot is asked to not just figure out what happened but also to prevent things from escalating even more so he is off to Berlin (and later to Russia with some stops along the way to pick a nuke and a few other essentials). As it turns out there is a brilliant and very beautiful woman involved (last time that happened Scot picked up a new girlfriend - and as of the start of the novel they were still together), a few trips around the frozen parts of Russia and a lot of guns, fires and other calamities including a few ships getting down to the bottom of a sea.

Thor tends to be overly wordy and detailed when talking about technology and guns: it is not just a gun or a Beretta, it is a "Beretta .40-caliber 96 Stock pistol" unless we had seen that specific weapon before; every time a new technology or tool shows up, you get a catalog level specification of it, complete with a one sentence history of its development sometimes - it almost feels like he is so proud of having done his research that he must show off (or set the record straight where it differs from the real world I guess) and he peppers the story with all kinds of acronyms of agencies, processes, tools and what's not (explained at regular intervals but half of the time, they feel unnecessary). Thankfully these do not slow down the action too much so they do not become a problem but they are noticeable (and I suspect for some readers, these may be a reason to like the style even more).

It is a decent thriller. While the plot may be a little out there, that's not unusual in the genre and the story works. The writing may be a bit clunky in places and I really hope Thor will outgrow his penchant of having a beautiful woman in every novel (it works in action B-movies, not as much in the written thriller counterpart) but at least for now, I plan to continue with the series. ( )

Scot Harvath #3. Better than the prior one. ( )

Entertaining series, ex SEALs hero. ( )

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot. wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: State of the Union Series: Scot Harvath Author: Brad Thor Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Thriller Pages: 560 Format: Kindle digital edition Synopsis: Those damn Ruskies have been playing us for decades. Suddenly, Communism is about to take over and Russia is going to suitcase nuke 20 of our cities. At the same time, they have developed a super secret air defense so that no missiles can get into their airspace. ONLY Scot Harvath, hunk o' burning love macho secret agent man, can save the United States. Nobody else. My Thoughts: This was a huge step up from the previous book, but I think that was because Harvath keeps his trap shut and just goes around shooting people and blowing things up and being all manly. This time around he's not a completely arrogant ass hat. But don't worry, he tries. These books are totally unbelievable and this is coming from a guy who reads mainly science fiction and fantasy. For example, nobody knows where the suitcase nukes are at the beginning of the book. By the end, they know where they are and they roll up the people and the nukes without one going off. This was the kind of book, and probably will be that kind of series until I quit, that I just enjoy to pick apart and make fun of. I consider this to be the man's version of Harlequin romances for woman. Sickening fluff with no substance that you hate even while you're reading it and yet you keep coming back for more after an appropriate break. I feel dirty now, like a garbage disposal. But my goodness, the action, THE ACTION!!!! I am not a big fan of pictures in reviews, but I feel the following is true to this series. " ( )

Book 3 has Scot Harvath's deep in the thick of it to stop the Russian's secret mission to destroy the world's only superpower! Scot that learns several suitcase nukes are placed in major cities throughout the country and the President quickly gathers his NSC to come up with a plan while keeping the unsuspecting American citizens in the dark. Should they launch a first strike against the newly formed Mother Russia and how do they attack their new online secret defense system? ( )