I did not really need another example to demonstrate that Goodreads does not prevent me from rereading books that I have forgotten about, but when I finished the first chapter of this novel, I had an inescapable belief that I had read it before. Through the next three or four chapters that feeling continued, but I could not remember the ending, which left me wondering if I had perhaps started the book but not finished it sometime in the past. The feeling became so strong, in fact, that I went through all my Goodreads listings (including both the ones I have entered in the ones I have not yet gotten around to entering) and did not find the book where the author listed. Anyway, I was already so far into the story that I could not stop. And then, when I got to page 173, I found a few words underlined with a note written in the margin, with my favorite: pen color and with my very recognizable hand printing. And yet, I could not remember the ending. I read on, until finally I decided that I did recall the ending … but then when I got there, I found that the ending wasn’t at all what I had remembered!In essence, the novel is about a former Secret Service agent, Kurt Ford, who left the government to start his own high-tech company and became a multimillionaire. He raised his son, after his wife died, to share his values of patriotism and integrity, and his son became a Secret Service agent just as he had been. At the beginning of the book Kurt has met another woman (in fact they have been sharing a bed for at least three years), who was one of his most outstanding employees in his company, and while sharing an excellent meal at their favorite restaurant he asks her to marry him; she says yes but their mutual happiness is short-lived, as the head waiter immediately afterward comes to the table and tells Kurt there is a phone message – it is his sister, calling to tell him that his beloved son has committed suicide. Kurt cannot believe this to be true (we know it is not; that was the first chapter), and his own investigation soon turns up clues that in fact his son was murdered – murdered, in fact, at the command of the president of the United States as part of a cover-up of something he has done! Kurt decides there is only one rational response: to assassinate the president. Assassinating the president of the United States is no easy task, of course, and the majority of the book involves the detailed plotting Kurt goes through to bring this about in such a way that he will be able to escape safely and live happily ever after with his lady love in a villa somewhere on the Coast of Malfi.This is a nicely twisted plot that obviously involved a lot of thinking on the part of the author, and I shall be looking for other books by Jim Green in the future.
Picked up at a library booksale. Sometimes a hit, this time a miss.Tim Green doesn't know whether to write a romance novel or a thriller. He strikes out on both.The relationship with his girfriend was artificial and distracting. The thriller side of the book took place about 1 sentence per page. I found it to be a tedious read. Too much irrelavant scene building and too many wasted words. After looking at other reader's comments, I see most 4 star ratings from the female readers and 3 stars or less from the male readers. Does that mean anything?
What do You think about The Fourth Perimeter (2005)?
A former Secret Service Agent becomes a .com billionaire. His son, who as a young adult joined the Secret Service, is found dead, a presumed suicide. Kurt, the father, not only investigates the death but embarks on a complex plan to assassinate the suspected culprit. The story is complex and filled with twists and angles. In much of it, the reader is involved with the planned assassination and, ultimately, begins to side with Kurt (at least I did). The ending is well planned and an excellent summation of the tale.
—Joyce
I have a thing about these types of books; for me, it is imperative that they accurate in detail so as to be believable. Brad Thor is an excellent author in his attention to accuracy.As implausible as the plot may seem -- Kurt Ford, former secret service agent and the head of a huge tech company, finds out that the President of the United States ordered his son (also a Secret Service agent) to be murdered and staged as a suicide -- as they say, the devil is in the details. And the head of a majo
—Deanna
