The Third Protocol

I enjoyed this story. No over the top villains or terrorists, the bad guys are all former Mossad agents armed with sophisticated nuclear bombs and are out to stop Israel's enemies getting the upper hand in a potential war. Phoenix and Able are deployed to prevent this and are actually defending their traditional enemies from an ally. Able get sent to Iraq and Iran and that is worth the price of the book alone. I did wonder, at the end, how Able would be able to extract from Iran with a wounded Gadgets. That wasn't mentioned. If there is a criticism then it is that Calvin James was not mentioned at all in any way up until page 166. He is an invisible man. Nobody notices that he is not around or is around. Then, suddenly, he is sitting in a car next to McCarter. Obviously the author forgot all about the character. Something similar happened earlier in the book where Rafael is constantly referred to as 'the driver'. Very annoying.

Totally agree with the two previous reviews on this title, it is a nuke of the month story (times three actually) but is very readable. Mack's not here giving the other two teams front stage which is good and Able Team probably take the majority of the spotlight here which is also good. Whilst the plot of nuclear weapons being tracked down prior to their detonation has been flogged to death in these series the author manages to keep the reader interested and turning the pages with a wonderful storyline twisting and turning as the Teams are hunting them down. One of the very good twists in this title is that the people in possession of the nuclear weapons are not your average religious fanatic terrorists but current/ex Mossad agents highly trained operatives who know all of the tricks of the trade. Imagine what the author could do with an original plot? Really liked some of the action scenes in this title and thoroughly enjoyed the read. Recommended reading in the series.

Sort of what I would classify as a "doomsday" plotline, and it was an above average effort. The events that took place were such that it made you believe it could happen. When they were describing a possible chain reaction of countries attacking each other, it got quite chilling. Able and Phoenix are both over-seas and each team was used fairly evenly. While there was never really a strong villain character, the book kept moving with decent gun-battles. Overall, mostly satifactory.

This is well done, well paced book. The premise wasn't new, but the action had a good , gritty tense feel to it. Mack is only mentioned, and Able gets 60% of the spotlight, and Phhoenix gets 40%. Both teams are in the Middle East searching for some Mossad agents with a portable nuke. There is a well done scene where Yakov's contact in Israeli Intell gets killes, very dramatic. this book is worth picking up.