Choke Point

A Thriller

De: Brad Thor

Narrado por: Armand Schultz

#1 New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor thrills with his new summer blockbuster starring Scot Harvath.

A devastating series of bombings tears through Bangkok. Scores of American citizens are dead. The attacks send shock waves around the world.

As global assistance pours into Thailand—including the FBI’s famed Evidence Response Team—the president of the United States quietly prepares a plan B: Scot Harvath, America’s top spy, trained to operate outside the law and probe the dark corners others can’t…or won’t.

But the bomber Harvath is pursuing isn’t a terrorist. He’s something far more dangerous—one of ours.

Meanwhile, in Washington, a former United States Marine is being hunted—and he has no idea why. Desperate for answers, he turns to the one person he still trusts—his ex-fiancée, a rising star in the White House. The problem is, she isn’t sure she can trust him.

As Harvath closes in on the bomber, a devastating truth begins to emerge. China has quietly deployed its most elite intelligence unit to Thailand. Their objective: to ignite chaos, trigger a military coup, and seize control of a narrow but critical piece of land, one that could give Beijing a decisive advantage.

If the plan succeeds, Beijing will secure a key gateway between two oceans, eroding American naval dominance and tipping the balance in any war between the world’s great powers.

China will control the ultimate geopolitical choke point.

Keep working

The plots need to deepen and expand… we all know a ton about Harvath how about other characters backgrounds?

Nice to listening

There have been books with more turns of events and unforeseen actions - nothing very surprisingly happened

False Flag Operations Everywhere

## The Book in 1 Sentence
A series of bombings takes the team from one country to another, searching for the maker and the reasons why this American is involved.

## Brief Review
This book was fun and an easy read. The action is well told, which is what I want from these books, but there seems to be a sprint through in the book. There are some good actions points and intelligence actions, but the side plots do not link up to the main story like the other books typically do. This book does do something different that we don't typically see in Brad Thor's books and that is the setup of a direct next book.

## Why I Read this book
I have enjoyed most of the rest of the series. Why not continue?

## In-Depth Review (Favorite Quotes)
So the main story line is really good. I think the idea of false flag attacks are something that are becoming more and more a part of our reality rather than something that was an idea once upon a time. To give some perspective, the [CIA thought about killing US Civilians, blaming it on the Cubans], all for a justification to invade Cuba. President JFK said "Naw Fam" and then the CIA did some other stuff. We've seen something similar to this in [[For All Mankind]] at the end of Season 3. This book does something similar and something that I do think is quite a bit more realistic as it is against a country without as much of a presence in the intelligence world, but would have worldwide ramifications.

Brad Thor has always had a secondary plot line that ties into the main one. This one follows a Marine with PTSD and there is this huge setup that it was the reason he couldn't be trusted, but at the end, this justification is thrown away without really being discussed. I can't say much more without spoiling it, but the bigger issue is that it doesn't really tie into the main storyline. It is very self-contained and has no continued plot development outside those characters. Maybe that is what the book ending is all about.

That is where the biggest change is from the standard Brad Thor novel. Usually these end like an old-western. Scot rides off into the sunset waiting for his next mission. This time, there isn't a breath before "both cell phones went off." I think it has happened at least 1 other time, but either way it is nice change of pace.

## [Rating]
I really enjoyed this story. It was simple in the complexity and story telling, but it was fun. The action felt intentional and fair for the most part. There wasn't any point where I felt Scot was Superman like in [[Shadow of Doubt]]. I enjoyed the story and am very curious what is next in the series. I think the easy read makes this an 8, but just barely.

Great Characters

Great character development. a solid story line that gave an excellent reveal that is plausible and possible. Great job.

The character of Rick Morrell

Plot was very realistic, but performer needs to work on female voices. The villain is also well written. overall, the story was wonderful.