In the mood for action and surprises, this series fills the bill. Scot isn't the usual tall 6'+, but he hits for justice around the world. Humor makes sense in context, in situations.

Starts with silver-eyed terrorist taking out Medina Mosque, then CIA partner of agent Scot Harvath in car and motorcycle chase in Macau. When same leads gang to hijack plane, Chicago passenger Meg Cassidy and Scot Harvath lead CIA to save the day. Agent Morell is always combative, even shorts sheets in training camp.  
On flight out, Scot eats "double portion" p 95 first-class prime rib after exploring, while team has "bland military MREs, or Meals Ready to Eat" p 95. Lots of slang and acronyms "GoFu" p 257 I know. Finally at end Morell apologizes. I suspected invite to pub another trick at first. Lots of surprises. Meg "tore apart .. throat" p 185 of serial rapist. She lost in first attack and took defence and shooting courses before winning against second.

Scot insists on fight training for Meg, saves her from aggressive drug with "vitamins". But she goes too close for identifying silver-eyes, gets them both captured. Agent Gordon Avigliano, given a hard time by Scot in U.S., disobeys Morell, takes Carlson and DeWolfe to rescue pair. I was afraid at least one would die, like Star Trek 'red shirt', but DeWolfe is only injured, badly.

"Back in the sandbox .. always too hot or too cold, and the sand got everywhere .. Scot longed for his action days .. once you'd played offense, it was almost impossible to move over to defense .. Harvath was not made for sitting back and waiting" p 32. That's the feel of the series. Wham, slam, take those baddies down. Plus jokes, some earthy, few curses "What did Carlson say when the Libyans first spotten us? F-" p 293 makes them count. "No baksheesh? .. tip .. Don't drink with the blacksmith's wife. You're liable to get hammered" p 138.

"Operatives always thought about 'getting killed, or worse' .. maybe Schoen would have been better of dying that night" p 47. I bet Schoen would not agree. Disfigured, in wheelchair, lipless Schoen lisps. While "convalescing, the man reappeared and tried to kill me .. eyes .. were silver". Schoen constantly calls the killer "he", carefully avoided when chapters delegated to assassin targeting Arabs. Although vengeful Israeli Schoen agrees to cooperate "keep me in the loop" p 46, Scot answers "maybe", does not trust him, senses secrets.

His son, killed on similar mission, became lovers with Adara when both Oxford students. Schoen sent 'Dear John' letters to both, broke them up. Vengeful Adara is uniting Arabs by inventing Israeli 'Hand of God' for blame. I would be skeptical, but events in book show she is right.

Nameless Chicago mayor's bodyguard sacrifices self crashing into Hashim on plane, saves Meg from rape and death, yet she accepts praise without a mention of him. Obviously killer will chase her to hospital and back to Chicago.  Meg saved by Scot and chance, going for coffee.

"Abu Nidal had not worked as hard as he had to have it [his organization] torn asunder by his idiot son" p 130 suggests silver-eyes is dad. Clues are indistinguishable from red herrings. Or pointers elsewhere.

Women move differently than men, are shaped rounder. Adara is described as "very elegant and very beautiful" p 327 then "tall and thin, yet very toned. Harvath knew her right off by the way she moved" p 329. Adara must look different than Arab men, even masked. Where does she hide her "long black hair" p 319?

"No longer blinded by youth and naïveté, the assassin .. mistake to think that some of those people were different. They had no hearts. They were incapable of feeling. They were not even people. They were animals who deserved to die. And they would die. All of them" p 233 suggests assassin, now older, hates targeted Arabs. But Arabs unite against "Israeli Hand of God" that claims responsibility. Scary how believable author makes plots, as if events could really happen.

Typos:
p 122, 127 "through the ringer" is wringer, as in squeeze laundry moisture, not bell
p 372 Apalachian is Appalachian

After reading this book I though that it was 'just okay' - not a total waste of time, but a bit to demanding of my suspension of disbelief, and the plot twists a bit (I'm being polite) unlikely. However, I was willing to continue with this series on the basis of this being only book 2, and Brad Thor would improve with time - more believable plots, more believable (and consistent) characters, better writing. To test that theory I read reviews of future books in the series (all rated over 4! Must be good).
Well, the 4+ stars are explained: LOTS of true believers. But the one and two star reviews gave me my answer: the books are all the same, with the same flaws (it bears saying 'to me' - tastes vary, and those who love the series don't see these things as flaws).
So, sadly, so much for this series, and on with the hunt for someone who is a better thriller writer and less one dimensional.

My type of book, and another author to add to my favourites...

Obviously I like a book with lots of action, international plot, a great main character, and as usual some great villains.. sounds easy...It's not, I have read through some rubbish books.

After rescuing the President from kidnappers in Brad Thor’s roaring national bestselling debut, Navy SEAL turned Secret Service Agent Scot Harvath shifts his attentions to rooting out, capturing, or killing all those responsible for the plot. As he prepares to close out his list, a bloody and twisted trail of clues points toward one man—the world’s most ruthless terrorist. One problem remains: Harvath and his CIA-led team have no idea what the man looks like. With no alternative, they are forced to recruit a civilian—a woman who has survived a brutal hijacking and is now the only person who can positively identify their quarry. From the burning deserts of North Africa to the winding streets of Rome, Harvath must brave a maelstrom of bloodshed and deception before a madman’s twisted vision engulfs the world in the fires of all-out war.

The Hand of God, an apparent Israeli terrorist group, is blowing up mosques in Saudi Arabia, assassinating Arab leaders and hijacking airplanes, all in an effort to provoke the Arab world into war with Israel. Harvath tries to derail the terrorist plot and avenge the deaths of buddies killed in the first book. Aided by Meg Cassidy, a beautiful Chicago public relations expert, Harvath chases the terrorist leader and a silver-eyed assassin from Hong Kong through Europe to North Africa. However, since Cassidy is the only one alive who has seen the face of the terrorist leader, the assassin chases them, too, trying to kill Cassidy before she can point him out. The story is one bloody episode after another, with a touch of romance and colourful turf battles between the CIA, FBI, Delta Force and Harvath himself. Thor stacks the deck in favour of his hero-Harvath never makes a mistake, and his view of how counterterrorism operations should be conducted is invariably proven correct. To top it off, he boasts about his remarkable talents. With its infallible hero, fetching sidekick and wicked bad guys, this international shoot 'em up sticks close to formula, but the well-choreographed action and thrills will keep readers engrossed.

Brad Thor has added some great touches of humour, that do make you grin, a great main character but did enjoy Meg Cassidy, and also Morell. Great pace, some really good twists, fast paced and action packed.

Highly recommended. Five Stars

Just one question, what do I read next?

As my list of favourite authors becomes bigger, my collection of books to read is ever growing.

Some are some great action authors to read and Brad Thor is one of them, alongside Ben Coes, Tom Wood, Mark Dawson, Mark Greaney, Lee Child, Simon Kernick, Vince Flynn, Joshua Hood, Brad Taylor, Victor Methos, J.B Turner, Will Jordan, still to read Dalton Fury, I could add many more favourites thriller/mystery authors as well !

Better than the first one. While some of the action was far fetched and impossible to believe, Thor made it exciting and fun. The story was a scary one for the world. Makes you happy there are people like Scot Harvath working for the good guys. Looking forward to the next one. I hope Meg remains a part of this series. She’s a great character and keeping Chicago in further books would be nice.

I know it's not fair to say about a book of this type, but it REALLY strains all credulity. The only bright spot is the baddies are Muslims, but the story at the heart of it is basically cheesy melodrama. I hear this author gets better later on, so I'm sticking with the series but only barely. When I have time, I might go back and detail all of my problems with the book and the storyline. The only reason it gets 3 stars is because of entertainment value, which is still higher than the annoyance factor, but not by much.

Unbelievable and Believable!

Brad Thor’s 2nd Scot Harvath novel is a great read. I recommend this book to any soul who loves a good thriller but who also enjoys a look behind the scenes into the many possible events that could take place around the world. We live a comfortable lifestyle in the United States, compared the life styles lived many in other countries, but there are reasons for it. The work done by those who have committed their lives to protecting the freedom of everyone around the world can, and often is, be easily overlooked by those of us fortunate enough to live our lives as free as we do. Brad’s books and the stories they tell are probably not as far from the truth as we might think. His books also remind us that if we stop trying to understand the motives of all factions around the world, we are mostly like turning a blind eye to the many atrocities that could be become very real.

This book is fast paced and extremely hard to put down. Can’t wait for the 3rd book in the series. Well done Brad Thor. Keep that ball rolling!

Having just finished Brad Thor's debut novel The Lions of Lucerne, I decided to follow it up with the second in the series. Path of the Assassin was even more fantastic than The Lions of Lucerne. And by "fantastic" I mean more in the sense of the second definition of fantastic: "Imaginative or fanciful; remote from reality." Holy cow this book was far-fetched in the plot department! Path of the Assassin once again follows former United States Navy SEAL and current United States Secret Service agent Scot Harvath on a globe trotting adventure to stop a terrorist mastermind before World War III can be ignited. There's just one problem: the only surviving person able to identify the terrorist responsible is a gorgeous (and that adjective must be important to the plot because we're told she's gorgeous many, many times during the novel) public relations specialist with zero operational training. Despite that, the powers that be in the CIA decide to dump her into the field with a highly secretive and specialized CIA anti terror black ops outfit and hope for the best. Wait... What???

Despite the ridiculous premise behind the plot, Path of the Assassin is another fun romp through the adrenaline fueled world of counter terror ops and clandestine espionage hijinks. Brad Thor is a decent story teller and once again delivered a novel I found easy to get caught up in despite the seemingly impossible scenario his readers are expected to swallow.

I did see improvement on Brad's writing from the previous novel and have hope that he will overcome some of his biggest writing flaws to become something special. Time will tell. Brad Thor's writing is third person narration which allows the reader an overall view of the plot while most closely following his protagonist through the fast paced scenes leading to the over the top conclusion. One thing I disliked that featured in both of Brad's novels so far is a mysterious underlying scheme or master plan which his antagonist is hatching behind the scenes which his protagonist can never quite anticipate. In both novels Thor's protagonist never is able to put two and two together in time to figure it all out before an exposition-heavy character conveniently shows up to spell it out for him as he listens in shocked silence. This has, in both novels, led me to think his Scot Harvath may not be the sharpest tool in the United States' counter terror tool shed. Especially since the reader has been aware of the connection from almost page one.

I was pleased to see that much of the cringe worthy dialog from The Lions of Lucerne was gone. There were still some goofy conversations that didn't fit the mood or the scene of their delivery, but nothing like his debut outing.

As stated, the pacing and plot delivery were just as on point as in the previous book and I couldn't help but digging in and enjoying myself as the pages kept turning. That is Thor's major saving grace here: his ability to pace his novels in such a way that I'm constantly interested to see what will happen next and have no doubt that it will only be a page or two before he has once again got me curious about the next soon-to-arrive action set piece or major story development.

As far as characters are concerned, there's still not much to write home about in Path of the Assassin. Scot Harvath is entertaining but I haven't seen a ton of development in his character over the course of two novels. Again, Brad Thor's most interesting characters seem to be his villains and, alas, we see only too little of them throughout his novels.

Despite my criticisms, I enjoyed Path of the Assassin as a fun - if goofy - spy thriller with an interesting - if far-fetched - plot and pretty wonderful pacing. I'm not like one of those literary snobs who will turn up their nose at a writer's work if things aren't technically or realistically satisfying. I enjoy a good story that keeps me coming back for more and that seems to be exactly what Brad Thor consistently delivers.

3 stars for Path of the Assassin.

I thoroughly enjoyed Brad Thor's first book in the Scot Harvath series and this one kept me entertained as well. I agree with many reviewers that some of the scenes stretch the imagination as to believability; however, this genre of military espionage thriller and its main character - a la James Bond or Mitch Rapp - are intentionally engineered to be exceptional and extraordinary. I expect their actions and heroism to to outperform any normal human capability. The President tells Harvath, in the story's final chapter, that he is the best Secret Service Agent the country has ever seen. He ought to be supra-sensational to earn that kind of testament from the supreme leader. In this second book, Thor introduces us to a gorgeous (of course) female "kick-ass" partner who adds color, unpredictability, intrigue, and no small amount of sexual tension which, in this episode, is left unresolved, presumably, for a future novel. I am definitely looking forward to reading #3 after a brief respite...

You know, I just finished reading all of the Fleming Bond novels. As I read this, it occurred to me these remind me of Bond novels: a super competent agent, a few drop dead gorgeous women, some psychopathic villains, and quite a bit of bigotry. I don’t care much upon weaponry, so I ended up doing lots of skimming. I think the conflicts between assorted agencies is a bit less intense in the Bond novels.
Harvath is busy trying to track down the last people involved with killing off his team. His lady reporter friend has pretty much faded off;career is much more important than romance. He receives information from an unusual supposedly dead source that leads him to the Mideast and a terrorist group. Naturally, the only person that can identify the evil villain is a drop dead gorgeous blond with karate skills. Oh, yeah, Harvath is still battling with Morrell and the CIA.
Oh. The whole “ silver eyes that turn black” was striking, but SO phony.

Exciting and fast paced but over the top like the first in the series.

Minor spoiler alert.

It almost seemed like this book was written by a different author. The first Horvath novel was filled with suspense, plot twists, betrayal and mystery. This book was extremely linear with the main character, accompanied, of course, by a stunning female companion, chasing a goofy everywhere-in-the-world-at-once assassin with mood ring color changing eyes.

The entire book is basically the bad guy narrowly escaping time after time after time - each more predictable than the last. The characters were predictable, and the foreshadowing was completely unnecessary in such a linear plot.

I'll try the third one, but I am really surprised by the high marks this book has received.

A great fast paced thrill ride.