Pandora's Succession by Russell Brooks - BLOG TOUR, REVIEW and GIVEAWAY {CLOSED}

Title: Pandora's Succession
Author:  Russell Brooks
Format: Kindle Edition
ASIN: B00486U6O2

Description:  CIA operative Ridley Fox never stopped hunting his fiancée’s killers—a weapons consortium called The Arms of Ares. When an informant leads him to an old bunker outside of Groznyy, Chechnya, Fox is captured, beaten, and left for dead. When the informant rescues him, Fox learns that his capture was no coincidence: someone had set him up—possibly another government agent. Fox barely escapes after learning that Ares has acquired a hyperdeadly microbe—called Pandora—that is believed to have wiped out ancient civilizations. The trail leads Fox to Tokyo where he discovers that people within the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Japanese Intelligence want Pandora for themselves. The only person Fox can trust is a woman from his past who he nearly got killed.

My Take: When I initially started reading this novel, I ended up a bit dizzy from the array of characters who were introduced.  At first, it was difficult for me to keep straight in my head who was who.  There's Ridley Fox, a CIA agent haunted by the death of his fiancee Jessica at the hands of a Russian terrorist group called The Arms of Ares.  There are Ridley's fellow operatives, General Downing, Hiller, Walsh, Dobbs.   There is Valerik, a former KGB operative now working with Ares.  There's Dr. Tabitha Marx, who found out that her father had been a CIA agent and that her mother was a KGB agent.

Ares is perfecting a deadly bio-terrorist agent called Pandora.  Pandora eats it's victims from the inside and can't be controlled once it is released.  It is up to Fox to locate and procure or destroy all of the Pandora samples, and we start out with the lab in Chechnya.  After THAT adventure, Fox ends up in Africa, where he quickly figures out that there must be a mole within the agency, as he ends up losing some of his colleagues to treachery and to a release of Pandora.  Luckily, the area which it had been released in had previously been cleared of all lifeforms (which Pandora needs to repopulate itself), so once the human casualties were taken, the agent died off.

We travel to Japan, where Dr. Nita Parris, a bio-chemist working for the CIA, is employed by Hashimoto, the CEO of the pharmaceutical company Hexagon.  Hashimoto is an expert at brainwashing and has developed a brainwashing drug called Clarity which Dr. Parris is testing on human subjects.  Hashimoto also seems to be the head of a group of devoted disciples called The Promise.

In this book, we learn that not everyone is who they appear to be.  Who is The Undertaker calling the shots for Hashimoto?  Who is the mole within the CIA?  Why is Fox told not to trust the Boeisho as he arrives in Japan?

There's a lot going on in this book, complete with tough, macho-guy talk and lots of shooting action.  There are a few places where the writing 'hitches', and we see some rough-edged transitions, a phrase or two that seem to come from nowhere, and a love interest that, in my opinion, appears to develop too quickly. That being said, it's a pretty cool espionage thriller with a few surprises tossed into the mix.  It's not a study in character development; it's more like an action/adventure movie where the action speaks for itself and the bad guys want to take over the planet.  I liked it.

QUOTES: 

"Over the years, I've dealt with all types of threats to our country while you were doing the Moonwalk in elementary school."

Dewan looked over at the table before he looked back at Parris.  "They all acto so happy, like they've all been visited by Mary Poppins or something.  And also this 'end of the world' thing they keep talking about.  That it's coming and that they'll all be saved."

Book Rating:  3.5 out of 5 stars

Read the first five chapters

Visit the author's website

Visit the other blogs participating in the tour

BUY IT:  Through Amazon. Amazon.co.uk, and several other ebook retailers.

WIN IT:  Thanks to the author, you have a chance to win one of 10 copies!  In addition, Everyone that leaves a comment with their email address (in the body of your message) will win an autographed book cover. After the blog tour, 10 commentors  from all of the participating blogs will be drawn to win free autographed eBook copies of Pandora's Succession.

MANDATORY ENTRY:   Visit the Tour Page and let me know the name of another host and the date that they are hosting their portion of the tour -OR- let me know the name of your favorite thriller/suspense author or book.

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ELIGIBILITY:  Open Internationally

End Date:  Sunday, November 14th, at 11:59 PM EST

Disclosure:  I was provided with a complimentary copy of this title to facilitate this review.  No other compensation was received, and I was not required to post a positive review.