- Title: Net Force: Moving Target
- Author: Jerome Preisler
- Where to buy: Amazon (affiliate link)
- Genre: Thriller, Technothriller, Military Thriller
- Would I recommend: If you’re a fan of the military thriller, and you’ve enjoyed Tom Clancy’s books, Jerome Preisler is one to read.
Synopsis:
As this new threat escalates, the US president calls on the members of Net Force to prevent global chaos.
In Paris, the leader of a new political movement has gone into hiding, pursued by a relentless group of bioenhanced assassins. Seeking to rescue him in the mysterious catacombs beneath the city is one of Net Force’s own, Kali Alcazar, who has become a hunted fugitive herself.
Halfway across Europe, meanwhile, her friends are about to strike at the heavily armed fortress of the world’s most dangerous hacker…and he’s prepared a deadly trap for them.
My review:
A deadly game is being played, one that threatens to cross political and national boundaries. Net Force is called into action to counteract the threat.
The book gives hints of things that have happened in past stories. For instance, Mike Carmody, the leader of Net Force, has clearly been part of something in the past that cost the military a lot of money and that caused him personal distress. It’s hinted at, but we don’t know what it is. It would be helpful to have those details from other books, but it isn’t essential to the enjoyment of the story.
There are multiple storylines to keep up with, and sometimes I found it a little challenging to keep up with who was who and where they were. The characters were good, bad, and every shade of gray in between, but for the most part, they were all engaging. There were several to keep up with, but I didn’t feel like many of the characters were throwaways.
The action was intense and high-tech. The book’s descriptions of the Blood Lightning, Russian enhanced humans with so much power they were pretty well superheroes (okay, supervillains), were positively chilling. There are hackers and fighters and a supercomputer that’s some pretty ramped-up AI, and it’s spine-tingling to think of what could happen with actual technology like that in the real world.
The story doesn’t tie everything up in a neat bow at the end, but leaves things open for future books in the series. If you like conclusive endings to your books, this one will be maddening for you. If you’re going into it knowing there’s more to come, though, it’s a fascinating stopping point. I really want to read the next book to see where things go!
Cybersecurity is a timely and urgent issue in today’s world. Net Force: Moving Target gives us one vision of how it could be used, and it will give you something to think about. If you like a good thriller that’s very much on point with the times, this one is worth picking up. Jerome Preisler does a good job carrying on in Tom Clancy’s stead, and I look forward to more of his books.
About the author:
Jerome Preisler is the prolific author of almost forty books of fiction and narrative nonfiction, including all eight novels in the New York Times bestselling TOM CLANCY’S POWER PLAYS series.
His latest book is NET FORCE:DARK WEB (November 2019), the first novel in a relaunch of the New York Times bestselling series co-created by Tom Clancy. Forthcoming in May 2020 is the enovella NET FORCE: EYE OF THE DRONE.
Among Jerome’s recent works of narrative history are CODE NAME CAESAR: The Secret Hunt for U-boat 864 During World War Two, and FIRST TO JUMP: How the Band of Brothers Was Aided by the Brave Paratroopers of Pathfinders Company. His next book of nonfiction, CIVIL WAR COMMANDO: William Cushing’s Daring Raid to Sink the Invincible Ironclad C.S.S. Albemarle,will be published by Regnery Books in October 2020.
Jerome lives in New York City and coastal Maine.
