The Lions of Lucerne

The Book in 1 Sentence

Scott Harvath is the abrasive Navy Seal that the President and United States needs.

Brief Review

This is the first book in the Scot Harvath series and it shows. The book shows an age to the style of writing as well as the research on terminology. I know the author got some heat in that in this book and has since made changes to correct those.

Why I Read this book

Having read the entire series and decided to start over to remember some of the details. I can't remember why I first started this series, but I started then before my deployment not long after this book came out.

In-Depth Review (Favorite Quotes)

This book was written in 2008 and uses a lot of terms that were pretty common back then in pop culture like "clip" rather than magazine. Also trying to review this now that I am 17 books into this series is a bit difficult.

Let me talk about the character Scot. In this book he is 10x more arrogant than he is in the newer ones and I am glad that has been toned down. Also, he really repeats the line "I don't like being pointed at" and I am not sure he ever says that again. Which is a good thing.

The other support characters do have an occasional reoccurring role which I had forgotten about a lot of them so in general this series has some really nice character growth. However, this book is flat. Everything feels flat. There isn't really any point where you feel that Scot won't complete the mission. In the first half of the book there is mention of an issue that doesn't come back in the second half/3rd act of the book.

The action scenes are probably my favorite part and the main reason that I have continued the series. The story is really good too, but it is the combination and pacing that really keeps you involved.

Rating

I am having a hard time not comparing this to the other books in the series, however looking at it either way I feel like it is a 7. Pacing is good, story is good, characters needs some help. The later books in the series like [[Dead Fall]] are really good and while people will compare this to a Tom Clancy novel, I think these have a much better pace and action to them.