Shadow Ops: Control Point Book Review

 

Shadow Ops: Control Point

Myke Cole

Ace; Original edition (January 31, 2012)

4/5 Stars

 

       Going into Shadow Ops, I had some expectations.  Mostly thinking that the book would be totally different than it actually turned out to be.  Which I loved…  Oscar Britton the main character is our lens through which the story is told.  Which while the book is not in first person it definitely is from his perspective.  While this was a really good way to understand the world, especially in a first book of a series.  By the end, I was starting to lose the love.  Not that the story is bad, it most definitely is not.  It’s not that Britton, who is supposedly a special forces trained solider just seems to be such a wishey washy fool.  He can’t seem to make up his mind, he can’t seem to stick to anything for too long.  Seems like his moral high ground is not exactly the only thing that is keeping him from going along with the program at SOC.

       SOC is not a good organization, and while written by someone who is a part of the armed forces.  This book is definitely one of the most anti-armed forces books I’ve ever read.  Which is interesting and cool all on its own.  I suppose this could be somehow discounted to the Independent contractor aspect of the book.  But I mostly could not tell the difference.  I find that the book is pretty excellent.  But some of the handling of the characters and their motivations weren’t very clear…

      By the end of the book, it was hard for me to understand why everyone was on the team they ended up on.  Also, the main climax in the book seemed a bit forced and while I was a big fan of the actual occurrence because it had been foreshadowed throughout the entire book.  I was a little confused as to why Britton did it. Or why the precipitating action happened either.  Basically what I’m saying, is that the end of the book; around the final 25% seemed weak compared to the rest of the book.

       I can’t wait to read the next book to see what happens next.  So if nothing else, at least Myke Cole caught me there.