Collin C. (brad861) reviewed on 12/2/2010 + 27 more book reviews

I am a huge Steve Berry fan and look forward to his new novels. This is the first one I felt a little disheartened in reading.

First of all, the story does keep you wanting to know what the twist is going to be and what they are going to find. The let down comes at the point in the story when you believe the action will hit full-pace (as it has in Berry's prior novels) and will keep you turning the pages more rapidly than before. Unfortunately, the climax of this novel is more "Ho-Hum" for me.

The main gist of this book is the political ramifications behind whether or not oil is finite or not. The premise of this is based in some reality as to whether oil is biotic (due to organics being compressed over time and creating oil as a by-product - a.k.a. Fossil Fuels) or if it is abiotic (the earth replinishes oil continuously). With the dependency of oil by China helping keep that country "in-check" the finding that oil is finite could lead to a shift in world power from the U.S. (as well as Russia's attempt to be a world-power) to China leading the way.

The pursuit of confirming oil as being finite and proving this to the world as well as the political, in-house struggles betweeen a Confucious-based party leader and a Legalist-based party leader (the novel helps define this power struggle well) is core to this novel. While the politics is interesting, the pacing of this novel is slower than normal for a Cotton Malone story.

I rated this as a "Like It" in comparison to Berry's prior works. It is middle of the road for me, but still a decent read overall.

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