In Brad Thor’s TAKEDOWN, we have a real rah-rah America-vs.-terrorists thriller that’s plausible enough for today’s times, but escapist enough for you to forget about all our nation’s foreign policy ills as you digest this on the beach this summer, drinking piña coladas and contracting skin cancer.

After PLAGUEMAKER, this is the second novel I’ve read this year involving terrorists planning a horrific attack on our nation during the Fourth of July weekend. (Is no holiday sacred?) In this book, however, they actually succeed, which it what kicks off the near-non-stop action. The hero for the duration of your ride is Scot Harvath, a former Navy SEAL who now spends his time thwarting threats to U.S. soil from abroad, as part of a covert, counterterrorist agency called the Apex Project – think CTU, but off-the-grid. He and his pals skip all over New York City hunting down suspected al-Qaeda members, and one of the plot’s masterminds is a Scottish dwarf known as “the Troll” (Warwick Davis, call your agent now).

For over-the-top thrills (I’d expect nothing less from someone named Brad Thor), TAKEDOWN would be difficult to beat. Thor throws in motorcycles, subways, booby traps and one particularly brutal torture session that had me crossing my legs and wincing. It’s not exactly what I would call original – there’s a nifty interrogation strategy lifted directly from the second season of 24, not to mention an awakward encounter that directly recalls the face-in-crotch scene from ROMANCING THE STONE – but its premise plays out like an all-cylinders-go DIE HARD sequel … and one I’d gladly pay to see come opening weekend.

Plus, for every fault, there’s a true redeeming aspect. Too many characters to keep track of? Take solace in instantly quotable, un-PC lines like “Where do you keep your falafel mitts, asshole?” Goes on for maybe 50 more pages than it needs to? Then you’d miss the midget riding his dog in the heat of battle. Let me repeat that: the midget riding his dog in the heat of battle. TAKEDOWN served as my first experience with Thor’s work, and the kick-to-the-testes ending all but guarantees it won’t be my last. –Rod Lott

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