book review: the Cobra

I thought it's been some time since Frederick Forsyth published a new book since the Afghan (which i did a review of). This new book is more of a page turner and builds upon the characters found from his previous book called the Avenger. In fact, the storyline midway was so suspenseful that when i found that i had left the book in office, actually considered going back to get it (insomniacs of the world unite!). I have to say that the ending is a bit of an anticlimax though, so don't get your hopes up.

On the whole, the amount of research and preparation, and the way he organises and present his material is unsurpassed (as usual). There were one or two instances when i had to refer back to an earlier page to understand what was going on, but generally easy to follow given the number of characters and rather multiple events happening at different places at the same time. Was a little daunted seeing the (long) list of characters at the start of the book, and also reminded me of Tom Clancy books. In fact, i was reminded most of TC's novels where the 'superior' American technology trumps everything else when the drugdealers struggled to cope, although the stuff they used appeared relatively Amish. Also, I did sense a bit of inconsistency in the characters since the Avenger, but that's to be expected when (as explained to a friend) Cobra Commander and Snake Eyes join forces to fight the drug barons. (Anyone remember GI Joe?) What stood out the most was the level of violence being described. It has cranked up a notch since the (already) brutality seen in the Avenger and at times made me cringe. I guess it served its purpose of showing how evil men can be, although in reality i doubt (or rather hope) no such evil people exist.

Interesting bit: Singapore features quite often in the plot, i think because of our position as a shipping hub (thanks to our central geographical position!)