5****Star
Book- The Lance
Author- Alex Lukeman
Publisher- Alex Lukeman
Genre- SuspenseThriller
Rating- Mature
Alex Lukeman’s follow-up to last year’s surprise thriller, White Jade, begins with a quote from Heinrich Himmler who led Hitler’s SS during WWII: “The best political weapon is the weapon of terror… Men may hate us. But we don’t ask for their love, only their fear.” And so begins Lukeman’s breakneck tale—the second book in his PROJECT series. It’s a rollercoaster ride packed with smart, tough characters, a new breed of 21st Century Nazi conspirators infiltrating American halls of power and an ancient relic with mythical power to conquer. This last is the titular lance that, like the Ark of the Covenant in the film Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, bestows invincibility upon any army that commands its power.
Instead of a popcorn-bucket action movie plotline, Lukeman’s deft handling turns it into a smart political thriller worthy of David Balducci or Tom Clancy. He offers us a tight, well-constructed, un-put-downable tale that will have you turning pages well into the night.
With a nod toward Daniel Silva’s Isreali spy Gabriel Allon, Lukeman sends his own fictional counter-terrorism operative to Jerusalem. Nick Carter finds himself in shadowy backstreets fighting assassins, in a public square during a terrorist attack and on the Temple Mount to protect the US president. The several short chapters that make up the Temple Mount sequence are surprising and masterful, providing long ranging implications to the world the characters inhabit.
Each explosive scene offers a glimpse into the deeper mystery around the Nazi plot, while at the same time exploring Carter’s troubled past.
Meanwhile, back in the US his boss, PROJECT Director Elizabeth Harker, is unraveling a political web entangling the CIA and the NSA. Nick Carter’s love interest from the first book, the brilliant and beautiful Selena Connor is back as well, tapping into unsuspected skills that help her perform an unexpected rescue which leaves her troubled by her own heroism.
While the action is breathlessly paced, it’s these three main characters that give The Lance its firepower. The relationship between Carter and Selena has matured and shows signs of strain; Harker is facing a devastating personal crisis that has shocking implications for her team.
Lukeman’s staccato-fire sentences are perfectly suited to his genre; sharp, pointed jabs that propel his story effortlessly forward. He imbues his observations with wry humor, like this, from an early part of the book: “On Harker’s desk were a silver pen, a picture of the twin Towers burning and a manila folder. The pen had belonged to FDR. The picture was a reminder. The folder was likely going to shape [Carter’s] day.”
While Lukeman ups the ante in The Lance, he doesn’t shy away from the implications of his plot’s events. When Carter suggests to the president at the end of the book to take the quote that opens it and turn it on its head, Lukeman creates a solution that is at once chilling—with a message that the ends justifies the means—and, within the logic of the world of The Lance, is perfectly satisfying.
The back cover summary is the weakest part of The Lance. It fails to capture the intelligence, pulse-pounding action or deep heart of the pages between its flaps. The old adage has seldom been as true as it is here: don’t judge a book by its back cover.
Aside from this, this novel is full of thrills, thought and emotion. In the end, The Lance hits its mark.