For the first 17 books in the series, Brad Thor adopted a “ripped-from-the-headlines” approach to his annual installments in the Scot Harvath series. It was enjoyable, but also a bit expected. With Backlash, Thor flipped the script.

The hero, who up until this point in the series was always in the driver’s seat, finds himself on the wrong side of the negotiating table. The entire book, one of the longer ones, essentially unfolds entirely in one geographic region. No jet-setting, no glamorous foreign locations, just the cold arctic wilderness.

It was a different experience, and hard to experience the character in this set of circumstances. It was like I was exploring how everyone who crossed Harvath’s path before experienced him.

I breezed through in two days and really enjoyed this installment. I have just a few more books until I’ve read the whole series and am ready to just do an annual check-in with Thor.

Would I recommend: YES

ISBN: 978-1982148584