Thanks to Urbane Publications, David Barker and NetGalley for the ARC; this is my honest review.

Blue Gold by David Barker
Urbane Publications, 11th May 2017
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis:
Climate change and geopolitical tension have given rise to a new international threat - a world war over water.
This vital resource has become a precious commodity, and some will stop at nothing to control its flow.

When a satellite disappears over Iceland, Sim Atkins thinks he knows why. He is given the chance to join the Overseas Division and hunt for the terrorists responsible. But his new partner, Freda Brightwell, is aggrieved to be stuck with a rookie on such a deadly mission. Freda's misgivings are well-founded when their first assignment ends in disaster.

Seeking redemption, the British agents follow the trail to a billionaires' tax haven in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and uncover a web of deceit that threatens global war.

But who can they trust?

As the world edges ever closer to destruction, Sim and Freda must put their lives on the line to prevent Armageddon…

Review:
I tried several times to get into Blue Gold, but whilst I liked the main characters, Sim and Freda, I found several aspects of the plot implausible and laid on slightly too thick. I do read some sci-fi, so it isn't that I'm not a fan of the genre, it's just that this particular book didn't appeal. It hasn't put me off reading another by the author in the future.

#BlueGold #DavidBarker #NetGalley #BookReview #Bookstagram

When I read the book description of ‘Blue Gold’ I was immediately fascinated by this read. Although I don’t read a lot of thrillers, this was a read that just interested me. Who doesn’t want to read more when you read about Climate Change? It’s such a ‘hot’ subject at the moment, I definitely wanted to read what could be written about this subject. Especially in a thriller!

I haven’t been reading a lot of thrillers lately. And it took me a while to get into this story, and not because of any lack of action. Not at all! This book is really action filled, but since I don’t read a lot of thrillers I found I couldn’t concentrate on this book as much as I would have liked. But thankfully, David Barker is a writer that makes his readers want to keep on reading and I kept going.

What I didn’t really expect was the science fiction, futuristic part of this book. I don’t read a lot of sci- fi novels and so it took me a little while to really appreciate the whole ‘set in the future’ part. But in the end I started to enjoy this book more. And the author did a great job with the world building.

The two main characters Jim and Freda where fun to read about. I think they made a fun team and I enjoyed reading about their journey together. Jim was really humoristic at times. And I just enjoyed reading about his character.

Although this book was definitely fun, I just didn’t really love it. And I think it’s mainly because of the genre. I can definitely say I’m not really into the science fiction stories at the moment. And although this book isn’t as sci fi as let’s say ‘Star Wars’, it still just wasn’t something I particularly liked. But the writing in this book was from the beginning very good and interesting and there was some great world building and awesome characterizations.

Blue Gold by David Barker is a well written, fast paced engaging thriller set in the future where climate change has altered the world.
The tension building is great and there's a bit of humor sprinkled throughout and plenty of action. This futuristic thriller hooked me from the beginning.
This is a good book that will make you think about our unlimited access to water in a different way. Thank you NetGalley, David Barker and Urbane Publications for a very interesting story.

I found the premise of this book very interesting - a war undertaken for water. The action takes place in the near future and revolves around two agents of OFWAT as they investigate...something, and this is where the problems began for me. I found the plot really hard to follow as it just seemed to jump from situation to situation with no real linking threads. As I mentioned above, I'm still not 100% sure what set the investigation off in the first place. Also, characters are introduced that seem to disappear with no explanation of their initial relevance. Finally, I actually found some of the characterisations quite offensive and juvenile. There are certain instances of male fantasy that creep into the narrative which I found to be unnecessary and completely unbelievable.

Rip roaring page turning and full,of tongue in cheek humour

It is a book that everyone in Washington should be reading

Amazing start and has me gripped. The story is broken down into three separate sections. The first starts with with the backgrounds of the characters and setting up the world the story is set in. The setting is Earth in the future with the war over water. It has a brilliant start and pull to the story and very happy to have a copy before release to review this story. I hope it continues to keep me gripped.

Just finished up the second part and a great character development and storyline.

No nasty cliffhanger at the end even though I heard that there will be more to come in the series. I could be wrong but if there is more I will be adding on to my wish list.

Blue Gold – David Barker – Reviews Are Us
https://amazonreviewsareus.wordpress.com/2017/04/17/blue-gold-david-barker/