Unfortunately I didn’t love this one as much as I was hoping to. I liked the idea behind it and the storyline, but it fell flat for me. I can see why some people love this one, but it just wasn’t for me.

This bookcase an interesting story line and the multiple points of view are fun and fast paced. However, the author did not done good job of switching POVs which became confusing. There are also some grammatical and spacing errors that need woek. f you're interested in foreign affairs and terrorism, this would be a thrilling book.

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I had to sit with this one for a few days after finishing, before I wrote the review. The story revels in a wash of ambiguity, leaving the reader to decipher its position on ethics and action in the post 9-11 age and ultimately decide for themselves what to take away from it. Right until then end, that is, when it kinda doesn’t. But I’ll try to limit the spoilers.

Per the synopsis, the book revolves around Doyle O’Gara, who works for a technology firm contracted by the CIA to support global communications surveillance. Having only recently accepted a new position at his firm, he finds himself in the middle of an investigation into a suspected terrorist bombing in Paris. It’s a straightforward plot. Thankfully, "Missions" goes above your typical cat-and-mouse thriller.

The author, Marc McGuire, is a lawyer who spent much of his career practicing in Europe. While his bio doesn’t go into detail beyond that, it appears that his international experience opened a window for him into this setting. His character, O’Gara, may be an analyst in the U.S., but his quarry is in France, where most of the story takes place. In fact, the book starts out in the immediate aftermath of a bombing in Paris, introducing the reader to French DST investigator Christine Dupont and her team, as they take over the crime scene. They’ll eventually connect with the CIA and O’Gara as the case progresses.

The reader is also introduced to the members of the terrorist cell early on. Much of their part in bombing is told in flashback. It’s here where the storytelling becomes distracted.

The author has several groups of characters to juggle and I felt that he was equally interested in all of them. However, the arc of the story depends on Doyle O’Gara, and there’s simply not enough of him. Of all the groups, the terrorists get the most attention. They are well written, if somewhat stereotypical (you read enough thrillers about the war on terror and some of it starts to run together), and I enjoyed reading those sections the most. While the focus on the cell is important to the author’s vision, it’s not counterbalanced by the person who has the revelations, O’Gara.

Doyle O’Gara is never a fully realized character. The author tries to build him up as the story moves along, but it’s in odd information drops that don’t affect the moment and often feel out of place. A lot of time is also spent with Dupont and her team. But since none of them have the journey O’Gara is supposed to have, I thought that time could have been given over to heightening the drama around O’Gara, which would in turn lend more credence to his choices and impact the power of his realizations. He doesn’t gain the momentum he needs for that ending to really resonate.

Ultimately, I liked Missions. It’s not a traditional action-thriller. It’s a mystery that explores the nature of the system governing the international war on terror. The author takes a risk with his more thoughtful look at such events and how nations react to them. It was a nice change of pace from so many other by-the-numbers thrillers about terrorism. But I think the story is undercut by too many players. A deeper character study of O’Gara would have brought it home.

“Missions” is an interesting thriller that moves in many directions, including characters, timeframes and locations. I would call it more of a thinking person’s activist story than an action-heavy thriller. It has all the usual elements of Jihadist terrorism and high-tech investigation, but is much heavier on the philosophy of both sides, and features closer character studies of the principals. The relationships are more complicated than usual. It also has a unique twist that leads to the surprising conclusion. This is a great first effort by the author, very well written, and I think promises at least one sequel. I look forward to reading that as well.

Set a year after the 9/11 attacks, Missions details the lead up to and the aftermath of a terrorist attack in Paris. Following both the perpetrators and the investigators; as we begin to piece together what happened.

Following three different sets of characters, we frequently move between the past and present. This is something I have seen work well in other books but on this occasion there are just too many ‘side characters’. Everything becomes a bit muddled, with characters blurring, as a result we become a bit lost of the roles of some the minor characters.

There was definitely promise, and would give future books by McGuire a chance, but it needs work.