Big City Press
456 Pages
I love reading techno thrillers that can be ripped from the headlines of the real news. I thought when I saw Crude by Mike Bond at the Lockport Public Library that this book would fulfill that niche. Unfortunately, I was sorely mistaken. What I ended up with was a mismatched hodge-podge of right wing conspiracies written in a disjointed way. I couldn’t care less about the author’s political views. It typically has little bearing on the narrative. However, Bond’s political views are on full display, and detract from the story. He sacrifices his plot in order to blatantly input his own political stance. He fails miserably.
Ross Bullock is the CEO of Rawhide Energy. He warns of escalating tension coming from the President of the United States towards former Cold War antagonists as well as new global foes. As he warns that the administration is heading for planetary annihilation, one of his oil platforms in the South China Sea mysteriously explodes. Is it poor design or is it a warning from the powers that be to step back on his criticisms? Because of the power of his voice, he must be silenced so as to not drown out the approved messages coming from the Oval Office.
This book skips between several scenes, sometimes even on the same page. They are short snippets of intense action. Frankly, it gets quite confusing and Bond moves in and out time frames willy-nilly. It’s a hodge podge where the reader gets lost in the melee. It simply is not well written. The premise of the story seems solid, but the execution is awful. At the same time, the author’s political proclivities shine through each of his characters. It is as if they are of a hive mind even when the characters and situations are at odds with that. It is awkward and really has no place in the story.
The characters in the books I like are likable. Not only are these characters completely unlikable with minimal redeeming qualities, they are one-dimensional and predictable. In my opinion, it seems that the author was simply going through the motions to get his book to the publisher. This does a huge disservice to the reader.
Amazingly, this book got great reviews on several websites. I have no idea how it did, unless he paid for these reviews. Mike Bond is spoken of as the “master of the existential thriller.” Maybe this book was just an anomaly, but based on reading this book, I would never read anything else he wrote. Unless there is a book that stands out for any of you, this book was the end of my Mike Bond books.
In the end, this book is supposed to be a warning. It warns us against the divisive political division so extant in our country. In theory, this should be good. However, the only warning I can give you is to read this at your own risk. I could find little to redeem Crude by Mike Bond. I love thrillers, but this one was tepid at best and just left me wondering what I just read.
Craig Bacon loves thrillers. Good thrillers. There are some reviews of good thrillers forthcoming.