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In Blowback (Scot Harvath #4), Brad Thor pulls his sidelined hero back into action after Harvath’s counterterrorism career goes down in flames—torched by political maneuvering and a senator with presidential ambitions. When a terrifying new threat emerges, the president quietly brings Harvath back inside, because when things get ugly, he’s still the guy you call.
The central premise is classic Thor excess in the best and worst ways. An ancient weapon, discovered deep beneath an Alpine glacier, was once designed to wipe out the Roman Empire. Now a shadowy organization plans to use it to cripple the modern world. Harvath races across Europe to stop it, and the pace rarely lets up.
That said, this book is overly long and often convoluted. Thor clearly did extensive research, and it shows—sometimes too much. The technical detail and background explanations slow the story more than necessary, and trimming a few hundred pages wouldn’t have hurt.
I’m also not a fan of novels centered on climate change themes, but I’ll give Thor credit: the science and history are well researched and thoughtfully integrated. Even when the plot veers into eye-rolling territory, it remains entertaining.
Not Thor’s tightest novel, but still a solid, high-stakes thriller with enough momentum to keep Harvath fans turning pages.