Charles Kowalski

The Devil’s Son by Charles Kowalski was not the spy thriller I expected. I loved his first book Mind Virus and was expecting something like that again. I liked this one but it was not entirely to tastes; however, I think I will be in the minority and I will go into further detail shortly.
The story opens in Argentina in 1960 with Azriel Horowitz, a Jew and member of Mossad (the Israeli version of the CIA), attempting to capture two high ranking former Nazi fugitives. You see for him this is personal, very personal. He is the sole surviving member of his family from Auschwitz and the two fugitives are Karl Weiss and Josef Mengele who were the deputy commandant and doctor, respectively, of Auschwitz. As luck would have it, the two manage to evade capture by the Mossad team.
Skip forward to the present day and Rachel Horowitz, the daughter of Azriel, and a member herself of Mossad, is being tasked with seeing that Henry Hale is not elected to the Presidency of the United Sates. She expects to achieve this by proving that Hale is actually the son of the famous Nazi Karl Weiss. She is also out to show that Weiss has passed on his Nazi views to his son.
Once in America this proves to be more difficult than she imagined and she will need the help of someone on the inside. When a near fatal car accident caused by Secret Service Agent Emmett Miller’s loss of focus turns out to be a blessing in disguise, Rachel manages to gain his attention and uses him for her own ends. Little does she know just how dangerous a game she is really playing.
There is a lot of action in this book and unexpected plot twists. However, the best part of this book is the suspense. I loved how the author set the reader up and then slowly resolved an issue only to have some other little twist come up for the heroine to deal with. Speaking of heroine, I loved the main character. Rachel is fierce, strong and resourceful, I just wished that her character had been a little more developed.
The story is good; however, I felt it a little far-fetched and it has a lot of political undertones. Personally, I am so over anything to do with politics. Another thing I want to mention, I felt the story in places was a bit Hollywood. In other words, a bit overdone. Without giving anything way, roughly ¾ through, a couple of things happened and I was like… really? Lastly, as much as I loved the main character, I felt things just came a bit too easy for her.
Despite the few things I mentioned above, I did enjoy reading The Devil’s Son. I have no hesitation in recommending this book to those readers who like fast paced thrillers and especially to those who like a strong heroine.
I received a free copy of the book, from the author, in exchange for my honest review. For more of my reviews, and author interviews, see my blog at www.thespineview.com.… (meer)

Mind Virus by Charles Kowalski is an award winning debut novel and a total adrenaline rush. As scary as the thought is, the events depicted could easily have been real. Given all the attention the media focuses on terrorism and religious extremism it is no wonder that the story will resonate with readers.

Robin Fox is a professor of world religions, ex-Army and conscientious objector. Since he is one of the few people in the world that has had dealings with a new deadly virus he is drawn back into the world of intelligence. As he works to uncover the mastermind behind the plot to kill people of faith, he is led on a chase which leads to various religious celebrations around the world. Robin must race against the clock to stop the planned attacks before this deadly virus is released into the populous. Then it becomes personal to him when his very dear friend Emily Paxton is kidnapped. I do not want to spoil a great story; therefore, I am intentionally being vague and stopping here.

Wow! What a great story and very relevant to what is occurring in the world today. Mr. Kowalski has taken the current political climate and events, and effectively intertwined them with fiction, to create a fabulous thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat. There are lots of twists in the plot and thoughtful characters that keep the reader engaged throughout.

My only quam, though slight, is with the main character, Robin Fox, he is almost too clever. He is always able to figure things out much too quickly. It is such a minor thing and the story was just so engaging I had no trouble overlooking this one very minor item.

If you love thrillers, you have to read Mind Virus.

I received an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

See my other reviews, and author interviews, on my blog at www.thespineview.com.… (meer)