Gregory S. Lamb

A Dangerous Element is a light thriller about a pilot who has to discover what happened the weeks before his entering a mental hospital. Though not suffering from amnesia, he is unable to remember due to a mysterious "treatment." He’s kept under close vigilance and must escape. But how? That dilemma forms the opening of this tale.

After getting his freedom — with some help — a flashback to 2002 and ending in 2011 reveals why he ended up in the hospital.

During that interval the story takes readers to Iran, Israel, Afghanistan, Cyprus and the US. From that point, the reader finds out that the core of the story involves the usage of uranium by the Iranian government and their evil purposes, The US, naturally, tries to devise a plan to stop it. A naive but clever Iranian physicist gets sucked in and he forms an important part of the action.

I enjoyed the storyline and the realistic characters. There are some other good points in the story, such as the depiction of how hard it is to obtain uranium suitable for nuclear energy. However, I’d have enjoyed it more with a faster pace and more tension. It might have helped if we understood why Coldhand was so dangerous. We might have benefited from learning more about what happened with Thomas.

All in all it was a pleasant read. For those who like a light read with some doses of suspense, without grimness, this novel might be a good option. I've never read a Clive Cussler novel, but perhaps his fans will find this one enjoyable, based on reading reviews and descriptions of some of those adventure thrillers.

This review is of an ARC copy, provided by the author. 3.5 stars.… (meer)

OK, I liked the book. It is a primer on the conflict that began in Cyprus in the 1950s. The book covers the historical events through to the Annan Plan and the Greek Cypriot membership in the European Union. That is what what I wanted when I picked up the book, and that is what I got. The fictional story woven around the historical events was too contrived for my tastes. A cute little love story and a father who finally speaks of his past, a family that became united. The father is dying, so before it is too late he speaks out. Cute and sweet, with unexceptional writing, but the history was easy to understand, and that I liked.

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Reading this to better understand the Cypriot conflict.

Started with: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypriot_intercommunal_violence

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_invasion_of_Cyprus

and then these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annan_Plan_for_Cyprus

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_enlargement_of_the_European_Union… (meer)