J. Patrick O'Connor

The premise of Truth Seeker was intriguing. Advertised as a thriller about a Native American intelligence agent who investigates the murder of three Washington journalists, the book misses the mark when actually read. The author has produced an entire series of events and unnecessary characters that do not add to the story. It’s almost like the author took a writing class in character development and tried his hardest to implement it to excess.
(SPOILER ALERT) I’ll try to explain the story, at least as far as I could follow it:
During the entire first quarter of the book, you are never even introduced to the protagonist, “Truth Seeker” Tyson. Instead, the reader is subjected to a story of how his parents, a Apache tribe member (“Wolf Tracker” Tyson) and a Jewish American woman (Rebecca), who are living on a kibbutz in Israel, meet and fall in love. This section of the book is very drawn out, with evil Arab terrorists being dispatched in the night by the tomahawk-wielding Wolf Tracker. Tyson is then charged with teaching Israeli security forces self-defense, again using his tomahawk. The couple then move back to the Apache reservation, where Wolf Tracker becomes chief. Many other characters are introduced, developed, and then mysteriously dropped by the author, never to be heard from again. The actual birth and childhood of the main character are forced into the end of this section, over the course of a very short number of pages. The book then leaves the main character again, this time to concentrate a lengthy saga of orphaned, homeless children in the Rio favela’s; and the police and underworld who concentrate on eliminating them. Again, characters are introduced, developed, and then dropped again.
The main character (Truth Seeker, in case you forgot) is then brought back into the story. Now he is an exceptional lawyer, who has married into the family of a State Department executive. Mysteriously, prior to the story, Truth Seeker has been repeatedly promoted, dispatched to South America to solve a number of relatively unknown crimes, and promoted again to be groomed to take over his father-in-law’s position as head of State Department Security. Truth Seeker then quits his job, starts a law firm, and drinks himself into an early spiral of despair. The story takes another turn, this time with Truth Seeker’s son and wife (got that, because I was lost) getting ripped off during an illegal adoption attempt in (surprise!) Rio. Again, the introduction and extended development of random characters who are once again dropped from the story. Lo and behold, the adoption scam is ran by the murdering, drug dealing, arch-criminal of South America. This evil-doer then has newspaper reporters (who have a little knowledge of the adoption scam and just happen to be good friends of Truth Seeker) murdered. At this point, U.S. national security is threatened (by the adoption scheme?), and the President of the United States steps in to personally recruit the only man who can save us, Truth Seeker. Truth Seeker leaves for Brazil, where he resumes an affair with a beautiful Brazilian intelligence agent. Together, with a team of misfit agents (including circus performing acrobats) and a homeless orphan boy, they dismantle the South American mafia, find the missing adopted child, and cure world hunger (well, maybe not that, but it wouldn’t have surprised me at this point). The story returns to the U.S., where everyone can now live happily after, except for the fact that the arch-criminal and his evil right-hand man have survived the bloodbath and follow the hero to his home. Another fight ensues, in which Truth Seeker handily dispatches the bad guy with his father’s trusty (surprise) tomahawk!
I question if this book was ever submitted to review by an experienced agent. The many disconnected scenes and extraneous characters should have been purged in a first review. I am left disappointed.… (meer)

The premise of Truth Seeker was intriguing. Advertised as a thriller about a Native American intelligence agent who investigates the murder of three Washington journalists, the book misses the mark when actually read. The author has produced an entire series of events and unnecessary characters that do not add to the story. It’s almost like the author took a writing class in character development and tried his hardest to implement it to excess.
(SPOILER ALERT) I’ll try to explain the story, at least as far as I could follow it:
During the entire first quarter of the book, you are never even introduced to the protagonist, “Truth Seeker” Tyson. Instead, the reader is subjected to a story of how his parents, a Apache tribe member (“Wolf Tracker” Tyson) and a Jewish American woman (Rebecca), who are living on a kibbutz in Israel, meet and fall in love. This section of the book is very drawn out, with evil Arab terrorists being dispatched in the night by the tomahawk-wielding Wolf Tracker. Tyson is then charged with teaching Israeli security forces self-defense, again using his tomahawk. The couple then move back to the Apache reservation, where Wolf Tracker becomes chief. Many other characters are introduced, developed, and then mysteriously dropped by the author, never to be heard from again. The actual birth and childhood of the main character are forced into the end of this section, over the course of a very short number of pages. The book then leaves the main character again, this time to concentrate a lengthy saga of orphaned, homeless children in the Rio favela’s; and the police and underworld who concentrate on eliminating them. Again, characters are introduced, developed, and then dropped again.
The main character (Truth Seeker, in case you forgot) is then brought back into the story. Now he is an exceptional lawyer, who has married into the family of a State Department executive. Mysteriously, prior to the story, Truth Seeker has been repeatedly promoted, dispatched to South America to solve a number of relatively unknown crimes, and promoted again to be groomed to take over his father-in-law’s position as head of State Department Security. Truth Seeker then quits his job, starts a law firm, and drinks himself into an early spiral of despair. The story takes another turn, this time with Truth Seeker’s son and wife (got that, because I was lost) getting ripped off during an illegal adoption attempt in (surprise!) Rio. Again, the introduction and extended development of random characters who are once again dropped from the story. Lo and behold, the adoption scam is ran by the murdering, drug dealing, arch-criminal of South America. This evil-doer then has newspaper reporters (who have a little knowledge of the adoption scam and just happen to be good friends of Truth Seeker) murdered. At this point, U.S. national security is threatened (by the adoption scheme?), and the President of the United States steps in to personally recruit the only man who can save us, Truth Seeker. Truth Seeker leaves for Brazil, where he resumes an affair with a beautiful Brazilian intelligence agent. Together, with a team of misfit agents (including circus performing acrobats) and a homeless orphan boy, they dismantle the South American mafia, find the missing adopted child, and cure world hunger (well, maybe not that, but it wouldn’t have surprised me at this point). The story returns to the U.S., where everyone can now live happily after, except for the fact that the arch-criminal and his evil right-hand man have survived the bloodbath and follow the hero to his home. Another fight ensues, in which Truth Seeker handily dispatches the bad guy with his father’s trusty (surprise) tomahawk!
I question if this book was ever submitted to review by an experienced agent. The many disconnected scenes and extraneous characters should have been purged in a first review. I am left disappointed.… (meer)