Frank Wu

Don't judge this book by its cover. This is a 1.5 stars for me, despite the amazing cover art. The individual elements that make up this book, when looked at statistically seem like they should be very interesting. Spies, assassinations, mystery, super powers, end-of-life main character, it all sounds like something that should be inherently enjoyable with very little difficulty bringing all the elements together in an entertaining way. What is delivered, however, is a great study in how even the greatest ideas can fail in execution. What is interesting about this book is that I found far more enjoyment trying to understand why the book wasn't enjoying to read than I did actually reading it. At times it is difficult to tell why the story falls flat. Ultimately I think it is because the story, world, and characters are all under developed, leaving the reader with little or no attachment to the aforementioned elements. The main characters are old, but other than the occasional direct references to their ages, it doesn't play into the story at all, to the extent that I often forget their ages and when I remember how old they are some of the scenes seem less believable. The story seems half-baked. It never really feels clear why everything is happening, how it became that everything important happens at a small restaurant, or why I should care. This underdeveloped story to some degree ties into the fact that the world in general seems very shallow. This shallowness keeps the story from ever really taking off, and steals any surprise or mystery from the reader. Nothing is ever included that isn't needed later. Some elements or characters don't show up until exactly when they are needed, introducing new superpowers like a child that has backed themselves into a corner while telling a story. Like I said at the beginning of the review, the individual elements have great potential, and combining them could be an absolute slam dunk, but it didn't happen in this book. The story, world, and characters all need more depth to create anything interesting.… (meer)

I was one of the lucky LibraryThing folks to win a copy of this book in the Early Reviewer program. I'm always fascinated by books that come my way from this route because usually they are books I would not have picked up if I saw them in a store.

I'm not sure in this case that my thoughts there hold true because ESPionage: Change of Regime would have appealed to me from the shelf. As a fifty-something I like to find books centered around people my own age and that isn't very easy, but the characters in this novel are holdovers from the cold war era, pretty close to my age.

I loved the premise of the book - spies with ESP. I do believe some people know more about other people either from hidden talents or just better observation, so I think the idea is quite plausible.

What wasn't as plausible was the story arc of this book. Yes it is a work of fiction; however, there were jumps in the story that made little sense to me as a reader and this made it very difficult to continue reading. It was frustrating.

I am an apolitical person so the political jabs in the book didn't hit home with me, but I'm sure some folks would have enjoyed them. The ideas shown of how the terrorism was spread around the world were valid, certainly possible and that made the story resonate better.

I loved the characters and I loved the concept of the book but the delivery was just difficult for me. I would say give the book a try, don't expect too much from the transitions and hope for the best. There's some good stuff in here.… (meer)