Ever been forced to do something despicable? Would you betray your family to save your child? Undermine your employer? Commit treason?
Bin Laden gave terrorism a Middle-Eastern face. Now another misguided mastermind is giving it yours. But don’t feel bad, you’re not alone….
On the eve of perestroika, Alex Ferris stumbles onto KGB General Karpov’s scheme to regain Russia’s superpower status while investigating his brother’s death. After surviving attempts on his life and assembling bizarre clues, Alex settles on a most unusual suspect only to discover that Elaine is a victim herself. Unseen masters are forcing her into traitorous acts through nefarious threats. How many silent slaves like Elaine are out there? What do her tormenters want? Can he stop them?
Alex flies from San Francisco to Siberia to find those answers and avenge his brother. In the midst of that frozen landscape and those tumultuous times, he survives infiltration, interrogation, and romance only to learn that he too is being manipulated as part of a much grander scheme.
Written by a former Green Beret and counterintelligence specialist with a decade of experience on the ground in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, COERCION brings a chilling alternative history to life with what Kirkus Reviews calls “well-paced action, appealing characters and snappy writing.”
Step aside, Jason Bourne, Alex Ferris has it covered. COERCION by Tim Tigner is a fast paced action thriller set in the final years of Communist Russia. The beginning instantly grabs you and, though there is a small lull between 25 to 50%, is completely action packed.
The book is well written and divided into four parts. The beginning may confuse someone because there is a bit of year jumping, but the times quickly balance themselves out. Like I said before, there is a slight lull, but I only really experienced that for a few chapters and that was before Alex decided to go to Siberia. Once you’re in Siberia, you are on the edge of your seat.
There are many characters and a few of them have chapters specifically for them so that the reader can see what is happening through their eyes. There is Alex Ferris, Yarik, Victor, Vasily, and Anna for most of the book. That may sound confusing, but it really isn’t. It’s needed so that you can see the growing tension in both antagonist and protagonist.
Alex Ferris is an ex-CIA agent turned P.I. turned quasi-CIA/quasi-P.I. for a case close to his heart: his twin’s death He is a strong character who laughs in the face of danger(literally). Even if he’s secretly shitting his pants. He goes through so much in this book that I couldn’t help rooting for him and hoping he would find a way out of the mess.
Anna is a doctor in the USSR who is not afraid to speak her mind. She knows how to keep her mouth shut, but for the most part she will do everything in her power to help those in need. I really liked her as a character and could understand everything she was coming from.
Tigner expertly seeds in tiny details that don’t seem important until the end where you are left smacking your head at yourself. I did catch one little detail and was proud to see that my assumption was correct. This is definitely a book that gets you going and keeps you going until the end. I think there might be a hint at a sequel, but this book is great as a stand alone.
Tigner is an author to watch for.
Casia's Corner 