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What a ride!

I receive a copy of Phantom as a giveaway through Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ as a 'first read'. Sadly, it took me a long time to read, but it was NOT because the book was not good! On the contrary, I GREATLY enjoyed it.

The main plot of the story surrounds strange goings on around the world. It starts in an amusement park where rides seemingly develop minds of their own and go out of control. Then, everyone on board a Russian submarine loses control of all systems while doing training runs, and the boat takes it upon itself to actually fire live torpedo's at a cruise ship carrying thousands of innocent people - mostly American.

Governments point fingers at their own and other people, tempers rise, and fear levels escalate as no explanations present themselves. Surely no virus has been created or intelligence developed that can allow someone to take controls out of the hands of operators of such unrelated things...right?

Alex Hawke is brought 'on board' to help track down the culprit or culprits who are causing unimaginable tragedies.

It's not as though Hawke does not already have a plateful! He has just learned he has a son, and the Tsarists society is hellbent on removing both of them by any means possible in revenge of Alex's alleged murder of their beloved leader.

The book is hard to put down - there is action in each and every chapter and it leave the reader dying to know what happens next. The only reason I put it down as often as I did is because of 'who I am'. I am an analyst by profession and by nature. This book really made me think. My favorite two questions to ask are "What if?" and "Why?". Don't get me wrong, I do not ask 'why' because I question something, I ask it to understand it. For me, Phantom filled me with 'what if' scenarios that I could turn over in my mind for quite a long time.

Phantom is a perfect example of, as stated by the author, "The difference between science and science fiction is 'time'."

For anyone who enjoys the 'what if's' of life, this is a GREAT book for you!