Along the way he uncovers a plot to unleash it on the world, obliterating the vast majority of humanity on purpose, proving that someone has spent WAY too much time on Twitter. Fast-forward to 2019 in Iraq, where Cameron Becker, an ex-military now working for a private military contractor is assigned to escort a Russian businessman, Luka Belikov to a safe house in Baghdad. Some of the banter between Becker and Dalton elicits a smile, but it’s difficult to view them as unique individuals with their own psychology.

The entire group dies brutally in a matter of hours, some of whom endure gross physical trauma on their way to the afterlife. Sure, the author could have given the characters more depth but it wasn't necessary for this type of story. Lori’s team begin to work together trying to unfold the incidents at the village, they are in for a scare. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.True, the protagonists take a serious beating and can recover surprisingly fast, but there’s nothing superhuman about them and death is always possible. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. In each of his videos, Jordan continually stresses the basics of storytelling and cuts through hype, gimmicks, and identity politics that filmmakers rely on to earn acclaim and popularity. Also, given the last 2 years and various governmental responses to COVID, bold of the author to imagine a world where a deadly virus could be tamped out in little to no time. It’s up to Definitely-Not-Jason-Bourne protagonist Cameron Becker to hunt it down and figure out who controls it, where it came from, and why it’s in play.

His books understandably have a cinematic quality, being fast-paced, suspenseful, and efficiently told. One thing I especially enjoyed about their dynamic is how, in another author's hands, they would have had a romance, but Jordan showed restraint and just let them be partners in their pursuit of Dyatlov virus. Her presence has an impact on several of the power players along the way, that I can’t divulge without getting into spoilers. For instance, every scene in a movie or TV show should do three things: advance the plot, develop the characters, and world-build. If a casual, quick read for some contemporary action is something you're after, then this isn't a bad choice.Having always enjoyed a passion for storytelling, he began writing short stories from a young age, eventually moving up to full-length novels and the publication of his first Ryan Drake novel in 2012. Overall not for me, but I'm more than happy for my couple of dollars to hit his account for the many hours I've spent enjoying his YouTube content. Unfortunately, this fell into the wrong hands and the kidnappers coerced Ivanov to perfect the strain and create a deadly biological weapon unleashing them into the world’s populated nodes causing the annihilation of mankind.

It’s good comfort food for readers who, like Jordan, also like to play “ Resident Evil” and watch James Bond movies. Some of what took place I could see coming a mile off, but thankfully there were still enough twists and subversion to keep the story rolling. A suspenseful, gripping read that transported me into the freezing mountains and had me guessing to the end. After forming an uneasy alliance with WHO medic Lori Dalton, Becker sets out to uncover the truth behind the attack, and quickly realizes he's caught in the middle of something far bigger and more dangerous. He expertly jumps in time so far as it’s necessary to connect the events without bogging down on clunky exposition.She (the villain) sounds like a 65 year old Jewish man that’s been smoking a pack of cigarettes a day since birth. We get involved with Becker and Dalton and care about them as they run through the maze to figure out what the virus is, how to stop it, and where to find the antidote. For all the boozing, cursing, and jokes about strippers, when it comes to storytelling, The Critical Drinker knows exactly what he’s talking about, and he backs it up yet again with “Dark Harvest. There was a proper book about it, even a speculative movie adaptation about it, and now there’s this…tangentially connected bombastic thriller. This may be cliche, but the technique helps the world of the novel feel bigger and more consequential.

Even the science of a virus that turns people into flesh-eating zombies is believable — Jordan definitely read up on Covid-19 and applied some of that information here. The humor and wit Jordan is gifted at delivering verbally and extemporaneously in his other content is missing here for some reason. He is the senior editor of The Everyman and has written essays for The Federalist, The American Conservative, and The Imaginative Conservative, as well as the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. Some nice action sequences are populated throughout and you do get a good sense of urgency as the conflict ramps up.For his second thriller SACRIFICE, he was able to interview members of the British armed forces who had served tours in Afghanistan. Four mercenaries chosen for this task were on their way carrying this deadly virus in an aerosol can to Washington, London, Dubai, and Beijing.