Review of FINAL VECTOR by Allan Leverone

 5 of 5 stars

Have you ever read a book that was so realistic that it scared you?  I don’t mean horror or true-crime, I mean a fictional book that affects you so profoundly that you keep looking over your shoulder to make sure the bad guys aren’t right behind you. 

This is the kind of book you’ll find with Final Vector by Allan Leverone.  The author takes an everyday guy with a regular job—Nick Jensen, air traffic controller at BCT, the Boston Consolidated TRACON in Merrimack, New Hampshire—and spins a tale of intrigue, murder and a band of terrorists bent on blowing the president’s plane out of the sky. I initially thought this book was going to be pretty similar to other thriller books I’ve read, but that’s not the case here.

The author does an excellent job of revolving the story around Nick and he makes you care about the guy.  Without giving anything of the plot away, Nick’s life is turned upside down by a personal tragedy.  That tragedy, however, is what sets the plot into motion.  The other characters could be anyone you’d pass by on a street in any city in America.  Tony Andretti, the Syrian born terrorist, has lived a model life in the USA for the past 10 years, waiting for his moment to shine and kill the leader of the free world.  He carefully recruits a band of home grown young men who are dissatisfied with America. These men more or less worship the ground Tony walks on whether is through true hero-worship or Tony’s own brand of intimidation, and they relish the thought of striking a blow against America.  Mr. Leverone gets inside these guys head’s and lets the reader understand how they think.  Lastly, there’s Kristin Cunningham, the cute petite FBI agent, who has been defying people’s expectation of her for her entire law-enforcement career.  The author bounces chapters between Nick, Tony and Kristin bringing the reader up to speed on their activities and slowly reveals how they are all connected. 

By reading the book blurb, it’s easy to see that everyone ends up at BCT, but that’s the only thing that’s easy about this book.  It keeps you on the edge of your seat, reading pages as fast as you can, to see what happens.  Trust me, it’s not the cookie-cutter kind of ending where the FBI comes in with guns blazing and saves the day.  No, it’s much more clever than that.  Nick, our everyday guy, has to figure out a way to disarm three terrorists, save his colleagues and live.  That’s a huge job and I highly recommend that you read this book and find out what happens. You will not be disappointed.