Overall: 🐢🐢🐢
Storyline:
Writing:
Characters:
Enjoyment:
“‘Want to tag team to break into the Air Force’s disciplinary records?’ ‘We can tell them the FBI said it was OK'”
Blockchain Syndicate by Robbie Bach
The Story:
Senator Tamika Smith’s new year begins in shambles. First she receives an email threatening to expose her past—a threat from someone she knows is dead. Then her boyfriend, Johnny Humboldt, is kidnapped in broad daylight after his daughter is wounded in a California school shooting. Someone is desperate to take Tamika down and damage the country she loves. The attacks are professional, the delivery is flawless, and the message America is broken, and someone is determined to fix it their way.
Standing in the eye of the storm, Tamika must navigate a political landscape riddled with betrayal, misinformation, and moral decay to rescue Johnny and uncover the group behind the web of conspiracy. As the country spirals toward financial Armageddon and democracy itself begins to unravel, Tamika must decide what she is willing to sacrifice to save her family and pull the nation back from the brink
Key Elements:
Thriller, Government, Kidnapping, Conspiracy, FBI, Blackmail, Dark Web, Secrets, Rescue Mission,
Other Books in the World
Why This Rating?
I received an ARC in exchange for a free and honest review
While a blackmailed senator tries to find who kidnapped her boyfriend, Johnny, and shooters are targeting other people in her life, Tamika Smith’s story here was a good one. I enjoyed the overall experience that we went on with our characters. There was a good thrill and tension from the story as you progressed through each of chapters. It was a very fast paced read. You had POVs from multiple characters. We get deep character backgrounds. Even crossed into the dark web and hidden political schemes. There were good parts and not so fantastic parts to this story that I experienced while reading for sure.
Starting with the writing. I loved the amount of detail each of these characters received. We are given so much information and backgrounds you can practically act like childhood friends. We get their youth through adulthood, motives, dreads, wants, you think it you’re probably told it. Honestly, it was a bit overwhelming. The info dumps where long, some taking a few pages alone. I’m going to confuse, I absolutely glazed over on some of the details. If you are one who wants to know all, this is going to check that off easily! You get attached to the characters because you have so munch detail, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The conversations were a bit on the stilted side. We sort of bounced back and forth between lines and some reactions just didn’t click with how I felt the situation was calling for. I was shocked that we were given POVs from the “baddies” side of the story! Granted there are a TON of POVs in this one (almost too many) so I shouldn’t be surprised we got to glimpse into the shooter or the masterminds behind RallyAmerica. I do feel like some of the suspense that was building is taken from doing this. My nosy self though, really liked it – Ha! I always want to know what other characters are thinking and doing.
Tamika is a badass woman who stands her ground, sticks to what she believes in, and protects those she calls her own. This book is the second introduction to Tamika, the first giving us the first glimpse into Johnny and her’s meet up. While I never read the first book, you don’t necessarily need it to enjoy this story. The author does a good job at keeping you in all the loops or past references that characters make. Of course, not everything is going to be able to be touched on, but for the most part I was able to gloss over and keep reading through those brief moments. With reading, I kept getting the movie Taken playing through my head. While Tamkia is no Liam Neeson, she isn’t one who is going to belly up to blackmail or stand down when someone (or her country) she loves is in trouble no matter the cost.
You go on an adventure of plots and schemes that are riveting and on the trip that not everyone may make it out on the other side. I think anyone interested in a solid thriller story that has a governmental focus would fall in love with this one. There are a bunch of characters and some political/technology jargon moments that sailed over my head, but overall it was a decent read.
Time to get lost in the next story!
