Sabotage by Matt Cook

Published by Forge Books on September 9, 2014

Sabotage initially pursues three storylines. The first involves Austin Hardy, who is pursuing a doctorate in aeronautics. Hardy's professor offers him a position as a military consultant but cannot explain any details prior to acceptance. Before Hardy can decide, the professor disappears. Hardy and the professor's daughter, Victoria, decide to find him.

The second plot thread follows Dan Chatham, whose company has launched a secret weapon into space. The orbiting weapon is taken over by someone known as the Viking, who threatens to sell it to terrorists if Chatham doesn't outbid them.

The third introduces Jacob Rove, a retired military man who is variously described as a meteorologist, a marine biologist, and a bioacoustical oceanographer. Having helped a wealthy banker's daughter avoid kidnapping, Rove has been rewarded with a luxury cruise. The cruise becomes less luxurious after the cruise ship is hijacked by scores of armed pirates.

The conspiracy is grounded in a conventional and dull high tech threat. A Russian friend of Hardy's professor explains it all to Hardy in simple terms because Hardy, despite pursuing a doctorate at Stanford, apparently needs things explained to him at a middle school level. I didn't buy the plotline involving Hardy and Victoria. They cruise through the novel with unbelievable ease. Hardy jokingly calls the professor's daughter "Nancy Drew" and that is about the level at which Hardy and Victoria operate. Their lighthearted banter is too childish to believe, given the gravity of the situation. Too much of their dialog is meant to educate the reader, not to inform each other, resulting in expository lectures that do not sound remotely realistic. They concoct a "plan" that could go wrong in too many ways to count, but the novel fails to create any sense that Hardy or Victoria are in danger. Tension is notably lacking in their part of the story.

Some parts of the story are ridiculous. Victoria takes time out from her effort to save her father's life to purchase (and apparently memorize) a tourist guide to Iceland, allowing her to lecture Hardy about Icelandic history. Hardy, having never fired a gun before, proves to be an adept marksman when firing from a moving airplane. A confrontation at the end turns into a chat-fest while dozens of criminals with guns let all the important people live instead of shooting them. Even more preposterous is the password that Victoria's father writes down, encoded in a ridiculously complicated way for no apparent reason, since it is a password he is unlikely to forget (or, for that matter, to write down).

The plotline involving Rove is stronger than the Hardy/Victoria chapters. His heroics are also improbably easy, but Matt Cook at least creates a sense that he might be at risk as he works his way through hordes of armed thugs. The reveal of the Viking's identity is mildly entertaining. If Sabotage had featured more of Rove and less of the Hardy boy, I might have liked it better. As it is, while I commend a young author on getting his debut novel published, I can't recommend it.

NOT RECOMMENDED