Holly's Reviews > The First Commandment

I normally love all of Brad Thor's books--and admit that this one was just as edge-of-your-seat thrilling as his others, but I confess I was rather unhappy with how Scot behaved in this book. Granted his nearest and dearest were being tortured and killed while he tracked his attacker down, but the way he was extracting information from the terrorists was disturbing to one of my sensibilities. And my high opinion of Scot suffered as a result. I didn't like how torture was justified by only being performed on people known to have tortured and killed others. The old 'ends justify the means' and 'eye for an eye' arguments have never held much water with me, and ever since I read Howard Zinn I cannot reconcile myself any better to them. I would love to discuss this book with someone else of like mind (I'd rather not be criticized for my humane opinions), but know that there is a whole lot of bloodshed in this one. I didn't find other books by this author as revolting, however, so if you want a good thriller where the protagonist's actions are less controversial, try "Lions of Lucerne" or one of his earlier novels.