False Flag

By: John Altman

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

In False Flag, Israeli-born Dalia Artzi, a tactical genius and specialist at Princeton in the study of maneuver warfare, uncovers a fiendish plot by a small group of Israeli fanatics to commit a horrific crime against the United States government and pin the blame on Iran. At first Dalia, a pacifist, is hesitant to get involved. But, strong in her Jewish faith, she believes that the goal of her religion is not to crush one's enemies but to practice tikkun olam, to repair the world. Soon Dalia has little choice but to act quickly and do what she must to prevent the unspeakable.

Meanwhile, Jana, a beautiful but deadly Israeli operative taking orders from the conspiring fanatics, is determined to deftly fulfill the deadly mission entrusted to her. Once the plot has been carried out, Jana and the commanders of her mission believe that Israel's enemies will meet with total destruction when the world's most powerful nation retaliates. Jana is firm in her conviction that she is on the side of right and believes the ends will justify the means, however violent.

Centered on a fascinating and original Israeli heroine and antiheroine, False Flag probes some of the most important political and moral conflicts of our times. Altman examines extremism in its many incarnations and the complex pitfalls humans encounter when they try to do what is right, no matter the cost. In the process, he continues his tradition of creating ruthless female assassins, delivering his most terrifying creation yet. Riveting espionage, struggles of conscience, and edge-of-your-seat intrigue combine to make False Flag one of the most compelling and controversial thrillers of 2017.

©2017 John Altman (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Good story. We are at the brink. Depicts it well.

I enjoyed this book. It hits home with the world on fire. False flags have been used many times these last few years. Unfortunately, some have succeeded.
This story takes into that reality.

Good story concept but lacked development

Struggled at times with transitions between characters. Not the greatest character development, more of these are the players and forging on with the storyline. At times felt like the descriptive narrative was focused on points that didn't pertain, while other descriptive opportunities fell short. Entertaining with a good story line, but far short of works by Kyle Mills or Robert Ludlum.

Nailbiter

Great narration as well! I don't think I've had the chance to hear Edoardo but I'll be looking into it after this book

Best book I've listened to this year

I've never listened to John Altman before - I've missed out!

Interesting plot and great characters. The dialog is believable and the manner in which he expresses the thoughts the characters are having is great. Well done!

Of course, Edoardo Ballerini's reading was excellent - it always is.

many things to love but my attention wandered

I felt this novel was written by a man, with the thought that his only readers would be males, because well, females are (take your pick) not interested, mature enough, or macho enough to deal with a subject such as his. Some things were over explained. characters were 2 dimensional, good guys like the heroes, and everyone else., who were either bad guys or merely incompetent fools. I dont usually comment on the actor reading the book but this time I feel I must. My attention kept wandering even in scenes with lots of action! I am NOT a person who likes every sentence emphasized as it's read so one feels one can't catch one's breath, and that either every sentence in the book is important- or nothing is. I just want the reader to give appropriate emotional cues as to what is happening. I am usually pleasantly surprised how well this is done. This book didnt succeed in this area.
Despite these criticisms, I enjoyed the book.

Fascinating!

Riveting plot, great narrator! Will listen again. I rarely post reviews but really had to for this.

not the best, not the worst.

at least there was no paranormal stuff. and the use of religion as a basis for fanaticism was toned down to mere personal vengeance. i dont want to give the plot away, so listen and judge for yourself.

little hard to follow

I liked the story overall, but the change in the middle of the chapters left me confused sometimes about who I was hearing about.

Good story but WAY too slow

A good story but with far too much irrelevant filler. I found myself frequently frustrated with too many character memories and too much detail of environment. Context and character development is great, but I found it unbalanced and conflicting with the pace of the book. There were good “edge of the seat” moments which could have been great, but instead there were long interruptions of boredom. The author has a pacing problem. I hope he will continue to work at his art because he could be quite good.

Hard to get into

May have been better actually reading the word on the page.
I thought it was hard to get involved with the characters.