Review of The Date Farm
Posted: 11 Jul 2023, 01:59
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Date Farm" by Jack Winnick.]
Gas grenades rolled in. Bullets were fired. Panic ensued. The Beverly Hills Mall massacre was a horrible tragedy, but an intentional and calculated one. Newlywed Mossad agents Uri and Lara were awoken from their peaceful slumber on Lara’s family farm to investigate that act of terrorism when something worse happened. All the communication networks were hacked and a satellite was knocked out. On top of that, the terrorists working under the Islamic Republic cordoned off multiple streets and took control of two prominent banks: the Federal Reserve and the Chase Manhattan Bank. One of those banks was rumored to hold the bulk of America’s gold supply, and the other had it. Were these terrorists after the gold? Or were they after something more valuable? And with old enemies reappearing, will Uri and Lara be able to stop the terrorists before time runs out?
The Date Farm by Jack Winnick is the fourth installment in the Uri and Lara series, but it can stand on its own. I was worried that there might be a lot of parts that I wouldn’t understand because of that, but I was given an introduction and description of all the characters. In addition to that, there were two things that I loved about this book. One was that it’s quite fast-paced. We jumped right into the action within the first few pages, and we rarely stopped. This was great because there was never a boring or slow moment where I felt like I just had to get through the section before getting to any good parts. The other thing that I loved was that we were told where the setting was at the beginning of each chapter. This was helpful because Winnick jumps from the perspective of the agents to the terrorists and the other characters, and while he wrote these parts wonderfully, having the location at the beginning of a chapter helped to keep me on track of what was happening and where.
I didn't have any strong negative opinions of this book. It was quite thrilling and though the writing was very simple and direct, I was still really curious as to how everything was going to play out. The only thing that bothered me a little was that sometimes the wrong word was used or spelled, and some action sentences could be reworded to flow a little better. However, these were very few and minor, so I would say that it was professionally edited.
So although the book could use one final sweep for any errors, it was still a thrilling read that I’d be delighted to rate 5 out of 5 stars. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves crime thrillers or espionage, but I wouldn't recommend it to people who love a good mystery where they can try and guess what will happen before it occurs. This is because Winnick’s writing style is very simple. There wasn't a lot of foreshadowing or clues and a lot of new things kept happening, so readers can't try to solve the mystery. We're just here for the crazy ride. I would also not recommend this to Muslims that are very sensitive about their religion. As a Muslim myself, in the beginning, it can be a little hard to read because there's so much Islamaphobia in the world and while things like this happen in the real world, reading about people doing horrible things under the name of Islam could feel a little uncomfortable because that isn't what Islam is about.
******
The Date Farm
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Gas grenades rolled in. Bullets were fired. Panic ensued. The Beverly Hills Mall massacre was a horrible tragedy, but an intentional and calculated one. Newlywed Mossad agents Uri and Lara were awoken from their peaceful slumber on Lara’s family farm to investigate that act of terrorism when something worse happened. All the communication networks were hacked and a satellite was knocked out. On top of that, the terrorists working under the Islamic Republic cordoned off multiple streets and took control of two prominent banks: the Federal Reserve and the Chase Manhattan Bank. One of those banks was rumored to hold the bulk of America’s gold supply, and the other had it. Were these terrorists after the gold? Or were they after something more valuable? And with old enemies reappearing, will Uri and Lara be able to stop the terrorists before time runs out?
The Date Farm by Jack Winnick is the fourth installment in the Uri and Lara series, but it can stand on its own. I was worried that there might be a lot of parts that I wouldn’t understand because of that, but I was given an introduction and description of all the characters. In addition to that, there were two things that I loved about this book. One was that it’s quite fast-paced. We jumped right into the action within the first few pages, and we rarely stopped. This was great because there was never a boring or slow moment where I felt like I just had to get through the section before getting to any good parts. The other thing that I loved was that we were told where the setting was at the beginning of each chapter. This was helpful because Winnick jumps from the perspective of the agents to the terrorists and the other characters, and while he wrote these parts wonderfully, having the location at the beginning of a chapter helped to keep me on track of what was happening and where.
I didn't have any strong negative opinions of this book. It was quite thrilling and though the writing was very simple and direct, I was still really curious as to how everything was going to play out. The only thing that bothered me a little was that sometimes the wrong word was used or spelled, and some action sentences could be reworded to flow a little better. However, these were very few and minor, so I would say that it was professionally edited.
So although the book could use one final sweep for any errors, it was still a thrilling read that I’d be delighted to rate 5 out of 5 stars. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves crime thrillers or espionage, but I wouldn't recommend it to people who love a good mystery where they can try and guess what will happen before it occurs. This is because Winnick’s writing style is very simple. There wasn't a lot of foreshadowing or clues and a lot of new things kept happening, so readers can't try to solve the mystery. We're just here for the crazy ride. I would also not recommend this to Muslims that are very sensitive about their religion. As a Muslim myself, in the beginning, it can be a little hard to read because there's so much Islamaphobia in the world and while things like this happen in the real world, reading about people doing horrible things under the name of Islam could feel a little uncomfortable because that isn't what Islam is about.
******
The Date Farm
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon