So-So Sequel | Legend: An Event Group Thriller (Event Group Thrillers)

Cussler and DuBrul Club has new member | Legend: An Event Group Thriller (Event Group Thrillers) | David Golemon

books:


	• Legend: An Event Group Thriller (Event Group Thrillers) David Golemon St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2008 - 512 pages average customer review:based on 17 reviews view larger image
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Not Just a Legend this Event

Legend, the second installment of the Event Group series is in many ways very different than the first book. The first installment is very fast paced, lots of snappy dialog, the action non-stop, and it is one hell of a rollercoaster ride. Also, EVENT scared the bejeezus out of me. The style of writing in book one is just different than this book. Not worse, just not the same. Golemon switches writing gears and pens this book in a more literary style. I thought this one was just a bit long and drawn out but it pays off at the end. The reader must have a bit of patience and give the author their trust. The first half of the book is a slow build, a warm up approach that in my opinion does take too long, Also, there are way too many characters bouncing all over the place too fast like Mexican Jumping Beans. The reader feels like a ping pong ball ricocheting hither and yon, finding it hard to keep track of who is who and what their part was. In book one there is more character development to set up the main key players. You dont see that here. This book falls under the assumption that you already know who they are and why they do what they do. So I dont think you could really read Legend, without reading Event first, or you'd be floundering a bit as to what is going on and why the Group does what they do. But even though this needed a tad bit of editing, and although there were too many characters and one too many side plots, the author does manage to weave this convoluted story into one heck of great story. He pulls all the threads together very nicely so that when you are done, you are happier than you were during the first half of the story. One thing that I thought was better in this installment was that the action scenes were more believable, not so over-the-top James Bond-like. I have to admit on a whole, looking at the big picture, Event was better for me. It was more exciting and had you on the edge of your seat, and as I said earlier, it was much scarier. When reading Event, I could barely breathe. Legend is still excellent, it just holds a steadier pace and maintains about the same level of thrill and intrique from start to finish. I was not scared at all in this book. Golemon is creative, and he is a good writer, one worth watching in the future. The literary writing style in this book was better I think, and the scare factor was better in book one. So I loved them both for different reasons and would highly recommend them both. I just ordered book three and can not wait to dive in. This is fun stuff for sure, a sort of blending of Robert Doherty's Area 51 series and the television show Stargate SG1. Pure entertainment at it's best!

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So-So Sequel

The highly trained, super-secret government organization, the Event Group, is back for another adventure when a team of college students goes missing in the Amazon. Led by former Event Group member Dr. Helen Zachary, the group had gone looking for a hidden valley that supposedly contained El Dorado, the lost gold mine of the Incas. Dr. Zachary was far more interested in the unique animal life supposedly living in the valley, but there are others who only want the gold, and still others yet who want another valuable mineral that is also hidden in the mine. A lot is at stake in the Amazon, and when the Event Group discovers that none other than the president's daughter is part of the missing Zachary expedition, they high-tail it down to Brazil to begin looking for the lost mine.

After Golemon's page-turning first effort, "Event," I had high hopes for this novel that soon fizzled. It was obvious before I was even halfway through that the same amount of effort had not gone into this book. First, and most glaring, were the numerous misspellings and bad grammar. Publishers these days have obviously decided to cut corners in the proofreading department, and nearly everything I read is littered with typos, but this book took it to a whole new level (a "vile" of liquid?) that was distracting, to say the least. But that is not the only way in which this book, or those reading it, suffered. It was very hard to keep all the characters straight because there were simply too many protagonists who all had too much in common. History and science were given less than respectful treatment, as well. Probably the biggest problem with this book, though, was the convoluted mess of a plot.

In "Event," the story stayed with the action, and touched lightly on behind-the-scenes politics in Washington. Unfortunately, this book took an opposite approach, and wasted page after page with the president, the secretary of state, and a whole bunch of people in offices pulling strings when what it should have done was stick with the team in the Amazon. I can barely tolerate political machinations in real life and absolutely detest them in fiction. It's simply not believable in any small way, and I don't really care which one of these fake people carries the most weight in an imitation Washington. When I pick up an adventure thriller, I want action. This book delivered precious little of that. Instead of battles with the bad guys, or even having issues with the Amazonian flora and fauna, our heroes simply drift down the Amazon in their supposedly state-of-the-art boat while the bad guys watch them from a few miles downriver and talk about their evil plans. I was expecting some great action scenes where the bizarre lagoon creatures wreaked havoc on good guys and bad, and instead, the creatures in this book only made a couple of cameo appearances before simply disappearing. The most exciting "action" scenes seemed to consist of patching holes in the boat after they ran some rapids. There simply wasn't enough plot to drive the book, so rather than taking the time to develop a more interesting storyline, the author attempted to flesh it out with ridiculous subplots and the oh-so-boring situations in Washington. Several times throughout the book, I found myself rereading paragraphs I had already read, simply because I could not focus on what was happening because it failed to engage my interest.

Had this been the first Golemon book I had picked up, I probably would not have wasted my time on another. However, I know he's got the stuff because his first book was an absolute page-turner of an adventure. This felt more like a thriller-by-numbers that attempted to copy the works of several other second-rate adventure writers, and even descended into the realm of last-minute rescues with blithe explanations that I just didn't buy. Perhaps I would not have been so disappointed if Golemon hadn't set the bar so high with his first novel, but I'm really hoping his third book will be a lot better than this.

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Cussler and DuBrul Club has new member

I read Legend without having read Event. I found Mr Golemon's work
to be first-rate. A very enjoyable read. The plot sometimes strained
credibility as others have mentioned, but no one would want to read
a story which intentionally bored one.

A couple of minor military errors jumped out: 1) An Army PFC is Private
First Class, not Private First Corporal, and 2) Jack Collins's major's
oak leaves are described as silver (as in Lt Col) not gold.

The pacing is good and I enjoyed the story. I will read Mr Golemon's
other books. He is entering a distinguished class of authors and,
considering his recent entry into fiction, he looks like a sure bet
to compete with Cussler, maybe even excel past the old man (luv ya, Clive).

Worth the read !!!!!!

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The Event Group is comprised of the nation?s most brilliant men and women in the fields of science, philosophy, and the military. Led by Major Jack Collins, their job is to find the truth behind the world?s greatest unsolved myths. And this time, Collins and his crew will dare to uncover a terrifying secret?about the long-vanished tribe of the Incas?that?s buried deep within the Amazon Basin.

The last expedition into the depths and darkness of the Amazon claimed the lives of a female professor and her team. Now the Event Group, using cutting-edge technology exclusively designed by the U.S. military, will travel to the ends of the earth?from Brazil to the Little Bighorn to the Arlington National Cemetery?to bring new meaning to an ancient disaster?or bury the legend forever?or die trying.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4