Well written thriller that had me guessing and on the edge of my seat! Definitely looking to read more from this author.

Published by William Morrow on June 9, 2020

I was reluctant to read High Treason because novels that feature the word Treason, Traitor, or Patriot in the title are usually pretty bad. I should have trusted my instincts. This is the third in a series of thrillers featuring Tom Locke. I didn’t read the first two but I don’t have the sense that I missed much.

One of the two cartoon villains in this novel is the president’s national security advisor, a lump named Jackson who thinks the president is a wimp and agrees to have him assassinated. Jackson’s goal is to “galvanize and harden” the American public so they will unite against national security threats, even if those threats must be fabricated to accomplish the goal. The improbable means of accomplishing the assassination is designed to lay the blame on Middle Eastern terrorists, but the assassins mistakenly take out the VP.

The assassins are supplied by the other cartoon villain, a snarly old man named Winters who made me picture Smithers of Simpsons fame. Winters was running a private firm of mercenaries called Apollo Outcomes before he supposedly met an unfortunate end that was arranged by the hero, Tom Locke. Winter’s demise, which apparently occurred in an earlier Locke novel, was greatly exaggerated. Winters is back from the dead and masterminding the scheme to kill the president, although he is doing so on behalf of a secret cabal. Naturally, some nuclear weapons are shipped into the United States along the way.

Locke is cartoonish himself, in the tradition of thriller superheroes. Pundits and Homeland Security are immediately convinced that the assassination is the work of ISIS, but Locke, having watched 30 seconds of footage on cable news, knows that the bridge was blown up by Apollo Outcomes because he used to be one of their mercenaries and he is certain that Apollo Outcomes is the only outfit that has ever had the idea to blow up a bridge. This being Thrillerworld, Locke is immediately convinced that only he can stop this grave new threat to American freedom and democracy. Naturally, he can’t go through normal channels because he is on the run due to his heroic deeds in earlier books.

Apart from his superhuman ability to base firm conclusions on no real evidence, Locke seems to be invulnerable. He miraculously survives mayhem — he is the lone survivor to occupy a vehicle that is hit by a Hellfire missile — only because miraculous survival is necessary to keep the book from coming to a premature end. While Locke does all the usual tough guy stuff, he tends to be more reliant on advanced weaponry than fisticuffs, at least when he isn’t fighting Winters, whose gimpy leg and advanced age give Locke a rather unfair advantage. Not that Locke cares, because he adheres to the tough guy bromide that if you fight fair you aren’t trying hard enough.

Locke is eventually joined by an FBI agent named Jennifer Lin, who — unlike the superiors who refused to consider her opinions — is convinced that the assassination attempt was the work of Russian agents. Her pursuit of her theories makes her a renegade outlaw who is hunted by her agency. Before meeting Locke, she gets herself captured by bad guys and fights her way free because all thriller superheroes are masters of whatever martial arts technique the author decides they should possess. Not to be outdone, Locke also gets himself captured and fights his way free. Action notwithstanding, I tried in vain to suppress yawns while zipping through the predictable story.

Readers won’t encounter anything new in High Treason, a novel that is derivative from the first scene to the last. Lin’s decision to place her career at risk by disregarding orders and going rogue to pursue her own investigation is a staple of thrillers. The key events are driven by one of those ancient conspiratorial organizations that thriller writers love. This one is called The Order and it dates back to the 1300s, which is a long time to keep secrets. A HALO descent onto a Manhattan rooftop is straight out of the last Mission Impossible movie. Nuclear bombs planted in three American cities is such an overused threat that it has become tiresome. The virile hero and the rogue heroine fight each other to a draw before lust overcomes their animosity, after which the hard-fighting woman “giggles” and “coos” when she’s in the arms of her man. I failed to detect an original scene in the entire novel.

Locke is the kind of thriller hero who is always applauding himself for how brave he is, reciting macho slogans like “Who dares wins” and making sure the reader understands that he’s no sissy. One-dimensional characters are common in thrillers but Locke barely manages even a single dimension. Jackson and Winters are just as bad as Locke. The two villains waste boring pages pontificating at each other while griping about what a supreme adversary they have in Locke.

Sean McFate treats his audience as a bunch of illiterates, smugly explaining, at least twice, the meaning of “wilco” as if the term is understood only by elite soldiers. McFate’s clunky prose style is pulp fiction at its worst (after Locke sets an adversary on fire, McFate tells us that “the shrieks were gruesome”). The dialog is silly. A sample of Locke’s grand pronouncements: “Apollo must be stopped.” “I have returned to render justice.” “I condemn you to death for high treason.” I condemned myself to finish the novel, which at least has the virtue of moving quickly, primarily because it is long on action and short on substance.

High Treason might appeal to fans of tech-driven military thrillers who care about the tech more than original plotting, believable characters, or polished prose. For anyone else, there are better choices.

NOT RECOMMENDED

High Treason was suspense-filled from beginning to end. In the spirit of Tom Clancy, this novel boasts military themes and technothriller action that kept me turning page after page late into the night. While this is the first book I have read following the author’s repeat character named Tom Locke, this novel concludes a running storyline for the character and serves as a stepstone into the next novel. The battle of wits of Locke versus his former employer, Apollo Outcomes, throws the reader into a state of wonder about who Locke can really trust with his former associates.
The only issues I have with the storyline comes from a lack of knowledge of prior novels and the protagonist. It seemed at times that the knowledge and capabilities Locke exhibits in the action sequences, do not coincide with the aptitude that I feel the character would have had going into this storyline based on his background described in the novel. It doesn’t seem to me to be that he should have been treated as a “rookie” with his newfound team. But other than that, I have few criticisms of the novel and look forward to reading the next chapter in Tom Locke’s thrilling exploits.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes technothrillers and suspense.

HIGH TREASON by Sean McFate is the third book in the Tom Locke military action thriller series, but it is the first one that I have read. It worked as a standalone, but I believe reading the series in order would provide additional background and character depth. When the U.S. President is sick, the vice-president and his wife head to the National Prayer Breakfast. Unfortunately, their motorcade is hit in a terrorist attack and chaos ensues. Meanwhile, Tom Locke is in Israel when he sees news footage of the event and suspects his former employer, Apollo Outcomes is involved and FBI agent Jennifer Lin believes Russians are involved. Who is right? Who can be trusted? What really happened? Who is pulling the strings?

The main characters of Tom and Jen are compelling and definitely someone you can root for. Their characters were distinct and each had their own flaws and virtues. The internal and external conflicts arose out of characterization and circumstance and did not feel contrived or forced. This action thriller had nail-biting scenes that kept me turning the pages until its completion. The plot was engrossing, suspenseful, action-packed, and thought-provoking. The ending was dramatic and riveting but the epilogue wrapped up a couple items without saying how. That caused me to reduce my rating by one star.

Overall, this was an intriguing, heart-pounding action thriller. I am looking forward to the next book in the series as well as going back and reading books one and two. If you like exciting, and gripping military action thrillers, then this may be the next series for you.

Many thanks to HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow and Sean McFate for a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley and the opportunity to provide an honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

Free ARC from NET GALLEY

I am still "locked" on the adventures of mercenary Locke, but this was not up to the same line as "Deep Black" back in 2017

I mean the "tools and tirade" of the basic action is there but the story kinds of folds into the standard plot.

I look forward to more details in the next installment

I could not put down High Treason. It reminds me of a Tom Clancy thriller. It's non stop action with a complex plot. I enjoyed the characters and thoroughly immersed myself in the book.

So I was really enjoying High Treason. I liked the characters, especially Locke and Jen, but also Tye. (Jason was kind of dumped once Locke met Jen!) Author Sean McFate detailed the fate of the two leads well as he seasoned the plot with various nefarious characters and entities. He makes really good points about outsourcing government activity to mercenaries.
But you might notice that a star is missing. That's because I didn't care for the two main battlefield scenes. The Elektra attack just seemed highly, highly implausible. I treated it as more a comic book scene. The climactic attack was more plausible, but I don't have the interest in guns and gadgets that some readers will, and I also thought the scene was just too long, too detailed. But that's probably just me, and since this is my review, I took a star off. Maybe the final version will suit me better. In the meantime, thanks NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC.