A fascinating case which the author has really presented well. This case was new to me so I came with no preconceptions but am now intrigued enough to want to find out more!

I've always been a huge history buff! I really love reading about real people and how they navigated the world around them, making it better or worse. I also love finding myself catapulted into a fictional version of history, like in False Flag, for example. It was a slow burn HF, for me, and I found myself wishing for more. Not that the author left things unsaid, but that I didn't want it to end when I reached those final pages. The suspense built throughout was immaculate. As I read my brain kept itching for answers, with so many twists and turns throughout! I am definitely adding Jay Barrett to my "author watch" list!
Thank you to BooksGoSocial for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In Havana Harbor on a night in 1989 the USS Maine blew up. Dr Gregory Anderson was on the ship docked next to it. He was going to Ecuador to get medicine from trees to help fight Malaria. Now 76 years later his granddaughter working with Admiral Hyman Rickover is trying to recover her grandfather's remains from Ecuador. There seem to be a number of people who are interested in the diary believed to be buried with him. She hires Tony April to take her there because he had been in the area when he was in the service. Some are after Inca gold believed to be in the same area they are going to but Miss Anderson has made it clear she is not after the gold. An interesting story which moves along fairly quick and is sure to keep your interest.

“Large, illuminated snowflakes were floating down past street-lamps and clinging to people’s hats and coats. There was a pleasant rhythm to everything: the snow, the pedestrians, the slow-moving traffic.”

One hundred of deception. Or was it just a shadow of what actually happened? Either way, the mysterious circumstances around the explosion of the U.S.S Maine on the night of February 15th, 1898 have yet to be solved. Now, in 1792, the investigation is opening again, and suspiciously, the National Security Agency is seeking a diary that was lost all those years ago during the explosion. Somehow, Tony April has landed himself in the middle of all this, along with the company of the beautiful and clever Barbara Anderson. Tony just wants to help Barbara find the remains of her grandfather's body. However, they soon find themselves in murky waters when they link the death of the old man to the U.S.S Maine and a long, lost treasure….

There were many references in the story that I did not get at first, so I looked them up. It seems the author has adopted the mystery around the actual explosion of the U.S.S Maine in 1898 and weaved a plot to it. The author has taken a lot of facts which are real, for example, the investigation led by Admiral Hyman Rickover, yellow journalism [a term which refers to the journalists and media exaggerating news to increase sales and catch headlines. Origin: The term was coined in the mid-1800s in the USA], the States’ war with Spain, President McKinley [25th], Theodore Roosevelt (mentioned in just passing), and many more. The actual question of who caused the U.S.S Maine still seems to be unanswered today. I agree it was clever of the author to use it for his storyline. However, I thought that he could have weaved a fictional story as a substitute for the myth of the Inca treasure. It seems there is a real myth surrounding a long lost treasure too[search for a Treasure of the Llanganatis on the web].

The author has also adopted this real-life myth for his story. I felt he lacked originality in this. The actual plot connecting both of these mysteries seemed flimsy in its explanation and flow to me. It was a bit disappointing.
I thought that the conversations between the characters were too mechanical, too artificial. The author could have made them more authentic. I mean no phone call always goes that smoothly in this decade itself! Much less in the early-70s. When any of the characters narrated a story, they came off like textbook generated answers— it was hardly realistic. The only character I enjoyed was Bob, Tony's best friend.
I also thought the switch between the different scenes could have used more work. Then the transitions would've been more smooth, instead of suddenly or abruptly jumping from one to another. It made me more difficult to connect with the story. The occasional grammatical errors and typos did not make it any better. Almost all chapters ended with a cliffhanger which was a bit annoying. The way the story was going about, considering all the elements I mentioned above, it had me sighing every few minutes.
I found it very absurd when Tony didn't have any proper reaction after getting dumped, except drinking for a while. Not to mention just hours later, he was already lusting after Barbara like a dog in heat. It seemed ridiculous to me. I mean what would you think of Barbara anything other than a rebound? The chemistry between them was forced and the two-second romance somewhere in the story felt like it was written by a thirteen-year-old. However, since romance wasn't the big part of the story, I was pretty quick to dismiss it.
The plot was quite good if you think about it. Just the way the author worded everything and its flow– it just didn't sit right with me. Dog and cat chase in the name of espionage, myths lacking originality and a swift romance which should have left the reader feel thrilling and breathless, unfortunately only succeeding in making me feel disgruntled and displeased— the book turned out to be a poor imitation of one of Dan Brown's a mystery/action novels.
It failed to capture me in its "enigma" or connect with me, finally leaving me with no choice but to abandon it a little after halfway through.

Thanks to NetGalley and Books Go Social for this free copy in return for an honest review.
This book, by its description really peaked my interest. A False Flag war/determination about the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor which led to the Spanish-American war.
It is a great subject for a fiction book and one that I had to applaud first time author Jay Barrett for attempting. Unfortunately the book did not really match the description and instead of focusing on trying to get information about the Maine tragedy, the author got wrapped up into lost Inca Treasure, an extremely rushed romance and a lot of pages that deal with times of the day and clothing descriptions.
I admire any retired individual who wants to write a book, but to leave so much good stuff on the table was a real shame. I imagine this plot in the hands of a more experienced writer and it would have been super. Instead we have too many holes in the plot and action. I did think parts of the book were good, and I hope the author continues to write and grow in his efforts. Obviously he has a great deal of knowledge but to write a story about trying to find out what really happened that night to the USS Maine and then really gloss over that entire plot with subplots left me cold. Plus there were too many cutesy references to the characters in the Maltese Falcon.
For a first effort it was a good try, but missed the mark for me.

This novel had all the maknigs of a great adventure but ultimately let itself down. Too much build up and not enough payoff, poor editing and errors all the place. I do firmly believe that if it had been properly scrutinised and the ideas played with more and fleshed out then it could have been a great read. Saying all that, it is a first novel and there's every chance that future tales will get the pre-release attention that they need to really shine.

Conspiracies have always surround the sinking of the battleship Maine. In False Flag, history and fiction are mixed expertly to entertain and educate.