Hostile Intent by Michael Walsh

Devlin #1

by Michael Walsh

It starts with the most horrific act of terrorism ever committed on American soil. Only one man can stop them. Code named Devlin, he exists only in the blackest shadows of the United States government -- operating off the grid as the NSA's top agent. He's their most lethal weapon . . . and their most secret. But someone is trying to draw him out into the open by putting America's citizens in the crosshairs -- until they get what they want.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Mystery, Spy Thriller, Espionage, Politics

Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 2009

About the author

Michael Walsh was for 16 years the classical music critic for Time Magazine and has also worked for the San Francisco Examiner and the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. He is the author of eleven books, including five works of non-fiction as well as the novels Exchange Alley, As Time Goes By (the authorized sequel to the movie Casablanca), and And All the Saints, a winner of the 2004 American Book Awards for fiction. His novel, Hostile Intent, was published in September by Pinnacle Books and hit the New York Times bestseller lists and shot to No. 1 on Kindle. The sequel, Early Warning, was published in Sept., 2010. With Gail Parent, he is the co-writer of the hit Disney Channel 2002 Original Movie, Cadet Kelly, at the time the highest-rated show in the history of the network.

Reviews

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

I lost IQ points listening to this. I wish I had known about the recommendation by Rush Limbaugh, which would have been a great big warning flag that this book is a toxic burning pool of stupid.

So it's another spy thriller written by a right-wing hack. I can cope with that, even right-wing hacks can write (sometimes) and I'd forgive idiotic political views and the obligatory jabs at librulz if the story was at least entertaining, but Michael Walsh's writing is down there at the Dan Brown level, as is his understanding of how federal agencies work. Or how computers work. Or how guns work. Or how people work.

So, "Devlin" is the NSA's top super-secret secret agent ninja commando (LOLOLOL! No.) who goes and does things that billion-dollar supercomputers can't, and he just happens to be at a middle school in Ohio when terrorists take all the kids hostage and threaten to blow them up if the President of the United States does not acquiesce to their demands, which include abandoning Israel, disbanding NATO, and the President himself converting to Islam on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Okay, it turns out that this is a false flag operation and the terrorists' demands were intentionally stupid and a distraction, but the actual goals of the evil sex-and-power-crazy rich liberal atheist effeminate European bad guy who's behind it all are just as stupid, as his scheme, which is basically, "terrorize the U.S. until they crack, then wipe out their infrastructure in a James Bond plot" (and not one of the good ones, we're talking Moonraker-dumb here).

When Devlin, who can singlehandedly command all the computing power of the NSA, the CIA, DHS, and the FBI whenever he needs to run an information query (LOLOLOLOL! No.) isn't killing FBI agents and physically assaulting the Secretary of Defense (yes, he actually does this. And never gets put in jail. In fact, he remains an NSA employee.) he's taking his little girl for walks in the park. So you just know mom and daughter are going to be caught in an explosion and someone will die to give Devlin GREAT!ANGST! and MAN!PAIN! and a THIRST!FOR!VENGEANCE!

An overheated plot and melodramatic writing could still be entertaining, and I'm giving this book 2 stars because just as my standards are pretty strict for giving a book 5 stars, I also do not easily give books 1 star. They pretty much have to be so actively horrible that I can't finish them or they get thrown across the room (or I am yelling while listening to the audiobook) while I am listening to them. Hostile Intent did come close to making me yell a couple of times, but more often it made me laugh. However, it did maintain enough suspense and a twisty plot that I actually wanted to finish it and see how it ended, while knowing it would be stupid. So for its page-turning qualities it deserves an extra star.

Oh hell no, I've changed my mind. I'm giving this 1 star. You know why? Because it's okay to be a right-wing hack (or even a left-wing hack) but at least pretend like your book isn't an exercise in ideological wanking. Walsh pretty much rubs your nose in his political beliefs in every paragraph. Americans are stupid sheeple because they vote for liberal politicians, Political Correctness is the worst thing ever, much worse than racism and sexism which doesn't exist anymore and anyway, women are only miserable because they're trying to get jobs and be men instead of having babies, which is why brown people are outnumbering white people and destroying America and Western Europe, and OH MY GOD he is serious about this! (No, I'm not kidding, I don't think there was a single page that didn't include some obligatory jab at liberals, atheists, feminists, socialists, college professors, journalists, Europeans, all of which are basically one indistinguishable mass of terrorist-appeasing cheese-eating surrender monkeys according to Walsh.)

GAAACK! BLARGLE WHURF GLURRRRRG! Now I'm going to go bleach my brain with a nice Jane Austen novel.

[Glynith · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like Vince Flynn, this book by Michael Walsh would entertain you as well. When an Illinois school is taken hostage, only one man can stop them. The plot twists will keep you on the edge. A story about a government sanctioned black op and a very secret special branch of the government. Give it a try. It is less than $5.00 in both Kindle and Nook and it is part of the barnes and noble lend me books as well. I tried the "lend me" feature with the hubby for the first time with this book and he is enjoying the book now as well.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just had the wonderful opportunity to read a fictional novel, entitled "Hostile Intent", by Michael Walsh. This gripping tale of terror and espionage spans the United States, London and France, as well as being a world wide threat. Devlin one of the stories main characters is a member of an elite branch known as Branch 4. This branch is unknown to everyone, including the President of the United States. the story starts with an apparent hostage taking in a small mid western town where a group of men or maybe, just one man plots to take school children hostage, while plotting to expose another man. Families are torn and are willing to do anything to save their childrens lives. Next there is a bombing on the West Coast, followed by another event in Europe. All of these events are a plot to entice our main character into exposing himself. Devlin is also learning more about his own life and past whle dealing with all that is going on around him. This story is gripping and hard to put down, once the reader starts with the first page of the novel. Bravo to Michael Walsh for his attention to detail and superb writing ability. This novel is bound to be a Top Seller and on the Best Sellers List.

[Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book from Michael Walsh that I've read. I'm not sure if I needed to read one of his previous books because I was having a bit of a problem trying to understand how the main character, NSA's secret agent, Devlin,and his handler General Seelye came about. A few of the story lines and characters, that intertwined in the main plot, left me a little confused in the end. I was left wondering what happened to everyone else included in the story besides the 3 or 4 main characters. Over all it was a good story line,about an above top secret government agent, Devlin, who is trying to stop an extremely wealthy, mentally twisted, man who is attempting to create his own Armageddon. All this while Devlin is battling his own personal demons. I wasn't over impressed with the book myself. But I won't draw any conclusions on the author until I pick up another one of his novels and see if my impressions are the same.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Awesome plot and story line. At times it got a bit far fetched (at least I hope it is far fetched). The dissapointing part was the style of writing. I found myself with whiplash at many times where the writer would take me from one thing to a completely different thing in the span of two words. While some of it was for dramatic affect I'm sure, it could have been handled a bit better. It also had a bunch of extra information in it that didn't add to the story.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one kept me guessing, with enough twists and turns in the plot to confuse both me and the protagonist. This is a novel of political intrigue, sort of, master villainy, sort of, and personal integrity. If you like thrillers, you will probably find this a good read. I got it as a cheap or free Kindle selection some time ago, but then I got behind on my reading. I'll have to see what other books the author has written.

[Steven Hummer · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a big disappointment. The author had been called "the next Vince Flynn" and nothing could be further from the truth after an action packed hostage standoff that ended with the hero snipping the bad guys and picking them off one by one the plot became so slow and often hard to follow. It was confusing trying to follow the storyline who was who and what they where doing.

[Dean Trevisol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much of the plot was in the character's thoughts, long, often poetic, rants took him a while to get back to the point of the chapter, the action you were waiting for was short and disjointed. It seems that it could lead to a second book but I won't read it. But who am I to talk, I can't write a book, I did like the premise.

[stormhawk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic example of the thriller genre ... action, excitement, explosions, and intrigue.

The door is clearly left wide open for sequels, and at least one loose end was left untied, but this is a fun ride.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This post 9-11 starts with a bang. The unthinkable happens. A school in small-town America is taken over by terrorists. But it'sd only the first move in a terrifying game of cat and mouse. The story grips you from page one and doesn't let go.

[Valita · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t know how to rate this book. Walsh said a lot of things that I agree with, but the idea of one man being better than the military, the CIA, the FBI, or anyone else, doesn’t sit well. And the ending …. Just a way to get us to read another book.

[Stuart Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this series on a recommendation from a friend. I enjoyed the read and the intrigue that was portrayed, on a story that could come from recent headlines. The hostage situation grips you from the beginning, and then the action and plot twists keep you flipping pages until the conclusion. Just when you're thinking there's time for a breather, you find out you were wrong.
The premise is a familiar one to Tom Clancy readers, a super-secret extra-governmental agency that is dedicated to detecting terrorist plots and thwart them prior to their commission, or stopping them once they've commenced. It doesn't get a deep in the techie detail that Clancy readers are used to, but it doesn't affect the plot development.
I will be reading the next book in the series so there is your spoiler, of course, the indicator (Devlin, #1) already tipped anyone off that was payang attention.

[Christina Faris (books_by_the_bottle) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a tough read. I considered not finishing it but I wanted to see if it got better or more exciting…it didn’t. Really unrealistic, unrelateble characters and the exciting parts really were flat.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good book. It was suspenseful, intense, and loaded with mystery and betrayal. There is so much good in this book that it is hard to describe. Just know this book is a most definite must-read.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read

I enjoyed the speed of this story. Kept me on my feet from one moment to the next. Great character development.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of right wing wing nut nonsense but entertaining to a point

[Ross L · Rating 4 out of 5]

It had its ups and it had its downs.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Predictable pot-boiler. One impossible situation after another. Fun and intrigue without too much effort on the part of the reader.

[Brett T · Rating 1 out of 5]

Michael Walsh's Hostile Intent is his first thriller. He's previously written music criticism and a few novels, including a sequel to Casablanca called As Time Goes By. In Intent, he introduces Devlin, a super-spy so secret that when the novel opens, even the President doesn't know he exists. Devlin is called in when terrorists invade a school in an Illinois town and hold hundreds of students and teachers hostage. He in turn calls on his special operations unit, who only know him by phone and e-mail, since none of them have ever met him. Although the rescue is mostly successful, the suspicious late triggering of the explosives signals to Devlin that something else is going on and that flushing him into the open may have been part of the plan.

Intent is ugly through and through. Not a single character is anyone you want to root for. Devlin is supposedly our hero, but after a woman he fatally shoots in his home turns out to have been an FBI agent, he "felt bad about the woman. But that was the job." Walsh racks up a high body count, especially of his female characters. He's also partial to reruns -- two different innocent bystanders at different terrorist attacks die the same way, from projectiles through their eyes and into their brains. He dwells a queasily long time on some of the atrocities the terrorists commit.

Some of this might be marginally more acceptable if Intent were a better book. It's difficult to know what's happening at any given time in the story, which might be fine for philosophical literature but destroys an action-suspense thriller. Devlin out-gadgets James Bond, to a degree that's narrative deadening. He has the lastest and bestest Jargon Mark V Gear, but so does the other side, so the suspense is supposed to hang on whether or not he can babble his techno before his enemies techno their babble. Secret rooms in public restrooms, secret switches on sinks, wiretaps that can pretty much hear what people think, powerful guns that must, must be described in exact detail nearly every time someone uses them, blah blah blah.

Original available here.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a Barnes and Noble "Free Friday" selection. I don't know that I'd pick it up otherwise, and I don't know that I'll seek out another book by this author. It was... OK.

The plot is something straight out of an episode of 24. An act of terrorism on American soil leads to a super-duper-secret operative getting involved at the bequest of the president to get to the bottom of the matter. A broader conspiracy is unearthed, including an eccentric billionaire mastermind, yada yada yada, to be continued. Not a bad plot, just one that's been done all too often before, and usually better.

The author's writing style is... developing. Walsh seems to want to show-off his techno-speak in the first half of the novel, which is fine and all, but he seems to assume that the reader either (a) gets what he's talking about, or (b) is impressed by what he's talking about. The technology almost becomes an extra character, but one that gets in the way of the main characters, and the plot, and the pacing. The techno-speak cuts down in the second half of the book, which is good because it helps the pacing of the plot as it picks up speed to its formulaic, but satisfying, conclusion.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. I DON'T HIDE MY REVIEWS, BUT I DON'T PUT THEM OUT ON A FEED OR BLOG.

I'm less into thrillers based on government conspiracies than thrillers based on sicko criminals. Don't ask me why. (I make a huge exception for the novels of Daniel Silva, whose Israeli spy guy is my hero!)

Yet, I was intrigued in "Hostile Intent" by the notion of agents so deep and mysterious serving the U.S. government that they are unknown to two or fewer handlers.

The concept of using apparent terrorist behavior to camouflage a different motive and plan was intriguing, too.

And, the device of sending nuke-contaminated weather balloons from a vessel in international waters to float inland, for a terrorist attack, was exceedingly slick.

But at a certain point, I found myself reading (at breakneck speed, I admit) just to figure out all the plot tangles.

The Milverton-Devlin show-down was well done!

But for me, the most satisfying book has a tangled plot plus characters that I care about. In "Hostile Intent," I never got to a satisfying conclusion with the characters of Devlin, "Eddie Bartlett," nor the Gardners (mom-son and kidnapped daughter).

[Marty · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read political thrillers before 9/11 and the fact that most of the authors were far right wing didn't bother me. I think since 9/11 they have all lost their minds. Else I have become newly intolerant. This book features a hero who has dead parents, is super great at computers, super great at fighting, is the only guy in the world who can be the final arbiter of right and wrong. Know-it-alls, holier-than-thous are no fun in life and no fun in fiction. IF you believe that women are more than baby machines there will come a page when you want to toss this book across the room. Unfortunately this review with minor changes (perhaps a dead wife, brother or child for instance or rather than being himself the super fantastic computer expert in another series he would be the true friend of the oddball super great computer expert) could be my review of virtually every "political thriller" I have read since 9/11. Don't waste your time if you want more than a black and white fantasy.

[Kinga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its plot was enjoyably original. The author took advantage of the full freedom that comes with creating something fictional; something that does not have to be restrained by the statistical rigorousness of real life. He allowed himself the indulgence to create the main character, Devlon, to be more powerful and free than even the president of the United States. Sure, he also gave the main character his share of heartache and loneliness, but just the perfect amount so that the "everyday joe and jane" readers would not feel automatically alienated from Devlon. It is a fantastic story with satisfying twists and turns. Creating trust unaffected by circumstances and time between the mysterious woman, who appears midstream of the book, and Devlon is the brilliant final act of the author, allowing the reader to finish the book with a happy sigh.

[April Warner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decided to step away from my "normal" reading lists and venture out into something new.

Hostile Intent by Michael Walsh, although not really my "cup of tea", was still interesting. Walsh takes you inside some of the secret inner workings of the government's defenses. Secret branches of the DoD and their secret weapons. People who don't exist.....except for their code name, known only to a select few.

Multiple terrorist attacks. Each one worse than the last with the promise of one, final, world altering attack. Code name is Devlin and these attacks are designed to bring him out int he open to eliminate him once and for all.....and you are brought along for the roller coaster ride.

[Opa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why is it with authors, like Mr. Walsh, who can on the one hand draw intriguing pictures about history and events with his talent for words, then on the other hand boldly ruin the picture by not being able to communicate emotions without the superfluousness use of f-bombs? I would think that authors can be as smart and successful like Grisham and Cussler who really know how to wordsmith without swearing. It is a shame that many of these new authors are so ignorant in how to use their talents to build up their stories instead of appealing to the gutter instincts of readers.

[VL · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely amazing. I got it first as an e-book on my Nook as a Free Friday option. I read it so fast that I was actually sad when I had finished it. I ended up buying the paperback book for my mom because I thought she would enjoy it and she agreed with me. A school is taken hostage by terrorists and Devlin, a secret government employee that approximately three people know exists is called in to find out who is behind the whole thing. My favorite character was Hope Gardiner, I believe, a desperate mother who will stop at nothing to save her children.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's funny, I don't really classify myself as a thriller fan, but I usually end up liking them. It was really interesting to read all the surveillance ideas and definitely made me wonder how much is actually true. The one thing I didn't like was that it felt like the author was so enamored with his gadgets that he rushed the connections with people. Still not entirely sure how Develin was connected to the rich dude- and what Carlos had to really do with anything. I would have liked more explanation I guess. Even just a few pages more.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This page-turning thriller hooks you quickly and keeps the momentum going through the entire book (as long as you don't allow yourself to get weighed down in the technobabble that Walsh so enjoys). Beyond the bloated techno-spy-geekery, Hostile Intent is an enjoyable read with a few surprisingly tender moments. Top-notch literature? Definitely not, but well-worth the time, especially as a free Kindle edition read from Amazon.

[Lesli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not so much. Started out well. Rapidly careened off the road, down the gulley, and landed as a fiery pile of poo. The story reeks of hatred, paranoia, improbable secrecy, and self-loathing. Then, there's the super secret, really smart spy that doesn't know the REAL secret...which I had figured out in the first twenty pages. Ugh, such high hopes. Guess I'll stick to re-reading Hunt for Red October anytime I feel the urge to read about spies and espionage.

[Macjest · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a free book I downloaded from Amazon. It's kind of in the same vein as Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, or Robert Ludlum, but not quite at the same level. By the end of the book, I was a little confused as to the wrap-up of the plot line. I tend to not read many thrillers set in the present day. Some authors have this awful habit of trying to impress with too many techno gadgets, which detracts from the story line. The same happened here unfortunately.