Review by ciecheesemeister -- The Date Farm by Jack Winnick

[ciecheesemeister]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Date Farm" by Jack Winnick.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The Date Farm is an espionage thriller by Jack Winnick. It is the fourth book in the Lara and Uri series. American FBI agent Lara Edmond and Israeli Mossad agent Uri Levin are now married. They are enjoying a visit with Lara’s family in Ohio when they are informed that a popular mall in Los Angeles has been attacked by Islamic terrorists, leaving numerous young people dead. The terrorists took their own lives following the attack.

Lara and Uri are called in to help investigate the mass killing in Los Angeles. While they are doing so, the terrorists launch another attack in New York. This attack takes on the appearance of being a mission to steal the U.S. gold supply purportedly hidden in a vault beneath the Federal Reserve building. This, however, is a ruse. The terrorists have an unexpected objective.

The story had a good pace and kept me guessing what was going to happen next. This was what I liked most about the book. Also, I was pleased that Lara came off as a more believable character. She had become a bit of a Mary Sue in the preceding two books in the series. The terrorists seemed more human, which was one of the factors that I appreciated in East Wind, which remains my favorite book in the series.

However, Sheikh Abidin remains a bit of a mustache-twirling villain. My least favorite part of the book is the overused tropes. The Sheikh is tall and imposing and gives many sobering glances. The Jihadis are “like a pack of hungry wolves smelling blood, predators ready for whatever the blessed sheikh had in store.” The Sheikh’s personal geek squad includes a pimply-faced teenager and a slovenly fat guy whose “fatigues were soiled with a greasy food-substance.” Meanwhile, the members of the American team are ripped and ready to rumble.

I give The Date Farm a solid three out of four stars. It was an enjoyable read. I only found one minor error in the text, so I assume that it was professionally edited. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys modern espionage thrillers. Although the violence isn’t overly graphic, readers who dislike violent scenes would probably prefer to avoid this book. Also, although the author toned down the anti-Muslim rhetoric which prompted me to give the second book in the series one star, the story does focus on Islamic terrorists and thus could be offensive to Muslims.

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The Date Farm
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