Review of The Date Farm

[Heather Knapp]

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

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3 out of 5 stars

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This review is for The Date Farm, by Jack Winnick. I cut my teeth on the international spy thriller genre as a teen over 30 years ago by reading all of my dad's thrillers by the likes of Clancy, Morrell and Ludlum. Having not read anything of the like for many years now though, I thought it might be fun to try this one out for reviewing, as it seemed to have some buzz and excitement around it. Sadly, I found myself disappointed in this choice.

The book is apparently the fourth in the "Lara and Uri" series by the author, and I have not read the other books. Lara is a former FBI and Homeland Security agent who is recently married to Uri, an Israeli Mossad operative. They developed a relationship that turned romantic over the years from having worked on several of the same missions. They are apparently superstars in a world where the majority of their actions are supposed to be secretive. They have an arch-nemesis of sorts in Sheikh Zainal Abidin, a caricature of an Iranian villain who, as we know from an oft-repeated backstory, was responsible for another horrific attack on US soil a few years prior that was eventually stopped by our heroes, though he escaped capture. When a series of attacks occur in Los Angeles and New York and the Iranians, and Abidin in particular, are suspected of being involved, the couple are called in to help because of their past experiences with the terrorist, and their inside expert knowledge of Iranian terrorists in general.

The premise has promise but doesn't really deliver. I lost interest after about 10 pages, but decided to push on, hoping against hope that it would get better. It's not just that this is a vanilla lite version of a spy novel, it also just falls flat on so many levels. From the awkwardly written love scenes between husband and wife to the utterly unrealistic and simplistic communications between law enforcement officers and agencies, to the simple conversations and thoughts people have, the dialogue was extremely difficult to digest. Beyond that, the actions of the agencies and characters involved were also frequently so simplistic and unrealistic that the book began to come across as more of a fantasy novel than a believable portrayal of events. In addition, there is an incredible amount of repetition in the book, so much that I sometimes found myself wondering if he was going for a word count.

I understand that the author is highly educated and has some knowledge about the areas and subjects he writes about. And one thing I really enjoy about this genre is that you feel like you learn things about the inner workings of governments and agencies, new places around the world, and the world of intrigue. However, so much of the writing is clumsy and basic and unrealistic that I didn't really know if any of the kind of "insider" information he imparts throughout the book is real, has some basis in fact, or is completely invented, so I really got nothing out of it from that aspect either.

I thought the strongest and most interesting parts had to do with the bad guys and how they make their way back to Iran with their cargo. It did feel like there was some realism to that, if you look past that fact that how they arrived at that point was due to a series of seriously unrealistic and unexplained events to begin with. The parts that took place in Iran, and between the Sheikh and the President of Iran, were some of the more interesting although, again, it is difficult to know if the portrayals have any basis in fact or are completely the invention of the author. The book is also free of spelling errors and foul language, so that is a plus. The few instances of sexual content are blatant but detail-free and between the married couple, giving it a PG-13 in that area.

Overall, I would give the book a rating of 3 stars out of 5 stars. I wanted to give it less, but I do respect what it takes to write a book with some complexity to it, as this one attempts. It also seems there is an audience for this type of spy thriller, which is kind of a simplistic, fantasy, made-for-TV-movie type of thriller, where not everything has to be explained or make sense, which is fine. It is not for the reader who is looking for a more serious or sophisticated work in this genre.

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The Date Farm
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