Bigger than Life Hero in Nonstop Action
Thriller
Simply put, if you are a fan of bigger-than-life
action/thriller heroes, Pushing
Brilliance is for you. The book
introduces Kyle Achilles, who unlike his namesake, appears to have no
heel. Working with the beautiful,
Russian mathematician Katya Kozara, they fight assassins out to kill them for
reasons they can’t begin to guess.
Action is clearly the strong suit of this book. It starts early and seldom slackens. And each time you believe Tigner is about to
wrap up this tale, our protagonists meet another challenge. Relaxation only comes when you finish reading. One doesn’t necessarily expect a great deal
of character development in a thriller, and this book fits that mold. We get a glimpse of Achilles and Katya, but
nothing in depth. Both are stereotypes, although
Katya seems well beyond the norm on nerdiness.
Do mathematicians really run their lives by calculating probabilities? Additionally, thrillers often struggle with
the romantic connection between the leads – usually they just jump into
bed. Tigner, in my opinion, handles this
aspect of the story better than most.
While I like the bigger-than-life heroes on occasion, they
can get old. There are just so many
Olympic bronze medalists, turned CIA operative, turned competitive rock climber,
turned invincible hero I can take (yes, that’s Achilles’ resume). Additionally, there was too much dialog on
tactics and strategy with Achilles being the teacher and Katya playing the role
of the ready-to-risk-her-life student.
And some of the tactical insights seemed little more than common sense,
although Katya was still in awe.
Finally, there was a question if the target of this crime (I’ll leave
that vague to avoid a spoiler) would really be as gullible as they are
portrayed. Human nature became a bit
warped in places.
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