The Cobra

Like many other thriller authors, Frederick Forsyth has had his ups and downs. I didn't particularly care for his last outing, but figured I would give "The Cobra" a chance. I am delighted, though sleep deprived, for the reading. "The Cobra" is an excellent thriller and strongly reminds one of Forsyth's breakthrough hit "Day Of The Jackal". Forsyth introduces us to a not even disguised Obama suddenly becoming outraged at the toll cocaine is taking of young people. The depiction is so out of character that I almost stopped reading. I am glad I didn't, because the Obama character is invoked again later in the novel to great effect. The story is, in a way, simple. An old CIA hand, Paul Devereuax, known as the "cobra" for his ruthlessness and cunning, is call out of retirement to quash by every and any means possible the cocaine trade. A Rahm Emmanuel clone gives Devereuax his assignment and the interchange is in a wry way, hilarious. Devereaux demands and gets plenipotentiary powers to conduct his operation. His first recruit is Cal Dexter, who outsmarted Devereaux in another long ago Forsyth novel. Anyone looking for character development in Devereaux and Dexter will be disappointed. This is more a procedural, with the emphasis on the moves plotted by Devereaux. In reality, more time and words are spent on developing the Columbian bad guys who control the growing, harvesting, processing and distribution of approximately 600 tons of cocaine a year, mainly to the US and Europe. The detail obsessed will appreciate Forsyth's extensive research into the cocaine trade and the ingeniousness and ruthlessness with which it is done. For a thriller, there are a few thrills. For the first half or so of the book, Devereaux and Dexter are laying the groundwork to destroy the Columbian kingpin and his organization. Nearly all the second half is given to the routine and highly unlawful destruction of the cocaine trade by Devereaux's small forces and those off its allies. If you're looking for blood and gore, there's not much here. On the other hand, if you're able to appreciate an unsparing look at the cocaine trade and why it prospers and a rather unbelievable - though to be wished for - offensive against it, this is an excellent book. The ending came as a surprise to me, but made all the sense in the world given the story. Good stuff. It is not a typical thriller by any stretch. But it is the best Forsyth has done in a long time. I found it irresistible and sacrificed some sleep to finish reading it. Jerry

In this new Forsyth novel the world declares war on the cocaine industry. The American President experiences a tragedy firsthand when one of his employees grandshildren overdoses on cocaine. He authorizes a study to see which course of action to take to combat the cocaine menace. He next finds somrone to lead his war on cocaine. His choice is Paul Devereaux better known as the Cobra. He is a former head of CIA black ops and he is utterly ruthless. To assist him in his war on cocaine he recruits Cal Dexter from the Avenger book. Dexter is a tunnel rat from the Vietnam war who turns into a highly skilled bounty hunter. The head man of the cocaine cartel is Don Diego Esteban .He is lord and master of the cocaine industry in Columbia.Devereaux opens season on thr cocaine industry. By use of the Navy and Air Force he does battle inthe land and the sea. He also has at his disposal Green Berets and the Nave Seals.Through his efforts the cocaine supply begins to dry up. Devereaux alsp uses a misinformation campaign and causes the forces of cocaine to fight each other. This is a very good book. The ending will shock you.

A thinking reader's techno thriller. I am a bit surprised at the number of negative reviews concerning Frederick Forsyth's new novel The Cobra. It is a typical well crafted, meticulous Forsyth techno-thriller on how to destroy the huge illicit worldwide cocaine network. Written in the vein of a Tom Clancy novel, Mr. Forsyth spends a great deal of time explaining how the Cobra, a retired CIA agent brought back into service by the President, will destroy the cocaine market, and then sets about doing it. A cerebral kind of story without much overt action but still an amazing read. There are two kinds of literary action: That which is conjured up by the mind and that which is graphically portrayed through the written word. Frederick Forsyth's The Cobra is the former. Mr. Forsyth is a master of the tale. Without graphic or gratuitous violence or action, Mr. Forsyth is able through the written word alone bring depth and action to a unique tale that has deviled and perplexed mankind for years: How to stop cocaine drug trafficking. Mr. Forsyth accomplishes this through a logical examination of the cocaine trade and then pinpoints its inherent distribution flaws. Through smart, insightful, deductive writing he then presents an interesting way to disrupt and eventually destroy the cocaine trade through its own inherent corruption. Mr. Forsyth is absolutely brilliant in his reasoning and logic. The downside is the lack of the graphic action that permeates most action thrillers today. Without that adrenalin rush, many readers are left flat and frustrated as many of the reviews of this fine novel show. If one thinks back to John Le Carre, Ian Fleming, or earlier Frederick Forsyth novels this was how those fine books were written: Building complex plots through limited action using the intellect of the mind. Like the formulistic movies today, most readers need the gratuitous chase scene, hot love making, massive shootouts, a cut throat or two, and the requisite fight scene to deem a novel an action thriller today. So be it, to each his, or her, own. I still enjoy a novel that requires a little work and is enjoyable by presenting a well thought-out plot. No gratuitous violence, sex, or language. Character development was mediocre at best. As I immensely enjoy novels where the author develops his characters, this novel was not about that. It was about designing a way to stop cocaine trafficking. In that respect Mr. Forsyth accomplished his goal. I like Frederick Forsyth and highly recommend The Cobra if you want a well thought-out "thinking person's" suspense thriller. If you want non-stop action this novel will probably bore you to tears. Interesting duel twist at the end that will leave the reader satisfied although a little disturbed by the federal government's reaction to the collapse of the cocaine market. As always I look forward to the next Forsyth novel.

I called this a thinking person's thriller because Forsyth did an INCREDIBLE amount of research and analysis about how the war on drugs COULD really perhaps be won before he wrote a word of this (he said so himself)... and then he created the first 200 pages explaining what the Cobra's plan involved ... all of it seemingly do-able -- to me, anyway, before the plan gets underway. Be patient while reading through the first half of this book! And there's a legal and moralistic attitude here that the Cobra - and one would imagine the author as well -- takes, namely: either decide to win this war doing whatever it takes to win, or forget about it and stop being hypocritical and maybe even legalize this destructive chemical. Orwell warned us in an era when we were fighting unmitigated evil that liberals too easily forget that the bad guys are really as bad as they are ... and few are as bad as the drug cartels! So Forsyth asks the blunt question: why grant human rights, civil rights, or any other rights to people who themselves deliberately live so far outside the law.... and wrote this novel to answer it. Everything that the Cobra and Dexter and their troops and allies do is "outside the box" - much of it quite ingenious, because that is what's required to defeat a $200 billion (or more?) corporate enterprise. I also do not want to add spoilers or reveal what happens, except to say that you may want to not schedule much in your life once you're past page 225 or 250...if you get that far, you'll want to see what happens in one sitting. Some people have written here quite negatively about Forsyth's spare style in this book - I think that's just what it is, simple, spare, often quite unemotional, and that's just fine since the context in which this story happens is already SO emotionally charged with human destruction, power-hunger, corruption, and greed beyond belief. Buy the book, take it on its own terms - most importantly, do not expect a formulaic thriller with a conventional hero -- and ask yourself the BIG question: "So, why couldn't this work, if we had the political will, the moral guts, the legal wherewithal to just do it?" Not a fun book, 'cause this is not a fun subject ... but it's about a bunch of people acting responsibly as they take a very adult approach to a very awful problem.