Silly but fun. ( )

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.

But overall, for an action-packed ride filled with gun battles, plotting and counter-plotting, and a bit of technology and romance, Pushing Brilliance is tough to beat. ( )

As far as I remember, this is the first time I've read this author. His style reminds me a bit of David Baldacci's.

Pushing Brilliance as a title has a couple meanings: one, of course, being that there is a group recruiting people to use a new drug named brillyanc that enhances cognitive skills and makes the user pretty much the smartest person in the room. Another meaning is the more figurative in that many of the characters are trying to outwit others by using their brains (or mental brillance) to do so.

WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD (READ ON AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION)
****

The Achilles family have met up to celebrate the father's retirement and to take a family cruise on a yacht. Kyle goes home with a server from the retirement dinner and thus is the only family member spared from carbon monoxide poisoning. His brother's fiancee also survives.

Kyle is implicated in their deaths. A former spy, Kyle's friends help him escape his cell so he can team up with Katya (the fiancee) to investigate who really killed his family and why.

Kyle and Katya discover the existence of brillyanc and what it does. They also suss out the side effect. (It's unclear if a strain was ever developed that avoided the side effect. Grigori says yes, but Kyle says no.)

And just when you think the novel is over, there's still the matter of the Russians that Kyle feels he has to solve which turns into a bioweapon designed to debilitate POTUS and allow the brillyanc-taking VP to move up the ladder.

So . . . it's unclear to me what happened to the charges against Kyle. There is evidence that he was not the killer so I think he was cleared of that, but he didn't show up to court when he was supposed to, so perhaps other charges could be put on him. The book made it sound like his bail was forfeited (though honestly, you'd think with all he did that someone could put pressure on the court/DA to get him most if not all of the money back).

There's also an unanswered question of where the relationship with Kyle and Katya will end up. Both are interested in each other, but Katya doesn't yet seem ready to move on.

This leaves Kyle with a dilemma--does he follow his heart and be near Katya or does he take the job he's offered at the end of the book (which might take him away from Katya). Or perhaps he can do both since the job seems to be a "once in a while, when the President needs you" kind of offer--so perhaps he could be with Katya so long as the President has a way to reach him.

This was well written so I would probably read more in this series. ( )

I am so happy to have discovered Tim Tiegner. His writing reminds me of Chris Kuzneski. Nail biting thrills keeping you on the edge of your seat. I can't wait for the next installment of this series! ( )

I really enjoyed this book. I will definitely read more of this author's work in the future. ( )