Guest Review: A Murder of Crows

Summary: THE CROWS ARE GATHERING. WAR IS COMING.

For years, every intelligence agency in the world has been chasing the elusive terrorist known only as The Moroccan. But when James Hicks and his clandestine group known as the University thwart a bio-terror attack against New York City and capture The Moroccan, they find themselves in the crosshairs of their own intelligence community.

The CIA, NSA, DIA and the Mossad are still hunting for for The Moroccan and will stop at nothing to get him. Hicks must find a way to keep the other agencies at bay while he tries to break The terrorist and uncover what else he is planning.

When he ultimately surrenders information that leads to the most wanted terrorist in the world, Hicks and his team find themselves in a strange new world where allies become enemies, enemies become allies and the fate of the University - perhaps even the Western world - may hang in the balance.

Can Hicks and the University survive an onslaught from A MURDER OF CROWS? -- Polis

Booking Pap Pap is traveling again! After coming home for a few days after his five weeks in Florida, he's now in China beginning a three week cruise. Fortunately, he got some reading and writing done on his last vacation. Here are his thoughts about A MURDER OF CROWS by Terrence McCauley.

Like many thrillers written today, A MURDER OF CROWS by Terrence McCauley encompasses terrorism and technology. This story begins with James Hicks, a member of the clandestine group known as the “University”, thwarting a bio terror attack and capturing highly sought-after terrorist, Bajjah, aka Moroccan.

Hicks is ordered by the head of the University (in keeping with the theme he is known as the Dean), to use all available techniques to break Bajjah. When the interrogation of Bajjah leads to the world’s most wanted terrorist, Jabbar, the University ops to chase the leads surrendered by Bajjah rather than follow their normal practice of turning such leads over to one of the intelligence agencies. This puts the University at odds with nearly all intelligence agencies in the world including the CIA, NSA and the Mossad. These agencies, normally friendly with the University, seemingly will stop at nothing to get the information gleaned by Hicks. With the help of the University’s ultra-advanced computer system called OMNI, Hicks is able to evade several attempts on his life as he chases the leads. Hicks efforts are further complicated when the Dean makes a critical decision that directly impacts Hicks.

Although the author introduces many characters in the novel, they are all really secondary to Hicks and the OMNI system. If a system like this really exists, we should all be concerned.

One of the most curious aspects of the novel is the title, A MURDER OF CROWS. The best explanation I found came from the 15th century when the phrase referred to the idea that the appearance of crows was an omen of death.

A MURDER OF CROWS is fast paced action-filled thriller that utilizes the requisite twists and turns before finishing with a surprise ending. Anyone who is a fan of thriller novels will enjoy A MURDER OF CROWS.

Thanks to Saichek Publicity for providing a review copy of this novel and thanks to Booking Pap Pap for his review.