The Chimera Vector (The Fifth Column #1): A Technothriller

When we start a thriller series from a debut author, we are bombarded with thousands of questions aided with hundreds of previous disappointments and bunch of expectations.Nathan Farrugia not only successfully meets those expectations but exceeds them in well nearly all aspects.I can't say how pleased I am to have dared pick this book up. This book in beginning of a series which is gripping, thrilling and bound to make you burn midnight oil till you finish it. Hoping to see more from this author.Regards,Sree.

To be honest, I wasn't sure how I felt about this one until I finished it.For military themed anything, I should have to work a bit to keep up with the tech, weapons and action scenes which I did in this book. It's not my forte and if I have a superior grasp of those aspects of the genre then it probably wasn't done well. In this case, I appreciated the tech/action aspects were well integrated in the story. Learned a lot, well done.In terms of the characters, my favourites were Jay and Damian mostly due to their friendship. For me, that made them the most relatable of all and I cared the most about what happened to them and didn't like it when they were separated. I also liked Denton even though he's not supposed to be likeable. He seemed to have a conscience, as much as he could at least for what he is, when it came to Jay and Damien.I also liked the whole concept of the book (super soldiers have a soft spot with me) and I felt the direct and blunt writing style definitely complemented the action scenes, which were non-stop.

I didn't really know what to expect, but this book turned out quite interesting - as did the next two in the series, which I've also read.Most reviewers have already commented on the action and the overall qualities of the story, so I'll simply say that I found it engrossing and a page-turner. Beyond that, what I found particularly interesting is some parallels between story elements in The Chimera Vector and actual concepts from important research. My guess is that the author might have read the book 'Political Ponerology'. However, one doesn't need to see those parallels to enjoy the book, as most reviewers show. Though if you are curious, you might want to check out 'Political Ponerology' for a challenging read on the processes by which psychopaths take over societies, and what happens (and has historically happened) from there and on.If you enjoy sci-fi and action, you'll likely enjoy this book. And if you've been paying attention to what's gone on in the world throughout the last few decades, then you'll probably see that beneath the fictionalized portrayal of the military-industrial(-intelligence) complex, there's a fair number of things that correspond more or less to reality.

I already had this book on my Kindle, but the author reached out to me and asked if I would like a copy of this book, which was a nice gesture.The author believed i would like this book because it targeted towards the same crowd as Matthew Reilly. I did like the book and it does have some similarities to the scarecrow series (especially that book with his reflexes), but the book also stands on its own merits.This book seems like it could be in the realm of reality, instead of abstract fantasy. It still very much action packed fantasy, but their an organic feel to it that makes the book feel like it could be reality and hey we don't truly know whats possible with enough time and resources especially when it comes to genetic manipulation.I also got the sense of the Bourne books, in the way Jason Bourne suffering from Amnesia where the characters in this book face a different scenario its still a shock, then there's also some location aspects...I can't really say very much on the story itself without revealing huge spoilers. The story starts a but sudden and you thrown into it, but after you get past that its great. The characters are very well done, hell the book even has simple (but REAL) SQL code in it (simple enough so people can understand).Overall I would gave it a 4.5 and recommend it to anyone who like action packed adventure.

Nathan Farrugia has been likened to Matthew Riley - Australian, writing fast paced, action-packed, adventure.Nathan writes with more of a military / spy / assassin thriller theme and his knowledge of weaponry, tactics and soldiery is clearly shown in this well crafted tale (especially for a first novel).The narrative is choppy by design to provide multi-view points and on occasion may confuse for brief seconds but don't stop reading as it doesn't last.It's definately very enjoyable to have a strong capable female lead character in Sophia, in what is usually a male driven genre. The protagonist is a splintering, behind-the-scene world manipulating organisation - but who of the resulting factions will prove to be the greater enemy? Time will tell as the end of the book leaves you wanting more of the story...I bought the whole series off the bat after reading the book blurbs and consider them to be great value for money. So for me it's straight on to the next book for more of Sophia's adventure...

The Chimera Vector, by Nathan M. Farrugia, is a very high-paced book. The action starts right from the beginning, and you are sucked into a Machiavellian world of political and personal manipulation on an unheard-of scale. This book employs two sciences most readers have very little experience with: hypnosis and gene manipulation/augmentation. To sum up the book, the world is secretly run by the Fifth Column; governments, militaries, even terrorist cells are run by them. One soldier, Sophia, breaks her programming and seeks to break the hold the Fifth Column has on the world. The remainder of the novel is her struggle to do so, while trying to discover who she is inside. Is she a ruthless killer? Is she a brainwashed operative? During her battles, she discovers the ultimate in personal gene augmentation, immortality, and she fights to keep it out of the hands of greedy, powerful men.The technology described in this novel is nothing short of amazing. Ranging from advanced hypnotic programming to gene augmentation to military hardware and facilities, this novel has it all. The author clearly has done a lot of research because it all sounds plausible when he explains it. I especially like the delivery system method for the vaccine.The action scenes in this book are extremely fleshed out and accurate, as only a military man could do. Being a military man myself, these scenes are highly accurate, describing the haze in battle and the split-second decisions one must make, based on limited information. It's easy for authors to fall into the trap of giving their characters advanced knowledge that helps them avoid obstacles. Nathan doesn't do that. His characters make decisions based on what they know, and sometimes they fall right into the traps set by the bad guys.The storyline itself was a little weak for me, as I would have liked to see more of the backstory regarding the Fifth Column's origins. The story starts with action and ends with action, but doesn't do a great job of explaining the source of the Fifth Column's power. It also would have been better to include a little more on the state of the world. I was shocked to learn the US had declared martial law out of nowhere. The rest of the story kept me up at night because I could not put it down. Everyone says Nathan is a contender for Matthew Reilly, but I have to say his books read more like Jeremy Robinson: extremely fast-paced, high adventure, with genetic manipulation, advanced technology, and some mad scientists thrown in for good measure. Oh, and don't forget the killing-machine super soldiers. Gotta love those.If science fiction and adventure had a baby, its name would be Nathan M. Farrugia. This techno thriller writer is right at the beginning of his writing career, so we can expect it to only get better. I saw that he has written two sequels to The Chimera Vector, so it has to be going well for him. There's nothing I like more than discovering a new author with so much potential become successful. I would recommend this book to those who like Matthew Reilly, Jeremy Robinson, adventure thrillers, sci-fi, and those who like techno thrillers.