Thor, Brad

PERSONAL: Born in Chicago, IL; son of a Marine and a flight attendant; married; children. Education: Graduate of University of Southern California (cum laude); studied at the Sorbonne. Hobbies and other interests: Snow and water skiing, hiking, mountain biking, deep sea fishing, travel.

CAREER: Writer. Traveling Lite (television series), producer, writer, and host. Worked as a model for print advertising and television commercials.

WRITINGS:

The Lions of Lucerne, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Path of the Assassin, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2002.

State of the Union, Atria (New York, NY), 2004.

Blowback, Atria (New York, NY), 2005.

Takedown, Atria (New York, NY), 2006.

The First Commandment, Atria (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS: Brad Thor specializes in post-9/11 thrillers, in which shadowy networks of terrorists are intent on destroying the United States and the freedom for which it stands. The hero of Thor’s novels is former Navy SEAL Scot Harvath, who now works for the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service in counterterrorism operations. Thor told Jason Rantz of the online journal Family Security Matters that Harvath evolved because he “was fascinated by the idea of taking a warrior who was trained to operate on offence (a SEAL) and putting him in a position where his job is to think defense (a Secret Service agent). It offers a lot of engaging conflict.” Thor’s books are filled with the insider politics of Washington, D.C., and he counts among his readers officials of both major political parties, including a Carter cabinet official and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Life imitated fiction when Thor was asked to serve in the Department of Homeland Security’s Red Cell program, an elite force of writers and artists charged with imagining possible terrorist threats to the country as the first step in eliminating them.

Thor was born in Chicago, Illinois, and began his career as a baby when his picture appeared on boxes of disposable diapers. At the University of Southern California, he first studied business administration. In an interview posted at Thor’s Web site, he noted: “I can remember the day I was sitting in a managerial economics class, and I closed up my textbooks, stood up, and announced that I would rather take a bullet between the eyes than spend the rest of my life as a middle manager at the Acme Yoke & Treadmill Company.” Thor switched to creative writing and studied under acclaimed novelist T. Coraghessan Boyle; after graduation he worked for filmmaker John Hughes before he founded Thor Entertainment, Inc. Thor began his career as a novelist following a successful stint as the creator, producer, writer, and host of the public television series Traveling Lite, an endeavor that was inspired by his time living on the Greek island of Paros.

While on location in Switzerland for his television series, the story for his first novel, The Lions of Lucerne, came to him suddenly. “When I sat down to write, it was as if I was simply channeling the story. I would watch the screen amazed at what was coming out. I figured the state I was in was what athletes referred to as being ‘in the zone.’ I really believe my travels and exposure to people from all different cultures and walks of life contributed enormously to the authenticity and realism of the novel,” Thor wrote on his Web site. Thor received help with the details of the book from members of the secret service and his Navy SEAL contacts, although a disclaimer accompanies the volume which states that various details were changed for reasons of national security.

The book is a conspiracy thriller in which former Navy SEAL Scot Harvath is now a secret service agent. The president of the United States is vacationing in Utah when he is kidnapped by a group that identifies itself as being part of a Middle Eastern terrorist organization. In the process, they kill thirty federal agents in a rigged avalanche, leaving Scot the only survivor. Scot believes it was not the Fatah that committed the crimes; he takes his theories to his superiors in Washington, a move that puts him in grave danger when he is betrayed and accused of murder. He follows the evidence to Switzerland, where he is assisted by the beautiful Claudia Mueller of the Swiss federal attorney’s office. In reviewing the book, a Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that Thor “shows a gift for dramatic storytelling.” People’s Scott Nybakken noted that the romance between Scot and Claudia “builds at a believable pace.… You’ve got a hot read for a winter night.” Library Journal reviewer Ronnie H. Terpening compared The Lions of Lucerne to the writing of Robert Ludlum and David Morrell and concluded that “this international thriller will delight readers with its nonstop action, relentless suspense, strong protagonist, and wintery settings.”

In the next adventure, titled Path of the Assassin, Scot seeks out a terrorist planning an apocalyptic holy war. Scot works with the Central Intelligence Agency’s “Operation Phantom” in finding the terrorist, who can only be identified by the beautiful Meg Cassidy, the survivor of a hijacking, with whom Scot teams up to travel the world in hopes of finding the terrorist and warding off the attack.

In Blowback, the president of the United States, who has just fired Harvath, is forced to seek his services once again to head off a potential catastrophe. Harvath travels throughout the Middle East and Europe in search of an ancient bioterrorism device once used by Hannibal the Great, which is now threatening the lives of thousands of people. His top-secret, undercover quest necessitates roughing up a suspected terrorist, an event that is inadvertently filmed and broadcast on Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based Arabic news network. According to a reviewer for the online journal Fresh Fiction, the novel is full of Thor’s “characteristic high-voltage action, sweeping international locales, and meticulous research.”

In Takedown, another terrorist attack paralyzes New York City. Simple in design and execution, it is utterly successful and sets Harvath on a frantic mission to destroy the perpetrators. Harvath and his impromptu band of volunteers are handicapped by lack of knowledge about the enemy, who is highly motivated and able to execute well-planned strategies effortlessly. Before long, Harvath uncovers a secret known only to the enemy and the president—knowledge that has the power to permanently alter the political structure of the world. “Thor’s descriptions are gritty, realistic and true to life,” wrote Joe Hartlaub in a review for Book reporter.com, who concluded that Takedown “is a smart, explosive work that details events about to happen outside your front door.”

Thor’s next novel was The First Commandment, in which the president of the United States is forced to release five inmates from the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. That enables one of them to carry out a lethal attack, which he has been planning for years and which bears a striking resemblance to the biblical Ten Plagues of Egypt. Harvath needs to figure out who is doing the killing and seek his own revenge. In the process, he uncovers a deadly plot against the U.S. government that is rooted within its own agencies, which forces him to disregard the president’s order to stay out of the investigation.

State of the Union presents the scenario of nineteen suitcase nuclear bombs that were hidden by Russian agents throughout the United States decades ago during the cold war. Now the Russians order the U.S. president to withdraw from all world affairs or they will set off the bombs, killing millions. Harvath is called to the rescue and given seven days to head off disaster, and he initiates a far-reaching frantic search that takes him to Berlin and back. “Readers of the genre will understand that Harvath’s triumph is a foregone conclusion,” wrote a reviewer for Publishers Weekly, “and will marvel at the canny plan and clever devices he employs to succeed.”

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune Book World, July 2, 2006, Dick Adler, review of Takedown, p. 8; July 28, 2007, Paul Goat Allen, review of The First Commandment, p. 5.

Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 2001, review of The Lions of Lucerne, p. 1516; June 1, 2007, review of The First Commandment.

Library Journal, December, 2001, Ronnie H. Terpen-ing, review of The Lions of Lucerne, p. 176; July 1, 2007, Ron Terpening, review of The First Commandment, p. 86.

People, January 28, 2002, Scott Nybakken, review of The Lions of Lucerne, p. 43.

Publishers Weekly, January 15, 2001, John F. Baker, “TV Figure in Three-Novel Deal,” p. 16; November 26, 2001, review of The Lions of Lucerne, p. 38; January 6, 2003, review of Path of the Assassin, p. 39; January 19, 2004, review of State of the Union, p. 56; June 4, 2007, review of The First Commandment, p. 29.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 19, 2007, Jeff Ayres, review of The First Commandment.

ONLINE

Bookreporter.com,http://www.bookreporter.com/ (February 11, 2008) Kate Ayers, review of The Lions of Lucerne; Joe Hartlaub, review of Takedown; Joe Hartlaub, review of The First Commandment.

Brad Thor Home Page,http://www.bradthor.com (February 11, 2008).

Family Security Matters Web site,http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/ (February 11, 2008), Jason Rantz, “A Conversation with Brad Thor.”

Fresh Fiction Web site,http://freshfiction.com/ (June 2006), review of Blowback.