Thunder and Ashes is a very solid follow-up to Plague of the Dead. I give it 4 stars with some very nitpicky complaints. First of all, the jet fuel in trucks issue I can't let pass without comment. I will not give away the scene but the author does lead us to believe that trucks can run on jet fuel without problems or consequences. So before you pull up your truck to that learjet for some gas, do some research first! I looked this up, and though technically true, Recht does not explain that in the long run this is not good for a truck engine. In fact if a truck uses jet fuel for too long, it can ruin the engine. I think Recht should have used the fact behind this to sweeten the plot and suspense a bit, as it would have made for a real problem down the road for Sherman's group. Especially as there are situations later in the book that would directly resolve the problem. Yes I admit, I am nit picking on this but sometimes readers will catch these things. Maybe change this in a re-write or expanded addition of the book.
I just have some points of criticism on this otherwise solid book. First of all the pace of this story is just like the first book, excellent. Recht's narrative moves you along quickly and the action is well thought out and executed. The pace of the story when it focuses on Sherman's group is wonderful. You care about these characters and you want to know what happens to them next. The pacing doesn't work as well with Mason's group though. When the story focuses on Dr. Demilio and Mason it does weaken a bit (maybe to a *** story vs. ****) and you find yourself counting pages until Sherman's group is focused on again. The pacing in the first book overcame the characterization flaws but it is starting to wear thin as the saga goes on. He just gets away with it again in the second book. I hope Recht finds a happy marriage between character and pace for the third volume otherwise; it will not be as good.
Recht does need to work on character development a bit. He writes military and police characters very well. The criticism of this is, a policeman, NSA agent, or general does do what a reader expects (act tough, solve problems, fight, or die like a hero) but from the other characters, we don't get much. With characters such as Mbutu, Brewster, Krueger, and Trev you become interested in them, but Recht doesn't develop them enough. You end up wishing they would be a larger part of the book. Other characters like Rebecca, Julie, and Denton have no life to them at all. They are as they appear medic girl, dippy newswoman, and Canadian photographer. They do nothing and bring no color to the story. Recht does try to develop Rebecca but does not go far enough. You read it and you hear yourself saying, "go further" yet the author lays out an issue with her and leaves it in such a way that he could foreshadow and do more with it. The same with Dr. Anna Demilio, tons of material to work with here yet except for those portions of the book where she is going through her PDA, she comes off very two dimensional. Dr. Demilio really is starting to come off as a damsel in distress when she should be a stronger more leading character. Recht needs to fix his characters going into the third book. We need some darkness (betrayal), some flaw (moral decisions with consequences), some love interest. He alludes to some romantic interests between characters, yet drops them the moment they are fleshed out. I am not saying kill the action but Recht needs to color these characters more or further installments will end up with a ** review. The key to make this work is to flavor the characterization in with the intense pace. If Recht does this, the next book will be that much better.
The scenery and backdrop for Sherman on the way to Omaha works well. The town of Abraham works. You care about the fight here. The action and combat is clever. I love the plot of the bad guys getting back at the town after Sherman's raid on the warehouse. The stand-off there works. But I sense some storm clouds again. I go back to character development again this time with bad guys. You have two villains, the Lutz brothers here at the town, yet neither is developed into a nasty threat. The actions of the bad guys have impact (which works) but it is not personalized in any way to the Lutz brothers. They appear as part of it but don't stand apart from it. Recht gives some background to them yet when the threat from them comes, you don't see their hands directly in it. Recht needed a twist here to make them more threatening. Either by bringing a traitor into town or Lutz should have done lasting permanent harm to Abraham. Also, there was some more room for another encounter before coming up to Omaha. The story needed another town or situation with some moral implications for the group. For example, law and order breakdown, crazy post-plague religion, or Sherman making a choice that hurts something. The interesting twist where the bad guy formula does work is that Recht does focus less on the primary bad guy being zombies/morningstar. I do like the message in this book that certain uninfected people pose the greater threat than the shamblers and the sprinters. I think his antagonist ideas work but Recht needs to work on coloring his evil characters more.
In the Mason story going west, again not enough action here, the characters are weaker (the only exception is Trev) and our rouge NSA villains of Sawyer (who is way distant and absent)and Derrick are like cookie cutter bad guys. When Derrick gives you the background of what Sawyer's plot is my thought was well that was kind of established in the first book but I need more detail here. Another flaw that Recht needs to fix for book 3, I need Sawyer to be on hand and actively scheming here, more tricks and traps. He has written Sawyer to be the perfect equal and opposite of Mason, yet he keeps him behind the trees doing nothing for most of this book.
Finally, I will focus a criticism on the split narrative. As I explained above, following two sets of characters towards one goal worked well in the first book and again Recht just carries it off again here. At least the author knows that Sherman is the stronger story. Just when you think the story will unify into one group, it splits again. I won't go into the detail of who spits off and where they are going but on the new group I will restrict my judgment. The challenge Recht has here is to make sure he colors the characters of this other group for the next book, otherwise people will be counting pages until Sherman's group shows up again.
With all its faults, I must admit, I could not put this one down. I look forward to the next book and I hope we have some deeper characters next time.
