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Pushing Brilliance: (Kyle Achilles, Book 1) Kindle Edition
He really didn't.
But proving it,
will be a killer.
Imagine Harrison Ford's THE FUGITIVE meets Tom Clancy's HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
"The best book I've read, bar none." --Ed Wiseman
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Framed for murder and on the run, former Olympic biathlete Kyle Achilles is also in the crosshairs of assassins' guns. Why? He has no idea. He's fighting blind against two master strategists and one extraordinary invention--known as Brillyanc.
Achilles' only ally is the other prime suspect, a beautiful Russian mathematician who is either the best or worst person to ever enter his life. Katya was engaged to Achilles' brother -- before he died.
Chasing clues while dodging bullets, Achilles and Katya race around the globe, uncovering a conspiracy conceived in Moscow, born in Silicon Valley, and destined to demolish both the White House and the Kremlin. Along the way a lost soul finds purpose, a broken heart confronts forbidden love, and America gains a new hero.
Packed with heart-stopping surprises, paced by razor-sharp plotting, and populated with richly rendered characters, Pushing Brilliance will leave you breathless and longing for more.
________________________________________
Tim Tigner's books are recommended for fans of David Baldacci, Lee Child's Jack Reacher, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, Nelson DeMille's John Corey, Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp, Mark Greaney's Gray Man, Gregg Hurwitz's Orphan X, Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne, John Sandford's Lucas Davenport, Daniel Silva's Gabriel Allon, Brad Taylor's Pike Logan, Brad Thor's Scot Harvath, and Dan Brown's Robert Langdon.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateJuly 14, 2016
- File size646 KB
-
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"It starts out with a bang and doesn't stop until the end."--Carole Anderson
"I was even getting back out of bed to see what happened."--Anna Bruns
"I absolutely loved the story. I loved the characters and the author's writing style." --Margaret Lovett
"Achilles is right up there with Steve Berry's Cotton Malone and Brad Thor's Scot Harvath." --Andrew Gelsey
"Once I started reading Pushing Brilliance, I couldn't put it down until I was done." --Kevin Ackerson
"I can definitely see Achilles becoming a huge name in the thriller genre." --Slaven Tomasi, USMC
"Loved it, couldn't put it down. You know what happened, but aren't sure who, how or why."--Doug Branscombe
"Much better than the works of some of Tim Tigner's better known contemporaries."--Alan Vickery
From the Author
If you enjoy David Baldacci, Lee Child, Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Nelson DeMille, Ken Follett, Vince Flynn, Daniel Silva, Brad Taylor, or Brad Thor, odds are you'll be smiling a few pages into my books as well.
Care to try before you buy? No problem. You can download one my thrillers for free at my website. See my Amazon Author Page for details.
Need help putting the kids through college? I can appreciate that. I have a couple of my own. I'm not in a position to help you with tuition yet, but I can provide days of delightful distraction for the price of a cup of coffee, and kind reviews will get good karma sent your way.
Thanks for your kind consideration,
Tim
From the Back Cover
others have to buy it.
What would you pay,
to be one in a million?
"The very definition of a page turner." --Dick Hill
Framed for murder and on the run, former Olympic biathlete Kyle Achilles isalso in the crosshairs of assassins' guns. Why? He has no idea. He'sfighting blind against two master strategists and one extraordinaryinvention--known as Brillyanc.
Achilles' only ally is the otherprime suspect, a beautiful Russian mathematician who is either the bestor worst person to ever enter his life. Katya was engaged to Achilles'brother -- before he died.
Chasing clues while dodging bullets,Achilles and Katya race around the globe, uncovering a conspiracyconceived in Moscow, born in Silicon Valley, and destined to demolishboth the White House and the Kremlin. Along the way a lost soul findspurpose, a broken heart confronts forbidden love, and America gains anew hero.
Packed with heart-stopping surprises, paced byrazor-sharp plotting, and populated with richly rendered characters,Pushing Brilliance will leave you breathless and longing for more.
"If you like Lee Child, Vince Flynn, or Brad Thor, you will love this author!" --Susan Tyson
About the Author
With the fall of the Berlin Wall, Tim switched from espionage to arbitrage. Armed with a Wharton MBA rather than a Colt M16, he moved to Moscow in the midst of Perestroika. There, he led prominent multinational medical companies, worked with cosmonauts on the MIR Space Station (from Earth, alas) chaired the Association of International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, and helped write Russia's first law on healthcare.
Moving to Brussels during the formation of the EU, Tim ran Europe, Middle East, and Africa for a Johnson & Johnson company and traveled like a character in a Robert Ludlum novel. He eventually landed in Silicon Valley, where he launched new medical technologies as a startup CEO.
Intent on combining his creativity with his experience, Tim began writing thrillers in 1996 from an apartment overlooking Moscow's Gorky Park. Twenty years later, his passion for creative writing continues to grow every day. His home office now overlooks a vineyard in Northern California, where he lives with his wife Elena and their two daughters.
Tim grew up in the Midwest and graduated from Hanover College with a BA in Philosophy and Mathematics. After military service and work as a financial analyst and foreign-exchange trader, he earned an MBA in Finance and an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton and Lauder schools.
Product details
- ASIN : B01H9DSUAW
- Publisher : Vontiv Publishing (July 14, 2016)
- Publication date : July 14, 2016
- Language : English
- File size : 646 KB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 396 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #87,636 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #367 in Political Thrillers & Suspense
- #563 in Conspiracy Thrillers (Kindle Store)
- #641 in Espionage Thrillers (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
International Bestselling Author Tim Tigner began his career in Soviet Counterintelligence with the US Army Special Forces, the Green Berets. That was back in the Cold War days when, "We learned Russian so you didn't have to," something he did at the Presidio of Monterey alongside Recon Marines and Navy SEALs.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall, Tim switched from espionage to arbitrage. Armed with a Wharton MBA rather than a Colt M16, he moved to Moscow in the midst of Perestroika. There, he led prominent multinational medical companies, worked with cosmonauts on the MIR Space Station (from Earth, alas), chaired the Association of International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, and helped write Russia's first law on healthcare.
Moving to Brussels during the formation of the EU, Tim ran Europe, Middle East, and Africa for a Johnson & Johnson company and traveled like a character in a Robert Ludlum novel. He eventually landed in Silicon Valley, where he launched new medical technologies as a startup CEO.
In his free time, Tim has climbed the peaks of Mount Olympus, hang glided from the cliffs of Rio de Janeiro, and ballooned over Belgium. He earned scuba certification in Turkey, learned to ski in Slovenia, and ran the Serengeti with a Maasai warrior. He acted on stage in Portugal, taught negotiations in Germany, and chaired a healthcare conference in Holland. Tim studied psychology in France, radiology in England, and philosophy in Greece. He has enjoyed ballet at the Bolshoi, the opera on Lake Como, and the symphony in Vienna. He's been a marathoner, paratrooper, triathlete, and yogi.
Intent on combining his creativity with his experience, Tim began writing thrillers in 1996 from an apartment overlooking Moscow's Gorky Park. Twenty years later, his passion for creative writing continues to grow every day. His home office now overlooks a vineyard in Northern California.
Tim grew up in the Midwest, and graduated from Hanover College in 1990 with a BA in Philosophy and Mathematics. After military service and work as a financial analyst and foreign-exchange trader, he earned an MBA in Finance and an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton and Lauder schools on a full-ride scholarship.
Thank you for taking the time to read about the author. Tim is most grateful for his loyal fans, and loves to correspond with readers like you. You are welcome to reach him through his website timtigner.com.
_________________
THE KYLE ACHILLES SERIES:
1) Pushing Brilliance
2) The Lies of Spies
2.5) Chasing Ivan—a prequel novella
3) Falling Stars
4) Twist and Turn
5) Boundless Ambition
Tim's series books all work well as stand alone novels, and can be enjoyed in any order.
STAND ALONE THRILLERS, listed below in the order written:
- Coercion
- Betrayal
- Flash
- The Price of Time
- Stolen Thoughts
* What New Hell Next? One Thriller Writer's Personal Horror Story (*Memoir/Thriller)
LITERARY FICTION:
- Leonardo and Gabriel
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This is the first in Tim Tigner's Kyle Achilles series. As in all of the author's books, he keeps the tension high and the action at a breathtaking pace. There is a global conspiracy with a (usually Russian) megalomaniac, and a scheme that you cannot fully appreciate until the book plays out. I found it interesting to read through each obstacle, even when reading the book for the second time.
In this story, Achilles is framed for the murder of his family and he must team up with his brother's fiancee in order to solve the mystery, catch the bad guys, avenge his family, clear his name, and save the free world. You would think the story would become trite or forced in order to do all of this, but the author pulls it off with brilliance (no pun intended). Along the way, you learn more about Kyle Achlles and what motivates him. Achilles is also a former CIA agent, an olympic biathlete, and an avid climber.
Achilles is in the mold of the latest round of action heroes. He is resourceful, fast-thinking, and deadly in combat. Many have compared him to Jack Reacher, but unlike Reacher, you get to see his vulnerabilities and watch him grow through his experiences. This book also shows the start of his relationship with Katya as they team together to solve the mystery.
For those who may be disappointed, there is a lot of romantic tension between Achilles and Katya in this book which is never addressed. Their relationship continues to grow through the succeeding books (at least the next two -- that is as far as I have read). But this is book is about the action, not the romance.
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.
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.