White Jade: International Intrigue, Terrorist Acts, and the Threat of Nuclear War! (The Project Book 1)

If you wanna read it excellent book About a mystery Is that as you read it you think you got it solved and then give you a curve all the characters are truly exciting and have great parts in the story Alexa because you couldn't continue to read see you how the story changes and then the ending is what really surprised you read or clear it's great page jobs and author look forward to reading more about this author

I had heard about Alex Lukeman's book White Jade prior to having his submission request come to the PRG Review Team. I was also delighted to be challenged to do the story as a Dual Review. To make it even more appealing, the next Dual Review was slated to have a Guest Dueler, for a change of pace for your reading enjoyment. So here I am writing this review, and so is Andrew Valentine, writer of Bitter Things, as my Siskel to his Ebert or the other way around.When I began White Jade, I could see this was going to take me to places I loved. Murder, foreign intrigue, FBI, CIA, plots and plenty of action.Elizabeth Harker is in charge of a group called Project. She works within the levels of the FBI and CIA and Homeland Security, with technology at her hands to analyze threats to our country. She is a woman who has a voice to the President.William Connor was a very rich man who was tortured and killed, his home ransacked, and there was a transfer of 4 million dollars from his accounts to accounts in China. He was a personal friend of the President. Project was asked to look into this.Elizabeth Harker has contacted Nicholas Carter to come to her office. He is recently back from Afghanistan, dealing with emotional issues from his last mission, and the loss of his fiancé, which has changed his view on life. Upon hearing of the way Connors was killed, `it became personal, and Nick needed personal cause God and country wasn't working for him anymore'Enter Dr. Selena Connor, attractive, in her thirties, PhD in oriental and ancient language, niece to the deceased. Harker tells her that they feel her Uncle was killed for a book he had acquired in Bhutan. Selena reveals it is a copy of an ancient text about immortality. She has no idea where it is, but after further investigation on her Uncles laptop, a letter to her tells them where the book is possibly hidden.This is where our story unfolds. Mr Lukeman has done a wonderful job of introducing the reader to all the players. We are in San Francisco, China, and back switching scenery from one part of the globe to the other. The intrigue, the lust for power, the thrill of the hunt, all add to the beauty of the ruins I could see, the fear in the tunnels I could taste, and the miracle of finding artifacts untouched by man for centuries. Yes, it truly was Indiana Jones meets 007.The story was well described and points well documented. I love a thriller where the good guys are so good and the bad guys are unredeemable. The quest for POWER makes this story come to life and we always pray the good guys win. I do not want to add any more to the story, as **Spoilers** are a no no with my reviews. So with the weather getting cooler, if you had the idea of curling up with a good Mystery/ Thriller, White Jade would be a good bet.I might also add as I read this story, ideas kept forming in my mind as to who would play the bad guys, of course I had already picked who I envisioned to play Selena and Nick on the Big Screen. Kate Hudson would be a good Selena and Alex O'Louglin from Hawaii Five- O would be a wonderful Nick. How about Kathy Bates for Elizabeth Harker??? Hmmm anyone looking for a great screen play?Mr Lukeman has graciously sent on to me the next book in this series called The Lance, which I will put on my personal TBR pile and review for you at a later date...Review by Gloria LakritzSenior Reviewer and Review Chair for the Paranormal Romance Guild

A lot of action, great characters, and interesting plots. Definitely a book I would add to my read again collection.

Alex Lukeman's White Jade, the first book in a series about a secret government agency known as the Project, is a far fetched but generally entertaining action/adventure thriller. The Project is an elite counter terrorist organization that can take direct, immediate action when the national interests are threatened... sort of like the CIA on steroids.The national interest is definitely threatened here, as rogue Chinese agents plot to launch a major attack against the U.S. as part of an even larger conspiracy. The Project gets wind of their plans when they torture and kill a wealthy industrialist to get their hands on an ancient book in the tycoon's possession that supposedly contained directions to a remote location in Tibet where the secret of eternal life was hidden. The Chinese are after something else at that location, a supply of enriched uranium capable of multiplying their nuclear weapons capabilities tremendously. The book's hero, former battle-hardened Marine turned Project operative Nick Carter, teams up with the dead man's niece, Selena Connor, who happens to be an expert in ancient languages and can help translate the book. Together, the two try to stop the Chinese plot.There's a lot of action in the book, as you might expect, and Lukeman handles the assorted car chases, brawls, and shootouts quite well. In addition, the good guys wind up doing an Indiana Jones impersonation when they find the remote location referred to in the book and have to make their way through a variety of booby traps en route to some startling discoveries. It's all pure hokum, but I could easily suspend any sense of disbelief and had a good time throughout much of the book.I had a tougher time suspending disbelief at some amazing logical howlers in the book, such as the thought that trained Chinese agents would try to kidnap Selena to find out what she knows by staging a high speed car crash on a major interstate just outside Washington, DC, in the hopes she would survive the crash... or that the fallout from the resulting chase and crash, which resulted in totaling a number of civilian vehicles and several dead bodies, would not make front page news all over the country. Nor could I accept the Chinese characters, who are poorly drawn stereotypes, practically drooling at the thought of having their way with American women, who act as if they are auditioning for the role of Fu Manchu in a community theater production.As long as Lukeman keeps his focus on the two main characters and their travails, the book works very well. Carter is given a lot of emotional baggage in the form of a fiancée who died tragically that he has to work through during the book, and Selena is a feisty original. It's only when Lukeman expands his canvas, to the stock Chinese villains and the large scale political intrigue that occurs in both the U.S. and China, that he loses his focus. The last part of the book, in which the U.S. president has to work with Chinese officials to stop a war, should have been a powerful climax but, instead, was a bit of a letdown after Carter's frenetic activity in the previous pages.First novels are rarely perfect, and White Jade is no exception. However, the flaws in the book... the stock, ridiculous villains, the annoying lack of logic in places, and the tepid political intrigue can be improved. Lukeman's back story of the long lost temple where the secret of eternal life is located (which, after a fashion, Carter finds out does exist) is the sort of highly imaginative backdrop for a thriller that makes for a entertaining, albeit farfetched story. Add some genuinely exciting action scenes and a likable main couple to that premise, and you have a good, entertaining but undemanding escapist read.

What a brilliant read. I spotted this book and bought it for 99p as the write up looked very interesting and I have to say I wasn't disappointed. It was intriguing from the start and as the story progressed it got more and more exciting and I found I had a hard job putting it down.It was extremely well written and the characters were believable and well rounded which makes the reader care about what happens to them and leaves you wanting to know more about them, even when you get to the end of the novel.I have to say that this is one of the better and most exciting books I have read for a long time - very much like the Jack Reacher novels and the John Puller novels (David Baldacci) that I love so much. I enjoyed it so much that I am now reading the second in the series - The Lance - which is unusual for me as I normally don't read two books by the same author in succession but on this occasion I just can't wait to find out more about Nick Carter and Selena Connor.My husband is also reading this book and enjoying it as much as I did.Well done Alex Lukeman - I will paying a visit to your website to find out more about you as I think you are a very accomplished author.

As with the later James Bond films, you have to suspend believe and just "go with the flow"while reading this book. It is totally OTT but good fun.Nick Carter works for a very select group who answer only to the President. Of course he has"9 lives" and gets out of all the scrapes, saving the damsel in distress (Selina) on the way!When Selina's uncle is murdered, she is drawn into Nick's world of danger and mayhem.Together they travel to Tibet for evidence of what the men who want to take over China arelooking for. Is it the elixir of life or a sinister weapon? A lot of action and violence - plus acat that burps!I enjoyed the book and have others in the series which I will read and review sometime.

This is the first book in the series, but I read it second - the second one was offered free. So, this is where the characters are introduced and some of their background is introduced. Thankfully the author does not spend too much time on this before moving on. What is given to the readers is enough to give the characters reasons for their behaviour, actions, thought, words etc . . .There is no graphic (s)exploitation of any sex scenes, no blood-thirsty details of death and mayhem, and the book is all the better for it. The author tells us what is happening, and lets us know when it hurts or feels good etc . . . but none of it is (porno)graphic.Again, a couple times of blasphemy, which grates because it is so unusual, and there is little other swearing.I'm looking forward to reading more from Mr Lukeman; maybe even seeing things come to life on the silver screen. It's that good.

First instalment of The Project series introduces Nick Carter as an operative for a "clandestine body" of the US government. Well written and well researched that gives an exciting and fast paced feel. Will definitely be continuing with The Project series

What a tale. Introductions to Nick and Co lead to a complicated case deciphering ancient Chinese writing, a visit to Tibet, a maniacal Colonel, an attempted coup, seconds from nuclear war, and of course a bit of romance. Jolly good read. It kept me on the edge of my seat, and I am now looking forward to getting other books in the series.