A powerful international organization wants to tip the balance of global power in their favor by infiltrating the White House. At the direction of its mastermind, alias Pecos Bill, presidential candidates have become unwitting targets of a world-class sharpshooter. A martial arts expert, a greedy corporate attorney, and a self-proclaimed conspiracy theorist form a shaky alliance to uncover the assassin's identity before he can claim his next victim. Only as bodies begin to pile up do they realize that the killer may be closer than they could have imagined.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Eliminated by Process Comment: "In this world there is good and evil. Of this I am sure." The fact that this aspiring author chose this as a 'signature' quote in a genre traditionally punctuated with eloquent haiku and the likes of T.S. Elliot speaks volumes about the lack of substance of this novel. In a world where writers like Trevanian (Shibumi), Van Lustbader(Ninja), and Eisler 'rain' supreme, Bradley is a but a 'storyteller' and unlike other renown storytellers e.g., Tom Clancy and W.E.B. Griffith, Bradley's story lacks the substance and depth to add him to that successful list. In my mind, a gripping fiction grabs you by the collar, straps you in your seat and transports you through an wormhole, deposits you in another world (like Jody Foster's character in Contact)and makes you feel that what you are experiencing is real. More importantly, you should resist the ride back to reality and when you finally arrive, you can't wait to stand in line and do it all over again.
Bradley initially grabs you by the collar but the ride is less than exhilarating. Like all good left-brained engineer's, Bradley is factual,succinct, and to the point but lacks the artistic right brain of a true writer. His character development is too minimalist to develop any attachment to the main characters and the passing scene passes by too fast to envelop the reader. For example, when I read Eisler, I feel the pulse of Japan or Rio and my adrenalin ebbs and flows with John Rain. I cannot locate the pulse of "Process".
I'm sure Mr. Bradley is a very good engineer and he should continue to pursue his true calling.
In this world there are good writers and bad writers. Of this I am sure. Customer Rating: Summary: The quality of the writing kept me interested even though the plot is one I generally do not like Comment: Two brothers, one a very successful and rich lawyer (Eliot) and the other a martial arts master and fairly poor private investigator (Adam), are suddenly reunited after a long estrangement. The lawyer has become involved with a pricey prostitute and she has disappeared. Not only has Eliot fallen in love with her, but also before she vanished, she told Eliot about a valuable map that she had in her possession. With nowhere else to turn, Eliot calls Adam and asks him to investigate. Despite their differences, Adam and Eliot still have strong familial loyalties and Adam agrees to help.
This launches an adventure involving the current presidential campaign. Someone who is clearly a professional assassinates two of the candidates and narrowly misses a third. Furthermore, there are also several groups supporting the actions and Adam is forced to take down a CIA agent. The action is dynamic and there are many twists and turns in the plot. Conspiracies abound as nothing is ever as it seems, even Adam is often reaching false conclusions as he battles his way to the truth.
In the end, the better guys win, although it takes a second thought before you conclude that that is the case. Some of the conclusions are left unresolved in order to make room for what the author admits is an upcoming sequel. Adam finds love in the most unlikely of places and Eliot is able to reach closure on an event that has haunted him for decades.
I am not a fan of books where the plot relies on deep-seated government conspiracies of great breadth. Secrets in general are hard to keep and the idea that people in government would conspire to commit murder is a difficult one for me to believe. Nevertheless, Bradley pulls this one off so well that I kept at the book, reading it in less than 48 hours. His writing kept my interest and I only slightly fell of the wagon of suspension of disbelief.
Customer Rating: Summary: Hard-hitting and well executed! Comment: Mix the erotic nature of Lustbader's Ninja with the dojo training in Donohue's Sensei and the gritty intrigue of Eisler's Hard Rain, and you've found Bradley's Process of Elimination.
This is hard-hitting novel that carefully places a martial artist protagonist into a very well-executed thriller. Whether or not you're a fan of the martial arts genre (e.g. Eisler, Lustbader, Donohue, and others), you will likely enjoy the fast-paced action that Process of Elimination offers. Highly recommended! Customer Rating: Summary: A sexually-charged thriller that does everything right. Comment: Process of Elimination tells the story of two brothers who team up with a sexy conspiracy theorist in searching for a missing high-class prostitute (Maria). With the discovery of a bloody tooth, and an obvious cover up underway, they quickly realize that Maria was likely tortured by professionals. But this is just the start of a very compelling and equally smart story. The trio become embroiled in an international plot to kill presidential hopefulls. But there's more... there's the incredibly talented sniper who seems to always be one step ahead, a sexually charged love affair, and of course there's a secret (two actually) that motivates everything. This really is a very well executed thriller with outstanding character development. I had never heard of Arthur Bradley, but you can now count me as a fan. I absolutely guarantee that when finishing this book you'll have the urge to flip back to page 1 and start over again. It's that good.
Customer Rating: Summary: Very refreshing... Comment: Art Bradley saved my summer! I always look forward to this time of year because Barry Eisler usually releases a new John Rain novel. Naturally I picked up "The Last Assassin", and was disgusted with the content. The franchise has devolved into desperate housewives. Luckily I read a review of "Process of Elimination" in Black Belt magazine that persuaded me to pick up a copy in addition to Eisler's work.
All I can say is wow! It is a page turner, the combat sequences are very realistic, and the love stuff isn't half bad either. The thing that I enjoyed about this book is that we got to see the Main character actually put his P.I. skills to use. I went into the book thinking that Bradley would only make token use of this, but I was delighted to see that he indeed made use this. Hopefully in the sequel we'll gain more insight into the private detective methodology.
The only disappointment was that the Main character basically fell head over heels in love with the Lara character. I thought it should have played out a little more slowly then it did. Hopefully the story line will only get better and not cheesy like what happened with The John Rain novels. But it looks like we have a new star on the horizon, and his name is Arthur Bradley. Well done sir.
