The thumbs up from Dan Brown on the front cover enticed me to buy this book in addition to the fact that the book was considered to be a post 9-11 thriller. I almost expected the book to flow like the 24 Hours TV Series, but instead it turned out to be a jumble of different sub-plots that really didn't flow well at all. Some of the characters / sub-plots (Phillippines, the love story) didn't come together quite well. The "hero" was a little too macho and not too likeable. It seemed like the author ran out of steam toward the end.My fav character: Prince Omar!Mark