During the month it took me to get through this book, I came across several articles coming down on either side of the DNF debate. First, I came across I'm Breaking Up With 3-Star Reads, which argued that pushing through books that you don't really enjoy impacts the overall reading experience (and slows you down). Later I saw It’s an insult to authors not to finish each and every book you start, a terribly-titled piece arguing that just because a book is difficult doesn't make it a bad read.

The problem with the latter argument is that it missed the nuance that difficult books can be worthwhile, but they aren't inherently so. I've read some very difficult books that were fantastic, but not every hard-to-read book is Ulysses or The Name of the Rose. Some books just aren't very good, and some books (the most unfortunate, in my opinion) have the kernel of a great book within them, but need better editing and perhaps a major rewrite to bring it out.

Unfortunately, I think Operation Brushfire falls into the last of these categories. The story progression seemed disjointed, and I repeatedly found myself having to back up several pages (once I even had to back up several chapters) because suddenly the characters seemed to be in a different place or a different situation from the one I had left them in. This repeated disconnection significantly slowed down my reading, to the point where I find myself reviewing an advance copy of a novel that was released a month ago.

There's an intriguing story here -- a bit like a more physical, possibly more beneficial version of the Matrix, with some people willingly cooperating with the machines -- but as noted in Ziggy Nixon's excellent review, it's written in an incredibly bleak manner:

It's almost then to me like the book took these general descriptions I quoted above, re-worked them and then had it all filmed by a post-war Soviet production company. You know the mood: making sure that we never see light unless it shines to cause or indicate pain and that the threat of not obeying must weigh on everything said, done or otherwise experienced. All Hail the State! and damn the body counts along the way! For me then it took - in my own mind's eye - the desperation of "Bladerunner" and combined it with the sheer anguish and soul-crushing frustration of Franz Kafka's "The Trial" or "The Castle".


Again, what made this book so frustrating to me was that, despite the excessive bleakness, and for all the scene transitions I missed (I think some were there, but I'm sure some just weren't), this has the core of a really interesting book. It would have been easy to give up and call it a DNF if the underlying idea as well as the prose weren't so compelling. All in all that puts this in one of the worst places I think I book can be: a well-written, well-conceived book that just doesn't quite add up as it should. With all that said, if I get word that this has been re-edited, or that Bruno and Wolanyk have re-written it, I would certainly give this book another try; there's plenty in it to make it worthwhile.

This was really disappointing.

I had two attempts to read this but found the story line confusing and the characters lacking depth.

The story just did not hold my interest and unfortunately I put it down, not finishing it.

It might just have been my mood but I think there are far better stories out there.

There are twists and turns aplenty, some totally unexpected. Not all things are as they seem as you discover as the book progresses.
Recommend ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In 1944, presumably in a parallel universe, World War II ended with an Armistice but no side, as such, would appear to have been the victors. At a pace which it would be an understatement to describe as precipitous the whole of Eurasia and North America has settled into a state where there are no countries only provinces of The Coalition. Everyone has been fitted with an electronic implant which feeds directly into their brain and is the fount of all knowledge (a sort of Google- Wikipedia hybrid) delivering answers before you have even asked the questions. This is a satellite based system working by some version of WiFi. Everyone also has a personal recording and communication device built into their wrist, operated by brass wheels. Everyone, but especially Stasik, is up to the eyeballs on drugs (upper, downers and all points in between).
The implication is that the story is set in the 1950s, though how such a range of developments could have occurred is left unsaid.
As in all dystopias, there are people who fight against the system, in this case Nationalists. Coalition Specialist agents Stasik (probably from Connecticut) and Mallinson (probably from England) are guarding one such, an apparently Russian young woman, Nata Danicheva, who is due to stand trial in Moscow, but possess information which would be devastating to the Coalition and believes she will be killed before she gets there. I say “probably” and “apparently” because it is clear that the Coalition is the source of all personal information.
The trio are being hunted by Bahr, a former Nazi Special Ops (or something like that) guy, who is actually being controlled by a senior Coalition Operative called “Textile” – who is probably a supercomputer and may actually be the sole upper echelon and de facto is The Coalition.
Against this background we have a standard chase thriller, not intrinsically different from Bourne, Reacher, Dr Who, pick your favourite. There are structural flaws, but it rolls along at such a speed that these don’t get in the way. Cerebral it isn’t.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

SInce you are dropped into the middle of the action (with some introduction), the alternate history world building seemed to be given a bit short shrift. The being said, the dystopian mystery is one that keeps you guessing, I like that the location is not America-centric. I am not sure I am keen on the ending, but I am not sure I should be.