“Year of the Swarm” is just fluff

Only the effective action scenes save “The Year of the Swarm” from total destruction.

It starts as a fairly traditional thriller about the agent who must penetrate deep into enemy lands to save the world from the great catastrophe.

But at some point “The Year of the Swarm” spins away – far into a nebula of time shifts, extraterrestrial forces and other cheap silliness.

Our hero is called Ridley Kane, and is initially only tasked with taking out a traitor nicknamed Magus, who is guilty of the fact that several pro-Western people have been exposed and executed in Tehran.

But then it turns out at the same time that an informant wants to sell information that could reveal the plans for the biggest and most dangerous terrorist attack against the West since 11 September 2001.

The chief terrorist, or “mastermind”, bears the terrifying name of Abu Muslim al Tundra. The 36-year-old CIA agent Kane must therefore do everything he can to find and neutralize all Tundra. IS is of course lurking in the background out there in the desert sand, this time under the name of the Army of the Pure.

Here, too much more of the action itself will not be revealed, but there will also be hostage situations, bloody skirmishes, spectacular escapes and lengthy hospital stays on the way to the final showdown with the evil that threatens.

Terry Hayes is a startlingly unadvanced author, at a time when both the thriller and crime genres have undergone significant qualitative development.

There is something old-fashioned about Hayes’ chatty and know-it-all writing style. He likes to use solemn and slightly pompous adjectives, and his personal characteristics are mainly limited to external characteristics.

But above all, this at least 200 pages too long book is hampered by the fact that scenes and twists have to be drawn out endlessly.

Instead of creating originality and real surprises, Terry Hayes uses whatever literary muscle he has to stretch the plot – until it becomes so thin that it almost bursts.

On top of it all, the people we meet are equipped with strange, stiff lines that no living human would have thought to utter.

After a few hundred pages, “The Year of the Swarm” leaves the traditional thriller genre and, so to speak, enters another dimension.

Then the author no longer needs to take into account basic logic and coherence in the plot. We find ourselves at one point in a futuristic, destroyed New York City. In a setting that is a mix of the “Lord of the Rings” and “Mad Max” films.

And quite rightly, when I checked further it turned out that Terry Hayes was the screenwriter of “Mad Max 2”!

At this point, however, the book has completely taken off in terms of silliness and sought-after causation.

Only in the very simplest action scenes does the author manage to arouse a certain amount of attention in this reader.

An unbearably sweet epilogue effectively punctuates the overall impression.

“The year of the swarm” is somewhat reminiscent of a hearty American meal at its worst: It is full of empty calories and leaves you with an artificial feeling of satiety.

A diet that cannot be recommended!