The PR blurb talks about this book being "educational," which to my mind is a bit of a mistake. To suggest that in the opening of the PR suggests that its going to be a preachy book, that is a novel in name only. However, that would be misleading and unfair to this fine novel.
Hanging by the Thread is a political thriller first and foremost, with great pace that is very visual. It's one of those novels that manages to evoke images in the mind that are vivid while not reading as if it is a movie script. Unlike much of what I have read of late the novel never bogs down or drags.
The plot is not that original. It's the old "someone finds something he shouldn't do and stumbles onto a conspiracy that'll get him killed" meme. That said, the story is compelling enough to keep the reader interested and entertained. It takes place in Utah and centers a great deal on Salt Lake City. While the scope of the novel is national, the action takes place in a fairly tight locale.
The interesting twist comes after the novel is finished and is quite clever. The Thread is a group bent on taking over the country and eventually the world. The document central to the plot contains that plan, which conveniently is broken down into bullet points. The author uses one of the main characters as a device to deliver a detailed breakdown of the reasons their plans are bad and tyrannical.
However, instead of clogging up the pace of the novel with long discussions of the nuances of the ideas therein, it's left in an appendix, called "The Thread Lectures." You can chose to read the chapters or not, with no loss to the entertainment value of the actual novel. It's a good read however you chose to see it.
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