Generally Disappointing

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The premise is sharp, the set-up unique, and even the inciting incident jumps off the page. However, Empire of Lies does not hold up under scrutiny. It's hard to write an interesting alternative history, and this book falls into most of the same traps: borderline predictable outcomes, stilted characters, and no clear point. The pace faltered, and never picked up.

I wanted to like it, but it was difficult to get through it. I found myself asking: what's the point? What's the point of making this change, of using this setting, of developing this character in this particular way. Raymond Khoury's Empire of Lies is a book that speaks a lot but doesn't have anything to say, and it's a disappointment to say the least.