A dentist with a flair for espionage becomes embroiled in an Arab plot to terrorize the U.S. and bring it to its knees by raising gas prices.

The author is a dentist using his pen name as the main character’s name. Fittingly, this is the first of a planned series about a covert counterterrorist team called “I.N.C.I.S.O.R.” (INternational CIvilians for a Safe Society ORganization).

A prologue offers a snapshot of a mercenary on a secret mission in the Alaska wilderness before pivoting to Dr. Reggie Nelson, a divorced dentist and former karate champion who plans to open the first western dental practice in Dubai. When he learns Ashtonté, the owner of his gym, is secretly a CIA contractor, Reggie concocts a scheme called “Project Loudmouth” to plant transmitters inside the dental work of the agency’s targets in the Middle East. Following their targets to exotic locales ranging from London to Macau, Reggie and his team uncover a terrorist plot to destabilize the world’s oil markets and cripple America economically.

This potboiler is, unfortunately, hampered by its unbelievable plot and errors in execution. Reggie has the personality of, well, a stereotypical dentist, and his long-winded narration about everything from his menu choices to his golf game quickly becomes tedious. Reggie’s wife Becky and the team’s assorted wives and girlfriends get meager descriptions while Reggie’s venom towards his ex-wife Meg Lord is vitriolic and revenge-oriented. In general, the misogyny runs deep here, mostly reducing women to sexual conquests referenced far more than necessary.

Meanwhile, all Arabs are “thieves and robbers since the beginning of time” or simply “bad dudes,” while liberals are painted as weak-willed “beatniks” or “Communists.” Those appalled by calls to “Drill, baby, drill,” won’t appreciate the crisis’s denouement as I.N.C.I.S.O.R. races to save a prime target from a nuclear bomb.

In sum, this is a lackluster thriller that leans on stereotypes, acrimony and sexism to advance its story.

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