When you hear the title Passive Attack, you might expect psychological warfare, cold stares across a boardroom, or maybe a slow-burn espionage plot. What you don’t expect is a leather-jacketed cowboy model glaring at a thunderstorm like it owes him money, slapped onto a romance-thriller cover that looks like it was Photoshopped during a lightning storm by a lightning storm.
Let’s begin with our hero. He’s rugged. He’s brooding. He’s been airbrushed within an inch of his masculinity. And he is lit like he just walked out of a JCPenney Western Wear photoshoot. The lighting on his chiseled jaw and emotionally distant cheekbones is studio-perfect—meanwhile, the background behind him is full-blown Wrath of Zeus. Lightning forks! Rolling clouds! Apocalyptic glow! And yet our man has not a single spec of ambient light on his hat or shoulders. He might as well be standing in front of a green screen yelling “Y’all got thunder in post, right?”
And then there’s the title font, which comes in hot with italicized boldness and that overly shiny metallic sheen that screams “Microsoft Word meets airport thriller.” “PASSIVE ATTACK” is a contradiction in terms, much like this design. It wants to be bold. It wants to be sexy. But mostly it just wants a nap. And let’s not ignore that sad little drop shadow behind the title, which is trying (and failing) to separate it from the fire-lit clouds of chaos.
The “HIGHTOWER SECURITY” badge along the bottom? Oh, that’s where things get really tactical. A beveled shield icon with a military crosshair wedged in between serif fonts, as if that’ll convince you this cover wasn’t born in a Canva template called Brooding With Guns Vol. 4. It’s trying to say “elite covert ops,” but ends up whispering “sponsored by a suburban escape room.”
And don’t even get me started on the author name—“JORGIA YATES”—dropped in an ultra-clean sans-serif font that looks like it’s promoting a new fragrance line: Eau de Cowboy Regret.
The worst part? Nothing actually happens on this cover. For a book that suggests combat, danger, or even mild action, it’s just this dude standing still, pouting at storm clouds like they ghosted him. This isn’t a security threat. It’s a moody Tinder profile with aggressive weather.
Final verdict: Passive Attack is neither passive nor attacking. It’s a slow-motion cowboy showdown with design elements that never made it to boot camp. If your security firm’s branding looks like this, I’m hiring the local mall cop instead.