Black Light by Stephen Hunter (novel)

Cover of Black LightBlack Light is another of Stephen Hunter's novels about Bob Lee Swaggert and his father Earl Swaggert. Both are sort of larger than life genuine American that prefers the outdoor, law, and military, and neither is afraid to do what needs to be done, even if it is killing people outside the realm of the law. In a way, this is very reminiscent of Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" novels. Both are sort of "knight errant" out to correct a few wrongs.

This book has a "bookend" dual-plot-line book where Bob Lee was enticed into looking into his father's last day on earth, and uncovers a conspiracy, which is still ongoing today. You got two tracks going, one in 1955, and one in "present day".

Earl Swaggert is a sheriff's deputy, a lawman, and while he grew up all white, he's not a racist. When a black minister asked him to look for a missing black girl, he did so... and found her body. Later that night, he's dead, supposedly died in a shootout with the most wanted felons in Arkansas. He was buried as a hero.

In the present day, Earl's son, Bob Lee Swaggert, is a retired farmer who was approached by a writer, whose father was severely wounded by a man who was the son of the man that killed Earl Swaggert (and was killed by Earl as well). The "kid" wants to write a book about how that one fateful night can have consequences down another generation. Bob Lee was initially not impressed, but later, after going through some of his father's effects, he realized there's something VERY wrong with his father's death... the evidence doesn't match the reports. Something is very wrong.

So they went digging... by going back to Arkansas, and found a conspiracy that started with his father's time... and is still active, with layers and layers of lies, from various parties. And Bob Lee gets to deal out a bit of death when his opponent decided to silence him...

The book is exciting, and the ending is oddly appropirate and surprising at the same time. If you like the idea of someone out to right wrongs this is a great book.

KCR: Deep Sound Channel (novel, submarine)

Image via WikipediaJoe Buff's submarine novels have an interesting premise, but somehow doesn't quite delivers the same punch as novels by Michael DiMercurio or even Charles D. Taylor. The characters are flat, and the battles tend to go hyper-technical. They are fine if you dig the genre.

Premise: Extremists in both South Africa and Germany have staged simultaneous coup and created this unholy alliance... the new Axis Powers known as the Berlin-Boer Axis. With a bit of help from a "neutral" Russia in the form of nukes, the sea is now the hunting grounds of the latest submarines... ceramic-hulled undersea invisible monsters armed with tactical nuclear torpedoes and cruise missiles. No warships can survive, not even the vaunted American carrier battle group. New Axis powers wielded several such supersubs, and the Americans and the Brits have a few as well. In this world of ultimate hide-and-seek, one mistake will be your last...

USS Challenger, America's supersub, and its captain LtCmdr Fuller, has a special assignment: Apparently South Africa is about to make a breakthrough to tap some very rare undersea lifeform that is nearly the ideal biological weapon. Fuller must take his ship and a team of Navy SEALS, along with a South African scientist, and take out the research lab before the research can be completed. In their way is the South African supersub, the Vooertrekker... and some very formidable South African defenses...

As explained before, the characters are almost cliche. Fuller was a former SEAL, really? And he's going to accompany the team going in? Then the battle gets hypertechnical... ever heard of sonal lensing? About how certain events BEND soundwaves?

Still, the battles can get exciting once the action picks up, and this nightmare scenario can work a bit... if you really leave your brain turned off a bit. Read one and see if you like it. Joe Buff have a whole series of these novels starring the same crew.

KCR: The Intruders (novel) by Stephen Coonts

Cover of The INTRUDERSThe Intruders continues the career of Stephen Coonts' favorite character, Jake "Cool Hands" Grafton. After end of Vietnam War, Grafton was assigned to a carrier mainly training jarheads (US Marines) flying Intruders, and he's paired up with a marine, and together, they have all sorts of adventures on and off the carrier. It ends with an encounter against a bunch of pirates.

This is more of an adventure novel than a military novel, as there isn't much fighting. However, Coonts knows his carrier ops, and this has more stories about carrier ops, shore leave, and stuff, plus the jokes, the friendly joshing between Navy and Marines, and more.

If you read Flight of the Intruder, you should also read The Intruders.

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KCR: Jump Pay / The Lucky 13th (novel, scifi, war, Rick Shelley)

Rick Shelley has quite a few books out, concentrating on three series: the Mercenary series, the Lucky 13th series, and Special Ops Squad series. This is a part of the "Lucky 13th" series.

The premise: 13th Spaceborne Assault Team, i.e. the Lucky 13th, was called upon to spearhead a huge invasion of the enemy arsenal planet. The enemy is building up troops and equipment for an assault and a Pearl-Harbor-style pre-emptive strike will be needed to destroy most of the arsenal. The action flicks from airborne assault using newly deployed grav belts, to recon squads doing hit and fade on enemy positions, to assault howitzer crews pumping out shells on enemy positions, and aerial fighter "Wasps" dogfighting and performing close-support on the troops, and the commander trying to make sense of the chaos, the war jumps from perspective to perspective, almost too fast to keep up.

Indeed, that is the main problem I have with the series: the action just keep flicking so fast that you have a hard time keeping up. As a result, you don't really get attached to any of the characters. They feel like cliches: the hard sergeant, the dumb rookie, the contemplative lieutenant, the colonel who have to choose between duty and not spending his soldiers needlessly. The enemy have no faces, no motivation. They are simply the bad guy. The weapons described makes little sense even though they sound quite futuristic. What happened to grenades? Or tanks? Or light armor?

Or as someone else puts it, this is like Hammer's Slammers, except it makes much less sense.

Rating: borrow it from a library and see if you like the style. I don't.

EDIT: apparently Mr. Shelley died in 2001

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KCR: Attack of the Seawolf (novel, submarine)

Cover of Attack of the SeawolfMichael DiMercurio is a former submariner who manage to combine his intimate knowledge of the systems in a sub and submarine warfare, along with a sense of geopolitics, into a series of novels that rivals Tom Clancy on excitement (but not the spy stuff). In Attack of the Seawolf, US have a submarine showdown with China.

The premise: China had fallen into civil war, and US decided to gather some intelligence by sending in USS Tampa, a 688-class submarine, and listen to the radio traffic. Unfortunately, they had been discovered, attacked, and captured by the Red Chinese Navy (i.e. not the rebels). US response is to send in USS Seawolf, commanded by Admiral Michael Pacino, with one squad of US Navy SEALs, was sent in as a rescue mission. They will go in, liberate the crew, recover the officers, and escape Chinese Waters. Or at least, that was the plan. In between them is the entire Chinese Eastern Fleet, plus the PLA Naval Air Arm and the PLA Naval Infantry. But Pacino is used to doing the impossible and the suicidal...

The plot is a little bit cliche, with the Chinese being sadistic commies (with orders to execute prisoners if rescuers come), and Americans handicapped by a lousy rules of engagement. However, the combat is fast and furious, and in the end Seawolf really *does* sank most of the Chinese Eastern Fleet, albeit in a far more logical manner than in Tom Clancy's SSN (see below for review). The ending is a major surprise.

All in all, if you like submarine novels, Attack of the Seawolf is probably one of the better Michael DiMercurio novels. His other novels are a bit too much on the fanciful side, IMHO. This one is about the most realistic, and thus, the most enjoyable for the military buff.

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KCR: Mechwarrior / Initiation To War (novel)

Image via WikipediaInitiation to War is part of ROC's Battletech novel lineup, this one being in a more "personal" Mechwarrior line. The book itself is a bit too slow, and the main guy is just a little too lucky, and too much of a cliche at points. However, the mech fights are good, and overall it's an okay read.

For those of you who don't know what Battletech and Mechwarrior is... Battletech is a book about 31st Century. Humans have settled most of the planets, but virtually continuous war, now mainly done with walking tanks called "battlemechs", have pretty much ruined the entire galaxy. The factions are varied, the intrigue and assassination are frequent. Add pirates and mercenaries, and you have a grand universe where almost anything can happen. Mechwarrior are the pilots of these walking tanks, and they are considered elite.  The game had been running for 25 years, and the universe is so vast it has assumed its own life.

In this book, the planet Epsilon Eridani is having a bit of civil war, instigated by outside forces, and a new recruit, Tybalt Kelly, newly minted mechwarrior (okay, mechwarrior in training) is in the middle of it. The problem with the book is pacing. There is very little tension until the war starts, which is about half way into the book. There is very little tension. Things just happen, and you barely care. The kid has a father who don't approve of his career choice, and has a teammate who is a bully. Other teammates are far more sympathetic. Add a hardcase commander and the cliche is complete, esp. when multiple females fall for the "hero". The tech wants a piece of him, he wants a piece of fellow mechwarrior Sam(antha), and when Sam was lot on a campaign Duke's daughter went to bed with him as sort of consolation for saving her. **** me.  The fighting is described pretty well, but the technical details sometimes break the pattern, and the end is basically one lucky shot after another.

While this book ain't bad, it ain't that good either.

KCR: Memorial Day (novel, terrorism)

Image via WikipediaMemorial Day is another Mitch Rapp novel by Vince Flynn, and its premise is chilling enough to make you wish that Mitch Rapp is real. With enough twists and turns, Memorial Day is a tout thriller if a bit formulaic.

Premise: Mitch Rapp is hunting Al-Qaeda with US troops in Afghanistan, and their raid turned up something very serious... evidence that a nuke is being smuggled into the US by bad guys. With a bit of help from Rapp, a team successfully intercepted the nuke, and everyone relaxed... Except Rapp, as he knew that the bad guy must have a backup plan, and indeed, they do. A second nuke is being smuggled through Mexican border. When a truck driver was found dead due to radiation poisoning, Rapp is relentless in chasing down the leads. The obvious target is the Memorial Day Parade...

Vince Flynn have a knack in portraying the power plays in Washington as politicians maneuver without regard to their consequences, and how real "heroes" such as Rapp are there to save the politicians when they screw up. This book is no exception. The hunt is intense and even though it is somewhat formulaic it is still a great read.

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KCR: Mission of Honor (scifi, war)

Image via WikipediaMission of Honor, book 12 in "Honorverse" by David Weber, is the proper Honor Harrington novel, as the war between the Republic of Haven and Star Kingdom of Manticore is about to come to an end, but enemies are moving against both sides, and other players are joining in.

In War of Honor (Book 10), Honor Harrington have barely averted disaster by winning the Battle of Manticore, where the Havenite forces decided to gamble the future on a single dice throw: direct attack on the home star system of Manticore, and it was barely beat off, at a heavy price.

In this book, Admiral Honor Harrington was sent with a fleet to let the Havenites know that there is no hope for victory, but to preserve as much honor as possible on both sides. However, the Solarian League may be waking up, as powers within, manipulated by Manpower / Mesa, may be about to annex some planets near Manticore and precipitate another war. When Mesa unveiled their secret weapon against Manticore, causing tremendous casualties, in a true Pearl-Harbor style surprise hit-and-run attack, the tables are again turned, and Manticore will find a most unlikely ally...

The problem again, as with all David Weber "honorverse" books, is that this book will give you attention deficit disorder, as you jump from one group of people to another, then another. If Tom Clancy were writing space opera, it'd be something like this. The problem is David Weber then gets wordy as the characters discuss every thought and related thoughts with each other and that's just grating at time.

Still, the major plot advances in this book will give you a cliffhanger that will have you clamoring for the next book, as the various threads are starting to come together.

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KCR: Transfer of Power, a Mitch Rapp novel (terrorism)

Cover of Transfer of PowerTransfer of Power introduced Mitch Rapp to the world... The uber-operator, that is NOT a soldier, but is what best described as an assassin... to kill bad guys. In this book, there is the ultimate high concept... Terrorist attack on the White House itself. The book could easily been turned into a movie, it is that good.

Premise: CIA operative Mitch Rapp is undercover in Iran... to snatch local head of Hezbollah. The operation went without a hitch, and soon interrogation yielded a bombshell... Top terrorist Rafique Aziz is in the US planning an operation against Washington D.C.. However, they don't know the threat vector. That was soon realized when a coordinated assault (enemies snuck past security in linen truck, plus sniper on a rooftop, AND Aziz, with plastic surgery, pretended to be an Arab prince and somehow bypassed security background check) hit the White House. Only through dedicated secret service agents who put their lives on the line did the President escape to his bunker, but was out of communication, but over a dozen secret service agents lost their lives and 100 hostages were taken, various staffers and such. The terrorists quickly rigged the West Wing with explosives, and proceed to issue various demands. What is the terrorist up to? While the politicians fight for power and spin control, and military and law enforcement bicker over who's in charge, CIA pulled out their ultimate weapon: Mitch Rapp, who is ordered to infiltrate the White House, and if possible, rescue the hostages AND save the president...

Vince Flynn have a flair of writing about political intrigue that sounds so cold-blooded it'll make you squirm and wonder how can people just "burn" others like that in order to give themselves a tiny advantage. In this book, the Vice President is a pushover who keep waffling over what to do, and his chief of staff keep giving him spin control advice that somehow makes himself (and his principal) look better, instead of the right thing. The actual 'fighting' is short, and yes, many people get killed, esp. bad guys, but plenty of good guys as well.

The villains are pretty much cardboard cutouts, albeit smart ones. The politicians are portrayed with a bit more character. There are a few too many characters though.

Still, the high concept makes this book irresistable read. I've been tracking to track down this book for a while, having discovered Mitch Rapp series rather late (Memorial Day was actually my first.) and this book, IMHO, was worth it.

Rating: read it (at least once)

NOTE: this is the new cover. There's an older edition that has a blue cover.

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KCR: Storm from the Shadows, a Honorverse novel (scifi, Honor Harrington)

Image via WikipediaStorm From the Shadows is another novel set in the "Honorverse", David Weber's world of Honor Harrington and Star Kingdom of Manticore. This novel reads somewhat differently from the other novels, as this is a shift in direction for the series. Previously, most of the action is centered directly on Honor Harrington herself. This book basically features Honor's friend Michelle Henke, a fellow starship commander, and the stakes are raised by adding additional players that had previously been relegated to background status. Honor Harrington herself plays only a peripheral role in this book. The result is a book that reads familiar, yet quite different, and manages to setup the stage for later books in the series.

The premise: Michelle Henke's task force was ambushed by Havenite forces and her ship was damaged and left behind (on her orders). She ordered the ship self-destructed and became prisoner, only to be paroled back to Manticore with a proposal for summit and peace talks. She was sent to a different area (away from the Havenite war) as part of her parole, but stumbles into Manpower / Mesa's plan to destroy the Star Kingdom of Manticore... and the action also threatens to wake up the sleeping giant of Solarian League...

The problem with David Weber's writing, as I've explained before, is the universe is so large now there's dozens of characters, and they tend to get VERY talky as they spend PAGES talking about every angle of their thought process, violating the "show, not tell" rule. There are so many characters, you need a "cast of characters" to keep them straight! It also makes the characters too much of bit players, and the scene switching is fast and furious: a little here, a little there... It's equivalent of flash cuts in movies. If you like this style, you'll love this book. if you don't, you'll hate it even more.

This book also ends on a cliffhanger to setup the other books in the series and parallel plots, so it's not quite satisfying that way.

Rating: read it (if you're a fan of Honorverse)

KCR: Aggressor Six (novel, scifi)

Aggressor Six is an interesting twist on "know your enemy" novel on a sci-fi stage when the humans encountered the "waisters"... aliens that seem to bent on extermination of human species. Their technology is centuries ahead of the humans. Humans convened "Aggressor Six", a group of humans ordered to learn, act, speak, and ultimately, think like the Waisters, in order to give humans an edge in combat... if such a thing is possible. As colony after colony are exterminated, and the waisters are approaching the Sol System (the scouts were destroyed or driven off at TREMENDOUS casualties), will Aggressor Six find enough enough about the aliens to save humanity?

While the theme is hardly new, the execution is quite good, as this goes into the concept of war, on demonstration of superiority, and what constitutes sanity, and stubbornness. There's a surprising amount of actual science behind the sci-fi narrative, combined with enough action to satisfy those with shorter attention spans.

The book's old, and I encountered this in a used bookstore, but it's very good read. This is Will MacCarthy's first novel (dated 1996!)

KCR: The Gray Man (novel)

The Gray Man is the first in the Gray Man series by Mark Greaney, and it's a very interesting debut. The idea of "killer for hire" is nothing new. Killer for hire with a conscience is not new either, but this one is very well done, esp. for a first novel.

Premise: In the trade, he's simply known as "The Gray Man". He is a lone operator, able to get into almost anywhere, and get out, and few if any will see him coming. He used to work for the CIA as an ultimate termination team. When he was "burned", he became a lone operator, but he is specific: he only kills those who he consider is worth killing. He had just killed a target in Syria, and escaped into Iraq, when he was betrayed. The team that was supposed to pick him up wanted to kill him instead. He was able to escape. However, he soon realized that vast forces are arrayed against him... Hit teams from all over the world, and a ruthless man with almost limitless resources, are in his way. He could just disappear, but his conscience demands otherwise...

The action is relentless, as The Gray Man dodged one after another attempt on his life, and the stakes are raised. On the other hand, there are a few close scrapes that are just... too convenient. On the other hand, this guy can be hurt. He's not Rambo, and he can get grievously wounded, but he will get things done... or die trying.  The bad guys are a bit 'thin' and shallow, but they are okay as villains.

I am definitely buying the next book in the series.

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KCR: Slanted Jack (scifi, adventure, space)

A sequel to "One Jump Ahead", the nano-enhanced soldier Jon Moore, and his sentient gunship Lobo seem always heading into some sort of trouble. This time, the trouble came looking for him...

Premise: Slanted Jack, a con man from Jon's past, came to seek his help. He needs to protect a child, who supposedly have special powers... and a lot of people want the kid. A religious fanatic who moonlights as an arms dealer... a notorious and ruthless gang boss... and a high government official out to clean up the frontier, each wanting Jon's allegiance, each with the power to crush Jon and Lobo. Then there's the kid... How does Jon and Lobo get out of this one?

Problem with Slanted Jack is the characters came across as a bit flat, with Jon being the only one with any depth. Every body else came across as cold-hearted people out to use other people to their own purposes for little reason other it it suits them. The book is sort of adventure where the hero tries to play off one side against another. The result is satisfying, though it's a bit shallow.

If you like sci-fi action, with a bit of intrigue, go right ahead.

KCR: Dead Shot (sniper, war, novel)

Dead Shot is a very good "shooter" novel, with a great premise, and a great showdown at the end. My only problem is it is too much of a spy thriller, with the bad guy moving almost at will, little if any tension until when the "hero" gets on his tail.

Premise: Juba sniper, a true Al Qaeda assassin, managed to assassinate an informant in the middle of allied Green Zone in Iraq, in order to silence him from revealing Saddam's WMD cache location. The now-declared-dead Kyle Swanson, part of Task Force Trident, is asked to hunt down this guy, since clearly someone knows enough to access that WMD, and someone will be accessing it. Soon, a horrific attack in London (that made the bus bombings look like a picnic) proved him right, and Swanson tracked Juba down to a rural village in Iraq, where sniper meets sniper in an ultimate showdown, shot to shot...

The problem with this novel is the bad guys are just too good at their job. SWAT team at the door? Booby trap. More SWAT? Blow up the whole block. There was no "close calls". There is no tension... the bad guys always get away. EVERYTHING falls within their plan, EXCEPT the hero. This is often a problem when the plotting is a bit too clever. Why would the good guys be the only ones making mistakes? Still, the duel is neat, though not that satisfying, as there are two more novels after this in the series.

Rating: worth reading at least once

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KCR: Strikemasters (novel, military)

Strikemasters ranks among the worst books I've read. It is formulaic, presents military in impossible terms, is a blatant copy of already existing plots, and is basically a joke all around. I've read most technothrillers, from Harold Coyle to Tom Clancy to Dale Brown and plenty of people in between. Bill Kellan, in his "Strikemasters" attempts to emulate the style, but came up miles short.

Premise: US have a secret of secrets base, hidden even more than Area 51... called Area 153 (three times ore secret than Area 51, get it? 51x3? Ha-ha). Test pilot "Gunn" was sent on secret orders to join this group of misfits... flying three modified C-17's, which is so stealthed, it's even SOUND-stealthed (think Blue Thunder) and visually stealthed (smart-skin). One's the gunship, one's a dropship (paratroopers) and one's a tank landing ship. When Al Qaeda offshoot kidnapped 5 USAID workers in Pakistan and want to execute them on TV, Strikemasters are called in to deal with them... by the program's leader, because one of the hostages was his daughter.

Do you see the problem? I don't mind a bit of tech. I am a BIG fan of science fiction. However, putting super-stealth technology on a TRANSPORT PLANE? AND technology that just WORKS without ANY sort of explanation? It's impossible to sound-stealth a jet, even with active sound cancelling. You certain't can't quiet the rush of air. Smartskin is possible but a plane is impossible to keep absolutely clean, and any dirt will make the smartskin active camo useless. The premise of the leader of the program sending in the group as a private army is even MORE ridiculous. This guy is even more reckless than Rambo.

Let me describe a scene, and you tell me if it makes any sense. The tank-carrier plane intercepted a corp jet and through some sort of impossible eavesdropping tech, determined that UBG (ultimate bad guy) is onboard, but this jet doesn't have weapons. So what they did was... the stealth plane overtook the jet, still stealthed, then opened the rear ramp, so the tank use the main cannon to shoot the other plane out of the sky.

WTF?! Haven't this guy heard of wingtip vortex turbulence? You can't fly in front of the other plane without the other plane knowing it, even if you are positively CLOAKED! And haven't this guy heard of COAX machine gun? WTF?!

This guy reads like someone who wrote a technothriller without doing ANY research except what he *think* the military ought to operate like, then proceed to throw laws of physics out the window. There's a ton more impossible situations in the book that defies logic.

All being said, this is one of the most idiotic books I've read. Good thing I only paid a buck for it, and even then I felt it's sorta wasted.

Rating: Avoid it like the plague

KCR: The Lost Fleet #2: Courageous (novel)

The lost fleet series is about a man who does what he can to keep a fleet together, so he can see home again. However, much of the "action" consists of verbal byplays between John "Black Jack" Geary, the main character, with his officers and other people such as Co-President Victoria Rione, who's Geary's lover. This is the third book in the series, so it's hard to explain this book without explaining the background..

Background info: The Alliance has been at war with the Syndicate (Syndics) for over 100 years. A major alliance fleet on the way to attack Syndic homeworld was repulsed by an ambush and superior numbers. The battered fleet also recovered John "Black Jack" Geary, lost in space in cryo-sleep for 100 years from a previous action. During that time, Geary became a legend. Now that he'd came back in the flesh, fleet regulations made him the most senior officer in the fleet, Geary takes over as the new fleet commander, trying to take the battered and bruised fleet with its marines back to the Alliance. But many in the fleet are afraid of Geary, or want to protect their own powerbase...

This book is just a continuation of the previous action, as nothing was really resolved. Instead, a few bits of information have been revealed. The hyperspace gates have given the Syndics a strategic advantage, but Geary's fleet is also sensing that the Syndic civilian populace may not be fully behind the war effort as it seems. However, there seem to be hidden menace hiding in the background. What is this menace?

While each book adds a bit to the story, there's also no sense of completion. If you prefer serial fiction, give it a try, as this book will drag into 7-10 books easily.

Rating: read one and see if you like it to keep reading

KCR: Kill Zone (sniper, war, novel)

Sgt. Jack Coughlin is the best shooter in Iraq, and now, he has turned to novel writing. The problem is this conspiracy stuff doesn't quite work, and the plot later makes even less sense. It's too contrived.

Premise: the top general in Iraq was kidnapped. He was scheduled to testify against a congressional act to privatize a lot of the military (i.e. mercenaries). A rescue mission sent in met with severe mishap... the chopper crashed. One sniper survive the crash: gunnery sergeant Kyle Swanson. He had received a secret order from the Whitehouse... Terminate the general if he cannot be rescued. Swanson, however, rescues the general, with help of a highly advanced sniper scope called Excaliber. However, there are a few secrets in that scope as well. There is also a conspiracy up to silence Swanson, and anybody related to him by the backer of mercenary bill. Can Swanson accomplish his mission, and expose the conspiracy?

Frankly, the conspiracy is so ****ing large it boggles the mind. We're talking about conspiracy that has mercenary units that is perfectly willing to shoot down military planes, all around the US AND the world, kidnap and assassinate VIPs in and out of the US, connections in various other Middle East countries, and more. It's **** crazy. Why would a company with this much power bother with a simple bill through US congress?

Sort of worth reading, but not worth buying.

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KCR: Vortex by Larry Bond (novel, war)

Cover of VortexVortex is a techno-war thriller from Larry Bond in the vein of Red Storm Rising, and this one has an interesting scenario. The war is brutal, and the opponents are unusual enough to intrigue.

Premise: An assassination of South African government allowed hardliner Boers to restore apartheid. In order to distract the population and grab the diamond mines, the new government invades the neighbor Namibia. The local government picks an unlikely ally: the Cubans, and Castro sent his expeditionary forces to help defend Namibia (in exchange for lots of $$$). The Boers have to also fight internal dissent and external threat. When Boer escalate to tactical nukes, Cubans respond with nerve gas, which forces the Americans and the British forces to get involved...

The plot by now is almost formulaic... A tiny incident sets in motion great events that few can predict, like a tiny snowball rolling downhill, and soon huge swath of destruction lies in its wake. There's even a bit about some courageous reporters, good old American derring-do of special operation forces, and more.

If you like thrillers of this vein you should love this book.

Rating: worth reading, esp. if you like this genre

KCR: Digital Fortress (computer, novel)

Image by bennylin0724 via FlickrDigital Fortress is written by a guy who did bare minimal research into encryption, and use that as a premise to involved a McGuffin device (in this case, a "secret decoder ring" (no I wasn't kidding) and some standard chase plots. What Dan Brown knows about encryption appears to be gleamed from Wikipedia, and the hero appears to be modeled on himself (just like Langdon was).

I admit that as a high concept and some simple reading it ain't that bad, but I'm a geek, and I get cranky when technology was described wrong and/or doesn't make sense. And they don't here.

Frankly, I consider the Da Vinci Code to be a borrowed high concept turned into a barely acceptable thriller that only was so successful because it had somehow involved Jesus. Digital Fortress doesn't even have that hook. The result is an acceptable if formulaic "thriller".

Rating: Skip it, unless you must read every Dan Brown book available.

KCR: Flight of the Intruder (novel)

Flight of the Intruder by Stephen Coonts is the novel he had written, but can't find a publisher for years. When Tom Clancy managed to get his "Hunt for Red October" published, suddenly Coont's novel found an outpet.

Coonts is not a bad writer, but you can tell this is his first novel. A lot about "Jake Grafton" is almost autobiographical, describing Coonst, and characterization is a bit lacking. You don't really get a sense of what exactly drives Jake Grafton. it is as if he's just floating through life, not sure of what he wants, while doing some of the most dangerous activities on earth: being a naval aviator on a US Navy Carrier, and he's good at it.

The flying scenes are very good, but the plot is a bit of contrived high concept: what if we really bombed Hanoi... once?

It is worth reading, if you want to learn about life as naval aviator.

And skip the movie. It's a rather lousy adaptation.

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