KCR: Thunder in the Deep (novel, submarine)

Image via Wikipedia"Thunder In the Deep" is a sequel to "Deep Sound Channel"  which was reviewed earlier. It describe a nightmare scenario... a resurgent Nazi Germany, working with a new Apartheid South Africa, and their super ceramic hulled subs, armed with nuclear torpedoes. No surface ship can survive in the ocean. It is up to the American supersub, and its captain, crew, and SEAL commandos, to deal with the latest German attempt to turn the tide... another secret weapon. Except this time, the Germans know the Americans are coming...

Thunder In the Deep can get a bit thick in terminology, and it's a bit over the top with the captain going along with the SEAL team and get into gunfights, but it's interesting nonetheless. It's better to read it from the beginning of the series though.

Related articles

• KCR: Deep Sound Channel (novel, submarine) (crankyreviews.blogspot.com)
• KCR: Attack of the Seawolf (novel, submarine) (crankyreviews.blogspot.com)

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.

Related articles

• KCR: Shooter (autobiography, sniper, non-fiction, war) (crankyreviews.blogspot.com)
• KCR: Extreme Measures, a Mitch Rapp novel (terrorism) (crankyreviews.blogspot.com)
• KCR: Transfer of Power, a Mitch Rapp novel (terrorism) (crankyreviews.blogspot.com)

KCR: Skunk Works by Ben E. Rich (non-fiction, memoir)

Image via WikipediaSkunk Works, by Ben E. Rich is a detailed look into the founding of the operation at Lockheed Martin's elite operation, esp. the design of SR-71, U-2, and the F-117. There are stories to tell about each of these elite planes.

If you are at all interested in the story behind the planes, read this book. It has a lot of revelations, about the compromises, and technologies that went into the designs. They have to reinvent the envelope based on what's possible.

Did you know that Lockheed Martin had a proposal for a smaller bomber than the B-2? And it would have been on budget instead of the mess B-2 eventually ended up as?

Rating: read it

KCR: The Next 100 Years (non-fiction, forecast)

Next 100 Years attempts to forecast the next 100 years, and while a lot of the political analysis makes sense, it comes across as a jingoistic declaration of American superiority borrowing elements liberally from military thrillers with power combat suits, hypersonic fighters and cruise missiles, even armed space stations (I guess they work off the same sources).

It is interesting to figure where the predictions came from, as the author details how he sees "nationalistic needs" and how they influence geopolitics and future conflicts. Basically, each country has its own version of "manifest destiny". For the US, it was to control access to both oceans (and later, guarantee access to oil). For Japan, it is the need to secure natural resources to feed its industries. For Russia, it is to protect itself from invasions by dominating its surroundings, and that means it will collide with China in the very near future.

You may or may not agree, but it does make sense... to a certain degree.

Rating: Try it

KCR: The Last Centurion (novel, military, near-future, war)

Cover of The Last CenturionThe Last Centurion is one of those "future dystopia" novels where the world had gone pretty much into the toilet and a few good men try to hold on against idiots and morons.

The setup: the world was hit by a mini-ice age AND a pandemic that seriously depopulated enough of Earth. One of the few intact units left was Bandit Six, left to guard one of the arm depots in the Middle East. It fought its way to a port and finally got itself back to the US, defeating warlords and helping fledgling democracies along the way. Back at home, Bandit Six fought idiots and bureaucracy of a government gone mad with... organic farming.

The entire book was written first-person, blog-style. It takes aim at liberalism, anti-military, spin control, organic farming (how idiotic it is), big government, and so on and so forth. The author pulls no punches, zeroing in on the idiocy of various issues. The language itself can be quite offending, but always written like blog-style "F*** this."

If your sensibilities are easily offended, you should not read this book. If you want to see bad science eviscerated in a hilarious manner, much like Penn & Teller's Bull****! cable show (which does have an episode on organic farming), then please try this book.

KCR: Takedown, capture of Kevin Mitnick (non-fiction, hacker, crime, detective)

Image via WikipediaFound this in a used bookstore, and found it to be interesting on the technical aspects, but comes across as a self-congratulatory (i.e. pat your own back) kind of book.

The story is about how Shimomura, one of the best computer security experts of the time, had his personal server hacked by some body. He was able to track down the perp, who turned out to be Kevin Mitnick, the infamous hacker, and in a few months, Mitnick was tracked down and arrested by FBI, with Shimomura's help on the tracker. The book covers both Shimomura's short biography, as well as details of the hack, his deconstruction, the trace through multiple ISPs, the phone network, and finally, to Mitnick himself.

Again, the book sounds like a self-promo book basically describe how great Shimomura is. I have no doubt Shimomura is a brilliant guy, but there's tremendous ego involved... the entire prose comes across as one big ego trip. The technical details were somewhat simplified, and while readable, will likely drive non-techies to tears as they are quite dry. I found them readable, but then I'm a geek (a cranky geek, but still a geek).

You may want to read this books counterpart... The Fugitive Game, the book from Mitnick's perspective.

KCR: Tom Clancy's HAWX

This book is simply poorly written, and it's clear that David Michaels is not a single person, but a pseudonym assumed by a variety of writers hired by Ubisoft to pump out novelizations in order to capitalize on their own games. Some of the Splinter Cell novels are quite good. This book simply is lousy.

The plot, created by Tom Clancy and his minions, are a bit of alarmist but fine... Basically, private military corporations, i.e. mercenaries, are made legal and takes over quite a bit of actual operations... at a price. A certain air force pilot was RIFed (i.e. let go) he joined a PMC called Firehawk, then CIA asked him to keep an eye out on Firehawk, which may not be quite up and up. What he finds out later will have serious consequences not only for himself, but for the entire United States...

The plot makes sense, but the characters are shallow, and some of the technical details are wrong. Clearly, Ubisoft and Red Storm have no technical editors to spare on this project. This book is a major disappointment.

KCR: Hidden Empire (novel, near future)

Cover of Hidden EmpireHidden Empire by Orson Scott Card is a near-future where one man may have used nefarious means to manipulate the United States into electing him president, and he may have plans for the entire world next. Averell Torrent may be the most evil man existed, or the most farsighted man ever. Captain Bart "Cole" Coleman knew first hand what Torrent is capable of. When a new pandemic broke out in Africa and threaten to spread around the world, Cole must decide which side he is on, and incidentally, the fate of the world.

Say what you will about Orson Scott Card... he knows how to create characters that are believeable, even though his world view is hard to swallow. I have a hard time describing this book to my friend, because a lot of this book's setup was in the previous book, called "Empire".

The plot twists aren't that difficult to follow. There are no major twists and turns and surprises. Most of the surprises are in the way characters develope, and how they manage to have faith without getting preachy.

However, the book bogs down when there's little to no action, as you really get inside the characters' heads, and that can be quite boring to some people, namely, me.

Again, the book is hard to describe, and when there's little action, the book starts to fail. Still, it is an interesting read.

Rating: Try it

Hidden Empire (on Amazon)