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Summary
Summary
America's largest cities are in flames. Its majestic landmarks are in ruins. Oceans and boundaries offer no protection. It is the first sophisticated, intelligently planned, and utterly ruthless terrorist campaign waged on U.S. soil. As national leaders, armies, and artificial intelligence strive to win the unconventional war, two men--once friends, now adversaries to the death--race to a decisive confrontation.
Author Notes
Larry Bond is a writer and game designer. He graduated from St. Thomas College in 1973 with a degree in quantitative methods.
Bond worked as a computer programmer before entering The U.S. Navy Officers Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. He graduated in 1976 and served in the Navy for six years. Bond spent two years with the Navy Reserve Intelligence Program and then worked as a naval analyst for consulting firms in Washington, D.C.
Bond also designs games. His Harpoon gaming system was published in 1980 and has won the H.G. Wells Award as the best miniature game of the year in 1981, 1987, and 1997. A computer version of the game was created in 1990 and won the Wargame of the Year award from Computer Gaming World.
Bond began his writing career by collaborating with Tom Clancy on the bestseller Red Storm Rising. His own novels include Red Phoenix, The Enemy Within, and Day of Wrath.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Remember how almost everyone jumped to the conclusion that Arab terrorists were responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing? Bond's compulsively readable new thriller (after Cauldron) takes that supposition and turns it on its head. In this up-to-the-minute suspense novel, America is under terrorist attack by agents of Iran, and the government is being led to believe that domestic racist and militarist groups are at fault. It's all part of a master plan cooked up by Iran's new military leader, the Western-trained General Amir Taleh, whose old friend and opposite number, Delta Force veteran Lt. Colonel Peter Thorn, is the chief victim of his deception. Stuck in a desk job tracking foreign terrorists while children are slaughtered, churches are blown up and race riots erupt across the country, Thorn uses his special relationship with FBI Agent Helen Gray to find out who is responsible for the growing chaos. As usual, Bond manages to make his story exciting, frightening and full of action. Like Tom Clancy, he paints a broad canvas filled with tight close-ups, a technique that energizes the narrative and gives it a wide-ranging, expansive feel. Unusual for this genre is the nuanced characterization, especially that of Helen Gray, which should broaden Bond's appeal to female readers. The topical plot is constructed for speed and action rather than polemic; while Bond makes frequent reference to freedoms that Americans allegedly take for granted, such background detail never gets in the way of his expert storytelling. It's a sure bet that this, like the author's previous books, will climb bestseller lists. Major ad/promo. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
The ripsnorting, all-too-plausible latest from bestselling Bond (Cauldron, 1993, etc.) pits a duo of dynamic Americans against a mad Iranian bent on altering the geopolitical balance of power. When Muslim fundamentalists detonate a gasoline tanker on the Golden Gate Bridge at the height of a morning rush hour, the loss of life shocks Washington into a retaliatory missile raid on Tehran. With the religious rulers and populace of the oil-rich country reeling from this blow, General Amir Taleh seizes complete control of the Defense Ministry with an eye to restoring the Islamic republic's lost glory. In aid of his vaultingly ambitious plan to annex Saudi Arabia by force of arms, he attempts to neutralize the US by unleashing on it US small bands of fanatical, well-trained terrorists whose atrocities appear to be the handiwork of indigenous white supremacists or militant groups of ethnic minorities. The coordinated campaign of nationwide bombings and massacres spawns copycat acts that strain the capacity of law- enforcement agencies to keep order. With America's social fabric unraveling, and the military tied down on guard duties calculated to lull the frantic public into a false sense of security, Army Colonel Peter Thorn (a counterterrorism expert with observer status on the case) unearths a computer-communications anomaly suggesting that offshore operatives are responsible for the evil deeds that have all but paralyzed the US. Helen Gray (Thorn's lover) and fellow FBI agents confirm his suspicions in a deadly assault on a safe house. The raid puts Helen in the hospital, but also yields enough information to send Thorn winging off to Tehran at the head of a Delta Force unit ordered to assassinate Taleh before he can launch his invasion fleet across the Persian Gulf. A triple-A Bond.
Booklist Review
Just as Rambo went back to single-handedly win the Vietnam War, here Delta Force commando Peter Thorn--veteran of the Desert One fiasco--returns to Iran to avenge a rancorous defeat. But unlike the thick-skulled, pectoral-flexing Rambo, Thorn wins with his wits, as well as some high-tech help. Beneath the gadgetry, though, this is a story of man against man: Thorn versus the ruthless and strategically clever Iranian General Taleh. Taleh's grand plan is to succeed where Saddam failed and grab Saudi oil fields. The scheme depends on keeping American forces away; Taleh ties them down with a tremendous terrorist offensive in the U.S., using white supremacists disguised as the terrorists. Much of this cliche-ridden, techno-thrilling pulp describes the Bosnian Muslim agents Taleh recruits and the outrages they commit, such as igniting a Chicago race riot by murdering black schoolchildren. Thorn eventually decodes Taleh's communications with the real terrorists. From there, the cavalry takes off for Tehran in a raid planned almost exactly like that old failure at Desert One in 1980--except this time, the helicopters fly right. Bond's skin-crawling vision will attract attention, but don't bet he'll hold it beyond a few weeks after publication. (Reviewed December 15, 1995)0446516767Gilbert Taylor
Library Journal Review
Technomeister Bond collaborated with Tom Clancy on the popular Red Storm Rising (Putnam, 1987) before making solo assaults on the best sellers lists (e.g., Cauldron, Warner, 1993). Here, he spins a tale about an America paralyzed by a wave of terrorism. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.