Customer Reviews

Arc Light

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This will be short and sweet, because the plot has been laid out by so many reviewers by now. Suffice to say that I read this book years ago, and have never forgotten how completely captivated I was. I couldn't believe the graphic realism, right down to the last thoughts of those who were dying. It was chilling because it just seemed so real. Of all the 3rd world war stories I've read, this is the one I enjoyed the most. I'd give it 10 stars! (And I'm a woman....probably my husband would have given it 20 stars if he'd read it.) Unfortunately, I lent this book out and never got it back. Now I see it's out of print. What a tragedy! By all means get a hold of it and savor every word...

"Arc-Light" is the techno thriller for people who don't like techno thrillers. If Tom Clancy and his many, many imitators leave you cold, theres still a good chance that you'll enjoy this. North Korea invades South Korea and Russia launches tactical Nuclear strikes on insurgent Chinese forces...and thats just in the first ten pages. Over the next five hundred pages Eric L Harry deftly sweeps a trans-global cast of characters, that are unusually well written for a novel in this genre, into the nightmare of a world war that threatens to escalate into total Nuclear annihilation. One of the greatest page turning experiences of my life. I literally could not put this tome down until I'd turned the final nail-biting page and reached the shocking climax.

The gradual dissolution of the dreaded Cold War atmosphere in no way translates into a permanent cessation from the dangers of nuclear warfare. In fact, for a brief period during the early 1990s, the threat of an atomic exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union seemed more possible than during the Cuban Missile Crisis of the early 1960s due to the collapse of the communist regime and subsequent coup by old Soviet hardliners. Literally tens of thousands of nuclear tipped missiles in silos and submarines throughout Russia and the world's oceans could have been launched by accident or on the orders of the coup plotters back in Moscow. The uncertainty of these incidents inspired Eric L. Harry to write "Arc Light," a novel about a limited nuclear exchange between a non-communist Russia and the United States. Harry's sprawling nuclear epic will raise the hackles of any reader who remembers the bleak old days of doomsday planes, MAD policies, and May Day parades in Moscow's Red Square.

"Arc Light" takes place in a near future scenario where the former Soviet Union, now a federated Russian Republic, undergoes a series of military coups after civilian leadership fails to alleviate serious economic problems. Moreover, the Russians fight several wars with China over the mineral rich Siberian regions. These Sino/Russian conflicts bring in the United States, who sends military advisors to assist the Russians in their logistical operations. In other words, the Russians and the Americans form tentative bonds centered on placating the Chinese menace. All goes well between the two former enemies until the North Koreans launch a surprise attack in order to reunite the Korean peninsula. This invasion ties up American forces in Asia, but it also creates enough confusion to allow a rogue nationalist Russian general named Zorin to seize control of the Russian government. Things go from bad to worse when China manages to squeeze off a few nuclear warheads against Moscow. Zorin, with limited information at his fingertips, thinks the warheads are American missiles and issues orders for a retaliatory strike aimed at American military installations in the continental United States. Five to seven million Americans die in this terrible exchange, along with millions of Russians who perish in revenge strikes conducted by the American military. The rest of the book tracks the disintegrating situation between the two countries as both sides struggle through unprecedented death and destruction, a process made no easier by the fact that situations keep arising that promise further war.

Harry follows several characters and scenarios throughout the tribulations of a world at war. He takes us into the presidential aircraft when our leaders give the launch orders to wreak havoc on Russia. We see deep inside the Kremlin and we are privy to the battle plans of the Russian high command as they face down an American land invasion. We intimately walk side by side with National Security Advisor Greg Lambert as he witnesses the horrors of nuclear war and the death of his wife. Harry takes us into the world of the average civilian as he looks at Melissa and David Chandler, a couple looking forward to the birth of their first child when war calls David away to lead a tank battalion against the Russians. The reader even experiences life in a missile silo in Wyoming before and after the missiles fly. Throughout all of these places and through all of these characters, death stalks ever present in the background whether through open conventional warfare or the scurrilous effects of radioactive fallout. The game is afoot, and winning this game involves discovering a way to a lasting peace before a full nuclear exchange takes place, and with Russian submarines lying on the bottom of the ocean poised to launch missiles at America's cities the possibility of total destruction becomes a chilling likelihood.

According to the cover flap, Eric L. Harry speaks fluent Russian and works as a corporate lawyer and military affairs expert. I've never served in the military, but it does appear that the author understands how the military structure operates in times of crisis. There is a lot of military and governmental jargon in "Arc Light," and Harry explains what it all means as he veers from tank battles on the plains of Russia, to the destruction of NORAD from nuclear weapons, to bombing runs on the Kronstadt naval base in Russia. This book may well be one of the most involved apocalyptic stories I've ever read. Especially noteworthy is the author's treatment of the Russian leadership. During the Cold War, our leadership painted the Russian military as sinister, slightly mad soldiers with fingers twitching on the button. Harry rejects this propaganda in favor of Russian generals who worry and fret over the implications of a nuclear war while practicing remarkable levels of prudent restraint.

"Arc Light" differs from other apocalyptic themed novels because it places the nuclear conflagration after the Cold War. Indeed, to this day thousands of nuclear tipped missiles still sit in silos throughout Russia and the United States, all of them certainly aimed at targets somewhere in the world. The problems in Russia continue unabated to this day, with a real possibility that conditions there will deteriorate into complete instability in the future. Perhaps those missiles will soar from the silos yet, and I for one hope I'm not alive to see that dark day.

If you're a Clancy fan, you should get to know and like Eric Harry. This book is tough to find, out of print, but worth it if you can lay your hands on it. I stumbled upon Harry's Invasion book--which was an excellent US-China war yarn set on US soil---interesting twist I havent' seen in most of this genra. While I previously felt Clancy's Red Storm Rising was the best war drama thriller I'd found, I took a chance on Arc Light and was rewarded in spades---order it used and count yourself lucky. After reading Clancy and War Day (Whitley Streiber), I thought the bar was set high but Harry paints a vivid picture of WWIII---whereas most novels are set in post-apocalyptic 'picking up the pieces' stages, Harry paints the picture for us as events are happening. Better still, it happens at the right pace---not too fast, not too slow---a steady diet of suspence, intrigue, and action. While Clancy would have spent 500 pages building up to the action we're all wanting to experience, Harry puts you right into it in the first 50 pages without jeopardizing character development or sacrificing story---truly a rare and splendid gift to be able to achieve. A GREAT read----the first 250 pages flow like water---you'll wish the story didn't end...

This is a must read. If you like to read about things that could actually happen in the world today then pick this book up now. This is a book that will make you think what if this really happend. All characters are developed very well and you do have to keep up because it does jump around, has all Eric L. Harry books do. With all the jumping around it gives you a look at what is going on with other parts of the USA. This is a great book. I can't say anything else about it. You should see that it got a 5 star by everyone else so that should be enough to make you want to pick up and read it. Let me warn you though, you will read this book slow because you will not ever want it to end. ERIC L. HARRY AT HIS BEST!!!

This is the best there is no doubt about it. This book stands heads and shoulders above all other books in its genre. The story is superb. The characters are developed and the battles are unbelievably real. Mr. Harry has made in my opinion one of greatest war books ever. He writes in a style all his own. I could go on and on but all I can say is BUY THIS BOOK and you wont be sorry.

What is there to say that has not yet been said? This book is the penical of World War III fiction. It makes your want to jump up and make war after the first dozen BMPs are smashed, but also makes your reach for the tissues right before the Ruskies' missles hit downtown New York City. This book has got it all! Jarheads making a 'D Day' landing in Siberia, Russian bombers flying through California's hills, or the US troop buildup in east Canada brings our time a World War II feel. I can't say this is the best book written, but I can say this is the best author. If you love this, reat Harry's 'Invasion'. It takes this masterpiece a step further.

Truly magnificant work, Mr. Harry! Where's 'Invasion II'?

This excellent novel by Eric L. Harry is one of the finest and most exciting books I have ever read.

The book details the events of WW3 in minute detail. The author has obviously conducted meticulous research into both the circumstances of the novel and the large amount of military equipment and terms used throughout the book.

The author relates, with chilling realism, the events which caused the conflict, Russia being forced to deploy nuclear weapons against a surgeing Chinese army and by accidant, missiles raining down on the United States.

The book is also extremely well written, with a fast paced style which has the reader gripped to the page. Also, the characters Mr Harry creates are entirley realistic, people which the reader can relate to.

In conclusion, this book is an extremley well written, thrilling, realistic and successful Third World War novel which I would recommend to absolutley anyone, especially those interested in warfare and state of the art military equipment.

This is an engaging account of an alternate ending to the Cold War. WWIII is an accidental outcome of a chain of mistakes and reactions that are highly plausible in the modern spin-controlled politics of opinion polls and political/military decisions. The story has a few things that don't seem realistic. For example, as we now know, global instability causes energy prices to climb to crippling levels, and this was not foreseen in the book. The book never explains why the North Koreans choose to suddenly attack South Korea, and also just as suddenly withdraw. Also, why do the Chinese halt their attacks upon Russia and sit on their hands during the US-Russia conflict? And M-16's with "recoil?" However, if you look past little details like this, the book is a fascinating and informed depiction of how WWIII could plausibly unfold with today's modern hardware and force structures. I'd always envisioned WWIII as one big MAD global mushroom cloud ending life on earth. But this book shows that life can go on after nuclear war, which was the biggest surprise to me.

The author eerily got it right in 1994 that the President (a Clinton-like character) would be impeached, and the date the nuclear war begins (6/11) reminded me of 9/11.

Overall, a good suspensful page-turner.

I agree with the first couple of reviews. I read this book back in 1995ish and it completely drew my attention so much that I passed the book on to a friend. I never saw the book again until recently. It was noted as "out of print" but I found an old copy on Amazon. I plan on keeping it forever now. I havent had a chance to reread it but it is my favorite book. The descriptions on events such as the army station at the airport as the attack hits to the beach scene in the Russian far east, I was utterly mesmerized.