Critical Mass [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

David Hagberg (Author), Dick Hill (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1992

In 1945, Isowa Nakkamura lost his mother and father in the nuclear maelstrom that was Hiroshima. Three days later, his wife and child died in Nagasaki and he himself was horribly burned. Now - 45 years later - nothing will stop his dream of revenge. Building his own atomic bombs, he plans to inflict the same hellfire on Los Angeles and San Francisco!

Enter Kirk McGarvey, CIA assassin and America's top agent. When McGarvey's girlfriend is killed by one of Nakkamura's agents, McGarvey is soon hard on his trail. In a tale of high-tension action, the chase is on - across Europe and America - to a finale of nail-biting suspense.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of Crossfire sets his fast-paced new thriller in motion with an exciting scenario: an embittered Hiroshima survivor's attempt to explode nuclear devices in San Francisco and Los Angeles on the anniversaries of the two atomic bomb attacks that ended WW II. In Paris, former CIA assassin Kirk McGarvey sees his lover's plane shot down by a Stinger missile fired by a team of East German assassins in the employ of madman Isowa Makkamura. Seeking revenge, McGarvey begins to pick up Makkamura's trail after a brutal killing in Tokyo, but the East Germans kidnap his ex-wife and daughter to throw him off the track. The bloody effort to rescue the two women obscures the main plot line for a while, but McGarvey eventually confronts Makkamura in Tokyo, then joins him on a deadly flight across the Pacific before the book's final crisis, which is resolved only in the final sentence. McGarvey may be a little too superhuman--and the villains too evil by half--to be believed, but tension never lags in this certified page-turner.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Vengeful Japanese cowboy/industrialist seeks to build A-bomb; vengeful American cowboy/agent seeks to thwart same--in this expert rouser from dependable Hagberg (Countdown, 1990; Crossfire, 1991). After losing his parents in Hiroshima and his wife and daughter in Nagasaki, Isawa Nakamura resurfaces decades later as a self-made computer kingpin with the clout to take out three inconvenient CIA men on a Swissair jetliner with a surface-to-air missile. Also aboard is Marta Fredericks, girlfriend of retired Company op Kirk McGarvey, who goes on a cold-killing rampage. Nakamura's goons kill American agents by the carload, kidnap McGarvey's estranged wife Kathleen and adoring daughter Elizabeth, and use them as bait in a killing trap--since they naturally know who's on their trail and how fearsome he is. There must be a hundred killers, armed with the latest high-tech weaponry, arrayed against McGarvey, but they haven't got a prayer. (As Elizabeth ``confidently'' tells a kidnaper: ``My father is going to tear you a new asshole, sweety.'') Nothing can stop McGarvey: certainly not the French and American spooks set on his trail (he thumbs his nose at them, then signs on under his own terms), or a CIA info blackout (a Twinkie-loving hacker lets him in the back door), or the trap set by chief henchmen Ernst Spranger and icy lesbian temptress Liese Egk (McGarvey shrugs off the Navy SEALS dispatched to the Greek islands to help him--they naturally blunder into the trap in his place--and takes out the last thug with his last bullet), or the resulting wounds, which are supposed to keep him bedridden--and the bomb assembly thereby on track--for six weeks (he's en route to Japan two days later for the equally predictable showdown). Japan-bashing at its most cartoon-heroic, written with an eye for the fast clich‚. Not really good for you, or for international relations, but there's no point in fighting Hagberg's crudely effective force. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Unabridged Library Edition; Unabridged edition (July 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561001007
• ISBN-13: 978-1561001002
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.5 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,470,463 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

DAVID HAGBERG is a former Air Force cryptographer who has traveled extensively in Europe, the Arctic, and the Caribbean and has spoken at CIA functions. He has published more than twenty novels of suspense, including the bestselling Joshua's Hammer, Soldier of God, and Allah's Scorpion. He makes his home in Sarasota, Florida.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Action Story!, May 12, 2001

By 

Melvin Hunt (Cleveland,, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Critical Mass (Mass Market Paperback)

A good action packed novel. It was not quiet as exciting as Crossfire and Countdown. A Japanese billionaire loses his family (mother,father,wife,and child) in the atomic bomb blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The billionaire,many years later starts making plans for revenge. His plans include Ernst Spranger and his lesbian sidekick(both are ex Stasi). This group of ex Stasi agents steal the components to assemble a nuclear bomb. Our hero Kirk McGarvey enters the picture and promptly disrupts the scene for the bad guys. McGarvey does battle with this group all over the globe. He also does battle with the goons who belong to the Japanese billionaire.The daughter and ex-wife of McGarvey are also kidnapped by the Stasi renegades. This just adds to the action of the book. The book finally reaches a screeching finale. You will be greatly entertained by this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Predictable And Not Particularly Well-Written!, October 17, 2007

By 

bobbewig (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Critical Mass (Mass Market Paperback)

As evidenced by my title for this review, I didn't care for Critical Mass. As a matter of fact. I'm being generous giving it a 2-star rating. I decided to read Critical Mass because I was given it and 9 other books by Hagberg by my brother; now I have to decide if I want to invest more of my time reading this author. In my opinion, Hagberg's premise for Critical Mass was interesting, but his character development in general is weak and his main character -- CIA assassin and top agent, Kirk McCarvey, comes across more like a cartoon-like action figure than a real person. Further, Hagberg's narrative style and ability to create dialog that people would actuall speak leaves a lot to be desired. If this isn't enough to convince you to bypass this book, the action sequences, while numerous, are mostly predictable and not very exciting. I'm not usually this critical about someone's work, but Critical Mass was, to me, a crtical mess.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars After Countdown and Crossfire, this one was disappointing, August 22, 2000

By 

"muunrakr" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Critical Mass (Mass Market Paperback)

Hagberg is Sean Flannery's cartoonish alter ego. Or, actually, Flannery is Hagberg's highbrow alter ego - as Hagberg is his real identity. And Hagberg shows his true identity almost to a fault in this thriller. Countdown and Crossfire were tight ropes of action that just kept coming. This one has the action coming at you too but its a bit more uneven. And the Japan-bashing, at a time when Chirstie Yamaguchi couldn't even land a photoshoot for a Wheaties box, was a bit irresponsible. None the less, its a breeze to read.

At issue, a Japanese computer magnate who's bent on destroying the U.S. for its use of nuclear weapons on his homeland. Yes, a unique plot - hardly ever used before. Much of the action and many of the plot twists are as cliched its main plot, but when McGarvey goes into blitz mode, it doesn't matter because plot and reality often get shredded with the goons - and that's ok, its why I read Hagberg, remember, Flannery is his highbrow self.

While I was not overly impressed with this outing, Hagberg more than redeems himself in Dessert Fire and Highflight, two of his absolute best, regardless of pen name.

Bottom line, I'd read it, but read the other four I've mentioned in this review, then catch up with this one.

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