Falcon Seven [Hardcover]

James Huston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 11, 2010

New York Times bestselling author James W. Huston returns with his most powerful thriller to date. Exploding with international intrigue, sizzling courtroom drama, and heart-stopping action, Falcon Seven delivers an all-too-realistic tale of America under fire.

A U.S. Navy F/A-18 flying over Afghanistan is suddenly diverted and ordered to bomb a building in Pakistan, where a meeting between al Qaeda and the Taliban is taking place. After destroying their target, the fighter jet is immediately hit by Stinger missiles and the pilots eject over Pakistan. They are captured, assaulted, and dragged through the streets of Peshawar. The world is on edge.

The fliers are quickly forced onto a secret Falcon jet headed for the Netherlands, where they’ll stand trial for war crimes at the International Criminal Court. The building they hit was actually a medical post constructed by Europeans for Afghan refugees---and sixty-five innocent people were killed.

It’s up to Washington criminal defense lawyer and former Navy SEAL Jack Caskey to defend the two navy officers and get to the bottom on what is beginning to seem like an orchestrated event. The National Security Council pushes President Obama to employ the act passed under George W. Bush that authorizes the use of force to extract Americans held by the International Criminal Court. While the president initially approves a special operations team to grab the Americans, he later withdraws to cooperate with the ICC. Already fighting a losing battle for his clients, an outraged Caskey works with his contacts in the shadowy world of special operations and CIA operatives to free his clients himself . . . or help them battle through an international show trial and face imprisonment---for life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jack Caskey, a Washington, D.C., criminal defense attorney and former navy SEAL, tries to prevent the judicial railroading of two U.S. Navy aviators by the International Criminal Court in this timely and provocative thriller from bestseller Huston (Marine One). When navy officers Doug Raw Rawlings and Bill Dunk Duncan bomb an approved target in Pakistan, they hit not a meeting between Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders, as expected, but European aid workers and their patients. After their F-18 Hornet is shot down during the mission, the captured pilots wind up in The Hague, where they're charged with war crimes. Jack, who leads a hastily assembled team to defend Raw and Dunk, travels to Pakistan in a dangerous effort to find witnesses. Meanwhile, the U.S. government maneuvers to avoid the trial. Huston provides an intriguing look at international law, current American policies, and modern war. (May)
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From Booklist

A Navy F/A-18 fighter jet gets shot down over Pakistan, and the two pilots are tried as war criminals in Huston's latest blend of legal and political thrillers. Jack Caskey, former Navy SEAL, now a criminal defense attorney, is asked to represent the pilots in a court case being heard in The Hague at the International Criminal Court. The political ramifications of the trial and the difficulty of determining exactly what happened the night the plane was shot down push Caskey deep into a clandestine world of secrets. Meanwhile, the president of the U.S. contemplates a rescue operation that could jeopardize peace with several European countries. Huston has the background and know-how to make this high-concept story feel authentic. Caskey is a fascinating character, and the mystery proves engaging as well. Readers looking for Mike Nolan, hero of Huston's previous novel, Marine One (2009), will be disappointed, as he's not the main character, but the novel still shines. Recommend this to fans of both Tom Clancy and David Baldacci. --Jeff Ayers

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 351 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (May 11, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312364326
• ISBN-13: 978-0312364328
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #729,721 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James W. Huston grew up in West Lafayette, Indiana and attended the University of South Carolina on a Navy ROTC scholarship. He majored in History with a minor in English. During his senior summer he did an exchange cruise with the French Navy then attended the University of Warwick in England to study English Reformation history and English literature.

After college he received his Navy wings as a Naval Flight Officer and was assigned to VF-84, the Jolly Rogers on the USS Nimitz. With others in VF-84, he participated in making the movie, The Final Countdown, including flying in numerous scenes and filming and directing others. While with the Jolly Rogers he was selected to attend TOPGUN.

After leaving active duty he attended the University of Virginia School of Law. He moved to San Diego to join a firm and began flying in the Navy Reserves. After a few years he transferred his reserve duty to Naval Intelligence.

He started writing in the early 90s by writing op/ed pieces for the San Diego Union-Tribune. After a couple of years of writing for the paper, he decided to try fiction. Like many aspiring writers, neither his first novel nor his second was accepted for publication. But his third was different. It combined all his experience into a compelling story -- military action, political intrigue, and Constitutional Law. He found a clause in the U.S. Constitution that hadn't been used since 1812. He posed the simple question: "What if it was used today? What would happen?"

His other novels have built on the same themes. Politics. Law. Military action. Some have more of one area than the others, but they remain true to his style and ask compelling questions while providing a thrilling read. His eighth novel, FALCON SEVEN, is due to be released on May 11, 2010.

James W. Huston is a partner in the international law firm of Morrison & Foerster and works in the San Diego office. For additional information on his books visit his website: www.JamesWHuston.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'll Read This in One Sitting, June 3, 2010

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Falcon Seven (Hardcover)

James W. Huston served as a naval flight officer and is currently a trial officer in an international law firm. It would therefore only be natural that, upon embarking on a career in the writing business, he would pen military, espionage, or legal thrillers. And that is precisely what he has been doing for the past several years. He combines a "been there, done that" perspective with a bright-eyed and clearheaded vision of how the world works --- and the place of the United States in that world --- to create uncanny and seemingly prescient visions not of what might happen, but what almost certainly will happen, and all too soon.

Following 2009's brilliant MARINE ONE, Huston returns with FALCON SEVEN, which is even better than its predecessor. The inspiration and the basis for the book is one of the most important pieces of legislation ever passed by Congress, yet has received little fanfare. That would be the American Service-Members' Protection Act, which authorizes the President of the United States to use all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any United States or allied personnel imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court. The ICC is a kangaroo court that has unilaterally claimed jurisdiction over undefined war crimes, whether the alleged perpetrators of them are from member nations or not.

The scenario that begins FALCON SEVEN and brings the ICC into play is hair-raising in its plausibility. An American pilot team on a flight mission in Afghanistan is redirected to a target in Pakistan, where, they are told, a meeting between members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban are taking place. Their mission is successful; almost immediately, however, their plane is shot down, the pilots are captured, and, in less time than it takes to tell it, the two Americans are frog-marched into the ICC in The Hague. It turns out that the target was in fact a building that housed and treated war refugees. The attack, which was supposed to hit only enemy combatants, resulted in the deaths of several dozen people.

Jack Caskey, a former Navy SEAL who is currently a criminal defense attorney, is tasked by the National Security Council with defending them, even as a rescue mission is being planned to recover the pilots. As he begins plotting his defense strategy, however, the current President loses his will and calls the whole thing off. With time running out as the scheduled trial date approaches, he must defend the two United States airmen in front of a self-appointed three-judge tribunal that has in effect already made up its collective mind. Caskey --- aided by a somewhat reluctant law school classmate employed by a high-powered law firm (which, interestingly enough, had represented several high-profile prisoners at Guantanamo Bay) and several associates --- brings his experience as a defense attorney to bear as he crosses the globe to investigate several puzzling anomalies in the case, not the least of which is how a transport plane was practically on the site of the airmen's capture to effect their transfer to the ICC facility.

But a sharp legal mind is not the only tool in Caskey's skill set. Aided by a former military colleague, he begins formulating a Plan B to rescue the airmen, just in case he is unable to bring about the miracle of obtaining a fair trial for his clients. And when the U.S. government seemingly pulls the rug out from under Caskey at the 11th hour, it looks as if he will have no choice but to implement that plan, no matter the consequences.

Huston's books demand to be read in one sitting, and FALCON SEVEN is no exception. Not that you'll notice. You'll read the novel (especially the last 100 pages) so quickly that you'll have scorch marks on your corneas. Huston doesn't just straddle the territory where military, espionage, and legal thrillers meet: with FALCON SEVEN, he owns it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As Real As Today's Headlines!!!, June 14, 2010

By 

John R. Linnell (New Gloucester, ME United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Falcon Seven (Hardcover)

What I really liked about this book is that the scenario it deals with could happen tomorrow. No suspension of belief is necessary to appreciate this story.

The International Criminal Court is as real as a heart attack. The US Congress considered it to be a loose enough cannon that it authorized any US President to use any means necessary to protect any US Servicemen who are sought to be brought under it's jurisdiction. "Any means" is all encompassing. President Clinton told the US Senate not to ratify it after he signed it and President Bush withdrew our signature. What made this book so topical is that it occurs in the present. The president in the White House when two navy airman are charged by the court with war crimes is Barak Obama. I dare say that the author's instincts about how Mr. Obama would handle this crisis are right on.

Others have set out the plot line in detail and have pronounced it a page turner. I will take it one step further. I plan to re-read it. It is THAT good. Huston, given his military and legal background is in a perfect place to write such anovel and I only hope that the situation he conjures up remains a piece of fiction, because it would not take much to turn it into a grim reality.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clever, Clever, Clever, June 9, 2010

By 

Robert Lester (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Falcon Seven (Hardcover)

Yep, read it in a day. Love getting a book you can't put down. There are so many reviews that claim this, but only about 1 in 100 delivers. No jingoistic flag waving, just a fun and intelligent read. I love the fact that Huston has the ability to invent new heroes for each book so there are no continuity issues, and you can enjoy the story for what it is. No spoilers for this review, just a recommendation that you read it ona a day off work, start early and expect to finish it late.