Flash of Emerald [Paperback]

JM Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2004

J.M. Taylor's new thriller, Flash of Emerald, brings Harry Stoner back to the Suncoast long after an abortive operation in Cuba gave him his fill of Tampa and Ybor City. Corporal Harry Stoner began his special operations career with a night jump from the belly of a Strategic Air Command B-47 over Cuba for the CIA. Now retired from the Army and just a glorified clerk in the DIA, Stoner thought he was out of the killing. Summoned from his Washington DIA office, Stoner revisits the seamy side of Tampa's Ybor City and the continuing fight for Cuban freedom. Drawn into a web of international arms dealers, Stoner finds himself in the middle of a drugs-for-arms transaction. The stakes this time are his family - and a nuclear weapon stolen by fanatical terrorists. South Florida, especially the Suncoast centered around Tampa Bay, is ripe for a new series of novels. Personal triumphs and tragedies swirling around the Cuban Freedom Fighters' efforts to free Cuba from Castro and Communism, fueled by the financial implications of the arms and drug trade flow through the Caribbean basin and the international terrorist plans for Tampa's major military commands, all add to the rough and tumble life beneath the shiny veneer of palm trees and mimosas. Flash of Emerald is the first of a series of South Florida's Harry Stoner Suncoast Thrillers that feature the lush settings and diverse cultural backgrounds for action, romance and adventure on Florida's Suncoast.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Attention Hollywood, Flash Of Emerald is the stuff of which great action/adventure movies are made! -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

South Florida, especially the Suncoast centered around Tampa Bay, is ripe for a new series of novels. Personal triumphs and tragedies swirling around the Cuban Freedom Fighters’ efforts to free Cuba from Castro and Communism, fueled by the financial implications of the arms and drug trade flow through the Caribbean basin and the international terrorist plans for Tampa's major military commands, all add to the rough and tumble life beneath the shiny veneer of palm trees and mimosas.

As insulated as all Americans might want to be from the terrorist acts and cultural conflicts surrounding us, the significance of the economic and political impacts resulting from the demise of Castro as well as the opposing forces of fanatical terrorism that use Florida as a training ground, are but a bit of the everyday wash of events across South Florida. A Flash of Emerald is the first of a series of South Florida’s Harry Stoner Blue Eagle Press Suncoast novels that feature the lush settings and diverse cultural backgrounds for action, romance and adventure on Florida’s Suncoast. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: Hard Shell Word Factory (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0759942889
• ISBN-13: 978-0759942882
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,381,061 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

J. M. Taylor's latest release, GULF WINDS, won First Place in the Florida Writers Association 2007 Royal Palm Awards for unpublished Mystery/Thriller. His original series of award-winning thrillers have been republished as LOST KEY which begins in Cuba and takes the reader across south Florida, and DESERT WINDS, where an Army officer searches for and finds Saddam's nuclear arsenal. MISSING STICKS is a historical military action novel with the Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne on D-Day. All are filled with suspense, action, and a bit of romance.

Before he turned to writing Taylor served with the 101st Airborne Division as a platoon leader and battalion commander. Airborne and air assault qualified, a scuba diver and trained as a system engineer, he also designed military command and control systems in civilian life. Using his background in nuclear weapons and extensive travel in the Far and Middle East, Europe and across the States, he packs a ton of adventure into an action-filled page-turner.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Dull and boring, May 10, 2007

By 

Jorge Frid (Mexico City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flash of Emerald (Paperback)

The first pages - maybe 50 or 60 were an excellent thriller. Afterwards the writer started writing and writing without telling you anything. Then the blunders begin. I won't tell you which ones because I'll tell you the plot but either team - The good and bad guys - made blunder after botch. And how could that be with an FBI expert? Or an expert with nukes?

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A hard-hitting, exciting spy game story, September 5, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Flash of Emerald (Mass Market Paperback)

J.M. Taylor has an impressive array of talents, to say the least. He served with the 101st Airborne Division as platoon leader and battalion commander; served at the Pentagon, in Germany, the Middle East, and Vietnam. He is a trained scuba diver; parachute trained for airborne assault; worked as a systems engineer; and finally, is a writer. In short, he puts the rest of us to shame!

Harry Stoner began his career as part of the failed attempt to free Cuba in the 1960's. Set in Southern Florida, home of the Southern Cross and the life enhancing "flash of emerald" at sunset for those lucky enough to catch it, Harry Stoner returns from his present assignment in Virginia to help his daughter with a "problem." That problem turns out to be her husband Lou's relatives, who have added drug trafficking to their import/export business. Lou has stumbled upon the "goods," and now his Uncle Lastero is threatening his life unless he joins in with the family "business." That business turns into money for guns, and Stoner finds himself in the middle of a plot to detonate a nuclear bomb, as well as being the object of the terrorists' hatred. Harry himself has unwitting been the target of terrorists, whose attempt to kill him resulted in the death of his wife, Lynn. To catch the terrorists and save his daughter and husband from danger, he must return to his military training, old friends, and keen thinking of a survivor:

"When he's been really working, not just clerking, Stoner had squirreled away the old identities, depositing small amounts of money in the scattered accounts and making charges against the cards, keeping everything legit. Back then he'd thought toward the future. He had almost let those days slip away. He thought back. When was the last time he had used the bank card? The expiration date came up next month. He had let the old days slide way back in his memory."

A Flash Of Emerald is a hard-hitting, exciting spy game story with lots of subplots, intense and charismatic characters, and enough action to glue the reader to the book. Harry Stoner is a larger-than-life character who singlehandedly takes on a Florida drug ring and a terrorist group at the same time. Taylor lends his considerable expertise to the story to give the reader insight into just what the military does to keep the bad guys out and to police their own. A great read!

Shelley Glodowski
Reviewer

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping action/adventure novel, May 7, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Flash of Emerald (Mass Market Paperback)

J. M. Taylor's A Flash Of Emerald is a gripping action/adventure novel of Harry Stoner, a military man who has come home to a personal battle in the dark underside of Tampa's Ybor City and the Florida Keys. International arms dealers and murderous terrorists jockey for possession of a stolen nuclear weapon in this suspense-filled story that simply cannot be put down from first page to last. Attention Hollywood, Flash Of Emerald is the stuff of which great action/adventure movies are made!