Havoc [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Jack Du Brul (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2006

“Dear Albert, Nicola was right.” The opening lines of a letter lost long ago is the answer to a question no one ever thought to ask, a question that could well reshape the future of the United States as a world power. Seventy years ago, Chester Bowie, a genius driven to madness, unlocked the mystery of how a weapon of unimaginable lethality allowed one man and his small army to conquer so much of the ancient world. The secret, however, died with Bowie in a fiery disaster that was no accident. Yet a series of cryptic clues were left behind, clues that geologist, and sometime government operative, Philip Mercer must follow if he is to prevent terrorists from unleashing the weapon on today’s world. On the front lines of an African civil war, a chance meeting between Mercer and Cali Stowe, a researcher for the Centers for Disease Control, propels the two of them into the epicenter of the greatest act of terrorism ever conceived. With a group of savage rebels backed by a one-eyed mercenary bearing down on an isolated village, Mercer and Cali discover a long-abandoned mine that had first been excavated millennia ago and that was worked again around the time of the Second World War. What mineral was wrenched from the earth and by whom? What is the significance behind the stone pillar erected in the middle of the village? And who is the enigmatic man with the scholar’s mind and the killer’s skills who rescues them at the last minute only to kidnap Cali upon her return home? Again and again Mercer’s path crosses that of his savior and the mercenary - at a glittering Atlantic City casino, on a barge high atop Niagara Falls, and in Russia where Mercer must stop a runaway train to prevent Armageddon. Each time they meet the bloodshed grows worse while the mystery deepens. Nobody is who they seem. Nobody. With a blend of history, exotic locales, and unparalleled action, Havoc explodes from the pages and climaxes in the heart of an archeological treasure buried under the sands of Egypt. Following the cleverly laid clues, Mercer must match wits with one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world in the most spectacular adventures of his career - one that will leave a city in ruins and reveal the truth about one of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century and what lay behind three thousand years of legend.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Thriller fans who don't demand much realism in their reads should enjoy the first hardcover entry in bestseller Du Brul's adventure series featuring geologist and spy Philip Mercer (Vulcan Forge, etc.). The novel opens with an intriguing premise—that the Hindenburg zeppelin blew up in 1937 as the result of sabotage aimed at keeping a crackpot academic's discoveries secret. In the present-day Central African Republic, Mercer hooks up with the de rigueur attractive but brainy female, Cali Stowe, who's a U.S. intelligence agent posing as a medical researcher. As the pair dodge death from violent insurgent armies in predictable action sequences, they exchange light banter—and learn that the African nation is the source of a radioactive element coveted by terrorists that may have been used by Alexander the Great to defeat his foes. Du Brul is the coauthor with Clive Cussler of the Oregon Files novels, Dark Watch and Skeleton Coast. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Jack Du Brul is the author of numerous thrillers, and he has also collaborated with Clive Cussler on the New York Times bestseller Dark Watch and the upcoming Skeleton Coast. Du Brul was educated at the Westminster School and holds a degree in international relations from George Washington University. He lives in Vermont with his wife, Debbie. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (October 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525948821
• ASIN: B000R7PZ24
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,630,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jack du Brul is the author of the Philip Mercer series [Vulcan's Forge, Charon's Landing, The Medusa Stone, Pandora's Curse, River of Ruin, Deep Fire Rising, Havoc] and the coauthor with Clive Cussler of six Oregon Files novels with the upcoming release of THE JUNGLE. He lives in Vermont.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome back, Mercer!, October 5, 2006

By 

Susan Tunis (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Havoc (Hardcover)

For fans of Jack Du Brul and his series character Philip Mercer, the wait for the latest book has been far too long! At least Mercer is returning to us in a fashionable hardback edition. And it's possible that absence has made my heart grow fonder, because I found this novel a joy to read from start to finish.

Perhaps working with the master, Clive Cussler, is affecting Du Brul's own work, because Havoc has a distinctly Cusslerian format. There's the mix of contemporary history, ancient history, and how current day events can shed light on and solve the mysteries of our time. The novel opens during the final hours of the Hindenberg's voyage. The events that occur right before the airship's destruction are... startling.

From there we jump to Mercer in Africa, and his meeting with Cali Stowe--who I'm pretty sure is my favorite of Du Brul's leading ladies--under fairly stressful circumstances. After surviving their first meeting in the midst of a coup attempt, little do the two realize they'll soon be reunited stateside. The mystery that began on the Hindenberg in 1937 is intimately tied to the events of unfolding around them.

And once the plot gets rolling, the action is non-stop taking Mercer and Cali to locations ranging from an east coast casino to the lost tomb of Alexander the Great. As a matter of fact, it's possible my only complaint in the whole novel was Mercer's wanton destruction of historic artifacts. I was SO caught up in the story that I'd cringe every time something priceless was destroyed. I kept having to tell myself, It's just a story!

But what the real fans want to know is: Is Harry in the book? Of course he is, and up to all his old tricks! This time Du Brul got the balance just right. There's exactly enough Harry, but not too much. And there were some neat new supporting characters added in this book as well.

Like I said, it's possible that absence has made my heart grow fonder, but I think Havoc is as good as anything Jack Du Brul has ever written. It may very well be his best yet. He sure better not make us wait several years for the next installment in this terrific series!

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome BACK Phillip Mercer!!!, October 9, 2006

By 

Jeff Edwards "RadioJeff" (Twin Falls, Idaho) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Havoc (Hardcover)

I have been saying for several years now that Jack DuBrul IS the Heir to the Cussler Action Throne, and his last 3 novels have helped cement my opinion, but 'Havoc' has in fact cast my opinion in solid titanium. One other reviewer noted that since there has been a much longer wait for this novel than in between the Mercer novels of the past, it MAY have helped to propel 'Havoc' into a better status than it otherwise may have received, but I tend to think that DuBrul earned it the hard way: Through good old fashioned great storytelling.

I have noticed that Mercer as well as Dirk Pitt enjoy SOME similarities, and the fact that actual historical events play a major part in almost all of their stories is probably no accident. It IS however one similarity that I enjoy VERY much. In this case, we begin 'Havoc' as a passenger aboard the Hindenburg on its tragic final journey to New Jersey. This was a facinating and totally engrossing opening to a fantastic journey that catapults the reader to Niagra Falls, to Africa to quite literally the middle of nowhere in Russia all on the search for something that Alexander The Great used to subdue his enemies, even when faced with impossible odds.

What exactly WAS Alexander using? How did he become the conquerer that made him famous for centuries? And more importantly, why are some hell-bent on finding the answers besides Mercer & Co, and why are others just as determined to keep it all secret? The journey as always is more than half the fun. The action is virtually non-stop and while I still believe Dirk Pitt in his prime could whip Phillip Mercer, it is that exact imperfection that I like most about Mercer as an action hero: he ISN'T perfect. He doesn't always succeed, and when he does, you get the distinct feeling that his amazingly close brushes with the afterlife come at a tremendous cost. We get to see the REAL Mercer within the pages of 'Havoc' as he is still nursing the wounds of losing someone very important, and yet he is tempted by a new and very interesting woman who forces him to accept what has happened and to move on with life, all while being quite the action hero herself.

I have a very small list of Must-Read authors which compell me to find, buy and read all of their novels the day they are released, and if this means anything, Jack DuBrul earned that status about half-way through reading his first book, 'Vulcan's Forge'. Give him a shot, and by the way, he has single-handedly brought some much needed new life and entertainment to Cussler's so-so 'Oregon Files' series. Jack, once again, Kudos for a job well done. I look forward to starting 'Skeleton Coast' as soon as I get home.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Playing Havoc with Convention, November 27, 2007

By 

ReaderinAmherst (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Havoc (Hardcover)

A reader who picks up Havoc gets exactly what he pays for: larger-than-life hero with an overdeveloped sense of right and wrong, badder-than-bad villains who stop at nothing to achieve their nefarious ends, mysterious third parties who lurk in the shadows between good and evil, transoceanic mayhem, doomsday weaponry, and a leggy broad. Who care what the plot is? It's the same in every book and--as many other reviewers have noted--it's the same no matter who the author is. But Havoc has a special quality that set it apart not only from the rest of the DuBrul oeuvre, but from the rest of the action-adventure genre as well. I was delighted at the overtly political nature of this book, and the way in which it depicts both the United States and American ideals as positive forces in the world. That the story should turn on a plot to disrupt the world's oil supplies by an entity other than the US government or a greedy US corporation is, sadly but nonetheless refreshingly, breathtaking in its originality. It's worth reading Havoc simply to indulge in the rare pleasure of seeing America's enemies bashed instead of the other way around.

The character of Mercer, though, continues to vex me. At some point this poor soul either needs to come out of the closet or bring to closure the Oedipal issues left unresolved when his mother died an untimely death. This he-man is so shy around women, he can't even look them in the eye. And while Mercer spends much of Havoc moaning about his lost love Tisa (a woman in whose company he perhaps spent a total of maybe 48 non-consecutive hours), he also forgets the name of the Eritrean bombshell, Selome Nagast, he sniffed around in The Medusa Curse (2001). Some three years later he can only remember her as "Salome." Editing error? Perhaps, but totally in keeping with Mercer's overall attitude toward women. By the next adventure, perhaps the winsome Tisa of 2003's Deep Fire Rising will have become "Tina" in Mercer's spotty memory.