Customer Reviews

The Omega Missile (Final Gambit)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A tremendous read! If you want a good, easy-reading technothriller which does not bog itself down in too much technical details and too much politics(re: Clancy's later novels), and you like military action then this book is for you! A disgruntled ex-Special Forces operative, with the assistance of former disgraced Canadian paratroopers and a dying scientist take control of The Omega Missile, a satellite designed to launch every nuclear weapon the US has, automatically, and it is up to the former partner of the villian(on a covert Middle Eastern mission which was aborted) to stop them.Intense action, interesting politics and a non-stop pace that races along like a fighter plane at full boost!

That was part of the cover blurb by Stephen Coonts and I have to agree with him. This book was a heck of a ride. You like thrillers, you'll like THE OMEGA MISSILE. I tracked down the author (Dalton is a pen name) and it's Bob Mayer who wrote the Riley Special Forces series which I also enjoyed greatly. He's also written the AREA 51 series under the name Doherty. Don't know when this guy sleeps. He's also written two other thrillers under the name Bob McGuire which are intriguing as far as their story premises: THE LINE about a coup by a cabal of West Pointers and THE GATE about the present day results of the WWII Japanese atomic bomb program. All of them are good thrillers.

Really liked this book. Looked up Joe Dalton and found its a pen name for Bob Mayer who wrote the Riley Special Forces books which I also loved. He's a former Green Beret who I knew here at Bragg. You want action-- read this.

From the beginning to the end, this novel rocked. Plenty of political intrigue in the background to keep up the pace with the action.

Even for a fan of the genre, this book scrapes the bottom: 2 dimensional caricatures march through the bare bones of a cliched plot to the predictable conclusion. I'm ashamed I took the time to read it through- I'd have been better off watching reruns of Hogan's Heros, laugh track and all.

Lots of action, lots of intrigue. Kind of scary when you think that this weapon system is real-- that it actually sits in a silo in our country.

Hey, it was fun to read. Enough action to keep it moving

I loved the action in this book, but had to really focus to keep track of how all the pieces fit together. Suppose that's good in that it wasn't a simple good guy-bad guy, black or white story. I kind of think politics does work like Dalton shows-- bureaucrats who pay lip service to elected officials and the taxpayers and then do what they damn well want. I don't know about you, but I think the world is a more dangerous place now with nuclear weapons than ever before. This is a good book. Also recommend some of Bob Mayer's books-- check out Dragon Sim-13 or Cut Out.

On the surface the story seems very straightforward-- but once the political subterfuge starts boiling to the surface, this story gets complicated very quickly. Why did the Israelis not get involved in the Gulf War? How did we bribe them? Is there a Samson Option? Is that option countered by the Red Flyer teams as described in this book? Who really is running things? Then again, if you just like a lot of military action, you'll enjoy this book too. One of the best reads I've had this year-- but I expected it because Joe Dalton is a pen name for Bob Mayer-- a fellow West Point alumnus and former Green Beret-- who wrote the Riley special forces series I enjoyed so much-- wonder why he switched names? Different publisher? Or is this book too close to the truth? If you enjoy this book, check Mayer's books out.

If you want action, you've got it here. From the beginning through the very end the pace never lets up. I don't know who Dalton is, but he obviously has an insider's view of the military and writes about the various services with authority. This is a Fail-Safe for the 90s-- one has to wonder with machines taking over more and more functions, where the line needs to be drawn.