"In addition to be an exciting read, and totally plausible, Right Guard deftly explores the in-depth turmoil that field operatives often experience as they navigate both the political and especially moral undertones that are inescapably part of any major clandestine operation. A must read for any spy aficionado!" --Former Senior Operations Officer, CIA
This book is even more believable today than its original setting in the 1970s. The Declaration of Independence and the Founding Fathers made clear the right of the people to rise against tyranny and institute new government. The majority of Americans today are convinced that a dominant political class recently ignored the will of the people--nay, thumbed their noses at the people, who obviously do not know what is good for them. Oaths of allegiance are not to politicians in America. --A Retired General Officer
Without pomp and circumstance, without outrageous language and literary machinations, you led me simply, skillfully and calmly into a cache of information that slowly became overwhelming in its scope and uncomfortably realistic. It is a profound book. One I won t forget for a long while. --Senior Military Officer, Pentagon
This is the most realistic novel I have read about what it feels like to be in the field as a case officer --Senior Member of the Intelligence Community, former case officer.
I have never read a novel with beginning like The Right Guard. It begins with a dream... actually Far more reality than reverie. --Member of the Intelligence Community
Wow, talk about a page turner. This story happens in the late 1970 s but is as plausible now as then. Being an avid reader, an amateur student of history and a 30 year Army veteran, I expected this new novel to be bursting with mistakes. Not true. It is one that ranks with Seven Days In May and is as believable.
The story is set during the turbulent time in our post Vietnam War government and during the Watergate scandal. Many have forgotten the gridlock of the Nixon years due to Watergate and the inability of the Department of Defense to have much influence in foreign policy during the subsequent Carter term. Our military organizations were concerned our government was accepting the socialist giveaway programs prevalent in England.
Before the National Guard and the Reserves were integrated as every day partners of the active military, there were those who believed our country was abandoning the people who were loyal to the constitution. There was much infighting between the Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Alexandra Hamlet worked among the top levels of these agencies and was able to craft a story that could have happened then with little notice. Her timeline was before CNN was copied by other news services and talk radio which would have made the story more apparent. The novel centers on a now forgotten problem of so-called patriot groups burglarizing National Guard and Reserve armories. She has interestingly woven her plot around the newspaper articles reporting the thefts of that time. Her protagonist, Eric Brent, is used by the CIA to infiltrate a high level group who will try to overthrow our government and the institutions that protect our society. His background is unique and one that helps him fit into the group.
Each chapter compels the reader to move on to the next. Alexandra Hamlet maintains the story flow of her characters by labeling them liberally throughout the pages so one does not have to go back and check identities each time they put the book down. This new novel demands follow on stories and anyone who reads this first one will eagerly await another. --COL Dennis L. Cripps, USA Ret. January 17, 2012
Alexandra Hamlet is a Harvard-trained cultural anthropologist, an international lecturer and a defense anthropologist. She is a former television host, producer, and journalist, and an international consultant on cultural affairs and international business. She was an auxiliary nurse in London, England; international lecturer and consultant specializing in the Far East and Pacific Rim; Special Student and Visiting Fellow, Harvard University; an executive search specialist for world-wide C-suite positions; and is a consultant on irregular warfare. This is her first novel.
