Amazon.com Review
How far would a Texas tycoon go to corner the market on the biggest undiscovered oil field in the world? Is there anything L.J. Ellis, the CEO of RayTex Oil, wouldn't do to get a jump start on the competition? Hardly anything, as it turns out, especially when the treasure's practically in her backyard. All it will take for the beautiful, sexy, ruthless petroleum queen to turn her company's fortunes around is a little revolution, just big enough to unseat Fidel Castro and turn Cuba's untapped reserves into liquid gold. That's the setup for this Clancy-like techno-thriller. But what might have been a tidy little mystery of international intrigue and corporate chicanery almost gets lost in all the other scenarios author Richard Herman lays out, especially the antics of a bunch of over-the-hill aviators who finally get a chance to relive their glory days and climb back into the cockpits of their fighter planes to save the day for Old Glory. One of them happens to be the father of Mike Stuart, a military bureaucrat charged with assessing the nation's petroleum reserves who notices an anomaly in the movement of oil tankers. Although Mike is ostensibly Herman's hero, he's too involved in a custody dispute with his ex-wife, a new love affair, and counting the days until he puts in his retirement papers to notice that there's a pattern behind all the seemingly random attacks on his life, and that they all tie in to RayTex. The author is at the top of his form when it comes to aeronautics and military strategy. Although he presents the reader with some interesting characters, many of whom will be familiar to fans of Herman's previous books (Warbirds, Against All Enemies, Edge of Honor), the real stars of this book are the airplanes. --Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
Like the Texas oil drillers at the heart of the story, Herman's latest military thriller is big and brawny and blustery--showing bulge around the middle, but still carrying its weight reasonably well. RayTex Oil, a small but feisty company out of Dallas, believes it has found a huge oil field off the Cuban coast. The company, however, knows the only way it can stake a claim and drill is if it can topple Fidel Castro and install a government that will cut a deal. Foiling RayTex's plans is Pentagon-based air force fuel expert Lt. Col. Michael Stuart, who gets suspicious after spotting unusual movements of oil exploration ships. He's nonetheless baffled--the Cuban coast has never been considered a potential oil site--until his boss tries to demote him, he is framed for murder and a hired killer tracks him down. He's got personal problems, too: his girlfriend thinks he's a wimp for not standing up to his ex-wife, and his father, hard-nosed former fighter pilot William "Shanker" Stuart, never misses an opportunity to imply how disappointed he is in his son. While Stuart struggles to understand what's happening, RayTex--led by sexy businesswoman L.J. Ellis--is busy fomenting revolution in Havana and deceiving the U.S. government about its intentions. Herman (Edge of Honor, etc.), a retired air force officer, juggles one too many subplots, yet rallies for an exciting finish on the ground and in the skies above Cuba. Both the behavior of Ellis (a tad too promiscuous for a business titan) and Stuart (a bit lily-livered) strain credibility, but Herman's latest has enough thrills and adventure to satisfy his fans.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
