White Jade (The PROJECT: Book One) [Kindle Edition]

Alex Lukeman (Author)

Book Description

Book One in the PROJECT Series

WHITE JADE spins a web of deceit and murder across the globe, against the backdrop of a deadly international power game. Nick Carter is a man with a dark history of emotional and physical scars. He works for the PROJECT, a covert intelligence unit reporting to the President. 

Selena Connor is an expert in ancient languages. When her wealthy uncle is murdered by someone looking for a 2000 year old book about the elixir of immortality, she's thrown into Nick's dangerous world. Nick is assigned to protect Selena and help her recover the missing text. It's the beginning of a life and death adventure reaching from San Francisco to Beijing, from Washington to the high mountains of Tibet. Someone is determined to take over China and attack America--and Nick and Selena are right in the line of fire.

International intrigue, terrorist acts and the threat of nuclear war form the core of this fast-paced thriller, the first volume in a series featuring Nick, Selena and the PROJECT.

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Product Details

• File Size: 442 KB
• Print Length: 286 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1463783175
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Alex Lukeman; 3 edition (February 28, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007FIR01M
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,944 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #14 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Men's Adventure

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars White Jade is white hot action October 29, 2011

By Andrew Marino

Format:Paperback

At the heart of Alex Lukeman's debut thriller, White Jade, is a two-thousand year old book once belonging to the first Chinese emperor, supposedly containing the elixir of immortality. Fanning out from this central piece of intriguing archeology is a web of deceit and murder, stretching across the United States, to China, to Tibet, tangling counter-terrorism operative Nick Carter in its coils. He is assigned to assist and protect Selena Connor, a beautiful, strong and skilled linguist who is interpreting the book's ancient language. Without divulging some of the twists and unexpected plot elements, the ingredients to elixir have a very tangible use in modern warfare; if they make it into the wrong hands--such as the evil rogue General Yang of China--the balance of power in China can shift and the effects in the United States can be catastrophic.

Against this backdrop of international intrigue, terrorist acts and the threat of nuclear war is the powerful and engaging relationship of the main characters. Nick Carter is taciturn and tough with a dark history; his scars from his tours in Afghanistan--both emotional and physical--give him a complexity not often found in thrillers. The scenes between Selena and him are powerful, if expected. The best of them may be when Nick instructs Selena in the proper use of some serious firepower; Lukeman eschews the flirtation and brimming sexuality that seems to invariably arise in books like this whenever a man and woman talk quietly over a gun. Instead, the author opts to imbue this scene with real emotion that catapults White Jade to a much higher level of the genre.

The jacket cover says this is the first book in the PROJECT series. The PROJECT is the fictional president's brainchild, a smaller, leaner intelligence agency that reports directly to him. Today's thriller landscape is replete with similar organizations--like Robert Ludlum's and Gayle Lynd's Covert One series [such as Robert Ludlum's(TM) The Ares Decision (Covert-One), James Rollins' Sigma Force The Devil Colony: A Sigma Force Noveland Steve Berry's Magellan-Billet [The Jefferson Key: A Novel] to name a few -- but Lukeman's entry comes across as realistic and convincing.

The author's tight, terse prose is muscular and punchy; it reads like Hemmingway filtered through Vince Flynn Kill Shot (Mitch Rapp). It's deceptively simple and a joy to read because it so perfectly fits the character of Nick Carter.

PET PEEVES AND NIT-PICKY COMPLAINTS: The page numbers begin too soon on the paperback copy; the title page appears on the left hand side instead of the right; the chapters begin at the top of the page instead of in the middle. While a little disconcerting, these things ultimately don't take away from the enjoyment of the book. Both Lukeman and White Jade clearly deserve a dedicated small press or a mass market publisher because as this debut shows, Alex Lukeman is a powerful, new voice in thriller fiction and should have legions of fans. I am one of them!
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Andrew Valentine is the author of the erotic vampire thriller, Bitter Things, the sequel to which will be released in 2012. He lives and writes in NY.

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful- INDIANA JONES MEETS 007 !! November 3, 2011

By grammy1 VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I had heard about Alex Lukeman's book White Jade prior to having his submission request come to the PRG Review Team. I was also delighted to be challenged to do the story as a Dual Review. To make it even more appealing, the next Dual Review was slated to have a Guest Dueler, for a change of pace for your reading enjoyment. So here I am writing this review, and so is Andrew Valentine, writer of Bitter Things, as my Siskel to his Ebert or the other way around.

When I began White Jade, I could see this was going to take me to places I loved. Murder, foreign intrigue, FBI, CIA, plots and plenty of action.

Elizabeth Harker is in charge of a group called Project. She works within the levels of the FBI and CIA and Homeland Security, with technology at her hands to analyze threats to our country. She is a woman who has a voice to the President.

William Connor was a very rich man who was tortured and killed, his home ransacked, and there was a transfer of 4 million dollars from his accounts to accounts in China. He was a personal friend of the President. Project was asked to look into this.

Elizabeth Harker has contacted Nicholas Carter to come to her office. He is recently back from Afghanistan, dealing with emotional issues from his last mission, and the loss of his fiancé, which has changed his view on life. Upon hearing of the way Connors was killed, `it became personal, and Nick needed personal cause God and country wasn't working for him anymore'

Enter Dr. Selena Connor, attractive, in her thirties, PhD in oriental and ancient language, niece to the deceased. Harker tells her that they feel her Uncle was killed for a book he had acquired in Bhutan. Selena reveals it is a copy of an ancient text about immortality. She has no idea where it is, but after further investigation on her Uncles laptop, a letter to her tells them where the book is possibly hidden.

This is where our story unfolds. Mr Lukeman has done a wonderful job of introducing the reader to all the players. We are in San Francisco, China, and back switching scenery from one part of the globe to the other. The intrigue, the lust for power, the thrill of the hunt, all add to the beauty of the ruins I could see, the fear in the tunnels I could taste, and the miracle of finding artifacts untouched by man for centuries. Yes, it truly was Indiana Jones meets 007.

The story was well described and points well documented. I love a thriller where the good guys are so good and the bad guys are unredeemable. The quest for POWER makes this story come to life and we always pray the good guys win. I do not want to add any more to the story, as **Spoilers** are a no no with my reviews. So with the weather getting cooler, if you had the idea of curling up with a good Mystery/ Thriller, White Jade would be a good bet.

I might also add as I read this story, ideas kept forming in my mind as to who would play the bad guys, of course I had already picked who I envisioned to play Selena and Nick on the Big Screen. Kate Hudson would be a good Selena and Alex O'Louglin from Hawaii Five- O would be a wonderful Nick. How about Kathy Bates for Elizabeth Harker??? Hmmm anyone looking for a great screen play?

Mr Lukeman has graciously sent on to me the next book in this series called The Lance, which I will put on my personal TBR pile and review for you at a later date...

Review by Gloria Lakritz

Senior Reviewer and Review Chair for the Paranormal Romance Guild

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Adventure and action packed... March 12, 2012

By Cheryl M-M

Format:Paperback

It is an action packed fun and easy read. In between the fast moving plot there are a lot of interesting details both historical, political and some of them playing along with legends or myths.It is very reminiscent of an Indiana Jones or Romancing the Stone type adventure, but with a little less debonaire characters. It was a little light and fluffy for me. Everything fell into place too easily and Selena was remarkably flighty for such a studious female. It was a chock a block full of adventure and excitement, but for me it lacked a bit of grit, then again that isn't what the author was aiming for. I received a free copy of this book for my review.

More About the Author

I've been writing since I was twelve. I've done a lot of traveling and been in a lot of strange situations. I was in the Marines and spent years on the road as a professional folk singer. You could say that I bring a varied life experience to my writing.

I live in Northern California in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains. I like riding old, fast motorcycles, sipping Barbados rum and playing guitar, usually not at the same time.

I write action/adventure thrillers. WHITE JADE is the first in a series featuring the PROJECT, a covert, small intelligence unit reporting only to the President. THE LANCE is second in the series, the third is THE SEVENTH PILLAR. BLACK HARVEST is Book Four. Book Five, THE TESLA SECRET, is now available. Book Six will come out sometime in 2013, probably about mid-year.

Video trailers are fun and you can see mine on this page. If you have difficulty loading the video trailer for White jade, here's the YouTube link: http://youtu.be/4TfTMEoXWBY

For more, please visit my blog at http://www.alexlukeman.blogspot.com or my website at www.alexlukeman.com.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#56 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure

#82 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Action & Adventure

#56 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure

#82 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Action & Adventure