From Publishers Weekly
Terrorists take over the Pentagon and gain control of the ultimate satellite superweapon, called Quicksilver, in this warp-speed techno-thriller with the most engaging underdog protagonists since Jurassic Park. A cadre of multinational terrorists murder a busload of Annapolis midshipmen headed for a NATO ceremony at the Pentagon, and then use their victims identities to clear security, taking VIP hostages and gaining control of the building. The president barely escapes, but he loses his security force and leaves most of his cabinet, and the First Lady, behind. Midshipman Amy Nuke Bethune happened to miss her ill-fated bus, but made it to the Pentagon just in time to get trapped inside, bad news for the commandos who offed her classmates. She joins up with Tom Chase, an irreverent ex-FBI electronics whiz and consultant to General Vanovich, the developer of Quicksilver, now held hostage. Meanwhile, the terrorists take satellites out of orbit and wipe out a Colorado base with Quicksilver while making impossible demands. Major Margaret Sinclair (a former Delta Force commando, Toms ex-wife and Vanovichs second-in-command) persuades the White House to send her in instead of nuking the buildingand all the hostageswith a deep penetration bomb. Amys guerrilla skills and Toms smarts plow through defenders as they aim for the terrorist stronghold, unaware of the enemys level of access to Quicksilver codes. Although the disaster formula is familiar, and the terrorists motivation is not entirely credible, the hair-trigger plot and heroics are gripping, and the mix of formidable but feminine heroines and reluctant heroes adds a new twist to the scenario. This followup to the Reeves-Stevenses bestselling Icefire insures their entre to the techno-thriller elite. 75,000-copy first printing; major ad/promo; author tour. (May) FYI: The authors also co-write a Star Trek series with William Shatner.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
One day a few years into the next millennium, the testing of a new superweapon that is supposed only to disrupt electronics goes awry and a U.S. Navy cruiser with nearly 400 personnel aboard is vaporized. Woops. A few months later, a superconscientious Naval Academy midshipman, assigned with her company to special duty at the Pentagon when Russia is to be inducted into NATO, oversleeps because of a prank played against her and misses the bus. Woops, again. But it doesn't seem so bad, after all, when terrorists board the bus and kill everybody on it, replacing them with commandos in dress whites. That leaves one determined, duty-bound midshipman to get into the Pentagon after the terrorists, who call themselves the Sons of Liberty, have seized the place (apparently to force election reform), and help Tom Chase, a civilian who has top-level clearance because of his cyberskills, prowl around and find out what the terrorists' agenda really is. (Psst! Remember that superweapon?) The Reeves-Stevenses blend elements of
Seven Days in May and the
Die Hard movies with lots of techno-detail ala Tom Clancy to produce pretty good fodder for Bruce Willis' next shoot-'em-up. That it has enough cardboard additional characters for cameos by stars who have gone a bit beyond their expiration dates and that it concludes with a family reunification ought to help it onto celluloid, too. Oh, yes, it is also fun enough reading.
Ray Olson
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
by Garfield Reeves-Stevens
by Judith Reeves-Stevens
by James Rollins
by Matthew Reilly
by Clive Cussler
