Rules Of Engagement

Alan Craik #1

by Gordon Kent

Shortly before the Gulf War, Alan Craik, a young U.S. Navy Intelligence officer, is posted to one of two aircraft carriers headed toward the Persian Gulf. On board the other is his father. When both take part in a nighttime strike on the Iranian coast, Lt. Craik's father's A-6 is hit and plunges into the sea.

Shocked by the loss of this commanding figure in his life, Craik refuses to accept the official explanation that a lucky strike from an Iranian missile has downed the plane. After further investigation his instincts tell him the real story is much more disturbing: someone on his father's ship sabotaged his plane and he's still on board. The hunt becomes increasingly urgent when Craik discovers that the Navy may be harboring not just one traitor, but two: a father-and-son team who have been betraying their country for years. As Craik gets closer and closer to uncovering them, they will risk everything to keep their secrets.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Military Thriller, Military Fiction

409 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Pseudonym of writers Kenneth M. Cameron with his son Christian Cameron.

Series:
* Alan Craik

Reviews

[Chris Sutton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting style although 75% of the plot was not really about naval aviation, as the title would lead you to believe. The overall plot, though, was plausible even if the book had a number of remarkable one in a million coincidences; this guy should have bought a lottery ticket!! Might be tempted to read more by this author (actually it's a father-son combo under one banner!), depending on how outlandish the setting is.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It introduces all of the "main characters" throughout the book that are so important in the second book (Alan Craik and his circle of friends as well as how he meets Rose and comes to marry her). The pacing is a bit choppy; that might have to do with the book covering a six-year period of time. On the one hand, there is more character development in this book than the first book (which only makes sense with the characters being introduced for the first time in this story); on the other hand, Alan is not a very likeable character (he's not very likeable before his father dies; I won't hold how he acts after his father's death against him).

I am not a big fan of how Christians are portrayed in this novel, either. Rose's mom comes across as an emotional, controlling jerk who cannot control herself; the Catholic priest is portrayed in a poor light (but at least he's not portrayed as being a child molester); Christians on the Roosevelt are portrayed as right-wing extremist hicks or sexual deviants; ministers are castigated and insulted by characters after the ministers leave; missionaries are described in negative terms. On the one hand, this team of authors seems to have some deep-seated resentment of Christians, considering they portray Muslims in a better light. On the other hand, there are people who claim to be Christians that do do a crappy job of portraying Christianity to the rest of the world.

The authors kept doing this little "thing" where they would describe a situation or have something happen and then end it with "little did so-and-so know how this conversation would come back to haunt him later . . . " or "he had no idea he was spending his last moments in life with so-and-so" or other heaping helpings of blatant foreshadowing that to really annoying. A couple of times, they then went the extra mile of reminding the reader of that prior foreshadowing by saying something about how that prior conversation or moment came back to haunt whoever after some particular event had occurred later in the story. It became really annoying because of the number of times it happened in the book; but then, when the authors started doing their "callbacks" to those moments in the past, it got really annoying.

One thing that really stood out to me in this book is how crappy American equipment is in the U.S. military, especially the Navy. Everything seems to be on the verge of breaking down, of having some kind of mechanical failure or some kind of catastrophic reboot about to happen. It is hard to believe the U.S. Navy was even able to function, considering how crappy the equipment is that the Navy uses. We're supposed to be the most technologically advanced nation on the planet, and the First Gulf War really showed the superiority of U.S. technology over the tech used by the Iraqi forces, and yet the authors constantly denigrate and put down American technology in the book. It really is a huge change/difference from Tom Clancy's books and even Dale Brown's books, where American technology practically always works right the first time and does not have the failure rates described in this book. I am amazed any mission was accomplished in any kind of satisfactory manner and more military personnel did not die because of the shoddy materials used by the U.S. military as described in this book.

This book follows a similar pattern followed in the second book (so it is more like the second book follows the pattern set in this book) in which the story just plods along until the last one hundred pages, and then it really kicks into high gear. Lots of adrenaline in those last one hundred pages (but also a lot of slow moments, too). I enjoyed the female Russian spy who worked with the Americans to try and find a Russian agent that had defected after murdering several of his colleagues and employees. She was pretty cool, pretty funny, and sounded like she'd be a delight to meet in person had she been a real character. The "end" before the end was kinda funny, too. I am sure the authors wrote it that way, to be ironically funny Rose, Alan's wife at this point, is flying a rescue mission to save the lives of four Americans - two agents and two prisoners - and not having any idea that her husband is among the four men she is rescuing from harms way. She is stressing how he will handle it once he finds out because she believes he is safe at their home in Norfolk, VA. He, meanwhile, doesn't want to die on some No-Name Hill in Sudan at an abandoned mission because of the number of orders he violated to hunt down the man responsible for his father's death, and leave behind his wife and first-born son. He knows that Rose does not know where he is, and he just wants to get back home to his family. The moment that he realizes the helicopter pilot come to rescue him in conjunction with Rose realizing one of the Americans she is rescuing is her husband, covered in blood, was truly priceless and one of the best parts of the book, in my opinion.

This book also, thankfully, explains why George Shreed at the CIA, "hates" Alan Craik. Alan shows up at his office and insults the CIA officer, calling him a disgrace to the Agency and a completely contemptible person. Following that up with Craik's "win" in Africa at the end of the novel and how the upper echelons of the Navy stood by Alan and supported him like they did, it is easy to see why Shreed hates Alan so much. I couldn't stand the guy in the second book; I found myself liking him at first in this book, but then Shreed's "true nature" came out and I knew I was right to have despised this character like I did. I guess that means he was a well-written character because of how much he changed over the course of this novel and did turn out to be a truly contemptible person.

I thought that Alan's reasoning about his father's death being intentional and not an accident (accidental shootdown of his aircraft) to be fairly sound. There were some key factors involved (such as how the Iranian air defense system was running hot like it was ready for the attack, or how only one missile was launched at the incoming strike package and where it struck Mike Craik's aircraft - around the area the IFF transponder is placed like a radio-guided or radar-guided missile might strike an aircraft as opposed to a heat-seeker that would have struck the rear of the plane around the exhaust vents for the engines). I was going to say something else, but my mind went blank.

I also liked that Alan sought to bring the American spy back alive to face justice even if the spy was not executed for treason instead of seeking vengeance, of seeking payment for the blood debt owed to Alan for the murder of his father. The authors could have done that at the end of the book, when Bonner tried to escape and ran into the middle of a firefight. Alan could have either shot him a few times in the back and let him bleed out or even executed him and claimed that Bonner was killed by the Arab forces coming to rescue him and send him to Iran. Instead, Alan shoots to wound him and then carries Bonner back to the chopper to face the consequences for his actions. Even if Bonner was never executed for his crimes as a spy as well as the death of Michael Craik, Alan was okay with that because it would have been the courts deciding the fate of the spy and not Alan having to deal with the consequences of seeking revenge against his father's killer. So that was actually some pretty good development for Alan as a character by the end of the book; he did mature quite a bit over the course of the novel.

I also liked how his various commanding officers and even some admirals went to bad for him and protected him from Shreed's wrath after Alan insulted the CIA officer/official like he did. That was pretty cool, too.

I will probably give it three stars. I liked it enough to not want to rate it 2 stars, and there are not points to give between 2 and 3 stars. I do think the father-son team of writers definitely improved their craft in the second book, on the one hand. I am really ambivalent about this book. I wanted to like it more than I did but did not dislike it as much as I thought I might be the time I finished the book. I will probably try the third book in the series if I can find it; I guess I am glad that I took a chance and read this book after reading the second book in the series first.

[Nancy Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

As good as Tom Clancy! Actually, I enjoyed this more because it's a Navy story. It's a great combination of naval warfare and espionage, with exciting scenes in both fields. At one point, the spy-chasing scene is as good as a James Bond movie. Really enjoyed the characters and the whole story line.

[Colette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suspenseful and an easy read. A fair amount of the action takes place on an aircraft carrier, which is an interesting change of location. I did find it annoying that there were a large number of American Naval terms and acronyms that were not explained. A glossary would have solved that problem.

[Pa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly interesting, but rather run of the mill, thriller about espionage and the Navy in modern times. An OK read, but nothing special.

[Mavis Duncanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging read in an unfamiliar genre. I found I would be getting frustrated with the way women were portrayed only to have a flash of perceptive gender awareness. This is, however, very much a book about the men rather than the women. Enjoyed having a key character with more traditional moral dilemmas around sexuality. Valid themes around family, career, relationships and warfare are woven into a well-constructed narrative that kept my interest right to the end.

[Olivia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry boys/guys. Just couldn't get to grips with this. Well researched and even from experience I'm sure. But booooring. Even if from genuine armed forces experiences, for which I would be sorry to be disrespectful, the writer has done the story no favours.
Just doesn't flow. The characters are words only.
Not for me then.

[John Polson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way too long. Easily a four - or five even - with 100 less pages. Never read a book from a Father/Son tag team of authors - are they competing for inclusion?

[Dag Brück · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good action, significant characters, a bit heavy on US Navy jargon (which adds authenticity but possibly alienates the reader). The series is worth looking into.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alan Craik is a young naval intelligence serving on a carrier with his father off the coast of Iran. His father is shoot down on a mission and as Alan looks into the incident he begins to suspect sabotage despite what the Navy says. He will do anything to uncover the truth and discover who is responsible.

[Ted Way · Rating 3 out of 5]

Navy intel guy looks for the saboteur that caused his father's plane to go down.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book, but a little too long. Could have used a good editor. The action at the end was a little too cute for my tastes as well. However, I will pick up the next book by these guys.

[Ravi Kumar Dandapani · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exhilirating tale of modern espionage. I liked it.