Peacemaker

Alan Craik #2

by Gordon Kent

Alan Craik, a rare breed as both an intelligence officer and a pilot, returns from sea duty and lands behind a desk at the Pentagon. When he learns his best friend and colleague Harry O'Neill, a new CIA agent, has been kidnapped in central Africa, he presses his superiors to let him run a rescue mission. Rose, Alan's wife, works on a Top Secret project directing the launch of a high tech surveillance satellite ("Peacemaker"). George Shreed (a shadowy CIA figure and someone Alan has had suspicions about since his father's death) has ties to Peacemaker and may have his own motives for its deployment. As Alan joins a U.S. fleet off the African coast and flies into war-torn Rwanda in search of Harry, Rose prepares for the Mediterranean launch of Peacemaker and a possible skirmish at sea with a Russian sub and Lybian gunboats.

Genres: Fiction, Military Fiction, Adventure, Suspense, Thriller, Action, Espionage

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

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

Series:
* Alan Craik

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It took me a long time to read, and then, suddenly, it was over. It held my interest, for the most part, throughout most of the book. It was slow getting started, and then it seemed to take forever to finish (until the last two hundred pages or so, I guess). Part of the problem is that I read it mostly over breaks at work, and then life got busy and I went almost a week without reading it. Any of it.

I am not sure about the character development. Well, of the main characters, I guess. Some of it was good. Some of it was not so good. Some of the secondary and tertiary characters felt a little bit better developed to me than the main characters, but perhaps that was also because I read the second book in a series. The main cast is composed of six, seven characters. They each have different roles to play, different tasks, different responsibilities. They work for different government agencies. Two of them nearly die. That was a bit unexpected. I felt like the book could have used some kind of "cast of characters" to keep track of everybody.

The book focuses on Yugoslavia, the Mediterranean, and Rwanda. And the Russians. And Iran. And the French. And Libya. And some U.S. government agencies. It's a lot to cover, hahahah.

It's a bit of an odd book, too. The hero of the book, Alan Craik is married and his wife's name is Rose. One of Alan's best friends is name Mike Dukas; Mike has an obvious crush on Rose and would have an affair with her if she were interested. Rose knows it. Alan knows it. Their circle of friends know it. And everybody is somehow okay with it. It is really odd, because Mike will give Rose hugs and kisses from time-to-time and shamelessly flirt with her in front of Alan and she flirts back, and Alan has no problem with it. I swear, it almost felt like Mike spent more time with Rose than Alan did in the book. I think that is because Mike and Rose have conversations with each other when they are "together" (even if it is in a group setting) whereas Alan and Rose do not speak as much to or with each other when they are "together." That is what it felt like, anyway.

One thing that I really "hated" was that some of the only "Christians" in the book were a bunch of racist idiots who had all kinds of derogatory names for people of other races and even people with mixed blood in them. Maybe if the authors had balanced out these racist idiots with other Christians who better represented what Christianity is about? I don't know; I just know he (they) made these characters seem incredibly stupid and stubborn and thickheaded and just the absolute worst people ever. As if these caricatures were not bad enough, he has one of them actually try to sabotage an airplane to murder four members of the crew before he decides to commit suicide and walk off one of the elevators to fall five stories to the water below. These "Christians" were completely loathsome and did not represent what Christianity is all about, and it felt like a complete and utter misrepresentation of Christianity. I will grant the authors this - there were times it would pop up in the news that the military had problems with racists and skinheads and "White Power" and whatnot; perhaps the authors actually ran into that. I just didn't care for it in the book because of how it was written as it made it seem like all Christians are like this.

And then the author has Craik and his group encounter some nuns as they are trying to escape Africa. The nuns go bat-spit crazy on them and come across as flaking out or something. It's ridiculous. All of the missionary biographies I have read, all of the histories I have read about people serving on the mission field in some capacity, and not one of them has ever described nuns or any other missionaries (re)acting like these two nuns did. It was degrading, disgusting, and pathetic as far as I am concerned and did not need to be in the book. They also write the nuns as jerks and idiots, too. I suppose the argument could be made "but look at their situation!" but that does not take away the fact that they act the way the author(s) wrote them to act.

I guess the authors do balance out some of the "hate" directed at Christians. When Craik is coming in for a landing, the Admiral of the Battle Group calls for prayers to be uttered on every US Navy ship for the safe landing of Craik and his party. So there is that (and the Admiral's response after Alan safely lands the plane). Cannot forget that moment in the book, either.

I was grateful that Rose did not have an affair with Suter. It really felt like that was the way the authors were going with these two, so I am glad that I turned out to be wrong. I would have been really annoyed, on the one hand, but the way the scenes between them were being written in conjunction with the growing distance between Alan and Rose, I could see it having happened. So grateful they did not go down that road!

I found myself really hoping that Christy Nixon makes it after her tremendous injuries during the launching of the sabotaged aircraft. I also hope that Rafe stays true to his word and stays with her if she does survive. I think that would be great character growth for him as a character (should I ever choose to read any other books in the series). Their relationship was probably one of the best things that happened in the book, to be honest. It was well-done, in my opinion.

Mike Djalik was an awesome character. He was truly the best part of the book in my opinion. Total BAD-@$$. Really reminded me of John Clark from Tom Clancy's novels. Guy moved faster than greased lightning and was assuredly somebody you would want watching your back. I think I wondered if he had a second gun in his crotch when he took Alan's gun away; it seems like I did but I promptly forgot about it. It as pretty cool-and-funny when Alan asked why Mike took his 9-mm pistol away; Mike said it was a distraction to hide the other gun he hid in his pants! Hahahah! So good! Mike was a well-written character and one of the definite highlights in the book.

I liked the relationship that developed between Harry O'Neill and Mike Djalik. I felt it was natural; it felt "real", especially with Harry being the reason why Alan and Mike were in Africa looking for him and then having to fight their way out of Africa to safety. '

Alan landing a small Cessna on the deck of a Marine Corp helicopter carrier was priceless. Beautifully written.

I also enjoyed the Russians in the book, especially the Russian submarine commander. I thought the Russians were well-written; they had an operation that was put in motion and Libya mucked some of that up, but they maintained their professionalism and did not start WWIII. They behaved a lot differently than I have "seen" Russians described in other books, so it was almost a refreshing take on them in some ways. I especially liked the Russian submarine commander giving the Americans the info needed to take out the Libyan minisubmarine. That was a solid moment in the book, too.

The idea behind Peacemaker was pretty cool, too, to be honest. A satellite that was in low earth orbit that could drop aluminum rods used as kinetic energy weapons to kill enemy targets. It would have been pretty cool to see how one of them would have worked, but it was still a cool concept in the book.


It was an okay book, overall. It had a lot going on in it, and there was a lot to try and keep track of if one was so inclined. I was not tracking very well after I reached a certain point in the book, hahahah! I was going to rate it 2 stars but the last one hundred pages probably redeemed the book, to be honest, because of how tense and crazy it go. I would probably rate it 2.6-2.7 stars, rounded up. I suppose I am glad I read this book; time will tell how I feel if I ever get around to reading any other books in the series.

[Henri Moreaux · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Alan Craik series, the first of which I read 8 years ago and as such can't really remember, that being said there's enough character background at the commencement of this book to get you up to speed - Alan Craik's a navy intelligence officer whose father was also in the navy - and he's good at his job.

This is 644 pages long, and I've only given in a mere 2 stars as the first 300 pages are d-r-y, yes there's required background for the last half of the story in there, laying the groundwork for the Yugoslavia subplot, unfolding genocide in Rwanda including a brief primer on the Hutu vs Tutsi conflict, there's an entire subplot surrounding a classified satellite weapons system as well as a racist petty officer subplot. Sure they added depth but the action side wouldn't have really suffered had they been cut. There's also a whole section where the Mike Dukas character steps away from his NCIS job to pursue war criminals in Yugoslavia and the back and forth as he chases after a particular bloke that Alan interacts with in the book opening.

In the last 344 pages is where the book actually becomes interesting, dare I say gripping - the war begins in Africa, a CIA agent friend of Alan's is taken hostage and the US Battle Group that Alan is a part of enters conflict and is split between the unfolding Yugoslavian problems and a contested launching of the satellite off the coast of Libya, whilst also providing support for Alan who is put ashore in Rwanda to rescue his friend taken hostage by the rebels.

The ending is pretty decent and almost redeems the book, but geez that first half was pretty dull and I actually found myself putting it down to merely stare out the window and trees it was so uncompelling, I am glad I persisted however as the last 344 pages were up there with Dale Brown's writing.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like this book. The first 80% of the story had the multiple characters in multiple locations around the world that were all supposed to be inter-connected. Since I did not read the first book of this series that might be why I had a hard time keeping track of who was who. I just didn't like the flow of the book at all.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Peace Maker" is a thriller ripped from the headlines. Alan Craik, a naval intelligence officer back from Bosnia, is married to Rose Gagliano, a naval aviator aiming herself at astronaut training. Alan is assigned to Pentagon duty, while Rose is placed in charge of a satellite launch. Meanwhile their best friends, CIA agent Harry O'Neill and DC police officer Mike Dukas, are off to Ruwanda and Bosnia respectively, Harry as an embassy attache, and Mike as part of a peacekeeping police force. But a common denominator draws them all back together--an international terrorist known as Colonel Zulu. Before the book ends, Alan must enter Ruwanda on a surreptitious mission to rescue Harry from the Hutu rebels and fly him out to a carrier after a rigorous jungle trek, then fly as navigator in a fighter sent to help the civilian ship from which Rose is trying to launch her satellite, which is under attack by Libyan armed forces. Meanwhile, Mike is up against Colonel Zulu in Bosnia. Fans of Tom Clancy and Patrick Robinson will be in heaven reading Peace Maker--and then will anxiously await a sequel.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

I noticed this novel got some negative reviews but perhaps those folks were looking for a light breezy book that wouldn't require much concentration from the reader. This book doesn't fit that criteria but I found it to be very well written and entertaining. There a 3 primary storylines here each having a couple of subplots. As a result, the flow of the book is a bit rough but the characters are well crafted and there is enough danger and drama to keep the reader engaged. There were surprising few references to the debut novel so you can follow this easily without Alan Craik's back story.

[John Polson · Rating 2 out of 5]

600 pages - and the story began around 360-400. Enough already - no more Gordon Kent.

[Nj · Rating 1 out of 5]

only got thru a couple chapters. not my kind of book.

[Dag Brück · Rating 4 out of 5]

More faced-paced action in a US Navy/intelligence environment. Quire complex characters for the genre. Dares approach some hard topics such as racism and antisemitism.

[Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many cuss words (F words, N word). No way to write a book, I don't care how action-packed you think that is. Not necessary, just disgusted. ugh