The Tehran Triangle

by Tom Reed, Sandy Baker

An aging Russian cargo plane descends to a remote airstrip in Kazakhstan. Its mission is a exchange 1,300 pounds of gold for an equal amount of weapons-grade uranium—the first crucial step in an Iranian plot to build and detonate a nuclear bomb in the heartland of America. Col. Ashkan Gharabaghi, an officer of Iran’s murderous Quds Force, stands near the runway, studying the aging plane’s lumbering approach. Elizabeth Mallory watches, too. The brilliant young CIA agent has ridden Gunpowder over long stretches of desolate, fallout-poisoned Kazakh countryside to try to stop the export of the black market uranium. Time is short. The sun is setting. The nuclear bomb material sits at the end of the dusty runway, ready for loading. This is how Tom Reed’s frighteningly real thriller, The Tehran Triangle, takes off. In his riveting first novel, Reed, a noted historian, fuses a lifetime’s experience in nuclear weaponry and spy craft to a story deeply wedded to fact. The book’s harrowing outcome will be remembered—and feared—long after it has been read. Reed is a former Secretary of the Air Force under two presidents and the youngest-ever Director of the National Reconnaissance Office, an organization so secret that its very existence was not revealed until the end of the Cold War. He plunges thriller fans into the harrowing chessboard of international surveillance and intelligence gathering. Farsi speaking Agent Mallory emerges as the CIA’s point person on Iran. Gharabaghi rises in the Quds ranks, becoming a powerful colonel, sponsored by his long-time friend Mansoor Alizadeh, the President of the Iranian Republic. Mallory’s perilous investigation of Iranian penetration of the US brings her to a most unlikely hub of terrorist activity—a machine shop servicing the oil and gas industry and owned by retired Air Force Sergeant Bum Bradley and his brother, Hiram. She discovers Col. Gharabaghi’s evil scheme to recruit two American citizens of Iranian descent, engineer Rosincourt Sadr, and his girlfriend, Soroya Assad, to assemble the nuclear bomb. Step by step, Reed reveals how a religion’s most extreme beliefs can drive even comfortable, well-educated American citizens into the fever grip of terrorism. Col. Gharabaghi orchestrates the plot from Chihuahua while Mallory urgently tries to counter his murderous moves from El Paso, right across the border. It is now July 2012. As the plot moves toward its furiously-paced conclusion, Mallory makes increasingly frantic efforts to sabotage the bomb, now rolling down railroad tracks toward the Trinity detonation site in New Mexico. The countdown culminates when Gharabaghi punches a code into his cell phone to set off the biggest terrorist strike in US history, triggering readers to ask, “What if?”

281 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2012

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Reviews

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Tehran Triangle is not the kind of book I would choose to read on my own. It’s considered a thriller, and that is not the genre I ordinarily look to read. I chose it because the authors were appearing at my local book store for a book discussion (not a reading), and I thought it would be interesting to connect with the authors to get a good idea of what went into writing this book. The discussion was lively, and the facilitator was outstanding in delving into the genre and the themes of the book.

Tom Reed is the man behind all of the information in the book about Iran and their pursuance of nuclear weapons. He worked under three presidents and in secret government organizations during the Cold War. His credentials are impressive. As he said in the discussion, “All of this information is true.” His initial manuscript was very long and technical and not what many would consider “ready for prime time.” Thus, he collaborated with Sandy Baker, a children’s book author and together they produced this novel. They met once a week for two years before the book was completed.

Elizabeth Mallory is a young, beautiful (of course) CIA agent who right from the start of the book, on her first assignment in 1999 prevents the export of black market uranium in Kazakhstan for Iran. She is up against Major Ashkan Gharabaghi whose mission is foiled and she becomes his target. It is the beginning of an Iranian plot to build a nuclear bomb in America and detonate it very close to the site in New Mexico where the first A-bomb was tested.

From that point on Elizabeth becomes the point person for Iran and is promoted into the higher ranks of secret government agencies with an emphasis on Iran. She is a tough, no-nonsense woman who is willing to go to any extreme to stop this destructive plot. Readers get a good run down of nuclear power history beginning in 1999 and going into 2102. Elizabeth is the character that moves the story along. The story being the building of a bomb in El Paso, with Iran’s plans to use it in the United States by transporting it via our own railway system. Two second-generation Iranians are involved, one the builder of the bomb. There is also a subplot with drug dealers in Mexico helping to smuggle the uranium into the States, and a bit of romance with Elizabeth.

Reed was trying to show that it is possible to build a bomb like the one we dropped on Hiroshima; it just takes 140 pounds of uranium. A group of terrorists with the right materials and enough time could construct a nuclear weapon right here in the United States. His last comment at this discussion drove home a point worth thinking about. Iran cannot be trusted when it comes to nuclear weapons.

Two things I appreciated after reading this book:
1) I got out of my comfort zone with this genre
2) I was able to meet the authors and get a good perspective on the process of writing

[Lee Boyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing. It could have been a great novel

As the author of a 2004 novel with a similar plot, I purchased the Kindle edition expecting to read a technically sound novel based on the same technology that I used in my first book. Both stories are based upon Islamic terrorists placing a simple gun-type nuclear device in the U.S. A device based on the untested atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. A bomb named the Little Boy.

The endorsements found on the back cover led me to believe I would read a first class technothriller written by a nuclear weapons designer with both intelligence and political experience. As soon as I downloaded the book I opened it, anxious to see if we had written similar stories.

I almost quit reading after Chapter I. Whoever wrote this chapter (from Reed’s comments in the Acknowledgement section, there were several writers) has no knowledge of how a Surface-to-Air (SAM) missile works. The Stinger described does not come close to a real Stinger, but is a fair description of a Russian RPG.

I found the book to be riddled with technical errors. The description of the Iranian gun-type device is laughable. The engineer “Assembled a critical mass.” Be serious. A critical mass is assembled in a nuclear reactor, and would produce large amounts lethal of radiation as it melted.

There are many redeeming elements in the story. Iran’s fanatical quest for nuclear weapons, drug cartels working with radical Islamic organizations, and Iran’s use of chemical weapons on the Kurds and Iran. I take major exception to Reed’s statement that the U.S. provided chemical weapons to Iraq. Our stockpile was is such a degraded condition that moving a single munition was dangerous. Yes, I do know what I am talking about.

Would the nutcases in Iran be satisfied with a demonstration? I don’t think so. The unanswered question left at the end of the story is what would we do if we discovered a functional nuclear device in our homeland. Response could range from a UN resolution to a nuclear strike. I provided my answer to the question in my second novel.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tehran Triangle by Tom Reed with Sandy Baker is so well written, I truly found I could not put it down. The characters are believable and well developed. The plot is riviting. The details are to-the-point scarily accurate. With Tom Reed's scientific, government and military backgrounds we're blessed with insider's elements. Sand Baker has helped meld the characters' developement and attitudes into the believeable. I predict this will be one of the top thrillers produced over the next few years. It's definitely a MUST READ.

[Kathleen (Kat) Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ripped from some of our current headlines, The Tehran Triangle by Tom Reed and Sandy Baker give us a "What if" scenario in this action packed adventure novel.

Tom Reed is a former Secretary of the Air Force, having served in that capacity during the Ford and Carter administrations. In the mid-seventies Reed was the youngest-ever Director of the National Reconnaissance Office, an organization whose very existence was held to be secret until the end of the Cold War. During the eighties, Reed was a Special Assistant to President Reagan for National Security Policy. His technical background include nuclear weapon design at Livermore and low-temperature physics.

So as you can see Tom Reed is writing from what he knows and he blends that into this fictional novel based on what has happened in the past and what may in fact happen in the near future with regards to Iran's nuclear situation.

Elizabeth Mallory is the main character who is working for various organizations within the United States and abroad to foil any attempts and to locate intelligence regarding what the plans on for Major Ashkan Gharabaghi, who is in the Islamic Republic of Iran. She has already foiled his first attempt at securing high grade bomb making material in Kazakhstan and now the two are at odds to see each other killed. Elizabeth's goal is to ensure that America remains safe from any threat from terrorists and Gharabaghi is trying to make sure that dream doesn't happen.

Along the way through the novel the reader is taken back from 1999 to a future period in 2012, which outlines using historical facts to move the story along from the 9/11 attacks to bombings around the world and America's involvement in each incident. It does show how the enemies of America are not done planning their attack against us in an effort to keep Iran as a new nuclear Super Power and in control of the Middle East.

A chilling observation into the possibilities of what could happen is what makes this an enjoyable read for those who love military suspense thrillers. I received The Tehran Triangle compliments of Media Connect for my honest review and think this one rates a 4 out of 5 stars. I think the story could have moved along at a quicker pace without going back into the nuclear history so far but overall it was an enjoyable novel to read.

[Doyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good character development and a plot that begins to twist and turn in the last third of the book. Some technological errors but not enough to take away from the plot of the story. The vocabulary was intellectually challenging at times and could be distracting at times.

[Milad]

milad