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Caffa
In the mid-fourteenth century, as Mongol soldiers hurled the corpses of plague victims over the walls of the besieged Crimean city of Caffa, it became ground zero for the pandemic that decimated Europe, North Africa and the Near East over a decade. In this third installment of the thrilling Aphrodite series, two reluctantly persistent heroes, Bill and Aphrodite, are pulled into their deadliest adventure yet, as they work to thwart a far more methodical and refined modern biological warfare attack. Can the duo beat the clock to save the family of an old friend and prevent another Caffa on American soil?
409 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
3 people are currently reading
215 people want to read
About the author
Charles S. Faddis
6 books24 followersA retired CIA officer and author. Spent twenty years undercover in the Near East, South Asia and Southern Europe. Took the first CIA team into Iraq in advance of the 2003 invasion. Retired as head of CIA's WMD terrorism unit.
Author of six books, three works of non-fiction and three novels.
Lives near Annapolis, Maryland. Spends his free time writing, sailing, traveling and reading.
Still consults for the Intelligence Community.
Author of six books, three works of non-fiction and three novels.
Lives near Annapolis, Maryland. Spends his free time writing, sailing, traveling and reading.
Still consults for the Intelligence Community.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 30, 2013
A Plague on Our House
This is Charles Faddis’ third thriller featuring Bill Boyle and Aphrodite, the best and most complex of the three. I feared the worst when he married them off at the end of BARBAROSA. Marriage usually signals domesticity, babies, and cookie baking for the heroine and is usually the end of a series, but I was wrong. Fortunately, Bill and Aphrodite are back at work fighting the evils that continue to plague us.
The plot revolves around a scheme by retired senior officers of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence Agency to use American Muslim terrorists to introduce pneumonic plague into the U.S. Thus the title, for Caffa was the source of the Great Plague that destroyed between a third and a half of the European population in Europe in the 14th century.
In this book, Bill and Aphrodite are faced with two obligations: Bill promised Jimmy, a friend who died saving his life on an operation in Kurdistan in BARBAROSA, to tell his daughter, Irene, that he is dead. While they are at Irene’s biker bar in Baltimore, Bill gets a call from a friend in Honduras asking for help. Solomon has also saved his life—Bill’s the kind of guy who gets into situations—and wants Bill to help him disentangle his nephew from a drug cartel. Then Irene calls to say that her son, Eddie, is into something very bad, people are going to die, and she doesn't know what to do. These obligations force the two to split up, Bill staying with the drug cartel problem and Aphrodite going to Baltimore.
Aphrodite learns that Eddie is indeed into something heavy—a mysterious group of Muslims, and in the process of retrieving him, she is captured by the Muslims, who are the people tasked with infecting the United States with the plague. Her attempts to escape prove fruitless, and by the time Bill gets to Baltimore, she is in the hands of the terrorists and has been infected with the plague. While one set of the terrorists goes by train to New Jersey to infect a Bruce Springsteen concert, the leader takes Aphrodite and another group to Washington to hit a country music festival on the Mall. After being infected, these people will spread the bacteria to everybody they come in contact with, and those people will infect others, in a cascading epidemic of the plague.
With the clock ticking, Bill searches frantically for Aphrodite, and the CIA and the police departments of two states and the District of Columbia struggle to capture the terrorists before they can complete their dirty work.
Bill’s anguish when he can’t find Aphrodite and the expanding police dragnet compel the pace to one of Faddis’ galloping conclusions.
Faddis has got the grungy parts of Baltimore just right. He also knows the pitiless children who are determined to build a perfect world by destroying the one we have, and he’s got them spot on, too.
It’s a good read. I recommend it highly.
This is Charles Faddis’ third thriller featuring Bill Boyle and Aphrodite, the best and most complex of the three. I feared the worst when he married them off at the end of BARBAROSA. Marriage usually signals domesticity, babies, and cookie baking for the heroine and is usually the end of a series, but I was wrong. Fortunately, Bill and Aphrodite are back at work fighting the evils that continue to plague us.
The plot revolves around a scheme by retired senior officers of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence Agency to use American Muslim terrorists to introduce pneumonic plague into the U.S. Thus the title, for Caffa was the source of the Great Plague that destroyed between a third and a half of the European population in Europe in the 14th century.
In this book, Bill and Aphrodite are faced with two obligations: Bill promised Jimmy, a friend who died saving his life on an operation in Kurdistan in BARBAROSA, to tell his daughter, Irene, that he is dead. While they are at Irene’s biker bar in Baltimore, Bill gets a call from a friend in Honduras asking for help. Solomon has also saved his life—Bill’s the kind of guy who gets into situations—and wants Bill to help him disentangle his nephew from a drug cartel. Then Irene calls to say that her son, Eddie, is into something very bad, people are going to die, and she doesn't know what to do. These obligations force the two to split up, Bill staying with the drug cartel problem and Aphrodite going to Baltimore.
Aphrodite learns that Eddie is indeed into something heavy—a mysterious group of Muslims, and in the process of retrieving him, she is captured by the Muslims, who are the people tasked with infecting the United States with the plague. Her attempts to escape prove fruitless, and by the time Bill gets to Baltimore, she is in the hands of the terrorists and has been infected with the plague. While one set of the terrorists goes by train to New Jersey to infect a Bruce Springsteen concert, the leader takes Aphrodite and another group to Washington to hit a country music festival on the Mall. After being infected, these people will spread the bacteria to everybody they come in contact with, and those people will infect others, in a cascading epidemic of the plague.
With the clock ticking, Bill searches frantically for Aphrodite, and the CIA and the police departments of two states and the District of Columbia struggle to capture the terrorists before they can complete their dirty work.
Bill’s anguish when he can’t find Aphrodite and the expanding police dragnet compel the pace to one of Faddis’ galloping conclusions.
Faddis has got the grungy parts of Baltimore just right. He also knows the pitiless children who are determined to build a perfect world by destroying the one we have, and he’s got them spot on, too.
It’s a good read. I recommend it highly.
September 2, 2013
Caffa: Charles Faddis
What would we do if Islamist terrorists decided to unleash an attack on the United States more catastrophic than the events of Sept. 11th? What would happen if this attack made the experiments done to many humans during WWII pale in comparison? What about a plague so devastating, do deadly that it might not be able to be stopped? One Professor Doctor delivers a hard case with something so deadly and horrific inside that it would cost him and others more than must their lives. What secrets are hidden within this case and carefully sealed and locked that the receiver would not chance allowing this doctor to survive? Reminding readers about the deadly Black Death that almost obliterated Europe and the Near East during the 14th century what author Charles Faddis relates in this novel will terrify readers, hopefully make up those in charge and remind us that we can never take our eyes off of the enemy for one minute.
Bill and Aphrodite have just tied the marital knot when they are called away to help find a young man named Eddie for a dear friend and then save Bill’s friend’s nephew from the dangerous situation he has gotten himself into. Selling weapons, illegal human trafficking and other sorted crimes are just the beginning. As Bill finds himself on the trail of those in charge what he learns will terrify him and alert readers to the real mission. The clock races throughout this novel as hear the voices of those that would give their lives for God and for their cause. What they decided to do and have already implemented caused a great deal of people to come down with this plague, hospitals overcrowded with patients and the thought that this was just the beginning did more than send shock waves throughout our nation. But, Eleni/Aphrodite is sent to find Eddie a friend’s son and gets blindsided by these people, kidnapped and has contaminated with the illness along with those involved.
When Bill brings his thoughts to his superiors and one man named Rogers confirms what he’s saying why does it take so long for everyone to climb aboard and find out where these people are, just who is involved and how to find his missing wife? Bound to a chair, forced to succumb to whatever they want, Eleni almost escapes as one man named Anwar has other plans in mind for not only her but everyone else. No one can escape and when one woman realizes her mistakes what he does will let readers know that the situation is more than just grave for Eleni.
Racing the clock and hoping to find Eleni might not be enough to save her life. Hearing the voices of those involved, visualizing the ramifications of the illness and seeing the outcome as the author vividly describes their conditions, how the disease is spread the reader along with Bill realize that it will take more than just a medical miracle to stop what these people have set in motion.
The headlines stating that there is a mysterious illness yet no one wants to state the obvious or admit the truth as one police man takes a dangerous chance hoping to stop what is already in motion. One Pastun Cop and several CIA agents racing the clock to stop what they realize is an epidemic of great proportions and could kill millions if they do not find the source in time. Just how is this disease spread? In this case they are using the pneumatic form and have placed a mask over the victims or subjects faces as they inhale the disease that some will hope will bring them to God. Added in we learn about Unit 731 which was a secret Japanese organization that existed during the second world war and whose members conducted experiments on human subjects. As Hitler killed so many and justified his actions to the world so did these people who removed organs from live subjects, no anesthesia, no regard for their human dignity and watched them die. As Bill learns more about this while going after a man called the Sultan, little does he know at this time about his wife. Spread either by fleas or inhaled this disease can wipe out a nation and much more.
But, Eleni is smart and will not give in to her captors even when things become tense. The end result is horrific as we watch those that call themselves The Sisters succumb to the disease, infect other that they come in contact with and experience as Aphrodite does the fire within her lungs as the disease takes hold within her body. Tracking devices, help from different agencies but no break as to where Eleni is, where they are planning their final strike or how to stop this maniac.
When reporting to the proper agencies and those in charge what needs to be done why are Bill’s hands tied? Why do they have to wait for clearance from so many and why won’t they believe what he and others have related to them? Faced to face with those that are part of this jihad and spreading Islam, you begin to wonder just why so many people are so weak, believe what they are told and would sacrifice themselves for the good of their movements and to return home they think to God.
Author Charles S. Faddis takes readers deep inside the minds of these terrorists, their operation as we follow Bill to finding Eleni. With his training as a CIA veteran the author elaborately and brilliantly takes readers on a journey from Pakistan, to Washington, New York and many other cities around the world to stop what could be a real pandemic or worse. The heart stopping ending and the harsh realities that some to light make you wonder if and when this could really happen if we do not stay awake, listen to the intel, and remind ourselves that 9/11 really happened and we will never be in the clear or free of threats.
Just what happens and if Bill finds Eleni you will have to join him and the others as they race the clock, pray for her return, hope to save the millions in danger before the final switch is pressed and it’s too late. Caffa is what they are calling this operation. Based on something that happened in the mid-fourteenth century when “Mongol soldiers hurled the corpses of plague victims over ht walls of the besieged Crimean city of Caffa.” Will they succeed again? Will Caffa be relived or will Bill use everything he has, every resource and all of his strength to save his wife and prevent another Caffa? Black Death or bubonic plague, “ an outbreak of bubonic plague that spread over Europe and Asia in the 14th century and killed an estimated quarter of the population: Black Death.” http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Blac... Black Death (Black Plague). Caffa: imagine a plague so deadly, dangerous, malignant and whose end result would be so catastrophic millions might die. Can anyone stop what has already been tested and put in motion or will everyone need to weak masks to prevent getting the disease? Cipro: the only cure! How much will it take to save so many? Find out the heart stopping, and spelling binding ending to see if Bill and Eleni will be back for another adventure or has someone taken his/her last breath?
Fran Lewis: reviewer
What would we do if Islamist terrorists decided to unleash an attack on the United States more catastrophic than the events of Sept. 11th? What would happen if this attack made the experiments done to many humans during WWII pale in comparison? What about a plague so devastating, do deadly that it might not be able to be stopped? One Professor Doctor delivers a hard case with something so deadly and horrific inside that it would cost him and others more than must their lives. What secrets are hidden within this case and carefully sealed and locked that the receiver would not chance allowing this doctor to survive? Reminding readers about the deadly Black Death that almost obliterated Europe and the Near East during the 14th century what author Charles Faddis relates in this novel will terrify readers, hopefully make up those in charge and remind us that we can never take our eyes off of the enemy for one minute.
Bill and Aphrodite have just tied the marital knot when they are called away to help find a young man named Eddie for a dear friend and then save Bill’s friend’s nephew from the dangerous situation he has gotten himself into. Selling weapons, illegal human trafficking and other sorted crimes are just the beginning. As Bill finds himself on the trail of those in charge what he learns will terrify him and alert readers to the real mission. The clock races throughout this novel as hear the voices of those that would give their lives for God and for their cause. What they decided to do and have already implemented caused a great deal of people to come down with this plague, hospitals overcrowded with patients and the thought that this was just the beginning did more than send shock waves throughout our nation. But, Eleni/Aphrodite is sent to find Eddie a friend’s son and gets blindsided by these people, kidnapped and has contaminated with the illness along with those involved.
When Bill brings his thoughts to his superiors and one man named Rogers confirms what he’s saying why does it take so long for everyone to climb aboard and find out where these people are, just who is involved and how to find his missing wife? Bound to a chair, forced to succumb to whatever they want, Eleni almost escapes as one man named Anwar has other plans in mind for not only her but everyone else. No one can escape and when one woman realizes her mistakes what he does will let readers know that the situation is more than just grave for Eleni.
Racing the clock and hoping to find Eleni might not be enough to save her life. Hearing the voices of those involved, visualizing the ramifications of the illness and seeing the outcome as the author vividly describes their conditions, how the disease is spread the reader along with Bill realize that it will take more than just a medical miracle to stop what these people have set in motion.
The headlines stating that there is a mysterious illness yet no one wants to state the obvious or admit the truth as one police man takes a dangerous chance hoping to stop what is already in motion. One Pastun Cop and several CIA agents racing the clock to stop what they realize is an epidemic of great proportions and could kill millions if they do not find the source in time. Just how is this disease spread? In this case they are using the pneumatic form and have placed a mask over the victims or subjects faces as they inhale the disease that some will hope will bring them to God. Added in we learn about Unit 731 which was a secret Japanese organization that existed during the second world war and whose members conducted experiments on human subjects. As Hitler killed so many and justified his actions to the world so did these people who removed organs from live subjects, no anesthesia, no regard for their human dignity and watched them die. As Bill learns more about this while going after a man called the Sultan, little does he know at this time about his wife. Spread either by fleas or inhaled this disease can wipe out a nation and much more.
But, Eleni is smart and will not give in to her captors even when things become tense. The end result is horrific as we watch those that call themselves The Sisters succumb to the disease, infect other that they come in contact with and experience as Aphrodite does the fire within her lungs as the disease takes hold within her body. Tracking devices, help from different agencies but no break as to where Eleni is, where they are planning their final strike or how to stop this maniac.
When reporting to the proper agencies and those in charge what needs to be done why are Bill’s hands tied? Why do they have to wait for clearance from so many and why won’t they believe what he and others have related to them? Faced to face with those that are part of this jihad and spreading Islam, you begin to wonder just why so many people are so weak, believe what they are told and would sacrifice themselves for the good of their movements and to return home they think to God.
Author Charles S. Faddis takes readers deep inside the minds of these terrorists, their operation as we follow Bill to finding Eleni. With his training as a CIA veteran the author elaborately and brilliantly takes readers on a journey from Pakistan, to Washington, New York and many other cities around the world to stop what could be a real pandemic or worse. The heart stopping ending and the harsh realities that some to light make you wonder if and when this could really happen if we do not stay awake, listen to the intel, and remind ourselves that 9/11 really happened and we will never be in the clear or free of threats.
Just what happens and if Bill finds Eleni you will have to join him and the others as they race the clock, pray for her return, hope to save the millions in danger before the final switch is pressed and it’s too late. Caffa is what they are calling this operation. Based on something that happened in the mid-fourteenth century when “Mongol soldiers hurled the corpses of plague victims over ht walls of the besieged Crimean city of Caffa.” Will they succeed again? Will Caffa be relived or will Bill use everything he has, every resource and all of his strength to save his wife and prevent another Caffa? Black Death or bubonic plague, “ an outbreak of bubonic plague that spread over Europe and Asia in the 14th century and killed an estimated quarter of the population: Black Death.” http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Blac... Black Death (Black Plague). Caffa: imagine a plague so deadly, dangerous, malignant and whose end result would be so catastrophic millions might die. Can anyone stop what has already been tested and put in motion or will everyone need to weak masks to prevent getting the disease? Cipro: the only cure! How much will it take to save so many? Find out the heart stopping, and spelling binding ending to see if Bill and Eleni will be back for another adventure or has someone taken his/her last breath?
Fran Lewis: reviewer
November 12, 2013
Despite finding many typos that make me think my Kindle version was a not-quite-final draft, I'd still describe Caffa's writing as workmanlike. It's competent, and there are quite a few interesting tidbits on the spy trade, but this is far from the page-turner I was hoping for.
Want to read
February 17, 2014I received this as a Goodreads give-a-way and am looking forward to reading it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews