Lash-Up

by Larry Bond

New York Times bestselling author Larry Bond thrills again in Lash-Up, an explosive new novel. In a bid to dominate Asia and the western Pacific, China provokes a military crisis with the United States and then starts shooting down GPS satellites. America has only a short amount of time to devise some way of protecting its remaining satellites or China will gain an enormous advantage in the coming conflict. The only way the satellites can be protected is from orbit, so an armed spacecraft must be quickly designed, built, and launched to fight on this new battlefield.

A team of soldier-scientists must construct a craft capable of knocking space weapons out of the sky. The fate of the United States rests on the shoulders of these determined people.

Genres: Thriller, Military Fiction, Adventure, Fiction, Suspense, Military Thriller, Audiobook

Hardcover

First published May 5, 2015

About the author

Larry Bond is the author of several bestselling military thrillers, including Crash Dive, Cold Choices, Dangerous Ground, Red Phoenix and the Larry Bond’s First Team and Larry Bond’s Red Dragon Rising series. He was a naval officer for six years, serving four on a destroyer and two on shore duty in the Washington DC area. He's also worked as a warfare analyst and antisubmarine technology expert, and he now writes and designs computer games, including Harpoon and Command at Sea. He makes his home in Springfield, Virginia.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/larrybond

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a painstakingly, agonizingly slow first 2/3, this story finally ramps up. What took so long and who would have an unvetted in a secure facility? Fortunately, the ending saves this. 5 of 10 stars

[Mark Polino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lets be clear, this isn't a techno-thriller. It's defense contractor's management daydream with a small spy thriller thrown in. There's no action until the end and I mean no action and by the end, I mean the very, very end.

[Ric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Near-future, tech-heavy military SF. In preparation for an incursion into Vietnam, China uses a newly-developed long-gun to methodically destroy the US' military GPS satellites. At an attrition rate of one sat per week, the US must respond quickly or give up point accuracy from its GPS system in a looming war with China. The American executive empowers a ragged group of engineers and officers to put together a fighter space plane from mothballed and black-cover research projects, reflecting the "lash-up" of the title. And from there, as is often said in this type of thriller, the race is on.

When the luster of Larry Bond's war-gaming books such as Vortex, The Enemy Within and Cauldron, diminished from formulaic repetition, I thought I was done with his work. But what a difference a little fancy SF tech can make. In Lash-Up, he delivers (with the help of a co-author whom he acknowledges in the afterword) an entertaining, tech-heavy read. In particular, I enjoyed the space action segments. Read the whole book as a war-gaming what-if scenario to help overcome the initial wtf reaction.

Recommended for those who enjoy technological thrillers and military SF. 5 stars.

[Michael Barrs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre read. Formula effort.

[Chuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This yarn takes place in 2017 A.D. China is amassing troops along it's border with Vietnam. It's navy is positioning itself offshore. America then realizes it has lost signal from one of it's orbiting GPS satellites; then another and another and determines that China is responsible by virtue of a giant, mountain based gun shooting armed satellites into space. The loss of the GPS satellites begins to adversely affect the guidance systems of our missiles and smart bombs.
What in the world can be done to counter this attack? Ray McConnell, a civilian engineer with the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command has an idea however it is quite involved. He suggests modifying an old spacecraft, a Lockheed "Skunk Works" innovation which was meant to replace the Space Shuttle, to include armament and defend our remaining satellites. I am not a Sci-Fi fan but this is contemporary enough to be believable.

[Henri Moreaux · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lash Up is based on the short story which originally appeared in Stephen Coonts' Combat anthology, it's been fleshed out and expanded into a full length novel with everything that had to be cut from the original to meet the forty thousand word limit.

It is vastly more realistic than your average techno-thriller which is generally filled with fanciful future technology, whereas in Lash-Up everything is mostly plausible. The novel commences with China commencing an indirect attack on the United States by shooting down their GPS satellites with a new weapons system, they do this in an attempt to get the United States to back down over a confrontation between China and Vietnam.

Enter Ray McConnell who has an idea on how to protect the American GPS satellites from China's new weapon.

An enjoyable page turner with quite a climatic ending, it's not a deep literature award winning novel, but it's enthralling and entertaining.

[Clay Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could have done without the governmental infighting. Liked the new layers added after the novella in Combat Vol. 1. Book didn't say what Lash-Up meant. Would have been nice to work St. George or Dragonslayer as terms in the book.

[Chad]

I’d say that this is a bit dry but that would be understating it. A techno-thriller with a heavy emphasis on the “techno”. This feels like almost all plot with very little characterization to grab my interest or make me care. There’s a romance that feels barely explored and honestly, I’m kind of hard pressed now to even remember any of the characters’s names. Part of this is my fault for checking out mentally while listening but honestly, the characters feel very inter-changeable and bear little impact on anything. Point A leads to point B leads to point C leads to and leads to and leads to.

No thank you.

I have a lot of memories of seeing Larry Bond titles clutched on top of trapper keepers and textbooks in the hallways at school - a lesser known alternative to Clancy. Maybe I’ll try some of his older books at some point but this title doesn’t fill me with confidence.

Also - it’s really hard for me now in 2021 to read “US Space Force” and take it seriously.

[Skovrodino · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had to have been the first technothriller I've ever read where the focus was overwhelmingly on the engineering/development work rather than on the action or the geopolitics. The biggest conflicts in the book are bureaucratic and logistical, with a bit of espionage tacked-on to make it less dull. The fighting between China and its neighbors was just an excuse to get the high-tech project under way; any actual military action is incidental and held-off until the very end.

Although this was a fresh (and somewhat unexpected) departure from his usual work, this was not the author's best. I would not recommend this to a first-time Larry Bond reader; only read Lash-Up after you've gone through the better ones.

[denise hodges · Rating 5 out of 5]

Positively Outstanding!!

Between Red Storm Rising, Vortex, Calderon Red Phoenix, Mr Bond sets a breathtaking literary pace that starts on page1 and continues to the last word. I usually get my reading from Kindle unlimited but this was worth the asking price and then some.regarding the Technical issues his grasp of the potential used of alternative Launch methods is feasible. Real world Dr. Bull and project HARP proved that; his only mistake was working for the wrong people. Now if only someone (Elon Musk maybe) would ask the 3 questions: 1-How come we don't 2- What if----- and most importantly 3-Why not? Maybe we might get somewhere. Great reading with amazing attention to detail.
Bill Hodges

[Roger Scherping · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like Larry Bond, and this was another example of an interesting plot and realistic action. I was pleased that in a book about space warfare he was able to get in a chapter in a submarine because submarine action is what he does best. The only part of the book that didn't work was Jenny. She was put in simply as Ray's love interest, and although she was presented as a credible scientist, their whole relationship felt silly and out of place in a serious drama. The two of them acted like high schoolers in the midst of a worldwide crisis, and the fact that they got married at the end was corny and just made her character all the more irrelevant.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lash-Up is a good technothriller, if much longer on the tech than the thriller part. It's a slow burn of hardware development and espionage, with military interservice rivalry and some political maneuvering. And then the spacecraft takes off and things happen fast and there's the story's payoff.

I was never bored reading it, liked the protagonists and disliked the bad guys. Not the highest of praise, but for a fast read in gloomy December weather, it was a fine book.

Gamer value: Pretty high. Lots of tech and engineering for the gear junkies, combat scenarios, and some spy-vs-spy action.

[Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smashing

For an expansion of an original short story the authors filled out the storyline exceptionally well. Hopefully existing systems in this story work as well if needed. A spaceforce is needed, a separate service with no allegiance to any existing service or agency. However interservice fighting does happen, just have to remember the USAF's white paper "Global Power, Global Reach." Enjoy!

[Dennis (nee) Hearon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually, DNF. I had my doubts about this one from the beginning. From the author's note, I suspect this was actually a novella by Bond that was finished by the unidentified "co-author" Carlson. This is only apparent from the copywrite information and the Author's Note, but not on the cover anywhere. Abysmal writing , even by Mil-lit standards (where the bar is, admittedly, very low") A complete waste of time and money.

[Otavio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun Clancy Spin Off

The novel lifts off at a ponderous pace. I finally skimmed the political sections. They didn’t add anything to the story. But the practice of focusing on our anxious anti-hero pulled the story through a slow beginning. But like the eponymous Defender, once the tension level began to rise, Lash-Up rose steadily to the climax. A fun tech thriller in the Tom Clancy mold.

[Rich Buickerood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty much a formula plot with formula characters, yet, because of the subject matter (and the fact I'm a veteran) I found it to be an interesting read. Having spent three years in the Pentagon though, to me it's not too realistic for a "mere" Captain to be placed in the positions described herein. However, Bond's descriptions of the internal workings of the Pentagon and the inter-service rivalries seemed right on.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

First time reader of Larry Bond. Was an enjoyable story of the Chinese v the USA. The Chinese shot down several of the USA's GPS satellites causing the USA to retaliate (sort of). The protagonist develops a design for a star fighter to knock out the Chinese weapons. Not a story I've come across before but very enjoyable.

[Dwain Weckman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather long-winded description of the development of a new space-based weapon while working outside of the normal military development programs. Seems like it ran out of steam at the end - resolution of the conflict with China only took one paragraph at the end.

[Ann Amadori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story!

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice quick read. Characters were rather 2 dimensional but the plot had a few interesting points to it that made it enjoyable. I'd read it again......

[Jeff Danhauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't think too hard about it, It's just a good 'popcorn' read. An old fashioned 'yeah - that's how I'd do it' book

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five Stars

[Steven G. Looney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Larry Bond Bullseye

Shows what can happen when bureaucracy is eliminated and people are unified against a common enemy. Nice to think it could happen!

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it a very entertaining read. The combat took a back seat to project management and politics

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent techno-thriller

[Robert Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book! China shoots down our GPS sat’s

[Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book. It is ironic, but yesterday the United States stood up the Space Force for real. This is just as the boo did it. Very hard to put down.

[Joe Pickard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book so much that I read it a second time 6 months later!
Great writing and suspense!

[Yo · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 and a half stars.
Unique tech.

[Adam Schneider · Rating 1 out of 5]

I listed to this on audio book for whatever reason. Don’t bother. The good stuff is the very last chapter. The rest is just slow build