The Assassin

Commander T. C. Bogner #6

by R. Karl Largent

It began when satellite photos revealed certain anomalies along the border of Saudi Arabia and Jordan -- entire areas where there was no longer any sign of life. That, combined with reports from Iraq that some nomadic tribes had been decimated by a mysterious illness, could mean a global nightmare was becoming a reality -- someone was perfecting a more effective, more deadly form of germ warfare. But who?

he American government had to get to the truth behind the lies and the rumors, and quickly. With no time to lose, they turned to the only man who could be trusted to handle the volatile situation -- reluctant agent T.C. Bogner. Only Bogner could hope to infiltrate the circle of arms dealers and survive long enough under cover to track down the source of the deadly, unholy gas. But even for Bogner it was a near-impossible mission...with the fate of millions hanging in the balance.

Genres: Fiction

363 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2000

About the author

R. Karl Largent, a.k.a. Robin Karl or Simon Lawrence, is an author, lecturer, and columnist who teaches writing at Tri-State University. Before launching his writing career, he spent 30 years in industry, the last 17 as VP of Marketing for a Fortune 500 multinational. A former horse show judge and trainer of youth horses, he competed in SCCA road racing events, flew as a weather observer in the USAF, completed a tour of duty in the Arctic and served with the U.S. Weather Bureau.

R. Karl Largent is the author of over 600 columns. He has also authored nearly two dozen novels including the bestselling "Red" series. He has also written six non-fiction books as well as numerous articles for magazines, newspapers and other publications.

Reviews

[Fred Rayworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've known about this book for some time but it just showed up at Wal-Mart Christmas week (never saw it any place else). Anxious to read it, I've been a big fan of Mr. Largent since I read The Lake. At first I was reluctant to try the T.C. Bogner books but found I liked them after reading Red Ice. In this one, the story moves well and I like all the references to Turkey and the Turkish language. Since I lived in Turkey for 5 years, I can relate to a lot of the Turkish references he makes in the story. But I also found a few glaring misspellings that I am sure are merely typos the editor did not catch because he or she wouldn't know the difference in the first place! But there was one major technical error the editor should have caught and it had to do with the size of the bad guy's compound. I do not fault Mr. Largent as much for that as I am a writer also, and when you read and reread your work so many times, you tend to miss things that a second set of eyes should catch. There were also a few regular misspellings too (non-Turkish).

The reason I gave this work a 4 is for the technical errors/misspellings. Otherwise, I loved the story and found it quite engaging. The only other thing I didn't like was one of the characters that died in the end. I really wished the guy (let's just say a foreigner) had survived.

Great story, Mr. Largent. Time to kick your editor in the... well... never mind.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another mediocre book in the T.C. Bogner series that I've committed to finishing. This story is a bit dated as this was before the time of cell phones, but some elements are still relevant today. This time Bogner has to try to find prove that a military leader in Iraq actually possesses chemical weapons and stop him from using them. While Iraq has fallen the issue of rogue leaders using chemical weapons is still a very current issue that we see today. While not as good as modern thrillers, there was enough action here to keep interested to finish the novel.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not familiar with Mr. Largent, but I enjoyed his book. This was rather fast moving, and involved an Agent Tobias C. Bogner, who is snatched away from a romantic interlude with his former wife in Paris, to travel to Iraq, where things seem to go from bad to worse. He does enlist the help of an English speaking woman Aenera, and finds some native allies as well. It is all rather fanciful, but seemingly possible.

[Rapidio · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rather routine thriller with a bad ass former special ops protagonist and evil doers in the middle East, Iraq to be specific. Just barely enough here to drag me to the finish. 1 and 1/2 stars