Longitude Lost

by Payne Harrison

At 18,000 feet a World War II warship is discovered in the high altitude of the Karakoram Mountains! From the New York Times bestselling author of STORMING INTREPID, Payne Harrison straps you in for a thriller unlike anything before! Army Major Ross Jessup is at the tail end of his tour as commander of the Delta Force Sabre-Black Squadron. But then he receives orders recalling him to the Pentagon from Afghanistan. Perplexed by the summons, he reports to the lower basement of the building’s D-Ring; and there he meets a ‘retired’ three-star general who works directly for the President. The general offers Jessup the post as commander of an elite team. A team that deploys over the globe on singular missions – at the behest of the President. Missions that are astonishing, bizarre, unexplainable . . . and frightening. Jessup accepts and takes command of the small but extraordinary unit – a group known only as ‘The Jedburghs.’ Shortly thereafter, they are deployed to the roof of the world in the Karakoram Mountains – along the disputed zone between India and Pakistan. There they confront a situation that is beyond belief and reason. For at 18,317 feet, entrapped in ice on the ledge of a snowy massif, lies a World War Two warship.

667 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 8, 2019

About the author

A native Texan, Payne Harrison admits to having a "jaded past" as a newspaper reporter. He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from Texas A&M and an M.B.A. from SMU, and served as an officer with the U.S. Army in Europe.
His journey to being a New York Times bestselling author started with his sending an excerpt of his book STORMING INTREPID to a New York publishing house, unsolicited and without an agent. That led to a multi-book publishing deal, an appearance on the TODAY show, hitting the Times list, and a paperback auction.
He has had a dual career as a novelist and a forensic litigation consultant, which has required him to use "both hemispheres of the brain."
He and his wife live in Dallas, Texas.

Reviews

[Matthew Kresal · Rating 5 out of 5]

The thriller genre feels quite crowded these days. Indeed, authors new and old are vying for the attention of readers, often trading in gunplay and action sequences at the expense of plot or baring some resemblance to reality. Few writers have quite had the knack of being able to juggle action and story quite as well as Payne Harrison, who exploded on the scene with his bestselling late Cold War space shuttle hijacking tale Storming Intrepid thirty years ago. His latest thriller, 2019's Longitude Lost, proves that he is still at the top of his game.

As the cover artwork may attest, this isn't your typical thriller. High up in the Karakoram Mountains, lies a Second World War-era American warship. Something that, by definition, has no business being there. When a secret group inside the Pentagon goes to investigate, they discover a trail of people and events that stretch back not just back to that long-ago conflict but right into the present. Something involving some truly incredible technology and possibilities. Indeed, readers aware of various urban legends and conspiracy theories from the period might well be able to foresee where things are going ahead of anyone else. The result is perhaps on the borderline of being science fiction, and the sort of thing that you wouldn't normally expect to find inside this sort of thriller. Is that a bad thing?

Most definitely not, as Harrison is putting the "techno" back in "techno-thriller. As he has done throughout his previous work, Harrison grounds the incredible in a cloak of realism. From tech his characters use to office politics and the occasional tidbit of supporting characters home lives, Harrison grounds his story in as much reality as possible. He also takes readers on something of a journey into the secret worlds where science, government, and military intersect, where the terms "black budget' and "need to know" reign supreme. It's that journey, and the details he sprinkles of it in the novel, that goes a long way to making the seemingly outlandish seem plausible under the circumstances.

It also helps that he can write good action sequences. From mountaineering to a defection in Switzerland, and infiltrating secret facilities, Harrison combines the technical details of Tom Clancy with the old school thrills of Alistair MacLean. His sense of both pace and tension goes a long way to making those sequences work, offering a cinematic eye in prose form. Indeed, chapter twelve, in which our heroes escape Russia while under hot pursuit both in the air and below the sea, is one of the best pieces of sustained action writing I've encountered in recent memory. If excitement is what you want, then the action sequences here will be right up your alley.

As a work of crossed genres, Longitude Lost is a heck of a read. Combining elements of science fiction with the thriller genre, Harrison creates an immensely readable tale that works on multiple levels while also telling a tense and engaging story. In doing so, Harrison reminds readers why he was a master of creating what you might consider the thinking person's action thriller.

If you're looking for some brains to go with your whiz-bang, you could do a lot worse than give this a read.

[James C. Newquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Longitude lost

This is one of those stories, that you start to read, and find out quickly that you can't put it down. Very well written and very well worth the read.

[William McLoughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5. I like this author’s writing, but my ratings of his novels have been scattered: I’ve given him ‘3’ twice; ‘4’ twice; and ‘5’ (a rarity for me) twice. His thrillers are well planned and bring in a taste of science fiction, but this one leans a little too far past that into science fantasy for my taste. It does appear that there could be a sequel down the road, though. Minor concerns: spelling errors and redundant odd terminology (e.g. I lost count of how many times he “opened the kimono!”).

[Tom Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first Paine Harrison novel I have encountered or read since Storming Intrepid many many years ago. I enjoyed reading it very much , but it left me wondering if there is a sequel? Or is that to come in the future? I did order two other Harrison novels to read but have not got to them yet.

[Tom Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, a real thriller from start to finish. A WW2 Destroyer Escort in the mountainside near K2? Really makes you want to read why. Heck of a beginning and it doesn’t slow down. Payne Harrison hasn’t lost his touch.

[Stanley McCray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hope this is first in a series

Have always liked the authors work glad to see something new from him. Liked the plot and the characters. Look forward to seeing more.