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Miranda Chase NTSB #3
Condor
The Antonov AN-124 Ruslan “Condor”—the heavyweight champ among production cargo jets. Russian tanks, American firefighting helicopters, rescue submersibles, satellites, city-sized power transformers...the Condor hauls them all over the world.
But when one lifts a top-secret payload rated as too dangerous, the US government decides it must take action. Untraceable action. Call Delta Force? SEAL Team Six?
No. They call Miranda Chase, lead crash investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board to fake a crash. Miranda refuses, but the stakes grow higher and higher. Soon she may be too late to stop the new Cold War from becoming the final war.
But when one lifts a top-secret payload rated as too dangerous, the US government decides it must take action. Untraceable action. Call Delta Force? SEAL Team Six?
No. They call Miranda Chase, lead crash investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board to fake a crash. Miranda refuses, but the stakes grow higher and higher. Soon she may be too late to stop the new Cold War from becoming the final war.
434 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 10, 2020
102 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
M.L. Buchman
322 books613 followersUSA Today and Amazon #1 Bestseller M. L. “Matt” Buchman started writing on a flight south from Japan to ride his bicycle across the Australian Outback. Just part of a solo around-the-world trip that ultimately launched his writing career.
From the very beginning, his powerful female heroines insisted on putting character first, then a great adventure. He’s since written over 60 action-adventure thrillers and military romantic suspense novels. And just for the fun of it: 100 short stories, and a fast-growing pile of read-by-author audiobooks.
Booklist says: 3x “Top 10 of the Year.” PW says: “Tom Clancy fans open to a strong female lead will clamor for more.” His fans say: “I want more now…of everything.” That his characters are even more insistent than his fans is a hoot.
As a 30-year project manager with a geophysics degree who has designed and built houses, flown and jumped out of planes, and solo-sailed a 50’ ketch, he is awed by what is possible. More at: www.mlbuchman.com.
From the very beginning, his powerful female heroines insisted on putting character first, then a great adventure. He’s since written over 60 action-adventure thrillers and military romantic suspense novels. And just for the fun of it: 100 short stories, and a fast-growing pile of read-by-author audiobooks.
Booklist says: 3x “Top 10 of the Year.” PW says: “Tom Clancy fans open to a strong female lead will clamor for more.” His fans say: “I want more now…of everything.” That his characters are even more insistent than his fans is a hoot.
As a 30-year project manager with a geophysics degree who has designed and built houses, flown and jumped out of planes, and solo-sailed a 50’ ketch, he is awed by what is possible. More at: www.mlbuchman.com.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 12, 2020
I like that team Chase is gelling more, that the rest of them realize Miranda has some quirks and work around that and help her navigate the world by managing those they work with. Through out this one there are times Miranda doesn't get some things, which leads to some funny moments, especially those with Holly. I love how Holly explains things to her and tried to get Miranda to keep some of them secret, yet Miranda doens't get that.
As to the downed aircraft...well quite a bit of that was predictable. I liked that Holly figured things out and seemed to get the better of the bad guy. But you have to wonder, they have a supposed ally that isn't really their ally, one who works against them and does so in this book. I so want that person to get caught and to get their, but it hasn't happened yet. I'm hoping it will in the next book, becuase they really need to go down.
As to the downed aircraft...well quite a bit of that was predictable. I liked that Holly figured things out and seemed to get the better of the bad guy. But you have to wonder, they have a supposed ally that isn't really their ally, one who works against them and does so in this book. I so want that person to get caught and to get their, but it hasn't happened yet. I'm hoping it will in the next book, becuase they really need to go down.
April 5, 2020
Originally published at Reading Reality
In this third book in the Miranda Chase NTSB series, the team has finally found the fifth man for its five-man band. And team leader Miranda Chase may have finally found somebody of her own who gets her for all the parts of who she is – laser-focused, single-minded, socially clueless, neuro-atypical and pure savant at figuring out what made a plane crash – no matter how much anyone – or everyone – attempts to hide the truth.
Whether they do that hiding before or after the crash she’s investigating hits the ground.
All of the books in this series have been named for the planes that have crashed – the planes that Miranda’s team has come to investigate. A Drone, a Thunderbolt and now a Condor – so far. And this one is no different in that start. But it is certainly different in the way that events play out.
And the story feels like it owes as much to Tom Clancy’s kind of spy games as it does to M.L. Buchman’s brand of military romance. In fact, it feels like the blend may be reaching an optimal mix for all kinds of combustion.
But first there’s a downed plane, a dead crew, a top secret and completely torched cargo, a Russian counter espionage agent and a CIA Director with designs on becoming the Second Lady of the U.S. – and eventually the First.
In the middle of it all, there’s Miranda Chase and her team, figuring out how and why the plane crashed in the U.S. – and how to make another one just like it crash in the middle of Russia – without ever giving the game away to anyone watching on either side of the deadly equation.
And without any members of her team getting bogged down – or taken out – by the weight of the baggage that they brought along for the ride.
Escape Rating A: In this third book in Miranda Chase’s series, it really feels like the team is hitting its stride. They have really begun to gel as a unit, and as a consequence, the individuals that make up the team have begun to trust each other enough to reveal some of the trauma that’s hidden in their pasts.
Miranda’s past, and its effects on her, have been part of the dynamic from the very beginning. She joined the NTSB and learned to analyze plane crashes because her parents died in one when she was a child. What she wasn’t aware of at the time, but certainly is now, is that her parents were CIA agents, and that their plane was sabotaged in a deliberate – and successful – attempt to take them out.
But we’re still learning about the rest of the team, just as they are learning about each other. As a consequence, the operation that provides the edge-of-the-suspense in this outing is wrapped around the team’s strongman – or in this case strongwoman – former Australian Special Forces operative Holly Harper.
Holly feels responsible for the deaths of her Australian team, as she was the only survivor of an operation that went so completely pear-shaped that even the pear would be outraged. Holly’s secondment to US NTSB was her way of putting her ghosts as far behind her as possible – literally half a world away.
She’s scared of being part of a “team” again, fearful that her bad luck has followed her across a very large ocean. But the operation that the team has been sucked into, faking the crash of a Russian military cargo transport in Russian airspace, is a job that requires all of the old skills that Holly hoped to never need again. But if she’s to save her new team, she’ll have to become the badass covert operative she left behind.
Because there’s an equally badass covert operative who is guaranteed to take out all the members of her new team with extreme prejudice. Unless Holly gets her first. Or unless that slimy new Director of the CIA plays them all.
The operation, in all of its many hair-raising and nail-biting parts is a big callback to some of the wilder adventures of the Night Stalkers in Buchman’s first military romance series. That both Holly and surprisingly Miranda come out of this adventure with the possibility of romance in their own respective futures made this entry in the series feel closer to what I was expecting back when I first picked up Drone – a heart stopping action adventure story with a little bit (so far) of heart pounding romance on top.
I can’t wait to see where Miranda and her team go – and which planes fall down in front of them – in the next book in this series, Ghostrider. I already have it on preorder!
I’ve enjoyed this author’s writing since I read his first military romance, The Night is Mine, back in 2012. He has written plenty of terrific books since then, ranging from military romance to action adventure romance to mysteries to SF to thrillers and some that straddle all the lines. I haven’t read them all – he’s been VERY prolific! – but I’ve read quite a few and enjoyed every one.
In this third book in the Miranda Chase NTSB series, the team has finally found the fifth man for its five-man band. And team leader Miranda Chase may have finally found somebody of her own who gets her for all the parts of who she is – laser-focused, single-minded, socially clueless, neuro-atypical and pure savant at figuring out what made a plane crash – no matter how much anyone – or everyone – attempts to hide the truth.
Whether they do that hiding before or after the crash she’s investigating hits the ground.
All of the books in this series have been named for the planes that have crashed – the planes that Miranda’s team has come to investigate. A Drone, a Thunderbolt and now a Condor – so far. And this one is no different in that start. But it is certainly different in the way that events play out.
And the story feels like it owes as much to Tom Clancy’s kind of spy games as it does to M.L. Buchman’s brand of military romance. In fact, it feels like the blend may be reaching an optimal mix for all kinds of combustion.
But first there’s a downed plane, a dead crew, a top secret and completely torched cargo, a Russian counter espionage agent and a CIA Director with designs on becoming the Second Lady of the U.S. – and eventually the First.
In the middle of it all, there’s Miranda Chase and her team, figuring out how and why the plane crashed in the U.S. – and how to make another one just like it crash in the middle of Russia – without ever giving the game away to anyone watching on either side of the deadly equation.
And without any members of her team getting bogged down – or taken out – by the weight of the baggage that they brought along for the ride.
Escape Rating A: In this third book in Miranda Chase’s series, it really feels like the team is hitting its stride. They have really begun to gel as a unit, and as a consequence, the individuals that make up the team have begun to trust each other enough to reveal some of the trauma that’s hidden in their pasts.
Miranda’s past, and its effects on her, have been part of the dynamic from the very beginning. She joined the NTSB and learned to analyze plane crashes because her parents died in one when she was a child. What she wasn’t aware of at the time, but certainly is now, is that her parents were CIA agents, and that their plane was sabotaged in a deliberate – and successful – attempt to take them out.
But we’re still learning about the rest of the team, just as they are learning about each other. As a consequence, the operation that provides the edge-of-the-suspense in this outing is wrapped around the team’s strongman – or in this case strongwoman – former Australian Special Forces operative Holly Harper.
Holly feels responsible for the deaths of her Australian team, as she was the only survivor of an operation that went so completely pear-shaped that even the pear would be outraged. Holly’s secondment to US NTSB was her way of putting her ghosts as far behind her as possible – literally half a world away.
She’s scared of being part of a “team” again, fearful that her bad luck has followed her across a very large ocean. But the operation that the team has been sucked into, faking the crash of a Russian military cargo transport in Russian airspace, is a job that requires all of the old skills that Holly hoped to never need again. But if she’s to save her new team, she’ll have to become the badass covert operative she left behind.
Because there’s an equally badass covert operative who is guaranteed to take out all the members of her new team with extreme prejudice. Unless Holly gets her first. Or unless that slimy new Director of the CIA plays them all.
The operation, in all of its many hair-raising and nail-biting parts is a big callback to some of the wilder adventures of the Night Stalkers in Buchman’s first military romance series. That both Holly and surprisingly Miranda come out of this adventure with the possibility of romance in their own respective futures made this entry in the series feel closer to what I was expecting back when I first picked up Drone – a heart stopping action adventure story with a little bit (so far) of heart pounding romance on top.
I can’t wait to see where Miranda and her team go – and which planes fall down in front of them – in the next book in this series, Ghostrider. I already have it on preorder!
I’ve enjoyed this author’s writing since I read his first military romance, The Night is Mine, back in 2012. He has written plenty of terrific books since then, ranging from military romance to action adventure romance to mysteries to SF to thrillers and some that straddle all the lines. I haven’t read them all – he’s been VERY prolific! – but I’ve read quite a few and enjoyed every one.
March 25, 2020
Another home-run!
Author M.L. Buchman has brought us another 5-star read, with this 3rd book in his "Miranda Chase Thrillers" series . Plot, characters, story-line, dialog...they all come together, nicely, to give the reader another, action-packed, military-aviation, techno-thriller.
I've come to really enjoy the characters in this series, as well as the exploits they find themselves in, and I look forward to reading more thrillers about Miranda, et. al.
... and, as there is a 4th book in the works (yea!), excuse me, please, while I go order it ...
Author M.L. Buchman has brought us another 5-star read, with this 3rd book in his "Miranda Chase Thrillers" series . Plot, characters, story-line, dialog...they all come together, nicely, to give the reader another, action-packed, military-aviation, techno-thriller.
I've come to really enjoy the characters in this series, as well as the exploits they find themselves in, and I look forward to reading more thrillers about Miranda, et. al.
... and, as there is a 4th book in the works (yea!), excuse me, please, while I go order it ...
April 11, 2020
Audiobook superbly narrated by M L Bachman himself. This series simply keeps getting better & better. Brilliant characters & excellent plot that twists & turns & keeps you fascinated & gripped. Technical detail is superb & very interesting to a non tech person. Relationships & characters continue to develop & become more familiar. Faking a crash pushes all of Miranda’s boundaries but of course she & her talented team are more than capable.
I hope this series continues for a long time & I can’t wait for the next instalment.
I hope this series continues for a long time & I can’t wait for the next instalment.
March 16, 2020
The military's largest cargo plane explodes, right as it lands destroying all the stolen Russian aircraft inside. Miranda and her team need to decipher if it was an accident or deliberate.
Why I started this book: Intense series, and I wanted to read the next book to make sure that my team was still okay.
Why I finished it: This book allowed other members of the team to stretch their wings, and it was fun to see the team dynamic.
Why I started this book: Intense series, and I wanted to read the next book to make sure that my team was still okay.
Why I finished it: This book allowed other members of the team to stretch their wings, and it was fun to see the team dynamic.
May 27, 2020
Wow. Great book. Finally all the pieces of Holly’s past and Miranda’s history makes sense. Exciting, suspense filled. Holly is a tough one. Mike is good for her. Major Swift finally is the one to understand Miranda finally. Still would like to know Mime and Jeremy’s stories.
Because of her parents Miranda grew up within that Clandestine Service.
Clarissa is still a mystery. Looking forward to the next book.
Because of her parents Miranda grew up within that Clandestine Service.
Clarissa is still a mystery. Looking forward to the next book.
March 16, 2020
Another amazing book
M. L. Buchman has done it again. I couldn't put it down. Military intrigue with a side of romance! Loved the development of each of the characters. Holly was a real star in this book. I can't wait for the next book to see where the relationships go and Team Chase's next adventure.
M. L. Buchman has done it again. I couldn't put it down. Military intrigue with a side of romance! Loved the development of each of the characters. Holly was a real star in this book. I can't wait for the next book to see where the relationships go and Team Chase's next adventure.
March 28, 2020
That one scene in the Tanty Bobor makes me wish for brain bleach. Aside from that it is a good book. I like the new character and hope he sticks around. I’m enjoying how each book is exploring the background of a different one of the main characters in turn.
July 24, 2021
Started with a sexual situation and it gets worse. Slogged thru hoping it’d get on with it but stopped at 1/2 of 1st novel. Just couldn’t accept punishment for not committing a crime. Main interest is an autistic main character, who acts more like Asberger dx.
March 16, 2020
This is a really good series. It's well written and well edited. Miranda Chase is a quirky but lovable character. I can't wait for the next book in the series.
April 18, 2020
Really enjoyed this one. Can't wait for more in this series!
August 27, 2023
When I want something very procedural, these do the job.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews