Whirlwind: A Novel

by Joseph R. Garber

From the author of the "New York Times" bestseller "Vertical Run" comes this action-packed adventure. When a Russian spy stumbles across a top secret technology called Whirlwind, disgraced former CIA operative Charlie McKenzie is hired to track her down. He is the best at what he does, and what he does best of all is the CIA's dirty work. At least he did until his bosses double-crossed him. Jailed and disgraced to cover up a mammoth intelligence blunder, Charlie wants to get even.

Opportunity knocks when Irina Kolodenkova, a young Russian spy, stumbles across a top-secret technology called Whirlwind, the most important military breakthrough since the atomic bomb. Charlie's the only one with the very special skills needed to track her down and retrieve it. The desk jockeys who betrayed Charlie have no choice: they have to put him back on the job. But Charlie already knows too much. Once he recovers Whirlwind, his enemies plan to betray him again -- this time for keeps.

They put a lethal South African soldier of fortune on Charlie's trail. His orders: keep Charlie in your crosshairs until he finds Whirlwind, then take him down.

However, Charlie has plans of his own, and he is not going to be an easy kill. Quite the contrary

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Action, Espionage

404 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Joseph R. Garber was an American author, best known for his 1995 thriller Vertical Run and for the articles he wrote on technology for Forbes magazine.

Garber was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, moving often as an army brat. He attended the University of Virginia, but quit to join the U.S. Army himself, eventually graduating from East Tennessee State University in 1968 with a philosophy degree.

Garber worked for AT&T as a business long-distance consultant and a writer for the AT&T in-house magazine. He then worked as a consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton for a decade, writing fiction and non-fiction freelance in his spare time. After a prolonged flu, he quit his job and moved to Woodside, California, where he wrote for Forbes magazine and as a consultant in Redwood City, California until he was laid off.

Garber had written a manuscript, In Search of Shabbiness, as a response to the Tom Peters best-seller, In Search of Excellence. On the advice of literary agents, he rewrote it as the novel Rascal Money.

In 1995, his second novel Vertical Run, a corporate thriller, became an international best-seller. The book's setting is 200 Park Avenue, the address of Booz Allen. It was bought by a Hollywood studio in the 1990s only to be shelved in pre-production. His third novel, In a Perfect State, was published in 1999. His fourth novel, Whirlwind, with a retired CIA agent as protagonist, was published in 2004.

Garber died of a heart attack on May 27, 2005

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a security snafu at a secret base, a Russian agent absconds with the top secret details of Project Whirlwind. The CIA has no choice but to bring in the man they betrayed to track her down.

He holds up the agency for a fortune then goes to work. He finds her pretty easily, then of course, the two fall in love and have the intelligence communities of two countries pursuing them.

Nothing extraordinary. Not really a time capsule, but you can see the way the winds were starting to blow in 2004.

[John (JC) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not think Joseph Garber could write another novel as good as Vertical Run ... I was wrong. This is indeed a splendid read.

[Bob Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a good book. Solid 4.5 stars. Lots of language. Some grueling parts. Some very strong language.

I would like to see the main character on some other adventures however I believe the author has passed away.

[Eva J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I actually gave this book 3.5 stars

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic book. Nearly as good as vertical run. Joseph R Garber was on a level of Baldacci, Flynn, Ludlum, and others in that group of amazing authors. What a great loss to literature, I know he had much more to contribute.

[Tomasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

And so, the Overwrought Thriller Writer strikes again! ...And don't tell me this wasn't intended to be a movie, with Clint Eastwood as the ruggedest, badassest oldster under the sun, and somebody like Dolph Lundgren as Johan Schmidt. Most of the set pieces are all too cinematic (in the dumb, Michael Bay way), too.
Also, the usual dumb mangling of Russian language. Because whyever not, nobody cares. And massive product placement (yay, Gelandewagen).

[Ramona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good action

Like the main characters, the story and the action. I did stumble over the " inner dialogue ". This made it difficult for me to get back to the actual conversation. I admit to skipping ahead when I came across a long piece.

[Mark Ritter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good read until it became absolutely over the top Hollywood good guy evil guy! Had such great potential then you can just see the author figuring how much more over the top can we get with everyone knowing everyone’s move every second. Blee h

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little slow in the beginning, but took off midway and ended like a sky rocket!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read his other book a few years ago and couldn't put it down. This book was much the same way always leaving you wanting to know what was going to happen next.

[Cristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as Vertical Run, one of my favourite action thrillers ever, but still a serviceable fast read.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting reading - keeps you guessing as to the end

[CJ Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting, very fast paced action, wonderfully written, slightly romantic, and super surprising ending, what’s not to love?

[Earl · Rating 2 out of 5]

not near as good as the previous one of his I read. writing is ok, plot is kinda flaky.

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 2004. A James Bond for the AARP set.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the humor of our hero Charlie, story a bit connected to current president Biden in corruption with China.

[Lamar Haggard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable Read

Great novel. Joseph Garber is a gifted author. Vertical Run a slightly bit better than Whirlwind. Need 4 more words

[Katherine Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was torn with this one. For about 1/2 the book, I really enjoyed it. I loved Garber's first book, VErtical Run, and was mostly pleased with this one for awhile. But. I hate torture and gratuitous violence, but I gritted my teeth and moved on. I hate gratuitous romance ;-); you know, when a book appears to be a male fantasy? Yech, takes me right out of the story. But I continued gritting my teeth and read on. Then, at about a 1/4 of the way left, the author shows us one of our protag's secrets, the reason he went to jail, and I was like, he should have gone to jail and he should have stayed there. The guy is an idiot. Then, our protag does something really really really stupid and unconsciouable with an airplane (jetplane) nearly killing all on board and not caring, he said repeatedly, if he killed the people in a small town, all innocent folks, by the way, because he was in love. He didn't care if he killed his son, etc etc. I hated the book by this point and only read because that is how I am. I realized something: for someone to be a hero, that person needs to protect the innocent. A protag that will sacrifice others for "love" and "romance" is NOT someone I can admire. I hate this book, and will not read any others by this author. That's easy to do because he didn't write other ones. What a disappointment.

[Frederick Bingham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Charlie MacKenzie is a former CIA operative who had been used to do a dirty job and sent to jail to cover up for his superiors' mistakes. He did his time quietly.A few years later he is out of the the CIA and in private life. He gets a call from the President's National Security Adviser. Someone has stolen one of the nation's most important secrets. It was stolen by a Russian agent by the name of Irina Kolodenkova. Charlie is given the task of finding this woman and retrieving the secret device.Through a series of rather improbable plot twists and turns, Charlie and this Russian woman team up against a South African mercenary and his hired thugs. The action leads through the southwest desert, to San Francisco and eventually to a small fishing village in central California. All turns out well in the end, but you never quite figure out what happens to the device everyone was trying to get their hands on.

[D.K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disgraced CIA agent Charlie McKenzie had waited years for his former employer to call him and when it happened, Charlie made his employer pay big to bring him out of his mundane existence. Charles is ordered to find a young inexperience Russian female agent and to bring her back with the secrets she has stolen.

Accepting the assignment, Charles real motives are to clear his name and to receive the recongnition he truly deserves. If it meant aiding the Russian agent, then so be it.

I first noticed Joseph R. Garber through his novel Vertical Run and wondered if Whirl Wind would even come close to the excitement and entertainment of Vertical Run. It has. Whirl Wind is far different, but the story, characters and writing is just as thrilling.

[Marcel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was hard to enjoy. I had to limit reading to short periods. The plot was unbelievable. Characterization was thin, and again, unbelievable. Older man hires on to capture Russian agent, but only accepts position after extracting unbelievably great compensation. Because he is able to blackmail the system without any apparent risk, he is able to hammer out any bargain he desires. Then, despite the deal he makes, he immediately and for no apparent reason falls emotionally for the agent he is hired to capture and becomes her protector instead of enemy. All of this nonsense is made possible because of incidents that occurred among the various characters in the past, and these circumstances bleed out as the plot slowly develops.

[Puddlediving · Rating 3 out of 5]

Throughout the entire book, I kept asking myself if there really could be a retired CIA operative like Charlie. Makes for fun fiction, but can he really be one step ahead of a Russian spy all the time? If you want to read a novel that makes you think of "Burn Notice" Michael Weston type guy in his senior years, this is one for you. He got a bit paternalistic/protective of the Russian woman, and of course she met his son toward the end of the book. Lots of action, some political espionage, and a few explosions. Easy to visualize for the big screen.

[SeattleDave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agree with those who say its not the most compelling thriller, but it kept me interested most of the way. Its really all bout how the Government hides it dirty little secrets, and when a man of integrity and wits threatens to expose them, the will stop at nothing to silence him. Charlie is a character who is always several steps ahead of hi handlers and enemies, but he merts his match when Russian spy Kolodnikova, steals Whirlwind. Good read for a rainy afternoon.

[Kris Patterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An unexpected pleasure

I discovered this book by accident. I had read vertical run years ago and I enjoyed it. I found this book to be an enjoyable spy novel about a former spy who is called out of retirement to save his country. A good story and a good author. Take the time to check out vertical run as well.

[Sheila · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are in to the killing, revenge, cussing, killing over and over, than this book is for you. I felt the story just kept going and going. Charlie would get ahead, then Schmidt, then Charlie, then Schmidt. Throw in Irina and Sam and several people along the way who got killed. Schmidt had a whole army of people helping him and Charlie only had himself and Irina.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't realize until recently that Garber wrote a new book after Vertical Run, which I loved when I read it back in 1997. This one is definitely an action-packed book, but poorly written story line with gratuitous violence and language. Disappointing after how good Vertical Run, although it did keep me interested with some unexpected twists and turns.

[Rich Cook · Rating 2 out of 5]

Must have read this a couple of years ago. Got it yesterday at a used book store and started it last night. Read about a page and a half before I realized I had already read it. Must not have been all that great since I didn't even remember reading it.

[Bryan457 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this in the late afternoon, finished it in the early morning hours sometime, and I can't remember a thing about it. It was apparently a real page turner to keep me reading till I finished it.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the second book I read by Mr. Garber, and I liked it. It was another spy-ish thriller with much government intrigue. It had a few twists, but mostly predictable. Still an enjoyable read, and I plan to add more of his works to my reading list.

[Jim A · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't find this book anywhere near as good as his previous effort, Vertical Run. I thought Garber was trying too hard to be cynical and satirical in the dialogue and the character's self examination.