This is the fourth book in a six-book series (thus far) by David Bruns and J.R. Olson which examines the rather tumultuous presidency of President Serrano.
The story, told from several points of view, pulls readers into the hunt for the Naval War College bomber that everyone believed was dead. With the involvement of the President of the United States, the CIA, Mossad, China, and Sentinel, a private military contractor, politics plays a pivotal role in an intricate cat-and-mouse game.
In the midst of a global manhunt, the leader of the world's largest private army, Manson Skelly, sees his opportunity to upset the international order. Ian Thomas is supposed to be dead. A global terrorist responsible for the bombing of the US Naval War College, he was thought to be deceased for the last three years. But Don Riley, head of the CIA’s Emerging Threats Group, is staring at a social media post showing him to be very much alive and on the run in South America. The video of Thomas sparks a global The Americans want to bring him to justice. The Chinese want him to disappear. And the Russians want to kill him very, very slowly. But the world's most powerful nations aren't the only ones pursuing the most wanted man on the planet. The manhunt attracts an uninvited Sentinel Holdings, the largest private military contractor in the world. Helmed by ruthless CEO Manson Skelly, Sentinel's lethal capabilities rival those of most countries. Sensing an opportunity to secure his place as a player on the world stage, Skelly uses his superior tech and global assets to insert himself into the chase by recovering from the depths of the Pacific Ocean the payload of the JL-2 nuclear missile (a one-kiloton MIRV nuclear missile) that was aboard the sunken unmanned Chinese sub (a piece of tech that had been prevalent in the third book of the series).
For reference, this story takes three years after the Taiwanese conflict and moves from armed conflict to a high-stakes political and technological chess game that could change the world.
Now, Skelly has decided that the international order is up for grabs, and Don Riley will need help from all the wrong places to stop him—before it’s too late.
The race takes the reader through the US, South America, the northern Pacific, and ultimately Southeast Asia.
On a five-star scale, this book by the publishing team of Bruns and Olson is worthy of a vaunted five-star rating. Packed with heart-stopping action, ripped-from-the-headlines combat scenes, and page-turning twists, this military techno-thriller is a must-read for aficionados of the genre. Fans of Tom Clancy, Dale Brown, Stephen Coonts, Andrew Watts, and Mark Greaney rejoice, as this is not the end of the series.
As with all my literary ramblings, these are just my five cents worth.