Ghost Watch

Vin Cooper #4

by David Rollins

Special Agent Vin Cooper is feeling reckless. He volunteers for the dumbest and most dangerous job going: personal security operations in Afghanistan protecting bent politicians.

But when his principal is killed in a suicide bomb attack, Cooper is reassigned to a cushy job nursing a couple of needy African-American entertainers putting on a show for US military advisors at a secret base in Rwanda.

Or so he thinks.

Things go horribly wrong when their United Nations chopper is forced down in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the middle of an all-out firefight by opposing forces. The nightmare only intensifies when some of Cooper's people, including one of the entertainers, are captured.

While risking his life to rescue his principals, Cooper spies a US DoD advisor in the enemy encampment, which is awash with American weaponry. It seems that their forced landing in this inhospitable place was no accident...

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Military Fiction, Ebooks

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 10, 2010

About the author

Hiya, I'm a fiction author and I live in Sydney, Australia. I guess my best-known work is the series featuring Vin Cooper, a special agent in the United States Air Force OSI.

I have published eleven novels, which most recently includes the seventh novel in the Cooper series, the highly controversial KINGDOM COME.

I've recently discovered the joys of Substack. Come and take a look at davidrollins@substack.com where I'm also serializing BLOOD & EMPIRE, the sequel to FIELD OF MARS.

Reviews

[Jim A · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Rollins is an Australian author I stumbled across six or seven years ago. His protagonist is Vin Cooper, a U.S. Air Force investigator.

In Ghost Watch, Cooper moves away from investigations for the air force and into personal security under the auspice of the U.S. Government. He loses a principal in Kabul and takes another set of principals, a couple of rock stars and their entourage, doing a USO type concert for U.S. troops in Africa.

The story gets interesting when Cooper and his charges are the targets of some of the political groups in Africa.

In Africa, nothing is really as it seems.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ghost Watch, the newest book in the Vin Cooper series did not disappoint. The book takes you to Rwanda where Vin is doing personal security for a rap star doing a USO tour. I was worried the way the previous book ended, but I now see how the two were tied together. It's a fast read that will keep you entertained from start to finish. If you are looking for a series to start, you could do far worse than the OSI character Vin Cooper. I am patiently waiting for the next release. A definite 4.5 out of 5 stars!

[Balthazar Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 4th book in the Vin Cooper series is a real adventure through the jungles of Africa. The previous books are more crime oriented books but in this Vin moves to the role of a personal security officer, bodyguard. It adds a whole new level to the character.

This is a great adventure book and well worth a read.

[Dan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

You wanna read something that will keep you sitting in your chair, biting your nails??? this is the story. Rollins has really written a jewel here..
Special Agent Vin Cooper is feeling reckless. He volunteers for the dumbest and most dangerous job going: personal security operations in Afghanistan protecting bent politicians.

But when his principal is killed in a suicide bomb attack, Cooper is reassigned to a cushy job nursing a couple of needy African-American entertainers putting on a show for US military advisors at a secret base in Rwanda.

Or so he thinks.

Things go horribly wrong when their United Nations chopper is forced down in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the middle of an all-out firefight by opposing forces. The nightmare only intensifies when some of Cooper's people, including one of the entertainers, are captured.

While risking his life to rescue his principals, Cooper spies a US DoD advisor in the enemy encampment, which is awash with American weaponry. It seems that their forced landing in this inhospitable place was no accident.

[Tan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok. But can get a bit boring in the middle.

[Steve Fry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Compelling reading ........ and an author added to my list of must. reads.looking forward to my next book thank you Mr Rollins

[Davina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it. I found it a little confusing to start with because it jumped from past to present three times but once it got into the story it was likeable. It's not my normal genre and I found it a little violent and disturbing (this from a girl who turned the movie Blood Diamond off in the first ten minutes)so I was pretty lucky I managed to make it all the way through this book. I liked Cooper as a character. There was a lot of information on weapons which meant nothing to me but I'm sure it pleases those really into military fiction. I liked the dry humour and the army vs airforce rivalry that was occasionally mentioned. The bad guys were really hateable. It was getting to the point of my god what else can go wrong for these people. But it was over not long after that. So all in all it was fast paced, had likeable main characters and had some good one liners. That is what makes me like a book. So yes I liked it even though it may cause some nightmares.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vin Cooper is one lucky S.O.B. and David Rollins gave him a ride to remember in this book. I like Vin and respect him quite a bit after this latest adventure. He is a true hero, even with his smart mouth. I laughed out loud when he favorably compared the Taliban to the diva celebs (no spoiler here, read it yourself.) I also appreciated the slam on hip-hop/rap with the rhyming with m.f. comment. The jokes and levity were sparse due to the intensity of the war zones Vin was in. He thinks fast on his feet, appreciates and uses the strengths of others, and is extremely lucky. The intensity of some parts of the book was exhausting as you travel with Vin and his group. David's descriptions of the atrocities of man's inhumanity are sharp and I have no doubt that he held back. Vin in trouble, no matter where he goes or what he does, is a given and David always delivers an interesting and exiting read. Thanks David; I look forward to reading the next book!

[Randy Daugherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vin Cooper is a Special Agent with the Air Force, and lately he has a death wish,loosing someone he can't forget. When his latest principal dies in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan, he is offered a cushy escort job. He and 4 other POS will escort a couple of music stars to a small unknown base in Africa, one concert and then home, well that was the plan.
When there helicopter goes down and they are captured things head south fast. Vin and the others escape but two are still being held, and you leave no one behind. In attempting to free his other two charges, Vin discovers something aren't right here and his investigators alarm rings but he can't place all the puzzle pieces. He does no one thing he will collect all his charges and return them to safety and then someone is going to pay.
This was a good story line, full of action a little love and though fictionalized an account of the trouble in certain areas of the Congo and the horrors that occur there. Would highly recommend this.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot express enough how good Ghost Watch is! When reading the Vin Cooper series, I became mad at the 3rd book and now I understand why he ended it the way he did. He completely took Vin Cooper in a different direction than normal.

Vin Cooper is an Air Force Special Agent with the Office of Special Investigation. In Ghost Watch, he doesn’t perform his usual duties as an investigator but comes across interesting facts and puts it all together and figures out what is and what isn’t.

The book answered a question that’s been carried on throughout the book and answer some questions in the 3rd book as well. Extremely well written and had a great ending. I’m already dieing to read the 5th book when it comes out.

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh wow, I’m almost finished this book and I have to say I love it, what a journey, what a ride, what a damn adventure! I stumbled across David Rollins first book The Death Trust when I was given a pile of second hand books, took me a while to decide that I wanted to read it and I freely admit I waited too long. The Vin Cooper series takes you someplace else and will have you reading well into the night. I fully agree with another avid reader of the Cooper series, a soldier on deployment, let yourself become Vin Cooper. You will then get the best out of the books / series.

I’m hoping David Rollins is in the process of writing the next Vin Cooper novel, what would life be like without a smartarse, quick witted guy like that in it.

[Sheree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

[James Kidd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a 3.5, maybe 3.75 book. I really enjoyed it. It gambolled along at a fair pace. It got a little repetitive in the jungle, but the characters were there, the action fast and believable. No one was so amazing like a hero from a Matthew Reilly book, so all in all, a great spontaneous pick up from the library. I have ordered two of the books (the only ones in Norfolk fact fans) from the series. This also made a v welcome diversion from Matter, which I have just gone off rather.

[Henri Moreaux · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ghost Watch is written by the Australian writer David Rollins, and let me tell you, he does a good job with this novel.

Mystery, adventure, action, dark humour all tied together in the jungles of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with the star protagonist Vin Cooper.

If you like either action, adventure, or military based fiction novels you'd be doing yourself a favour to check out not only Ghost Watch but all of the Vin Cooper books.

[Ian Pattinson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I struggled through the prologue and first chapter with a narrator/central character who proved to be racist, sexist, homophobic, arrogant, ignorant and, the worst crime of all, not very interesting. Maybe the rest of the tale, told in flashback, explains how he got to be that way, but I really don't care.

[Adz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt this book brought Vin Cooper into an entirely different light. It is easily on par with the first book of the series being an action packed read. I really enjoyed the direction that Rollins took with this novel, in some places being quite brutal in it's depiction of the action.

I'm looking forward to the next two books!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good Vin Cooper novel. This one is less mystery and a lot more like a Dirk Pitt thriller with one action piece after another from Afghanistan to the Congo where most of the book takes place. Three hundred pages of out of the fire into the fire.

[Kirk G. Meyer]

Good read

Not my favorite as that was the first book but a great part of the series. It was lengthy in certain areas but flowed well. Not all that believable but under the right conditions I believe it could be possible. I look forward to the next in the series.

[eastwood (do you feel lucky punk,well do ya) · Rating 2 out of 5]

littered with typos spoilt the enjoyment of this book,it is quite a good story but what a shame some pages you were playing guess the word

[Rachel Nowakowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this to the end and enjoyed it. Not one of my favourites but the story was engaging and the characters were interesting rather than loveable.

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed the story and finished it in quick time as it got me in.

[Jim Morton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vin Cooper is the man....outstanding action, pace and detail. Love this book.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Violence

There's too much graphic violence in this story,,it's probably literally accurate but wasn't needed. A little goes a long way. Also I felt there was too much indepth armament information just taking up page space. Not necessary and makes the story go slower. The story could of stood on its own.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Further adventures of OSI's "bad boy" investigator Vin Cooper (#4)...providing personal security for rap artists providing a concert for US advisors serving in Central Africa the group is shot down & the race for survival in the jungle is on...great, fun read!!!

[Darren Lim]

really nice. the girl better be hot af though.