Blackmail
by Rick Campbell is an entertaining military thriller. The
action is fast paced and the issues are relevant to today.
But, don’t expect this to be typical of the genre where
small Special Forces teams handle the issue at hand. This
book as well as the previous one has America fighting a limited
war with its adversaries, which makes the story even more
interesting.
On the heels of defeating the Chinese, America is struggling
to get its armed forces up to speed. Attempting to take advantage
of this situation, Russia decides to invade Lithuania and
the Eastern Ukraine. To test the waters, Russia attacked the
U.S. aircraft carrier patrolling the Western Pacific Ocean,
damaging it with a surprise salvo of cruise missiles. The
Russian government officially apologizes, claiming it was
the result of a fire control accident during a training exercise,
although in actuality it is a calculated provocation. Because
the US has not responded they become emboldened to take further
action by moving their fleet into the Mediterranean Sea, mobilizing
its Baltic and Black Sea fleets, making a pact with Iran,
trying to influence China and India to become allies, and
wiring every major oil and natural gas pipeline with explosives.
But as so many adversaries have done in the past, they underestimate
awakening America, the sleeping giant. In response to this
blackmail, the U.S. attacks Russian naval forces. With the
limited war waging readers feel they are fighting alongside
the characters in the midst of the battle.
The best books are the ones where readers can learn something
without being hit over the head. Campbell does this expertly.
The questions explored include: Why is Russia so paranoid
about the west; Is NATO obsolete since it is fearful to make
any commitments; and what will push the US to go it alone?
The characters are extremely well developed. Christine O’Connor,
the National Security Adviser, is impulsive, beautiful, intelligent,
and can stand her own against very powerful men. Not afraid
to defend herself she has been known to kill a few enemies
in the name of revenge. What gnaws at her is that she had
to sacrifice a friend’s life to save her own and the
mission. In this book she is coming to grips with her survivor’s
guilt and her motivations.
Campbell is hoping that Christine can become involved in a
relationship with her lover from afar, Jake Harrison. “The
ultimate plan is to get her and Harrison together, but I have
the problem that he is still married. I need to solve that
problem and I will tell the readers it will not be a simple
divorce.”
Interestingly females also run some of the other national
security agencies. The Secretary of State is Dawn Cabral and
the CIA Director is Jessica Cherry. What Campbell tries to
do is “balance fairly the male and female advisors.
Today, we do have strong women in leadership positions. Let’s
not forget there were three female Secretary of States, and
two female National Security Advisors. I was not the first
to have a female CIA Director. I believe Vince Flynn did it
with his iconic character Dr. Irene Kennedy. I don’t
think I am ground breaking with my characters.”
Readers will have a hard time putting Blackmail down. By the
end of the book they will be convinced on how America and
Russia could actually fight a limited war. The plot is a realistic
representation of how events can unfold with believable strategies
and tactics.
Reviews
of other titles in this series
Ice
Station Nautilus #3
Blackmail
#4
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