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Dead
Hand
Written
by Harold Coyle
Reviewed
by John J. Rust
As
if things in Russia aren't bad enough, history repeats itself
as another giant meteorite slams into Siberia. The resulting devastation
is bad enough, but it gets worse. Seems during the Cold War the
Russians set aside about 20-30 ICBMs to automatically launch in
24 hours if all communications from Moscow have been cut off.
Well, the meteor strike sets off the Dead Hand system, which is
under the control of a ultra-nationalist general. When it looks
like Moscow isn't doing anything about it, NATO mobilizes its
elite units to take out the missiles.
Terrific book! I've always been a fan of Coyle. When it comes
to getting in the heads of soldiers, he is one of the best. Be
it the grunt in the mud or the four-star general in the Pentagon,
Coyle makes them all come alive. In DEAD HAND, he focuses on four
soldiers from four different countries. First there's SAS Captain
Patrick Hogg of the United Kingdom. Totally into being a soldier,
but right before he's sent off to Siberia his wife dumps him.
Once he's in the field, he realizes how much his wife meant to
him, and constantly wonders why she couldn't understand his dedication
to the Army. The whole time he's trying to shove his personal
life out of his head and carry out the mission, but it ain't easy.
Next up, there's Sergeant-Chef Stanislaus Dombrowski, a Pole serving
with the French Foreign Legion's elite les Commandos de Recherche
et d'Action dans le Profondeur, or for short, the CRAP team. You
gotta wonder how anyone can proudly stand up and say, "I
am a member of the CRAP team!" Then again, from what I've
read about the Legionnaires, you don't want to crack jokes like
that around them. But I digress. Stan's character gives you an
insight into the kind of brotherhood that is formed among troops
in elite units.
Major Anthony Fretello is basically a staff weenie for U.S. Special
Forces. Believes that if the plan looks really good on paper,
it must work in real life. When he is thrust into a field command
to take out the last Dead Hand silo, that belief starts to fall
apart.
Colonel Demetre Orlov is part of a special response team for the
Russian Ministry of Defense. Being a soldier dominates his life.
The man is subtly ruthless, to the point he'd even off his own
people if he thought they'd present a problem to his mission.
He starts out loyal to the state, but when he is sent to kill
the general in control of the Dead Hand missiles, a man Orlov
believes could help Russia out of its current situation, that
loyalty becomes strained.
Not a whole lot of shoot 'em up action, but it's the way the characters
deal with the situation in Siberia that makes this a good book.
Naturally, the NATO plan does not go 100%. The meteor has devastated
the landscape. Felled trees slows everyone's movement. Rivers
have flooded. Even the weather has changed because of all the
debris thrown into the atmosphere. That doesn't make the NATO
parachute jump into Siberia easy. The final battle at the last
missile silo rocked. I also dug the very end when the one SAS
officer gives his view on duty to one's country.
I think even those not into military adventures would like this
book just because Coyle did a remarkable job bringing these characters
to life.
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