Peacemaker

by Gordon Kent

Book Overview

From the acclaimed author of Night Trap, the second exhilarating tale of modern espionage and military adventure featuring US Navy intelligence officer Alan Craik. US Navy Intelligence officer Alan... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425185400
• ISBN13: 9780425185407
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 528 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

6 Months' Reading, but a naval classic

Deary me, what a fantastic book! Okay, it took me from January to July to read it, but I'm all the more happy for reading it.The novel starts at the main character's house, the main character being Alan Craik. The main characters are having a farewell party in the house: Al Craik is going to NavyIntel; his wife Rose wants really to be an astronaut; Harry O'neill, a funny guy with a lot of good wit is going to train to be a good spy; Dukas is going to an intelligence agency IVI; and the Peretz's are going also into the intel industry. Craik is out in the navy: there will soon be a launch of Peacemaker: a missile that the public, and some of the military even!, think is a satellite capable of keeping peace all around the world 24/7. Of course, it's not that at all. It's a missile capable of dropping hundreds of Uranium rods and exploding them with force. That is what scared me at first reading. Dukas finds Pigareou, a French intelligence officer who is hunting out war criminals: Dukas decides to join him. For months, they are looking out for the world's most dangerous war criminal who could potentially destroy the Peacemaker Ops. Fleetex, the pre-launch exercise goes disastrously wrong as the navy, and the big headed admirals, feel that their crews are bad, and I mean bad. Craik abruptly leaves the ship off the coast of Zaire as he finds an astonishing but worrying piece of truth: Harry O'Neill has been captured. At this point, there is a lot of bloody war and terrorism: in Bosnia, Colonel Zulu, the infamous war criminal is craving to cause chaos and mass death: he needs to mass produce murders for he himself was a sad child, but the reader reads more in to that in a later chapter. When O'neill is found, and both Craik, Harry himself and Al's helper, Djalik, are found to be desperately ill and injured, they find that Rose is doing a fab job of the Peacemaker Op, it's just that their footsteps in the mud are being traced: by Russians and Libyans. Mike Dukas has found, through a Serbian spy, Obren, where Zulu is. In other words, Zulu is going to get shot any point in the book. Part three? I'm going to refrain from giving too much away, but the Russians and Libyans are mistaken for the bad ones in the blue sea? But what are their real intentions? Is the US Navy really playing the good guy in the game? I personally believe that if you have the time to read such an epic thriller, and the notion that there are always bad people in good institutions, you would really enjoy this book. It may be long, but if you hack through the pages and really appreciate the atmosphere attained on such a matter, you would really lov it. I'll award five stars.

Exciting and complex thriller.

This is a book of many parts, and most of them are very exciting. There are a number of plots running together and tied to each other in a reasonably satisfying manner. This structure ensures that the book retains its interest throughout. The pace is relentless and driving; the sort of book that is truly difficult to put down. The principal caharcter, LtCdr Alan Craik is the sort of hero that is common in cartoons; he never fails, never tires, and always wins in the end. Despite this 'Boy's Own Story' approach, the character works. He is surrounded by his friends and supporters, even to a crusty old admiral who watches on with indulgent pride as Craik scores yet another win for the US Navy. There is a lot of accurate detail in respect to naval aviation and carrier operations.On the downside, I felt a growing sens of "deja vu" as plot-line after plot-line was introduced. This book, it seems to me, is not original and borrows some of its themes from other areas, either books or film. I can't quite place it, but I've seen it before.Additionally, there were 31 spelling errors; all of these were in the form of letter transposition that enabled a spell-checker to pass over the faults. For example, "chanced" was altered to "changed" and completely destroyed the meaning of the sentence and it is only by context that one is able to insert the correct word. I also counted 11 sentences where there were key words omitted altogether. This lack of accuracy matters, not just by way of maintaining decent English, but crucially because books that rely heavily on accurate detail fail if you begin to suspect that lack of rigour has been allowed to prevail. It was notable that more than half of the errors occurred in last third of the book.

Very Navy, yet, very readable.

Gorden Kent - an supberb father/son writing team. Very current Navy with women playing significant roles. Complex and exciting. Once into it, I couldn't put it down until I was finished.

A Winner

The assignment is something that all the US Navy top brass wants to direct. Yet a woman, Lieutenant Commander Rose Craik obtains the job of directing the launching of the top-secret military satellite Peacemaker off the Libyan coast. Adding to her elation is her spouse Navy Lieutenant Alan Craik has just been transferred to the ship as an information officer.However, the reunion is short lived as Alan learns that Hutu rebels led by Serbian terrorist Zulu has captured his close friend, CIA agent Harry O'Neill. Alan rescues his buddy with the help of a SEAL, but they trek across an unfriendly stretch of Africa like fish out of the sea with little chance of survival. At the same time, Rose finds herself beleaguered by an international cast to include her own country, Russians, Libyans, and Frenchmen.If PEACE MAKER seems everywhere, don't fret it is. With several major subplots taking place in Serbia, Africa, America, and Libya and its coastal waters, Gordon Kent shows his talent by engaging the reader with a non-stop thriller that brilliantly ties everything together. The plot is complex way beyond the normal rules of the military espionage thriller. Fans will fully relish what is probably the sub-genre's best book of the year so far and want to read the previous Craik family album, RULES OF ENGAGEMENT.Harriet Klausner