Book Reviews

Title: The Last Spymaster
Author: Gayle Lynds
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 031298877X

As chief of the CIA's elite Clandestine Services, Jay Tice was a legend throughout the world of international intelligence. But secretly he was also a traitor, selling information that would compromise the security of the United States for decades to come. Since his treachery was exposed, Tice has been kept under strict surveillance in a maximum security prison. Then one morning, his cell is discovered empty. Tice has vanished--without tripping an alarm or leaving any trace of his passing.

Elaine Cunningham is a hunter, a CIA operative who specializes in finding people who don't want to be found. Young, gifted, and a maverick, she is assigned to track Tice--until she discovers there is far more at stake than an old spy's last run for freedom.

Lurking in the shadows are other hidden players with their own lethal agendas…and from Geneva to Washington, Berlin to New York City, a deadly conspiracy is coalescing. With only a few hours to go and the future of millions in the balance, Cunningham must uncover the truth behind the legend of
THE LAST SPYMASTER

Title: The Last Spymaster
Author: Gayle Lynds
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 031298877X

As chief of the CIA's elite Clandestine Services, Jay Tice was a legend throughout the world of international intelligence. But secretly he was also a traitor, selling information that would compromise the security of the United States for decades to come. Since his treachery was exposed, Tice has been kept under strict surveillance in a maximum security prison. Then one morning, his cell is discovered empty. Tice has vanished--without tripping an alarm or leaving any trace of his passing.

Elaine Cunningham is a hunter, a CIA operative who specializes in finding people who don't want to be found. Young, gifted, and a maverick, she is assigned to track Tice--until she discovers there is far more at stake than an old spy's last run for freedom.

Lurking in the shadows are other hidden players with their own lethal agendas…and from Geneva to Washington, Berlin to New York City, a deadly conspiracy is coalescing. With only a few hours to go and the future of millions in the balance, Cunningham must uncover the truth behind the legend of
THE LAST SPYMASTER

Title: Seas of Crisis
Author: Joe Buff
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): B002CKJ674

The Allied Powers continue their uncertain and deadly war against the Fascist Berlin–Boer Axis. The Russians remain ostensibly neutral––but their actions hint at something far more dangerous. When the U.S. discovers that the Russians are providing the Axis powers with weapons technology that could shift the balance of power, Captain Jeffrey Fuller, one of the most decorated heroes in the U.S. Navy, is called in to put an end to this potentially catastrophic Russian involvement.

The plan to punish Russia is audacious. It is bold. And it is potentially suicidal. Jeffrey Fuller's orders are to clandestinely transport commandos to Russia, where they will infiltrate a nuclear missile facility, and fire one of their weapons––at the United States. If the plan is successful, the commandos, posing as German forces, will destroy the missile at it reaches the atmosphere, creating a dramatic shift in global politics and forcing Russia to ally with the United States against Germany.

Title: Sniper Shot
Author: Barry Ozeroff
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1596871504

Sniper Shot is the dramatic, suspense-filled debut novel about the ongoing and potentially deadly conflict between Ben Geller, primary sniper on the Stratton, Oregon Special Response Team and Bob Slater, the team's secondary sniper. Despite Slater's superior marksmanship, Geller is the primary sniper because Slater, a world-class long distance, high-powered rifle competitive shooter, lacks the patience and discipline needed to assume the position of primary sniper. Sniper Shot takes readers deep into the world of this special elite team, moving toward the kind of showdown nobody expects between Geller and Slater—one of them is a robber and murderer, and the game of cat and mouse between the two, sets up a taut, dramatic finale.

Title: Code of Conduct
Author: Karen Black
Genre: Fiction, Military
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0972444904

Matt Tillet, an F-8 Crusader pilot, is shot down over North Vietnam in 1966, just one week before his ship would be heading home after his second back-to-back six-month tour. Escaping from his spiraling out-of-control jet with only seconds to spare, and evading for all of three minutes, he becomes a Prisoner of War. Surviving torture, months of solitary confinement and the infamous Hanoi March, the dream of returning home to his wife and two children keeps him going. Repatriated in 1973, he returns to find his dream shattered.

Code of Conduct takes place in the middle of a war; however, it is not so much a blood and guts war novel as it is the emotional tale of a family torn apart by war, more than seven years of separation, and the long journey to reconstruct their lives.

While many POWs came home to broken marriages, the personal relationship portion of the book is purely fictional. The prison scenes are based on actual events that happened to the POWs in Vietnam. The story was inspired by many years of listening to the recollections of the author's husband and several of his Vietnam ex-POW buddies. Time does not seem to have faded their memories of what they went through (although they can now joke about it) and each reunion or get together provided a new tidbit.

The author's goal is to present the horrendous prisoner-of-war experience and the resulting shattered personal lives in the format of a novel.