Rogue Avenger: They Stole his Future. He Stole their Submarine

 Author's Summary

The U.S. Navy makes a big mistake when it thinks it can get away with sacrificing one of its own. Naval officer Jake Slate survives an explosion on a submarine, but the damage will haunt him forever. He learns that the worst harm resulted from malice, and when politically motivated naval officials bury the truth, they lock horns with the wrong guy. Slate's vengeance will turn the Navy inside out. Arms broker and French ex-submarine commander Pierre Renard discovers Slate's situation and recruits him to steal his Trident Missile submarine, the USS Colorado, and sell its warheads to Taiwan. Blinded by rage, unsure of his future, and uncertain of whom he can trust, Slate is confident in one thing - nobody can stop him from taking the Colorado. He allies with Renard and begins a journey that will define the fate of nations.

MWSA Review

MWSA 2006 Bronze Medal for Fiction, Thriller

Best New Submarine Book Since “Torpedo”! Perish the thought that someone could actually steal a nuclear powered submarine; and one that was loaded with Trident II D5 MK-5 missiles. After checking out the website and resources listed by the author inside his book jacket about how deadly these subs are, I read his book hoping it was really a remote and almost hugely impossible task. I came away thinking that maybe this was not so unthinkable. The author John Hindinger, a graduate of the US Naval Academy and a former naval officer on the USS Kentucky, a Trident Missile submarine, makes a plausible story seem frightening too real.

Rogue Avenger is in that same genre of great submarine thrillers as Jeff Edwards' 2005 award winning submarine book Torpedo. It has that same kind of hard realism mixed with great writing skills. The characterizations and dialog are done with gifted skill. The details about the workings going on inside a submarine of this type seems uncannily accurate and that makes the plot seems even more real. This is an outstanding effort for a first novel. One can only wonder what his sequel will be like.

The story of good guys, bad guys, heroes, evil people, suspense, betrayals, the twists, and what seems like realism, all mix together in a literary recipe for an adrenaline enriched, edge-of-your-seat, thrill ride! Great reading! Good entertainment! Highly recommended for all thriller-suspense-mystery-war-action junkies! Buy it, you will enjoy every minute of it!

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2006)