Rogue Crusader

Author's Summary

A hijacked Israeli submarine. An unprovoked attack against a U.S. Navy destroyer. A civilian oil tanker with a secret cargo of nuclear weapons. Together, they add up to an ingenious plan to penetrate the ballistic missile defense of the United States.

Standing in the path of destruction is a crew of mercenary submarine sailors, led by ex-U.S. naval officer, Jake Slate. Exiled for crimes that should have earned him a military execution, Slate is not anyone’s idea of a hero.

But he’s all we’ve got….

MWSA Review

The best praise an author can receive is that readers want to read more of his work and I certainly do. I didn’t realize when reviewing Rogue Crusader that this is the third book in hopefully a long-lived series about ex-U.S. naval officer, Jake Slate. It’s not necessary to have first read the other two installments as author Monteith gives enough background on this rogue hero and his friends that the reader can, pardon the pun, dive right in.

Monteith is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who served aboard a Trident Missile submarine and as an instructor of combat tactics at the U.S. Naval Submarine School which makes me wonder if some of his plot lines are written from experience. If so, that authenticity makes for an engrossing and exciting action story mixed with the horrifying feeling that deep water combat terrorism threats happen and the rest of us just don’t know about it. But it also means that Jake Slate might be based on some real person and we have that sort of fearless, kickass expertise on our side.

Monteith is able to balance the highly technical descriptions of submarines and submarine warfare for those who understand such things with just enough additional information for those of us who don’t. Monteith is a rousing storyteller and master and commander of this genre. I am eagerly awaiting Jake Slate’s next adventure.

Reviewed by: Gail Chatfield (2012)