Marshall Hail, an industrial billionaire and respected physicist, is a man on a mission. His mission turns to revenge though once his wife and twin daughters are killed by terrorists. Now his only desire is to kill the those responsible for taking his family from him. When a super rich and intelligent man wants to kill you, it is time to watch out.
Marshall Hail has the ability to do away with just about anyone he wants wherever he chooses to do so, but he isn’t capable of this all on his own. He has thousands working for him. And he has drones, lots of them. He has so many drones that each one of them has a name. In order to keep them straight, each one has been named after a rock band.
The first chapter of this book captured my attention and wouldn’t let go. What appeared to be an eagle was circling over the estate of the current North Korean dictator, but it wasn’t an eagle. It was a drone that looked like an eagle, feathers and all. Other drones joined in, but the efficiency with which the operation was pulled off and completed astounded me. Then I learned that this group of people didn’t even work for the government.
The government had no clue who was responsible for the assassination of the current dictator of North Korea until he claimed the payment for doing so. Then the United States government wanted to work with him. Enter the CIA and one of its operatives. Is this going to be a marriage made in heaven? Or is something going to go wrong?
Hail doesn’t trust Kara, the operative, and she doesn’t trust him. But their goals are pretty much the same.
reading, pexels
This is a political thriller with events that I can see happening. The scenario with North Korea isn’t unbelievable, especially when you look at our current situation with them.
The ending is left open, but it’s not a cliffhanger. It won’t keep me up at night, tossing and turning in anticipation of what’s going to happen. My guess is that the sequel to this book will be just as good as Operation Hail Storm if not better.
Anyone who likes good guys vs. bad guys thrillers and cool technological gadgets used for spying, etc, will love this book.
Amazon Link: Operation Hail Storm
Favorite Sentences:
Retirement, as it pertains to many North Korean politicians, is iffy at best.
Back down on the water, the buzzing bees had been replaced with the sound of a thousand woodpeckers hammering their beaks on the inside of the metal shipping container.
reading, the-bookworm.net
Dumb and beautiful were disarming traits that went together like ice cream and chocolate.
As the natural elasticity decreased, those prominent cheekbones looked more like a skeleton holding up pasty chicken-looking skin.
The white over blue fishing vessel was a mass of jutting beams, pulleys and cables that seemed to surround the ship like a spider protecting its territory with a steel web.
New Words Learned:
enigmatic – resembling an enigma, or a puzzling occurrence, situation, statement, person, etc.; perplexing; mysterious
gimbal – a contrivance, consisting of a ring or base on an axis, that permits an object, as a ship’s compass, mounted in or on it to tilt freely in any direction, in effect suspending the object so that it will remain horizontal even when its support is tipped
Japanese red pine – pine native to Japan and Korea having a wide-spreading irregular crown when mature; grown as an ornamental
kvass – a Russian beer made from fermenting rye or barley and having a dark color and sour taste.
nomenclature – the names or terms comprising a set or system
okroshka – a cold soup of Russian origin, usually garnished with sour cream
parafoil – a structure, usually made of a strong yet light fabric, having a shape similar to that of an airplane wing, and used as a kite or a parachute
tyurya– a cold soup
About the Author:
Dubbed “the father of the drone thriller,” Brett Duncan Arquette was born in 1960 and anointed with his mother’s pen name “Duncan”, given to him by award-winning author Lois Duncan. During her career, his mother Lois has written over 32 best selling young adult books, some of which have been made into movies, including the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer. Brett was raised in New Mexico and moved to Florida on his 30th birthday.
Arquette spent most his career working as the Chief Technology Officer for one of the largest Circuit Court Systems in Florida. In 2002, Computerworld Magazine selected Arquette as one of the “Premier 100 IT Leaders” in the world, describing him as a “visionary” in reference to the cutting-edge technology. His books are peppered with technology acquired from his vast experience in advanced computer and audio/video systems.
