OPERATION HAIL STORM by Brett Arquette

I received this as an offer from Brett, I took it up as this was described as a techno-thriller, and I like a good thriller (McClean, Jenkins, Higgins, Bagley, all great.) I admit to being dubious since the techno part of that made me think twice, I’m not exactly a technophobe, more of a techno-illiterate, but I got the book anyway and settled in with it. I found it a little slow to start, hampered by my ignorance of a LOT of the technical references, but once I was 50 pages or so in the characters were starting to grab me.
That aspect caught me up. I liked the people, the setting, and the plot, and when I finally put the book down about 5 hours later I’d had an excellent read. Yes, I skipped over most of what to me was technobabble, but the useful thing about this book is that a reader can come at it from either level. I’m sure someone who really knows their scientific onions would love every minute of it, they’d get caught up in the technical aspects and understand that stuff, finding them cutting edge. On the other hand, someone like me, who knows absolutely nothing about any of it, and happily skips most of that, still enjoys as I said, the characters, the plot, and the background.
This is what I would describe as a ‘very today novel.’ And yet, the motivation behind most of the events is as old as anything human and completely believable, as are those involved in the events. I’d say, that if you like thrillers, give this techno-thriller a try, if you’ve been hesitant to try one before, this could give you a very pleasant surprise.