THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 22, 1996 TAG: 9609230250
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY BILL ROACH
LENGTH: 67 lines
Dick Couch employs a twist on the common thriller theme of terrorists in search of a weapon in Rising Wind (Naval Institute Press, $24.95). Japanese samurai capture deadly weapons at a storage point on Johnston Island in the Pacific and threaten to unleash them.
The terrorists take the island on the anniversary of the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor. SEAL team leader Lt. John Moody and a Japanese warrior, Capt. Shintaro Nakajima, must stop them.
The problem is compounded by the many U.S. hostages on the island and an impending storm that could carry deadly nerve gas to Hawaii and the western states. Carrier forces, submarines and SEALs position within striking distance, and the tension builds.
Couch delivers a first-class thriller with believable characters and a too-real plot. His technical details are authentic, but never overshadow the action.
Col. Patrick McLanahan, the military pilot from Flight of the Old Dog and Day of the Cheetah, returns in Dale Brown's Shadows of Steel (G.P. Putnam's Sons, $24.95.) Iran teams with China, develops an aircraft carrier battle group and moves to control the Persian Gulf.
McLanahan, now out of the military, is recalled to supervise a super-secret B-2 stealth bomber project designed to block the Iranian effort and prevent World War III. The action ranges from the gulf to the Oval Office as Shadows blitzes along with threat after threat to world peace. The novel is both engaging and entertaining.
Timothy Rizzi brings back Duke James from his earlier successes, Strike of the Cobra and The Phalanx Dragon, in Eagles of Fire (Donald I. Fine, $24.95). The Air Force officer is now a general and the president's de facto national security adviser.
A North Korean military leader attempts to produce nuclear war materials and sell them to Iran, while another North Korean general plans a coup and seeks U.S. support. Meanwhile, a chemical weapons delivery goes awry in Vietnam.
James must meet with the Korean coup leader secretly, while a special forces reconnaissance team attempts to locate a suspected chemical weapons cache. Both efforts are betrayed by the president's chief of staff, who thinks nothing of selling out his country for a cocaine habit. The picture is unrealistic - one hopes - but nevertheless chilling.
William Martin, author of Back Bay and Cape Cod, moves into a naval setting in Annapolis (Warner Books, $24.95). A writer of epic tales, Martin has crafted a centuries-long saga of two Annapolis seafaring families, the Staffords and the Parrishes.
The story opens with present-day journalist and self-appointed historian Jack Stafford writing the family saga, beginning in 1712. Stafford introduces members of the family who were involved in wars, ranging from the American Revolution to Desert Storm.
We meet Black Jack Stafford, the charming head of a mercantile trading company; Capt. Jason Stafford, who trades insults with President Lincoln; pilot William Stafford, a casualty of World War II; and Navy pilot Steve Stafford, imprisoned by the Iraqis in the Persian Gulf.
Though sketchy, the history succeeds because of the finely drawn characters and the story's suspense. Martin colorfully depicts the scenes and settings of the times and highlights the historical differences that mark each generation. A secret has split the families; eventually, it is resolved. MEMO: Bill Roach is a retired naval officer in Jacksonville, Fla., who
formerly lived and served in the Norfolk area. by CNB