Time of attack by Marc Cameron

"Time of attack", by Marc Cameron. This book is published by Pinnacle in Jan 2014 and has 448 pages. This is the 4th book of Jericho Quinn series.

Jericho Quinn is attending a wedding of his colleagues. His ex wife (Kimi), daughter, girl friend (Veronica Garcia) and best buddy (Jacque Tbido) are all present. A young Japanese girl tries to kill his daughter. His daughter moves at the last moment and his ex wife is shot in the leg, resulting in leg amputation. Emico Miyagi, Jericho's martial arts teacher, tells him story of her past and tells him that the girl who shot him is her daughter and arranges fake passport. He leaves for Japan.

A Pakistani terrorist procures a deadly plague virus from North Korea and unleashes it on America. A Japanese pharma company has developed vaccine for the plague. Governer of Oregon state and Speaker of Senate are working for terrorists.

Why did they shoot at Jericho's daughter and not him? What does he find in Japan? What kind of plague is it? Who is behind the Japanese pharma company? Are these two things related? Can Jericho Quinn find answers and save the world?

The story is fast paced. It takes place in USA and Japan. Emico Miyagi's character aquires a different dimension in this book. She blossoms into a main character from assisting character (in previous books) and provides vital skills and information to the hero. The book also tells us a lot about Japan and Japanese culture. It also shows the importance and significance of tatoo in Japan. This book too, like previous three books, has characteristic motorcycle chases.

Last 10% of the book is too fast to keep track. It is so fast that it appears to be wrapped in a hurry. However the book ends at a very interesting and tantalizing turn of events. The readers would feel the urge to wait for the next book in the series and know what happens next.

You can read this book even if you have not read the previous three books as there is very little reference to the past books.

An OK book. Read if you have time.

The third world war by Humphrey Hawksley

"The third world war" by  Humphrey Hawksley.

As the name of this book suggests, it's a fiction thriller. Book opens with an attack on Indian parliament on ground and by air. Pro US president of Pakistan is assassinated. There is Islamic uprising in South Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei. North Korean conventional missile strikes American airbase in Japan. An attempt is made on the life of Prime Minister of India. North Korea is in possession of nuclear warheads and biological weapons.

This book does not waste time in preamble. There is action from the word go. Characters are developed during the action and crisis. This is something new.

The author has demonstrated very good understanding of global politics, it's intricacies and fine balance required while making important decisions. He has predicted how each country and it's leadership will react in extreme situation. The book shows how world leaders think only about their country but still call themselves world leader. The speech of Russian President at the informal summit of important head of state is marvelous and sums up world politics precisely.

Some things however seem strange like president of Pakistan deciding to drop bomb on India in person or easy murder of America's national security advisor or character of Lazaro Campbell that acts as field operative and emissary of US president simultaneously or character of Hasan Muda who can breach the security of any country at will.

However the author seems to have lost the control some what after the nuclear war starts. The buildup to the nuclear war is excellent but the actual nuclear war is covered very quickly and author has given a miss to the opportunity to make it more interesting and dramatic. Readers wonder why the author chose to miss this opportunity and preferred to keep it vague, leaving so much to readers imagination.

Behavior of head of states during war sums up authors views on respective societies. American president comes out as unimaginative. Indian Prime Minister as most humane and nonaggressive. Chinese president as intelligent but who does not have absolute power. Russian president as wily. English prime minister as surprisingly firm. Japanese Prime Minister looking to regain pride. Pakistani and North Korean presidents demonstrate brinkmanship.

First  half of this 514 pages long book is unputdownable, second half is good but not unputdownable.  Recommend reading.

Dark angle by Geoffrey Archer

"Dark angle" by Geoffrey Archer.

Tom and Markus are good friends. One day Tom's 14 year old sister goes missing. While searching for her in the woods with police they find her violated body. The friends grow apart after this incident. The murderer is caught and sentenced.

Tom and Markus meet again in Korea while serving in army two years later. They come to know that Binny, the girl who had a crush on Markus, has married his elder brother. Markus has amorous encounter with a Korean girl but loses her in the heat of war. Years after returning from Korea, Markus goes to jail on charge of man slaughter. At the time of his release, his daughter from the Korean girl, now an American,  comes looking for him.

Tom is still not convinced that the convicted guy was murderer of his sister. But how can he find the truth? Is there a different truth? Was there a secret of his younger sister? Who was the murderer? Who is the dark angle?

Author has made the canvas of this book very big. The time span is about 50 years. A lot of space is occupied by the story in Korea much of which is not directly related to the story. That section could have been cut down to less than half. Although you know the killer towards end, the book does not end at that. The end of book is a bit unimaginable.

This book would have been more interesting had it been shorter. Not in the same league of other Archer books.

A so-so book. Not recommended.