Available:*
Material Type | Library | Call Number | Suggested Age | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book | Searching... Milton Public Library | F | Adult | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
U.S. Marine Major Peter Newman is hand picked for a dangerous clandestine operation as the head of the White House's Special Projects Office. His orders are clear: hunt down and eliminate terrorists before they attack. When the mission is compromised, he embarks on a personal odyssey that threatens his life, morality, and marriage.
Author Notes
Oliver Laurence North was born on October 7, 1943 in San Antonio. He is a former United States Marine Corps lieutenant colonel, conservative political commentator and television host, and military historian. North was a National Security Council staff member during the Iran Contra affair, a political scandal of the late 1980s. The scandal involved the clandestine sale of weapons to Iran, which was to encourage the release of U.S. hostages then held in Lebanon. North formulated the second part of the plan, which was to divert proceeds from the arms sales to support the Contra rebel groups in Nicaragua (which had been specifically prohibited under the Boland Amendment).
North's military career started with being a platoon commander during the Vietnam War where he was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. He was soon promoted to Captain of Northern Training Area in Okinawa, Japan. From that level he moved on to major and then to the National Security Council where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel.
Oliver North became lnown for his political commentary as host of War Stories with Oliver North on Fox News Channel. He has also written several books including: American Heroes, Heroes Proved, One More Mission and The Assassins. His title Counterfeit Lies made The New York Times Best Seller List in 2014.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
It's hard to figure out just what North has in mind here: a little payback, perhaps, for some of the controversial ex-Marine's treatment by the Beltway establishment? A Christian tract disguised as a topical thriller? An attempt to use every single governmental abbreviation-from AmCits (American citizens) to WHDB (White House Data Base)-in one book? This giant novel (the first in a projected series of three) fits every one of those criteria, and also has a plot so convoluted that a snake might get motion sickness and characters so thin they make Tom Clancy look like Jane Austen. After flashbacks to three sets of killings in 1986, the narrative skips to 1994, when a career Marine Corps officer, Maj. Peter Newman, arrives at the Clinton White House to head a special projects office that hasn't been manned since another Marine-Oliver North-was booted out in 1987. "Look, if you think I'm going to accept a job only to go down in flames like he did, you'd better think again. I'll resign my commission first," Newman growls. But the major, who lost a younger brother in the military disaster at Mogadishu recounted in Black Hawk Down, takes the job when he realizes it will let him go after the warlords (including a rich Saudi called Osama bin Laden) responsible for that debacle. In a preface dated December 14, 2001, Fox News reporter North writes from aboard a U.S. warship with troops bound for Afghanistan, thanking coauthor Musser for his "gift for words" that "has made my military phraseology comprehensible to civilians." Perhaps those thanks were premature. (Sept. 1) Forecast: Mission Compromised indeed-Ollie champions will read this, but even they may find it a slog. Author tour. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Plodding retro thriller with a supervillainous Osama bin Laden-and an unintentionally funny supporting turn by the author himself. After the slaughter of three valuable independent European agents for the US, National Security Advisor Dr. Simon Harrod recruits Major Peter Newman, a decorated Marine, for a new top-secret force of troubleshooters. It's 1994 and the White House is overrun with Clinton types-soft '60s leftists (Harrod himself is a "bloated and disheveled man in a two-thousand dollar Armani suit"). Harrod makes up his new team from a list of operatives with personal grievances against Middle Eastern terrorists-and Newman's brother Jim, a Navy SEAL, was savagely killed in Mogadishu by followers of warlord Mohammed Aidid, whom he was pursuing. Appointing Newman jeopardizes Harrod's already distant relationship with wife Rachel, who's on the brink of an extramarital affair (but very guilty about it), but in he goes anyway to take up the old office of Oliver North and-and, after finding a secret file stashed inside the fireplace, contacts the exemplary North himself for advice. North discloses some eye-opening episodes from his time as alter ego William P. Goode. The targets of Newman's special force, which includes spunky fighter pilot Major Jane Robinette, are Aidid, bin Laden, and other terrorists amassing nuclear arms. We learn that a cadre of Russians at the UN, led by gruff General Dimitri Komulakov, pulls the strings of these terrorist activities, even though Harrod unfortunately still thinks the Russians are our allies. Despite some eleventh-hour maneuvering by "William P. Goode," Newman's mission ends badly, though with acts of valor and the promise of two more volumes. The vigor and candor of North's memoir (Under Fire, 1991) are missing in this uneasy mix of fiction and fact, reducing both to predictable stereotypes and mainly offering summaries instead of action itself. Author tour
Library Journal Review
North's debut thriller, the first of a three-novel series, is set in the mid-1990s and revolves around Maj. Peter J. Newman, a U.S. Marine assigned to a top-secret National Security Council staff position at the White House. (Guess whose old job and office Newman occupies.) Newman is ordered to coordinate a covert operation to eliminate a group of international law breakers including Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. When the mission is compromised, Newman and his personnel are left hanging, and a series of events unfolds exposing God's hand in Newman's life. While there will be strong demand from North's legion of fans and where T. Davis Bunn is popular, this novel is an irritating act of hubris. By having his character conveniently discover evidence that proves North acted with the full authority of the White House in the Iran-Contra scandal, the author uses fiction to clear his muddied name and get his version of the truth out to the public. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgments | p. xi |
| Glossary | p. xv |
| Prologue: The Assassins | p. 1 |
| 01. Duty Station: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue | p. 15 |
| 02. Massacre in Mogadishu | p. 31 |
| 03. Vengeance Is Mine! | p. 64 |
| 04. The Special Projects Office | p. 77 |
| 05. Rachel | p. 98 |
| 06. Baghdad | p. 111 |
| 07. Andrews Air Force Base | p. 127 |
| 08. The Device That Betrays | p. 175 |
| 09. Learning Too Much | p. 197 |
| 10. Heating Up | p. 213 |
| 11. The Postcard | p. 229 |
| 12. The Mission Changes | p. 262 |
| 13. Mission Doubts | p. 293 |
| 14. Bartering Lives | p. 323 |
| 15. Mission Compromised | p. 357 |
| 16. Disaster! | p. 389 |
| 17. Closing the Door | p. 418 |
| 18. The Believer | p. 468 |
| 19. Ambush | p. 512 |
| 20. The Goode Messenger | p. 563 |
| Epilogue | p. 595 |
