The Rocket’s Red Glare: A Thriller, James Patterson and Matt Eversmann, authors; Blythe Melin and Kiff VandenHeuvel, narrators
The Chesapeake Security and Training Company (CTSC), was started by the very wealthy tech expert Tristan Dent. He has hired a group of ex-Rangers to act as a clandestine “military for hire” when necessary, on special assignments. Their code name would be the title of the book, Rocket’s Red Glare. This group would operate under the aegis of the United States government and with the approval of the President. After an exercise overseas that was successfully conducted, but not entirely by the book, there was a need to investigate the rules that were broken. The group was sent stateside for an inquiry. Although they had performed heroically, they would still be under the microscope. They had disobeyed orders.
During this period of time off, several members of the team RHINO planned to stay at the leader’s home on the island of Nantucket. Nathan Phillips spent his down time at his home in Madaket. Unbeknownst to him and his fellow retired military, Senator Coleman Harrison had set up his campaign headquarters right next door to Nat’s home and sanctuary. On the night he arrives home, all Hell breaks out as he tries to enter his home and is attacked and arrested. The area was closed due to the meetings of the Senator who was running for President. The one redeeming feature of the event was his introduction to the lovely Secret Service Special Agent in charge. The SAIC, Rowan Martin, the lead agent protecting the Senator. She had been the arresting officer. When the Attorney General intervenes, he is freed, and they become involved in somewhat of a relationship.
From out of the blue there is an explosion on the water. A ferry had exploded and all on board were victims. There were no survivors. Then the airport was attacked. Driving home from a gathering at a home on the island, Nat and his friends see an IED in the road and disarm it before they or anyone else is blown up. They discover that the events of the evening were not accidents. Someone was terrorizing the island. When they go in the direction of a landscape vehicle that had seemed suspicious, they find a severed hand on the beach. The Senator who was running for President and the lead agent, Rowan, have been abducted and one of them had been tortured. Is this a plot to start a war of terror in the United States. There are hints that it is being engineered by a man in Paris. However, things are not always what they seem to be, but who would want to terrorize the island of Nantucket and possibly start a major war with the United States? What would be their end game?
Soon, Nat Phillips and his friends, who had only recently arrived, realized something beyond an accident was occurring and they contacted CTSC and Dent. They immediately went into action, and he and his team were given their first domestic assignment to find out who was behind this terror attack. As the action plays out there are heroes and villains in unexpected places. There are traitors and patriots as details are revealed. Who will win this war? There are many similarities with events of today which makes the book a bit more frightening. How will this end? Who will be held responsible? Will the good guys catch the bad guys? Do some slip away?
In some ways, this novel feels like the Tom Clancy series that covers the escapades of a clandestine organization called the Office, that works behind the scenes to keep America safe, Jack Ryan is the hero of those books and feels like the counterpart of Nat Phillips. The novel is about intrigue, espionage, terrorism, treason and betrayal. It is very violent and often very detailed to the point of tedium. Many characters are introduced, sometimes seemingly with little pressing reason, and often the dialogue seemed extraneous and lengthy just to add pages, but that is what led me to believe that this book was being set up for future books in the series. The characters and descriptions were being introduced to be used in the future. The reader will have to read the next one, if and when it comes out to find out why some of the characters were introduced and to follow them into their future.