"Action, action, and more action espionage thriller"
Everything looks great to Alan Craik and his spouse Rose
Siciliano. The CIA appears ready to tap him for a highly
regarded espionage position and the astronaut school has
accepted Rose. Much faster than their rise to the top is
their collapse caused by the machinations of someone else. A woman in Venice blackmails CIA treasonous mole George
Shreed. Panicking and already over the edge with his wife
near death from cancer, George needs a fall guy who would
have been on the project but not quite visible and with
little protection to dub as the double agent selling
secrets to the Chinese. He selects Rose. His covert
actions lead the CIA to stop the promotions of Craik and
Siciliano pending the results of an investigation into the
activities of the duo. Their careers come to a halt but
refusing to idly sit by as the taint of treason is painted
on them, Alan and Rose begin their own inquiries into what
short circuited their lives. The third Craik-Siciliano thriller is loaded with action,
action, and more action somewhat at the cost of character
development. The story line emphasizes the shoot em up
thrill a paragraph that never slows down, but for new
readers Alan and Rose never seem quite real. Strangely the
double agent is probably the most complete player in the
tale as the audience understands his fears, doubts, and
motives. Fans who enjoy an energizing espionage thriller
will want to read Gordon Kent's latest global stimulating
novel. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted May 11, 2002
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The Alan Craik novels have earned GORDON KENT electrifying
praise for their breakneck pace and raw emotion, as well as
for some of the most remarkable heroes--and villains--in
fiction today. Now U.S. Navy Officer Craik is back in
action, all because one man, fueled by anger, ambition, and
pain, has ignited an explosive chain of events that
threatens not only two good careers, but world peace
itself.... TOP HOOK It's springtime in Newport and Alan Craik and his wife,
Rose Siciliano, are on top of the world. She's headed for
astronaut training; he's going into an espionage school.
Parents, pilots, lovers, and loyal navy officers through
and through, the husband-and-wife team are eager to take
the next step. Then it all comes crashing down. In a Virginia suburb of D.C., a senior CIA man has
committed a series of clandestine acts that have led him
into the most dangerous place he has ever been. Now George
Shreed's dark secret is in danger--and a woman is demanding
a million dollars in exchange for her silence. Shreed's
next desperate move is to find someone to take the blame
for the information he himself leaked. The fall guy will be
a woman: Rose Siciliano. Suddenly, an investigation targets Rose, and, by
association, her husband, Alan. And as a circle of
treachery tightens around them, events race out of anyone's
control. In command of an airborne unit on the USS Thomas
Jefferson in Trieste, Alan is contacted by the same woman
who is blackmailing Shreed. Soon he is being pulled into a
vortex of spies and counterspies while a series of stunning
escalations take his high-tech airborne attachment--and the
world--to the brink of war. In the most dangerous region on earth, Alan Craik is
crashing through forbidden airspace to find a spy, code-
named "Top Hook," whose act of betrayal is more complex--
and chilling--than anyone can guess. From the deafening roar of jet fighters launching off an
aircraft carrier to nerve-shattering clandestine meetings
in Turkey, North Africa, and Pakistan, Top Hook is a
relentless turbocharged ride--and the best work yet from
the most original writer in military adventure today.
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