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Books by John J. Rust:
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PWP Member Book Reviews
 Dead
Hand
by Harold Coyle
Review by John J. Rust
As if things in Russia weren't bad enough, history repeats itself as
another giant meteorite slams into Siberia. The resulting devastation is
nasty, but it gets worse. It seems that during the Cold War the Russians
set aside about 20-30 ICBMs to automatically launch in 24 hours if all
communications from Moscow have been cut off. Well, the meteor strike
sets off the Dead Hand system, which is under the control of a
ultra-nationalist general. When it looks like Moscow isn't doing
anything about it, NATO mobilizes its elite units to take out the
missiles.
Terrific book! I've always been a fan of Coyle. When it comes to getting
in the heads of soldiers, he is one of the best. Be it the grunt in the
mud or the four-star general in the Pentagon, Coyle makes them all come
alive. In DEAD HAND, he focuses on four soldiers from four different
countries. First there's SAS Captain Patrick Hogg of the United Kingdom.
Totally into being a soldier, but right before he's sent off to Siberia
his wife dumps him. Once he's in the field, he realizes how much his
wife meant to him, and constantly wonders why she couldn't understand
his dedication to the Army. The whole time he's trying to shove his
personal life out of his head and carry out the mission, but it ain't
easy.
Next up, there's Sergeant-Chef Stanislaus Dombrowski, a Pole serving
with the French Foreign Legion's elite les Commandos de Recherche et
d'Action dans le Profondeur, or for short, the CRAP team. You gotta
wonder how anyone can proudly stand up and say, "I am a member of the
CRAP team!" Then again, from what I've read about the Legionnaires, you
don't want to crack jokes like that around them. But I digress. Stan's
character gives you an insight into the kind of brotherhood that is
formed among troops in elite units.
Major Anthony Fretello is basically a staff weenie for U.S. Special
Forces. Believes that if the plan looks really good on paper, it must
work in real life. When he is thrust into a field command to take out
the last Dead Hand silo, that belief starts to fall apart.
Colonel Demetre Orlov is part of a special response team for the Russian
Ministry of Defense. Being a soldier dominates his life. The man is
subtly ruthless, to the point he'd even off his own people if he thought
they'd present a problem to his mission. He starts out loyal to the
state, but when he is sent to kill the general in control of the Dead
Hand missiles, a man Orlov believes could help Russia out of its current
situation, that loyalty becomes strained.
Not a whole lot of shoot 'em up action, but it's the way the characters
deal with the situation in Siberia that makes this a good book.
Naturally, the NATO plan does not go 100% as planned. The meteor has devastated the
landscape. Felled trees slow everyone's movement. Rivers have flooded.
Even the weather has changed because of the debris thrown into the
atmosphere. That doesn't make the NATO parachute jump into Siberia easy.
The final battle at the last missile silo rocked. I also dug the very
end when the one SAS officer gives his view on duty to one's country.
I think even those not into military adventures would like this book
just because Coyle did a remarkable job bringing these characters to
life.
John J. Rust is Sports Director/Sportscaster for "The
News" 1490 AM, Prescott, Arizona. His publishing credits include the
sci-fi novel
EPSILON (Xlibris),
features in Lighthouse Digest and True Crime Stories, and more
than 40 short stories and series on
Fanfiction.net.
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