This capital investment company has come across a startup
pharma company that is working on a drug that is designed to prevent PTSD.
Seeing an opportunity, the CEO, Steve Horn, reaches out to a small group of
folks with the wherewithal to profit handsomely when the drug gets FDA
approval. Along with the typical lawyer, accountant, and his personal
assistant, Horn has a connection with a former congressman (and failed
Presidential candidate) now government consultant who, most importantly, is married
to the current SECDEF and leading candidate for President in the next election.
Not to mention an ambitious Admiral with designs on becoming the Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs. Get this woman elected, she can push the FDA for approval.
Providing the drug to all those who serve means billions in profits.
Problem is an adverse event associated with the drug. Mice
develop brain tumors. While the drug developers think they have the solution, a
brief safety trial on humans is needed. This admiral arranges for a SEAL
squadron to be non-consented subjects.
And now the fun begins.
Commander James Reece is a career SEAL. Pushing 15yr as a
commander in the field. No desk for him - he belongs in the field. His team’s
current deployment is Afghanistan and have received an unusual assignment that
has come down not via the usual intelligence networks. No, this one came from
the home-based brass. They are told that a high valued target is in some nearby no name village. That’s
about all Reece gets. Go in, kill the target and anyone nearby.
The assignment gnaws at Reece’s gut, but he follows orders.
As they make their final approach on the house, the entire area blows up. His
team is dead. He and his #2 (Boozer) are all that remain. A bunch of helo’s
full of Army Rangers descend to get the two survivors and the dead out and
they, too are attacked. 60 Rangers, their support, and flight crews are dead. The
largest death toll from a single task. As the leader and survivor, Reece’s knows
this catastrophic failure will rest on his shoulders.
In the Bagram hospital, this one doc trying to save anyone
he can tells Reece that CT scans on a bunch of the dead or dying SEALs show a
brain tumor. So does Reece’s CT. Given the rarity of brain tumors, it’s highly
unusual to see such a high concentration of tumors in a small group of men.
Reece and Boozer are sent back to San Diego to face the
music from the military, civilian government, and the media. After checking in
at headquarters and before heading home to his wife and young daughter, he stops
in at Boozer’s apartment only to find him dead of an apparent suicide. He
collects his senses and heads home where he finds his house encircled with dozens
of police and EMTs. The cops say it looks like a random gangbanger assault. Given
what happened in Afghanistan and the pressure soon to come, the press and
others start to think that Reece has lost his mind.
In his daze, Reece makes contact with some former SEALs and
others who know him and respect his skills and abilities. They know he couldn’t be
behind any of this. With the help of his friends, he comes to realize that this
is all connected to the tumors. And, that a small core of people stand to
become exceedingly rich once the drug is approved.
So I ask you now: What would be your worst nightmare? How about a pissed off
SEAL with nothing to live for and nothing to lose.
So he makes a list of those behind the loss of his men,
friends, and family, going after them one by one.
Many thanks to the good folks at Atria and at Emily Bestler Books
for the advance copy. This is the initial effort of Jack Carr, himself a former
SEAL. For regular readers of MRB, you may recall that I've praised Emily Bestler Books for the quality of titles in their catalogue. A book from Emily Bestler Books is going to be good, very good.
Now I’ve read a number of debut books. If this isn’t the
very best debut I’ve read, it certainly is in my Top 5. If we at MRB graded
books on a 1-5 star rating, I’d be tempted to give this a 6. Sum it up in one
word: WOW! Had life not encroached, this would’ve been a single sitting read.
No down points. None. It starts fast, stays fast, and finishes even faster. If you
like Scot Harvath (Brad Thor), Jack Reacher (Lee Child), John Wells (Alex Berenson),
Bob Lee Swagger (Stephen Hunter), et al., you are gonna add James Reece to your
list of favs. I have a hard time believing that this won’t be on numerous best
seller lists this year. Trust me, folks. This is a certifiable winner.
East Coast Don
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