Point of Honor

Point of Honor is the prequel to Blood Covenant, even though it was published afterwards (don't you just love it when authors do that?), featuring Major Jim Harper. It is set six years after the Gulf War. Saddam Hussein wants revenge, and has managed to acquire a particularly deadly and persistent variant of VX nerve gas from the Chinese. When the Chinese deliver the agent, something goes wrong, and a U-2 spy plane making an unscheduled flight takes photographs of the results.

Harper is sent out with a team of marines and a civilian weapons expert. The civilian should never have been sent on the mission and the marines are unhappy with their orders. Support for the mission is unreliable, and Harper fears he has been sold out, again.

Harper is a good, strong character, and even if you have not met him before, you quickly come to like him. There is a lot of computer stuff in this book, the target of Harpers mission is a Data Canter, apparently the Iraqis use Oracle!

It's not surprising that databases are a subject of the book, since De Bono runs a database consulting firm called 'Systems Consulting'.

The story is quite long, but it gets going quickly and has a good mix of politics, technology and action. Think Dale Brown but with computers rather than aircraft.

The characters in the book are very well portrayed, and you get to learn their personalities very quickly. The reaction of the civilian weapons expert when he ends up in a real combat situation is very well handled.

The book starts of at a good pace, and there are some good scenes, especially when the submarine makes the transfer of the VX, and when the Americans go looking for the sub, yet the book still manages to pick up even more towards the end. I cannot say much without ruining the story, but there is something which could be vaguely described as a game of cat and mouse near the end, and it is a true page turner. I had planned to put the book down to get something to eat at the end of Chapter 28, but kept on reading, and reading, and finished the book! It's not often that happens to me, especially with this genre.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Dale Brown has had control of this kind of market for too long, and he had better watch out!

--Leslie Meade Book Net

Blood Covenant

Douglas De Bono has made a thrilling entry into the techno thriller world with his first novel. In a market full of similar material this complex adventure mixing fact with fiction is an electrifying debut.

Arzamas-16 USSR
August 18, 1978

David squatted next to the KGB man. He looked like a child next to a Christmas tree and all the presents were for him. He pulled out the first static bag and unwrapped the heavy black plastic. Inside the bag, gently pressed into a white half-inch Styrofoam board, were rows of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips. They looked like an army of angry ants. He could make out the silk-screen printing identifying the chip number and Motorola’s logo. He reached out next to the plastic static wrap and touched it gently with his fingertips. He set the bag on the bench.

“I’ve never seen anything like these things,” muttered Yevgeny.

David nodded agreement. “Just some computer hobbyist in the United States.” He laughed to himself, “I wonder if the fools understand what they have created.” He turned, his eyes dancing. “Imagine, Yevgeny! A computer smaller than this case and more powerful than anything anyone has.”

“It’s not possible,” protested Yevgeny. “I’ve seen our computers. They are as big as this building. The disk drives alone are almost as large as your workbenches.”

David reached up, pulled a small Japanese transistor radio from a shelf, and handed to the Major. “This is how. They’ve abandoned tube technology almost completely, and they are moving towards the chip! The chip is getting smaller and smaller. Each generation has more capability in a smaller footprint. You can’t do that with tubes. Tubes get hot and take up space, and space requires a bigger footprint.”

“But we make the best tubes in the world,” protested Yevgeny.

David shrugged. “There used to be buggy whip makers too.”

He pulled out a larger bag and opened it reverently. There—each in their open bubble wrap and static bags, were 8080 microprocessors. Stickers indicated that there were stringent import/export control laws to be obeyed. International Business Machines and a second company called Intel were listed on the chips. David shrugged. Intel must be some minor manufacturer.

“These are the brains. According to my studies this chip can address up to one megabyte of memory.” He spread his hands wide and explained, “The memory board would have to be this large.”

“How much would that cost?”

“Thousands of rubles, I am sure. No one has done it.”

He found the PROM burner and a set of PROM chips next to them.

Yevgeny shook his head, “RAM, PROM, DRAM, CPU—an alphabet soup you’re brewing here.”

“Programmable Read Only Memory—we’ll burn the software onto these chips.”

Yevgeny pointed at the PROM chips asking, “On this you’ll build the program for the trigger mechanism?”

“Nothing quite so crude. It will all be logic gates and buffers. I’ll use machine code to make it work. Then, Major, you shall have your portable weapon.”

“How heavy?” he asked eagerly. Details were always important when talking to his masters.

David looked into the air. “I’d guess around seventy kilograms. The plutonium bomb should take about twenty-two kilos, and the lead shielding probably another twenty kilos. Then we’ll need some sort of steel housing and the computer trigger. I think we’ll need some batteries as well.” He stood and rustled through his notebook drawings. “I’m setting it up to use a dry cell in the event the lithium batteries fail. A capacitor should maintain all information in the non-volatile RAM.” He nodded confidently. “It’ll be quite a bomb.” He looked down at the Major and leered evilly. “You could carry it in a suitcase Yevgeny! But that’s the entire idea isn’t it? A man portable nuclear weapon.”

A cold finger traveled down Yevgeny’s spine. The Jew was supposed to be brilliant. Perhaps, he was going quite mad as well.

In the late 1970’s, Dr. David Kudrik, a Russian Jew is being held captive in Arzamas-16, a secret USSR town that does not exist on any map. David is a genius and has gotten a hold of some 8080 microprocessors. With this new technology, he is able to create approximately 132 nuclear bombs for the KGB. These small suitcase-size three-kiloton nuclear bombs, which David named “Samson,” are secretly placed around the world at designated spots by Major Yevgeny Yarovitsin. When the USSR collapses, the bombs are forgotten about because the KGB never reported them being made. Now, in 1999, Yevgeny is living the high life while selling these bombs to the highest bidder. Recently he has sold ten of these bombs to Iranian terrorist who plan on detonating them on United States soil. Lou Feldman, Assistant Director in charge of Domestic Terrorism Unit, learns of these suitcase nuclear bombs and has agents trying to figure out how many bombs there and who has them. Begrudgingly, he assigns Harvey Randall, who is on his black list because he embarrasses the FBI a few years back, to help figure out whom the terrorists are. Harvey, an overweight, middle-aged cowboy does things his own way, no matter the consequences, because he gets results. Louis Edwards, CIA officer and head of the Blackest of the Black, brings Major Jim Harper back to duty to help track down and eliminate the terrorists. Jim, with the help of Sergeant Darby Hayes and Harvey Randall is hot on the trail of the man planting the bombs, Michael Rehazi, an American-educated Iranian who is know as The Terror of Tehran. Little does anyone know, but David intended to seek revenge for the way he was treated by the USSR government. He intends to strike back at the USSR by programming a secret way for all of the Samson devices to detonate. Little does anyone know that twenty years after each device is build, the internal clock will send a message to activate the device. Now, the bombs are on American soil and the clock is ticking…

Blood Covenant by Douglas de Bono is the second book to feature Jim Harper. This is a military thriller revolving around terrorism in the United States and the planting of ten suitcase nuclear bombs. The first book featuring Major Jim Harper is Point of Honor. This story takes place about two years later. This is the second book I have read by Douglas de Bono. De Bono has a talent for writing fiction that is incredibly realistic. While reading Blood Covenant, I could not tell how much of the story was reality or what was fiction. I believed it all! De Bono obviously knows a lot about guns and how the military works. This book does a great jobs of delving into the political games played by both the US and USSR governments, both in the past and present, while at the same time giving us a glimpse of how these same governments handle certain situations that would shock the populace of these same countries. Jim Harper is a wonderful character with human flaws. Is he the best killing machine the US government ever made? Quite possibly. But is he human? Yes, sometime too much, which can be a detriment to his continued health. I would have liked to have seen more of him in this novel, but I was happy to learn more about FBI agent Harvey Randall, who I think is a great character. One thing I really liked about this book is the list if characters at the beginning of the novel. I constantly found myself referring back to this list as a read the story. Overall, Blood Covenant by Douglas de Bono is an excellent read and should not be missed by any fan of either thriller or military fiction. You will be left wondering just how much of this story is real and how much is fiction.

I rated this book an 8½ out of 10.

--Conan Tigard Reading Nook Reviews

Blood Covenant

In the late 1970s, KGB Chairman Andropov commissions the creation of suitcase-size nuclear bombs. He orders the weapons deployed in Western Europe, Japan, and America. The Soviet Empire crumbles, ending the Cold War. The weapons are forgotten -- until a Hezbollah terrorist cell decides to make New York's Fourth of July celebration it's last. The thread catapults Special Forces major Jim Harper and spymaster Louis Edwards into a desperate race against time to prevent the unthinkable from happening. Confronted by a determined terrorist known as Harlequin, squabbling within the American intelligence community, and an administration more interested in symbolism than substance, Harper tracks harlequin from New York to Boston to Washington to Chicago.

Blood Covenant is a highly recommended, gripping story that leaves the reader lunging from page to page in a frantic effort to keep up with the action and survive the building tension.

--Midwest Book Review

Reap the Whirlwind
by Douglas De Bono

Review Originally Appeared at: http://www.readingreview.com/reapthewhirlwind.html

Metropolis Ink, September 2002, 485 pp.
ISBN: 0-9579858-8-6

Genre: Thriller
Subgenre: Military
Reviewed: 8/4/2003

Panama City, Panama

Tuesday, May 16

2:00 PM EDT

"You have a spook working inside the embassy," Jim Harper said. "He's a big guy and yesterday he was wearing a white Panama style suit. Who is he?"

An Embassy, even a major one like Moscow or Beijing, is fundamentally a small community. The buildings are generally to small except for the signal intelligence gnomes buried three subbasements below ground level. In Charlie McGiffert's line of work, he needed to have a line on everyone coming into the Embassy. The Marine detachment provided perimeter and physical security; Charlie worked Intelligence angles. It was another one of his duties in an over-stressed and under-staffed office.

"Why would you want to know about him?" whispered Charlie. Nothing good could come from this conversation. As far as Charlie was concerned, Damon Layne was a creature belonging on the bottom side of a rock.

"Unfinished business," came the wintry voice behind him.

Harper had zeroed in on possibly the only person Charlie had no clue about. Damon Layne seemed to be an enigma. "Damon Layne is the one you're asking about." Charlie stole a glance back at Harper's face. There was no sense of recognition or satisfaction.

"What does he do?"

"I don't know," admitted Charlie. "He has his own portfolio."

"You're the FBI and you don't know," echoed Harper matter-of-factly.

"Yeah."

It made a certain kind of sense in the calculus of Harper's nether world.

"You know I can't make any deals with you. If I find you, I'll have to arrest you," explained Charlie.

The blue gray eyes seemed to change into black pools. "Figured it would be something like that, my war ain't with you or your people."

"I didn't know we were at war."

"I wouldn't be here, if we were at peace," replied Harper as he clambered of of the car and disappeared into the evening crowd.

Major Jim Harper, the Blackest of the Black, is contacted by the fiancé of Jonas Benjamin, a CIA analyst. Jonas was sent on a mission to Panama to observe the Chinese and their infiltration of the Panama Canal. Seven days ago he disappeared. News travels fast when Harper is seen in Panama and two FBI agents are injured while tracking him. Now, Lou Feldman, Assistant Director in charge of Domestic Terrorism Unit, is after Harper for almost killing the two FBI agents. When Harper runs into Sergeant Darby Hayes trailing him, he finds out he is under suspicion and clicks into full operational status. Meanwhile, Damon Layne, a free lance mercenary, is working on Spanish Poppy, a plan designed by the American Government to overtake the Panama cocaine trade while pocketing all of the money generated by the sale of the illegal substance. Harvey Randall, a former FBI agent, is brought on board by the Louis Edwards to track Goldenrod, a master spy for the People's Republic of China, who has been spotted again in the US. When Jim's family is attacked at home, he must decide if he is to remain retired, or go back into full service for the CIA. And if he does, can he prevent the Chinese from launching an attack on the US from Panama?

Reap the Whirlwind by Douglas de Bono is the third book to feature Jim Harper. This is a military thriller revolving around the Chinese taking over of the Panama Canal and planting missiles that could reach US soil. The first book featuring Major Jim Harper is Point of Honor and the second is Blood Covenant. This story takes place about one year after Blood Covenant.

This is the third book I have read by Douglas de Bono. What I really enjoyed about Reap the Whirlwind was the reappearance of a lot of old characters from the previous two books. I liked that Goldenrod was up to his old tricks, Taha Duri was seeking revenge for having his knee cap blown off (see Point of Honor), and Harvey Randall (a character I really love and hope to see more of) switched sides and worked for the CIA. This novel has more of Jim Harper in the story than the previous two books, which is something I have been wanting. Although the military action is not as intense as previous stories, this thriller keeps the reader's pulse racing as the conflict in the South China Sea heats up and Jim Harper and his twenty men prepare to invade Panama. Once again, I find it very helpful to have the list of characters at the beginning of the book. I find myself constantly checking the list as a reminder of whom I am reading about. If you are looking for the newest and best writer for a military thriller, look no further than Douglas de Bono. De Bono attention to detail about where actual military ships were on what dates is greatly appreciated. He takes statistical facts and write fiction that may or may not have happened. Only he knows the truth. Reap the Whirlwind is a dead on gripping book that I would recommend to any lover of military or government fiction. I look forward to seeing what he comes up with in his next book, Rogue State.

I rated this book a 9 out of 10.

An Awesome Thriller, January 6, 2003

At once frightening in its real possibilities, this multi-layered story brings terrorism to its ultimate madness. Just as corruption crumbled the great Roman Empire from within, the two 20th Century superpowers-Russia and the United States-teeter on ever rotting moral underpinnings, and in a struggle to dominate their New World spheres of influence in the 21st Century ignite radical Old World hatred.

Two former enemies in the Middle East-Iraq and Iran-join forces in the spirit of Islamic fundamentalism to punish the great infidels-Russia and America. They recruit an American Chechen fighting Russia's suppression of Chechnya and fund a series of missions to destabilize Moscow's hold over the former Soviet empire. One is a plausible explanation for the underwater explosion that sunk the Kursk nuclear submarine. His main mission, however, is to assassinate President Vladimir Putin on American soil following the presidential election in 2000, when the results are so harrowing that it is weeks before Americans know who their next president is. Saddam Hussein and Ayatollah Kambiz Abbasi hope that the murder of the Russian leader will throw these old enemies back in arms against each other and deflect attention from their regimes. Learning about the Chechen's plot, Putin sends out a KGB-trained butcher to hunt down this fleet-footed freedom fighter.

Meanwhile, in the United States, events unfold that color the country's honor bloody red. Good and evil merge in a mishmash of broken ideals and fanatic delusions. While a rogue mercenary, hired by a discontented splinter group that wants the 17th amendment revoked, unleashes a series of explosions that kill high-profile Washington targets, subversive political forces organize to fix the Bush-Gore election. This underworld of greedy power brokers called the Lexington Compact crosses into "black" CIA territory, using former assassins to cover their dirty tricks, and pitted against them is the FBI's Domestic Terrorism Unit, a team that is hog-tied by bureaucratic posturing. They are incredibly inept except for the help of three former special forces agents, who come out of retirement and end up beyond the law rendering proper justice in this new world without rules.

There is so much research and detail that the author has wisely listed all the characters and the roles they play in the front of the book. Though I had to refer to it a few times to keep everyone straight, the detail does not detract from the action and incredible descriptions (such as "Iraq and Iran sat like a hot griddle sizzling everything that crossed it" and "the thirsty sand sucked up the bloody carnage") as this thriller rockets from fact to fiction like a "live" exercise in terrorist anarchy. If anything, the "Rogue State" presents the best-case scenario as to why President Bush feels justified in raising his saber against those threatening terrorism.

This terrorist tome is a must read, and Douglas De Bono rises above even Tom Clancy and Clive Cusseler in his portrayal of the world today.

--Bonnie Toews Newcastle, Ontario Canada

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Firewall
by Douglas de Bono

Did you ever think that things were not always as they seemed? Did you wonder if there was more to the story than what was being fed to you by the mainstream media? If you are convinced that there are covert operations that take place without the knowledge of the American public, then Firewall will support your conviction.

Firewall covers the “things you never were told” concerning the Iranian hostage crisis, the Iran/Contra scandal, and the invasion of Panama. It is a fast paced book, containing both fictitious and historical characters, covering events in recent history from 1979 through the 80’s. It goes into detail about America’s “shredded” secrets, demonstrating what it meant to support the contras, no matter what. It takes a closer look at the question that was repeatedly asked during the Iran/Contra hearings, “Did the United States trade arms for hostages?”

Firewall is an intriguing book right from the beginning. One of the reasons why it is so gripping is simple: it discusses true events. It covers history that most of us are able to remember, and it challenges the way we think of the events and the people involved in the making of that history.

--Amanda Holzmer

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Rogue State

Reap the Whirlwind

Blood Covenant

Point of Honor

Firewall

No Safe Harbor

Douglas De Bono / DouglasDeBono.Com Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota E-Mail readermail@DouglasDeBono.Com

No Safe Harbor Everyone else ran away from the gunfire. Ike Kline ran towards trouble. The siege of the East Towne Mall begins…