Soar

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From Publishers WeeklyThe title acronym is short for Special Operations Air Regiment, and is one of dozens of technical abbreviations whose easy use lends Weisman's gritty adventure some of its believability (footnotes aid the civilian reader). The story begins in the Xinjiang region of China, where Sam Phillips leads a small group of CIA operatives posing as a British documentary film crew. Their true mission is to investigate reports of Chinese nuclear weapons caches, and their capture by a small band of IMU (Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) guerrillas sets off alarm bells at the White House. The president summons Delta Force leader Mike Ritzik for advice on a rescue mission. The maverick Ritzik suggests a small covert team, in marked contrast to the show of force advocated by the secretary of defense. The proposed rescue is complicated by the captors toting a nuclear weapon, ready to detonate at any moment, in one of their trucks. For this and other reasons, the president assigns Ritzik a special partner, Tracy Wei-Liu, deputy assistant secretary of energy and an expert on the detonation of said devices. Using short, punchy sentences and quick cuts, the story moves back and forth between the condition of the captives, the situation in Washington and the exploits of Ritzik and company. Weisman (coauthor of nine books in the Rogue Warrior series) imbues every stage of the operation with appropriate complexity and suspense. His clear, precise prose should make the story riveting for both fans and newcomers.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistRichard Marcinko's collaborator on six Rogue Warrior novels resumes his solo career with a knowledgeable, fast-paced, near-future thriller. As U.S and Chinese negotiators sit down for arms talks, Uzbek terrorists capture covert American observers of a Chinese nuclear test site. The Uzbeks soon possess a Chinese nuke, too, which they plan to present to their Arab allies. The thefts launch a race between Chinese special operations forces, who want to get the nuke back, and U.S. operators who also want the bomb. The clock is ticking faster for the U.S. because of the hostages, who must be rescued before the Chinese discover them and break off negotiations in a blaze of publicity a la the U-2 spy-plane brouhaha of 1960. Weisman draws on his own and many others' covert intelligence and special operations experience to craft a convincing scenario and a great many gripping scenes and believable characters. A definite treat for thriller fans. Roland GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved