Publishers Weekly
Readers hungry for sex, bloody action and flag-waving patriotism will best appreciate this sequel to Stone's debut, The Echelon Vendetta, which likewise starred CIA agent Micah Dalton. The disparate elements of this testosterone-fueled thriller gradually come together, including a stabbing in Venice; the hijacking of a freighter in the South China Sea; a rogue SAS (Special Air Service) agent, Ray Fyke, imprisoned in Singapore's notorious Changi prison; and a Serbian mafia leader with grandiose ambitions. Each piece of the puzzle carries its own carnage and enough international intrigue to effectively make Dalton and his putative allies the only ones who can salvage the situation. Stone handles with aplomb such details as weapons technology, bureaucratic bumbling and ship navigation in treacherous seas, then tests the limits of human endurance with his heroes Dalton and Fyke. Though the plot hangs together well enough, the resolution takes a gigantic suspension of disbelief and leads to a less than satisfying denouement. (Apr.)
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Kirkus Reviews
The grandiose greed of a Balkan warlord sets infernal machinery in motion from Venice to Singapore in a follow-up to The Echelon Vendetta (2007). Micah Dalton, the CIA "cleaner" who had an extraordinarily complex mess to tidy up in his first adventure, is thrown back in the mix before fully recovering from the hallucinogens administered in the last adventure. He continues to see the ghost of old associate Porter Naumann, who warns him of dark days ahead, and the ghost does indeed seem to know whereof he speaks. Naumann even turns up at his own funeral in Cortona, Tuscany, an event Dalton attends with gorgeous girlfriend and scholar Cora Vasari. But the funeral itself is a hallucination. Dalton actually lies near death in a Venetian hospital after being stabbed with a shard of Murano glass, a shiv shoved by a svelte blonde runner in a Venice marathon. The murderess was employed by Branco Gospic, a Serbian crime boss who still seethes from the beating Dalton administered to two of his sadistic henchman in a previous adventure. Gospic is keen to see that neither Dalton nor any of his chums in any way endanger his current criminal enterprise. It's a fiendish business scheme that has, so far, involved the bloody hijacking of a rusty tanker off Indonesia and the death of every mug and hooker in attendance at a pool party thrown by another Balkan thug. Still leaking blood from the belly, pausing only for a memorable night with Cora, Dalton climbs from his hospital bed and into harness with glamorous British agent Mandy Pownall. The two have been charged by their employers with the retrieval of rogue agent Ray Fyke, the only survivor from the crew of the hijacked tanker, a former associate ofDalton's now in a Singapore prison, where he endures daily torture. As they work their way east, bullets, jets and helos fly, and that stolen ship heads for the West with a deadly cargo. Hyperactive but entertaining thriller.
AUGUST 2008 - AudioFile
Author and former military man David Stone (a pen name to protect his identity) offers the next in his series of high-stakes political thrillers that take his readers around the world at a breakneck pace. The writing is terse, clear, and thorough—giving the impression that Stone was witness to everything he recounts. Narrator Erik Davies is as believable and concise in his delivery as Stone is in his writing. Davies’s grainy voice is rich and deep. In his role as CIA agent Micah Dalton he is the perfect blend of intrigue and sincerity. As the omniscient narrator, Davies commands Stone's vivid descriptions of Venice and his extensive knowledge of foreign operations. This thrilling story is sure to capture the listener's imagination. L.B. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
