By Myra Gabor
Action/adventure meets The Twilight Zone.
The story begins with a giant man lumbering into the Iraqi town of Solan, carrying a pack that weighs hundreds of pounds. When some soldiers ask him to stop, the 7-foot-tall giant drops his backpack, reaches inside, and detonates a nuclear device. The town is vaporized, and anyone who isn’t melted by the intense heat soon dies of radiation poisoning.
When the next giant appeared in Baghdad, the United States and Israel each decided that they had to assess and stop this new threat. Especially when their intelligence told them that although one arm was shot down, another arm reached into a backpack and detonated another bomb. Most of Baghdad was gone, along with American and other international diplomats and their families.
The third monster was intercepted en route to Israel. A fighter jet’s bullets nearly shattered it, but failed to stop it, and only a fighter jet’s missiles could stop it.
The creatures don’t stop to eat, drink, or rest. Their bodies are covered in scars, as if they were stitched together. Ancient Arabic writing is engraved on various parts of their bodies. When the remains of these giants were brought into the lab, the Israeli scientist explained that despite the body’s death, the cells still wanted to regenerate. In other words, this is a living creature that, while not alive, can hardly stop doing its bidding – to destroy. With no scientific explanation, some people think that perhaps magic is bringing these creatures to life. Of course, this is not a technology that Westerners know how to replicate.
Based on the direction the creatures appear from and their nuclear capabilities, protagonist Alex Hunter and American and Israeli fighters surmise that the creatures were sent by Iran, working with the Jihadists with the goal of destroying the West.
What’s so frightening about this book is how believable it is. It’s not your run-of-the-mill zombie virus-infecting-everyone story. It shows how easily a few focused creatures could destroy Western civilization, and how easy it is to produce and deliver a nuclear device. Entire cities are destroyed before anyone realizes it’s possible.
For the tech geeks, there’s a lot of talk about weapons, both handheld and jets. The author talks about satellites’ ability to zoom in, see through buildings, and take photos underground. He also details special body armor that makes Robocop look like a kindergartener. All of this is pretty scary. I don’t know if any of this exists, but it sounds like it does.
This is another sequel to the Alex Hunter series of books. There are references to other stories in the book, but this book is in a class of its own.
I never thought I would enjoy an action novel, but this one was riveting. A little scary, but worth the read.
Book here.
score:5/5
