Ultimate Weapon

by Chris Ryan

Overview

International bestselling author and real-life SAS hero Chris Ryan brings nonstop battle action to this pulse-pounding military thriller set in Iraq.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781602860711
Publisher:	Weinstein Books
Publication date:	02/03/2009
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	418 KB

About the Author

Chris Ryan joined the SAS in 1984. During his ten years in the elite squadron, he was involved in overt and covert operations, and was sniper team commander of the anti-terrorist team. During the Gulf War, Chris was the only member of an eight-man team to escape from Iraq. For this he was awarded the Military Medal. For his last two years he was selecting and training potential recruits for the SAS.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

The apparent intelligence snafus that led up to the Iraq War provide the backdrop for this intricately plotted thriller from bestselling British author Ryan (The One That Got Away). Sarah Scott, a Cambridge University graduate student conducting nuclear research, goes missing just before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Her father, Nick Scott, a former SAS trooper who was captured in the first Gulf War and tortured in Saddam's dungeons, and Sarah's boyfriend, Jed Bradley, a current SAS member, join forces to find her. Naturally, Nick and Jed despise each other, but a lovely and extremely devious female intelligence agent makes sure they cooperate. Ryan, himself an SAS veteran of the first Gulf War, makes his two heroes' actions and motivations credible. The book offers an ingenious answer as to why Saddam was "really" overthrown, though those who know their armor may have a few nits to pick with how the author describes the way a Russian T-55 tank works. (Feb.)

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Publishers Weekly

The ultimate weapon in this gritty, violent, and action-packed novel is the secret of cold fusion, an almost mythical source of cheap energy that the oil barons would like to suppress. A young and brilliant female scientist has apparently discovered the secret and is kidnapped by Hussein's men in the days leading up to the 2003 Gulf War. When her father, a former member of Britain's elite Special Forces, the SAS, and her sometime boyfriend, also SAS, find out, the chase is on to rescue her and the secrets she may have discovered. Their search takes them to war-torn Iraq, where they have to fight their way in to save her and then fight their way back out. Complicating matters, the two men hate each other. This U.S. debut by Ryan, a former SAS member and author of numerous thrillers published in England, is a readable and fast-paced thriller, despite an implausible plot premise and some action that's way over-the-top. Recommended for larger collections.
—Robert Conroy

Library Journal

Two veterans of the British Special Air Service reluctantly join forces to rescue the beautiful young scientist at the center of their lives. U.K. bestselling author and former SAS commander Ryan (Firefight, 2008, etc.) taps into his military experience to create riveting action sequences. Unfortunately, the plot can't support the velocity of Ryan's writing. His hero is Nick Scott, a disgraced Gulf War veteran broken under torture. After the death of his wife, this defeated soldier hires himself out to protect Algerian oil rigs, sending what money he can to his daughter Sarah, a gifted Cambridge University physicist. Just as he's arrived home to London in early 2003, he finds that Sarah has disappeared, leaving an unlikely 100,000 pounds in her bank account. Scott's search is paralleled by the experiences of SAS soldier Jed Bradley, Sarah's off-again boyfriend. His first mission is to lead a bloody raid on a suspected weapons facility, trying to find WMDs to justify the invasion of Iraq. Following the money in Sarah's account, Nick discovers an implausible scenario involving his daughter's invention of a viable cold-fusion method and a sinister cabal of scientists and terrorists who have secreted her away to Baghdad. "You know my daughter's been kidnapped by Saddam Hussein?" asks Nick in one of several dated references. Against all logic, Nick and Jed are chosen by their government's intelligence service to lead a hell-for-leather raid on the Republican Palace to save Sarah. Ryan's continental debut doesn't match the substance of Andy McNab's Nick Stone novels, but its breathless pace and frenetic firefights make for an engaging diversion. An animated thriller, originally published in theUnited Kingdom in 2006, that promises ample entertainment for Military Channel junkies.

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Chris Ryan’s novels:

“Slick, polished and gut-wrenching . . .”
—Irish Times

“Chock full of military fat to chew on . . . will keep you awake until dawn.”
—FHM

From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the Publisher