That would have been pretty crazy, to be on an aircraft carrier and watching a C-130 coming in to not only land but take off multiple times with its payload being increased for the next time it landed.

I half-expected some of the team members to die in this novel, especially "minor" or "supporting" characters onboard the Oregon because the author has "the unthinkable" happen - the Oregon is boarded by a hostile force of four enhanced individuals; I expected a bloodbath to occur at one point but it never happened. In this book, we get the intro chapter of the book to discover some of Maurice's earlier military history before he retired from the British Navy and joined Juan Cabrillo's crew. stars for believability of opening sequence and weird over protectiveness of getting crew into the sick bay.I also liked how Juan used one of the stolen missiles to take out the other stolen missile (hidden onboard a cargo vessel in an Iranian port. The author, Mike Maden did a very good job in writing this novel in the true style of the deceased Cussler. Maurice, the ship's steward, has always been an enigma to me; I have read the books haphazardly, so I have do not know if more about Maurice's background was revealed in prior books. Hoping to help a fellow former agent find her son at his boss’s request, the plot slowly takes us through a grand conspiracy, hoping to start a war with the US by firing a hypersonic missile at an aircraft carrier in the Gulf.

My only issue with the story is that Maden did not place the ship Oregon in the center of the action. Yes, its all luck and significant amounts of danger but at the end of the day we feel safe in knowing that our favorite crew will triumph again. I enjoy the stories where the Oregon people are in control, we get some character development, and the enemies have no idea what they are dealing with (and are doing the best they can) because, well, they have no idea this ship and crew exists. I think I've said this numerous times regarding these Clive Cussler originated books, but they're all good easy reading. At the same time, it was interesting to read about how Juan and his team sought to use non-lethal methods to attack the secret training camp at the abandoned monastery; that was pretty cool and well-written, I thought.

Juan Cabrillo is doing a favor for the CIA by tracking down the brother of a formerly high ranking Israeli agent. It is always hard to "develop" an existing character or team of characters in a series of books because they still have to remain true to their core identities so that the readers do not lose interest in them; in addition, there are so many different authors in the books that it can become difficult to keep track of true character development in prior novels. Like millions of others, I first became a Tom Clancy fan after reading The Hunt for Red October, and began my published fiction career in the same techno-thriller genre, starting with DRONE and the sequels, BLUE WARRIOR, DRONE COMMAND and DRONE THREAT. I think I had looked up a C-130 landing and taking off of an aircraft carrier before, because that was mentioned in this book, too, and I was, "Bunk! Another story line is our following of the lead doctor ventured into the jungle to locate a friend of hers to deliver pharmaceuticals to her project involving native people.