Bond and DeFelice ratchet up the action in their third Red Dragon Rising novel (after 2010’s Edge of War) about a potential near-future war between China and the United States. China, having suffered a series of natural calamities, has attacked Vietnam, intending to roll over first that country then the rest of Indochina. All that stands between China and victory are a few American Navy ships and a small group of Army advisers, among them Maj. Zeus Murphy, who has led a guerrilla operation against the Chinese naval fleet anchored off Hainan Island to prevent an attack on Vietnam by sea. Meanwhile, U.S. president Chester Greene is attempting to get Congress to back the Vietnamese, and the Chinese have instituted a public relations campaign to thwart Greene’s efforts. Readers will root for Murphy as he comes up with a number of large-scale, MacGyver-like plans to enable the Vietnamese army to stand up to the Chinese colossus. (Jan.)
Larry Bond's Red Dragon Rising: Shock of War
Narrated by Luke Daniels
Larry BondUnabridged — 11 hours, 12 minutes
Larry Bond's Red Dragon Rising: Shock of War
Narrated by Luke Daniels
Larry BondUnabridged — 11 hours, 12 minutes
Overview
More than twenty-five years ago, Larry Bond helped Tom Clancy write Red Storm Rising, the iconic techno thriller of the Cold War era. Now he returns (with Jim DeFelice) to start a classic series for our era, Larry Bond's Red Dragon Rising, which imagines the globe torn apart by climate change and its economic and geopolitical fallout.
In book one of this four-book series, rapid climate change leads to mass riots in China, and a new communist premier seeks to relieve pressure by marching on traditional Chinese enemies in Southeast Asia. Desperately coping with its own problems, the United States wants to avoid nuclear war at all costs-but ultimately must fight to preserve world peace.
Editorial Reviews
The technothriller has a new ace and his name is Larry Bond.” —Tom Clancy, bestselling author of Without Remorse
“An adrenaline-fueled, multilayered thriller that cuts right to the chase... Constant action makes this a must-read for military adventure fans.” —Publishers Weekly on Larry Bond's Red Dragon Rising: Shadows of War
“A superb storyteller… Larry Bond seems to know everything about warfare, from the grunt in the foxhole to the fighter pilots far above the Earth.” —The New York Times Book Review
Third in the very-near-future war series (Edge of War, 2010, etc.) about a drought-stricken, starving and desperate China's efforts to secure food supplies by invading lush Vietnam. The United States, meanwhile, has its own problems. Gas costs over $14 per gallon, while the recession and housing crises are still in full swing. However, when China marches to war, U.S. President George Greene defies Congress and determines to aid Vietnam to ensure world stability. Oh the irony. Environmental scientist Josh MacArthur witnessed the Chinese attack and a subsequent massacre and even has footage of the event. But thanks to Chinese counter-propaganda and a lukewarm media reaction, Congress shrugs. Oh the double irony. CIA officer Mara Duncan, who helped Josh escape and evade assassins, now sidelined in Washington and given a desk job, analyzes some curious features of the Vietnamese defenses. As a typhoon approaches, a U.S. destroyer patrols off the Vietnamese coast in an effort to prevent Chinese troops from landing. And, in a top secret op, Majors Win Christian and Zeus Murphy join the Vietnamese defenders while Greene schemes to smuggle missiles into Vietnam to counter the Chinese battle tanks. Despite all this, only the timidity of the Chinese commanders prevents sudden and complete disaster. Is it credible? Well, sort of, though one can't help wondering why China didn't use its gazillions in hoarded U.S. debt to buy food, or how Vietnam managed to accumulate enough rice to feed a billion Chinese. However, the headlong pace, crackling action and splendid heroics more than compensate. Crank up the La-Z-Boy, lean back and enjoy.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940172408656 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Brilliance Audio |
| Publication date: | 01/03/2012 |
| Series: | Red Dragon , #3 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
Read an Excerpt
1
Beijing
Premier Cho Lai watched the American on the video screen dispassionately, willing himself to study the man and what he said with the mind of a scientist and observer. The American’s message was one of venom, directed at Cho and his people, the Chinese country, and especially the Chinese army. It made Cho boil with anger and lust for vengeance. He wanted with all his heart to punch his hand through the video screen, to smash it—or better, to punch through the screen and somehow take this Josh MacArthur by his skinny, blotchy neck and strangle him. Cho could almost feel the boy’s thorax collapsing beneath his hands.
Boy.
That was what he was. Not a scientist, not a man—a boy. A rodent. Scum.
No one would take him seriously if not for the images he’d brought back. They flashed on the screen as the scum’s voice continued to speak. The Chinese translation played across the bottom of the screen, but Cho had no need for it; he spoke English reasonably well, and in any event the images themselves told the story.
All of his careful planning to make the invasion look as if the Vietnamese had instigated the war was threatened by this scum. It mattered nothing to Vietnam—Vietnam would be crushed no matter what the world thought. China needed its rice and oil, and it would have it.
But this threatened the next step. For Cho knew that his country’s appetite was insatiable. The people who thronged the streets of Beijing not far from his compound were desperately short of food. Keeping them satisfied was an impossible task.
Impossible for anyone but him. The last two governments had toppled in rapid succession, each lasting less then two short months thanks to food riots and dissension. Cho had used the unrest to maneuver himself to power, promising to end the disturbances. He would remain in power only as long as he could keep that promise. It was not that he had any enemies—the most prominent had met unfortunate accidents over the past few months, or else been exposed in corruption trials, or, in a few cases, bought off with timely appointments outside the country. But as his own rise had shown, it was not the prominent one who had to fear in the chaos of the moment; it was the obscure. Cho had risen from a job as lieutenant governor for agriculture in the parched western provinces. Two years before, no one in Beijing would even have known his name. Now they bowed to him.
As the world would.
But first, this danger must be dealt with. America, the world, must not be brought into the conflict. The giant must not be wakened, until it was too late for it to stop the inevitable momentum of Chinese conquest.
Cho snapped off the video. He had seen enough.
Copyright © 2011 by Larry Bond and Jim DeFelice
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