Reviews
Lincoln Barnes’ life is a mess. A former soldier and POW, Barnes was able to come back from the war and build a successful international marketing business, had a nice home, a wife, and status in his Port Townsend, WA community. But too quickly, it was gone. His customers pulled out, his business collapsed, and his wife left him for another man. Reduced to working as a store clerk and living in a rundown apartment, Barnes is not sure he wants to go on. But a nighttime glimmer across the water intrigues him and he “borrows” a kayak to investigate. What he sees on the shore near a Naval Magazine Base loaded with enough ordinance to destroy the entire community sends Barnes on a dangerous course that has the potential to either redeem him or to wipe him out along with everyone he holds dear.
Author Persun’s background in technology serves him well here as he, in clear and understandable language, describes how a disillusioned and wealthy businessman bent on revenge, a genius Chinese scientist, a demoted Naval captain, and three Iranian thugs fit into a conspiracy to use satellite wizardry to annihilate an entire city. He has created a taut thriller with engaging characters that is rife with tension and filled with twists that will keep you guessing until its riveting conclusion.
Choices: suicide or save thousands of other lives.
Sounds like a no-brainer but neither choice will change Lincoln Barnes’ life significantly. Not as he sees it. His business has failed, his wife left him for another man, and he’s now living off the kindness of others. Life is not at all what he had planned for middle-age. That’s not easy to swallow, which means that suicide is definitely on the table.
While contemplating his options, Lincoln peers across the bay and sees a suspicious glimmer of light flashing in the moonlight near the naval base which harbors huge payloads of explosives—bombs, torpedoes, nuclear weapons—that could cause the whole town to blow up if ignited. With little to lose, he borrows a kayak and paddles out to see what the glimmer might be and is spotted by several shady looking characters.
What are those people doing there? Why do they stalk him afterward? How is his wife’s new husband involved? Things become more complicated once he begins to do research. A missing spouse, a murdered sailor, a demoted captain, an ex-client, and a low-orbit satellite are parts to a puzzle that could destroy a community and everyone in it.