Mike Maden

Mercenary Juan Cabrillo and his Oregon crew confront a ship carrying contraband, which leads to uncovering the Pipeline, a massive smuggling enterprise. As fans of the series know, the Oregon is a 590-foot “rust bucket" tramp steamer on the outside and a technological marvel on the inside. It can move like a speedboat and can even change colors. The plot is complicated to say the least, and I will admit that I quicky lost most interest trying to follow all the "bad guys" and "might be bad guys". The main antagonists are two businessmen.... Hakobyan and Katrakis, one is Armenian, and the other is Greek. They have known each other for more than 50 years. Their "Pipeline" is a conduit for transporting arms, munitions, and meth, making it “the envy of the criminal world.” The Armenian has a plan to achieve “wealth beyond imagination” and avenge the genocide of Armenians by the Turks at the same time. Their plan is to steal a 100-megaton bomb and set it off underwater in the Bosporus, causing a tsunami that will “drown sixteen million Turks in a flood of their own radioactive water". It will happen when the U.S. President and the Turkish president are in Istanbul. Turkey can and will, blame Russia and that will surely start a war, dragging in NATO. World War III will be in full swing, and the two crooks will become richer than who knows by rebuilding atop the rubble, I guess. Their plan diffidently has a few holes. Cabrillo and crew learn of the nuclear-tipped torpedo, and of course the clock is now ticking. Spectacular fighting scenes ensue, with ex-SEAL Cabrillo displaying tenacity and skill worthy of the best of the fictional heroes. The evildoer Hakobyan will “do business with the Devil himself if it turned a profit,” Juan Cabrillo will never do anything against America or American interests. I wondered several times where the name "Hellburner" came from since it only occurs twice near the end and doesn't seem to be reverent in any way to the storyline, but hey...it does make a good title. This story, as all the Oregan Files stories, is fast-moving, entirely implausible, but still, lots of fun.… (altro)

The bulk of the book seems like an advertisement for tourism Singapore. An ad good enough I'd love to visit now...

The plot has holes you could drive an unmarked semi through, and the computer related portions, well, read them quick and don't stop to think about it.

Overall it was a fun romp - just what you'd expect from a book like this.

It was nicely personal, with only a couple main characters, and small situations handled somewhat believably.

A good quick read that's exactly on point (sorry)… (altro)