Book Review: Final Bearing
by George Wallace and Don Keith
Reviewed by Elliott Grollman
For Homeland Defense Journal Online
“Final Bearing” is a modern day thriller involving military special operations, naval submarine warfare, organized crime and narcoterrorism. The cast of characters could come right out of today’s headlines.
Narcoterrorists in South America, not satisfied with their efforts in their homeland, decide to target the United States for its counterdrug efforts with a new deadly designer drug.
When U.S. intelligence gains wind of the plan, the Navy launches a secret military operation with one of it crack SEAL teams and the attack sub Spadefish, which is on its final mission. Its mission: Enter the war on drugs and take out the source.
At the same time, a DEA agent with connections to Colombia and a personal score to settle wages his own counter-drug operation against the group in the United States. Casualties mount as each side races to out maneuver the other. Leaks from both sides set deadly traps for the other. Both sides speed forward in their campaign with the lives of many in the balance.
The story is fast paced, exciting and one you don’t want to put down until the end. A classic modern day story of man and technology in the battle of good vs. evil.
Elliott Grollman is a retired U.S. Army Reserve major and adjunct professor of criminal justice.
Harrison News Herald Review
From Booklist
Novelist Keith and retired submariner Wallace agreeably join forces in
this thriller of submarines versus drug lord Juan de Santiago, whose ambitions
seem to run to being a Colombian Saddam Hussein. Facing him are a DEA agent who
has been fighting Santiago for years, and Bill Beaman, the leader of a team of
Navy SEALs operating off the aging attack submarine Spadefish, commanded by
Jonathan Ward. The action proceeds and in some places wanders from Colombia to
Seattle, Washington, and across the land and under the sea, too, realizing a
full quota of vivid combat scenes and a comparatively high body count along the
way. Disbelief that drug-lord dictators could find high-tech subs handy must be
suspended, but once it is, heck, relax and enjoy. And if you’re aware of what
sailors feel when a beloved ship reaches the end of her career, the book
eventually achieves real power. Above average for its salty breed.
Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved