From Publisher's Weekly
Unsuspecting readers are guaranteed sleepless nights as Garrison
(Fire and Ice) out-Clancys the competition, tracking a driven
Chinese admiral who leads a successful submarine invasion of Manhattan
in the middle of a business day at the height of Fleet Week. Admiral
Tang Li has slipped his diesel submarine force into the Hudson
River and ventures into the Atlantic to torpedo a just-departed
passenger liner to lure the visiting warships out of New York
harbor. The invasion is intended to distract the U.S. from China's
planned attack on Taiwan—but the obsessed Tang Li has more
complex motives.
Tugboat
captain Ken Hughes is cruising the harbor with new love Kate Ross
when Ken's tug is commandeered by Li's crew. Kate escapes in an
inflatable raft, but Li makes the tug his command post, forcing
Ken to help direct the subs. When Kate and Ken's buddy, TV reporter
Jose Chin, tries to contact Mayor Rudolph Mincarelli (read Giuliani
to a tee), Mincarelli's press secretary (and rumored lover), Renata
Bradley, cuts them off. She is troubled enough, however, to hustle
herself and the mayor out of Gracie Mansion.
Meanwhile,
100 subs surface all around Manhattan, and commandos swarm ashore,
shooting citizens, wiping out police stations and leveling One
Police Plaza as they battle their way to City Hall and the World
Trade Center. Garrison follows the battle through the travails
of a wide ethnic mix of New York heroes, and the action hurtles
along at bazooka blast speed, revealing the city and the harbor
as Manhattan residents have never seen it before. National reaction
and presidential response is understated and the cinematic confrontation
between the main protagonists is a bit anticlimactic, but no matter:
the blur of turning pages will keep readers engrossed.
(Mar.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|
From
Library Journal
First it was King Kong, then Godzilla-and now an armada of Chinese
submarines filled with soldiers has launched an attack on Manhattan,
aiming to hold the city and the United States hostage. This is
the improbable but exciting premise of Garrison's second novel.
Tugboart
captain Ken Hughes and his new love, book editor Kate Ross, are
swept up by the events. Ken is captured by Chinese Admiral Tang
Li, who wishes to be emperor of China, while Kate escapes to try
and warn a disbelieving Gotham. There is action galore as the
city and the nation finally react to the peril. While this reviewer
doesn't think the United States has sold the Chinese quite enough
secrets to enable them to pull off this caper, this book is exciting,
escapist fun.
Recommended
for public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/99.]
- Robert Conroy, Warren, MI
