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A Russian plane crashes on Wednesday Island in the Queen Elizabeth archipelago, near the earth's magnetic north pole in Canada in March 1953. Of course, during the height of the Cold War, the Soviets do not notify the Western powers. More than 50 years later, a scientific expedition is studying conditions on Wednesday Island. Some of the students hike up one of the mountains and find the bomber nestled on a glacier between the two ranges. Lt Col Jon Smith, MD, former special forces medical officer, is a student in a mountain warfare course when he is called away. A Russian general has a secret meeting with the President at Camp David where he admits that a Russian Tupolev Tu-4 heavy bomber (a B29 clone) disappeared on a training mission in 1953. It contained a biologic weapon and in the spirit of glasnost, the general would like to have a man along on the mission to make sure the weaponized anthrax containers were destroyed before the crash. Smith and two other operatives, Randi Russell, a helicopter pilot and CIA operative, and Professor Valentina Metrace, an historian and weapons expert, are joined by Major Gregori Smyslov for the mission. Add in some Soviet secrets and a group of Croatian weapons dealers out to steal the anthrax and the formula is complete This is an unputdownable boys own improbable adventure. The storyline is telegraphed. We know the good guys will win. There are no shades of grey here. And the arctic survival techniques seem to be well done. The first two Covert-One novels were written by Gayle Lynds and Philip Shelby while Ludlum was still alive. It is claimed that he left outlines for several more, but, in any case, Lt Col Smith and Randi Russell appeared in THE HADES FACTOR, the first of the series.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, August 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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