Whirlwind: A Novel - Hardcover

Garber, Joseph

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060596503 ISBN 13: 9780060596507

Publisher: Harper, 2004

Synopsis

From the New York Times bestselling author of the pulse-pounding Vertical Run comes a spellbinding new white-knuckle thriller to keep you up all night.

Charlie McKenzie is the best at what he does, and what he does best of all is the CIA's dirty work. At least he did until his bosses double-crossed him. Jailed and disgraced to cover up a mammoth intelligence blunder, Charlie wants to get even.

Opportunity knocks when Irina Kolodenkova, a young Russian spy, stumbles across a top-secret technology called Whirlwind, the most important military breakthrough since the atomic bomb. Charlie's the only one with the very special skills needed to track her down and retrieve it. The desk jockeys who betrayed Charlie have no choice: they have to put him back on the job. But Charlie already knows too much. Once he recovers Whirlwind, his enemies plan to betray him again -- this time for keeps.

They put a lethal South African soldier of fortune on Charlie's trail. His orders: keep Charlie in your crosshairs until he finds Whirlwind, then take him down.

However, Charlie has plans of his own, and he is not going to be an easy kill. Quite the contrary ...

About this title

About the Author

Joseph R. Garber is the author of the international bestseller Vertical Run. Prior to becoming a novelist he was a journalist and businessman. He lives in Northern California, where he is at work on a new thriller.

Reviews

A James Bond for the AARP set, unjustly disgraced ex-CIA agent Charlie McKenzie is called out of forced retirement when a secret weapon known as Whirlwind is stolen by gorgeous Russian spy Irina. Ever the knight-errant, he decides to protect Irina against the corrupt national security adviser and the evil South African mercenary who are also pursuing her. Much bickering ensues between the paternal Charlie and the feistily independent Irina, who has father issues, until, as they are picking off henchmen with a sniper rifle, a platonic May-December romance blossoms. Garber (Vertical Run) slathers on pure Hollywood cliché, as the story proceeds inexorably from trash-talking confrontation to climactic gasoline explosion, powered by a villain who is such a Teutonic effigy of exquisite politeness and barbaric cruelty that one wonders why he isn't wearing a monocle. But the trash-talk is snappy, the villain is deliciously hateful and the plot, fast-paced enough to leap over its own holes, leaves little time to reflect on the implausibility of Charlie's feats of ratiocination, or to note that his and Irina's problems are often caused by their own special-ops showboating. Charlie, a cocky, white-haired juggernaut adored by his family, effortlessly superior to his younger antagonists and still capable of arousing—and chivalrously deflecting—the passions of 20-something Russian babes, makes a gratifying fantasy hero.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060596503
• ISBN 13: 9780060596507
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320