Dead Air - Softcover

Jaco, Charles

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3454212804 ISBN 13: 9783454212809

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1998

Synopsis

Veteran TV correspondent Peter Dees--hard-living, wisecracking, hungry for a scoop--seizes upon a story that could rock the world. Deep behind volatile Middle Eastern borders, a madman is stockpiling a lethal arsenal of chemical weapons. And someone on the outside is helping him. But as Dees tears back the layers of intrigue, his sources, many of them friends, begin to die--shot in the head, a bullet to the left eye.

From Port-au-Prince and Cairo to the scorched deserts of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, Dees finds the conspiracy much deeper than he ever imagined. For it seems that everyone--even the U.S. government--is hiding deep, damning secrets. His search for answers propels him into the very heart of a death-charred war zone. And the closer Dees gets to the truth, the likelier it becomes that he will never live to report it. . . .

About this title

Review

Charles Jaco was one of CNN's intrepid reporting stars during the Gulf War, and he's turned that experience--plus hundreds of other risky missions--into a lively debut thriller full of the kinds of details other writers would die for. When GTV reporter Peter Dees arrives in Saudi Arabia to cover the war with Iraq, he's briefed by a Marine on how to inject himself first with atropine and then with an animal tranquilizer (to slow down his heart rate) in the event of a gas attack, after which he must take the needles and bend them over his belt. The marine adds casually, "The medics have orders not to treat anyone with three of the needles bent over their belt. They figure if you've had to give yourself three shots of atropine and three shots of animal tranquilizer, you're dead even if the nerve agents didn't get you." But Dees has even more serious problems: somebody high up in GTV management is tied to a company selling nerve gas to Saddam Hussein, and every time Dees tracks down a clue his source winds up dead. A strong story, deftly told, from a writer who undoubtedly has many more in his duffle bag. --Dick Adler

From the Publisher

6 1.5-hour cassettes

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 3454212804
• ISBN 13: 9783454212809
• Binding: Perfect Paperback