The Rules of Engagement - Hardcover

Kent, Gordon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399144692 ISBN 13: 9780399144691

Publisher: Putnam Adult, 1999

Synopsis

When his father's plane is hit during a nighttime engagement in the Persian Gulf, Alan Craik, a young U.S. Navy Intelligence officer also stationed in the region, begins to suspect that someone aboard his father's ship sabotaged the plane. A first novel. 22,500 first printing. Tour.

About this title

About the Author:

Gordon Kent is the pseudonym for a father-and-son writing team, both of whom have extensive experience in the U.S. Navy.

From Kirkus Reviews:

An impressive debut about a young naval intelligence officer who pursues his father's murderer with Hamlet-like passion. It's 1990, early in the Gulf War. Near the Iranian coast one night, a Navy A-6 off the carrier Roosevelt takes a hit and goes down. The plane was piloted by Commander Mick Craik, a flyer of undeniable skill and experience. ``Tragic'' is the universal response, though of course bad things happen in war. To Mick Craik's son, however, it begins to appear that this might be a bad thing that didn't have to happen. His friends tell him to back off: Lieutenants who make waves end by dropping their careers in the drink. But the haunted Alan can't back off. Something intangible, implacablea force as goading as a Danish ghostcompels him to probe for the truth no matter how inconvenient. Junior officer though he is, he's extremely good at what he does, which is to convert raw data into usable intelligence, and he now asks irritating questions and postulates annoying theories. Applying the disciplines he's been schooled in, he convinces himself that someone aboard his father's carrier alerted the enemy that night, passing on the information that made Commander Craik a can't-miss target. And if Alan's right, the Navy has a mole to contend with. Senior people begin to stir restively. No longer is Alan isolated, and soon enough he finds himself an integral part of ``Night watch''a task force as fixated as he is on the pursuit and punishment of his father's murderer. Because the pseudonymous authors, father and son, are former naval officers, authenticity is guaranteed. But this is a heartfelt first adventure as well, treating duty, honor, and commitment with such unabashed seriousness that readers may be led into rethinking them. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Putnam Adult
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0399144692
• ISBN 13: 9780399144691
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 409