I am so sick of the political undercurrents in Patrick Robinson's books that I have stopped reading them. Though the stories are good, Robinson diminishes them by labeling and pigeonholing and demeaning anybody he does not agree with politically - especially Democrats. I stopped reading Scimiter SL-2 because I got so sick of it. I'm sure HarperCollins would sell more books if they could get him to stop the bashing.

Outstanding book...Tom Clancy shoud take lessons from Patrick Robinson and go back to writing realistic military thrillers. Hunter Killer is hard to put down once started.

Another of Patrick Robinson's submarine technothrillers. Not as much submarine action in this one, as a fundamentalist Saudi prince and the French government join forces to blow up the Saudi oil supply and cause a revolution. Crusty old Admiral Morgan, retired, is still calling the shots, with his aussie offsider. A French Special Forces major is at the heart of the action, pursued by everyone. This is basically all plot, reading like a description of a military mission, for large parts.

Patrick Robinson hits a home run every time. I love the way he incorporates submarine tactics and Navy SEALs!

His newest book is as the co-author of the tragic events surrounding SEAL Team 10 in Afghanistan: Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10

Another recent novel that includes these events is The Y Factor: The Y Factor

This is a fast paced book and I really couldn't put it down. I finished reading it in two days, and on the second day stayed up till four in the morning in order to finish it. Only The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown succeeded in keeping me up so late!

The following is the plot of this book so if you haven't read the book please STOP READING THIS NOW!

The story takes place in 2009, and is about the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Nasir, planning to overthrow his cousin, the king. (Note: all the kings of Saudi Arabia are brothers, and the crown has always passed from one brother to the next). Prince Nasir flies to France on a secret mission to meet with the French President. The Crown Prince explains to the President how the Saudi King and the rest of the royal family live a life of excess, spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year just to support their lavish lifestyle. In fact, it is the king who picks up their tap at casinos where they gamble millions of dollars. It is the king who pays for their lavish spending. The 10,000 or so princes never have to work, having the king to cover all their expenses. According to the author, more than 100 billion dollars has been spent so far just to cover the lavish lifestyle of the Royal family!

The people of Saudi Arabia are on the brink of a revolution. Should this happen, the economies of the world will be affected since Saudi Arabia and its oil industry will fall in shambles and chaos. The Saudi Crown Prince proposed to the French President to destroy the oil fields, and thus cutting the source of income to the Saudi Royal Family. When the king becomes unable to spend on his family, entourage, and army, they would have no reason to support him! Money makes one popular and liked; the lack of money makes one unpopular and shunned.

Crown Prince Nasir promised France the contract to rebuild the oil industry as well as all military contracts which would amount in the billions of dollars. He also promised the President that he would stop spending on the royal family: they would have to get jobs to support themselves! Money will be invested on his people!

The French President agreed on the plan, seeing the benefit to France. He was eager to displace the Americans as the Saudi's chief ally. "The hell with America", the French President thought. France comes first. Of course, the plan would have to be carried out in secret, and it was imperative that the world should never suspect France of having played a role in overthrowing the King of Saudi Arabia. The whole affair should appear as a sole Arab job!

The French end up destroying the main oil fields in Saudi Arabia by firing missiles at them from two of their submarines. Arab troops trained by France and with the support of French Special Forces Col. Jacques Gamoudi (aka Le Chasseur or the Hunter), and with the help of a notorious Hamas terrorist, Ravi Rashood (an ex-SAS), storm the king's palace in the capital city, Riyadh. They kill the king, and hours later the Crown Prince appears on TV, proclaiming himself as the new king of Saudi Arabia. The plan worked as planned, or has it?

The French President decides to kill Col. Jacques Gamoudi in order to keep the whole affair a secret. That was a big mistake! He fails, and soon Gamoudi appears in front of the United Nations to reveal the evil plan of France. France is shunned by the whole world, and Saudi Arabia ends up having the US as its partner after all!

This story is very believable and not too farfetched. Qatar, a Gulf state on the border of Saudi Arabia, had its ruler exiled by his son, who later was also exiled by his own son!

During King Fahad's reign of Saudi Arabia, there were many rumors circulating on the internet that his son, Abdul-Aziz, had plans to overthrow the government and claim the thrown. Fact or fiction?

This is a captivating book that will leave you with many questions in the sort of "what if.......?" It also shows how politics really works. In the world of politics, your friends today are your enemies tomorrow, and vice-versa. Politics is also about one's own career and the accumulation of power. War is waged for the acquisition of state contracts, and we see this today in Iraq.

Will this book be as captivating to all readers?

Many readers who will not associate with the book or whose life is not part of the Middle East might just see this book as another original non-fiction thriller. However, readers with interest in Saudi Arabia and its surrounding region will associate themselves with the book and will keep asking themselves the same questions, "what if..." and "is this the way it will happen?"

Two things are for sure: Firstly, should the plot in the story happen, it will mean not only regional chaos but world chaos as well (look at Iraq. Was it better under Saddam, or now?); secondly, history repeats itself, and it seems we have no hand in it. God help us all!

Read this book and enjoy it. Hopefully it will remain as fiction!

Another good book by a submarine-adventure author I enjoy. Amazon provides a good way to find early books by authors one enjoys. Books are consistently in the condition advertised and are shipped promptly.

To me this book seemed fanciful, poorly researched, and poorly written. In contrast to Tom Clancy at his best, this contains few of the technical details that bring military or special forces operations to life. For example, whereas Clancy spent multiple pages describing in carefully-researched detail the series of events that took place within a single second in order to convey the awe of a nuclear explosion, this book deals with the catastrophic destruction of major oil installations with one or two sentences of vague, dull prose.

Characters, whether the US President, the French President, the "commander in chief of Hamas," or a former french legionnaire, all speak with the same odd mix of British and American slang. As a fairly close follower of national security issues I found the plot totally absurd.

The book may nonetheless appeal to the undemanding reader in search of a few hours of mindless escapist pleasure.

Robinson knows a little about subs; his knowldge stops there! He completely misunderstands the culture of Saudi Arabia; knows nothing about the economics of petroleum; and is clueless about the operations of international diplomacy. His central premise, that the economy of Saudi Arabia could be seriously harmed by disruption of the flow of oil does not take into consideration Saudi dollar, sterling and Euro reserves; the rolls that would be played by banks and oil companies in recovery from any problem and the unity of the Saudi psyche.

This is a stupid and worthless book best avoided!

Robinson knows a little about subs; his knowldge stops there! He completely misunderstands the culture of Saudi Arabia; knows nothing about the economics of petroleum; and is cleless about the operations of international diplomacy. His central premise, that the economy of Saudi Arabia could be seriously harmed by disruption of the flow of oil does not take into consideration Saudi dollar, sterling and Euro reserves; the rolls that would be played by banks and oil companies in recovery from any problem and the unity of the Saudi psyche.

This is a stupid and worthless book best avoided!

Like Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum, these authors seems to lose steam after a while. I suppose it's hard to keep pulling a rabbit out of your hat all the time, but Patrick Robinson is definitely on the downward slide of his talent slope.

Since HMS Unseen, which was great, Robinson has gone to heavy-handed attempts to forcefeed us right wing propaganda and his stories suffer for it. The Democrats are portrayed as weak, stupid, and the source of all the world's problems and with no redeeming qualities. If he spent less time on politics and more time on character development, this could have been a better product. Instead the effort comes off forced and clumsy.

If you worship the holy trinity of Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and Rush Limbaugh, this is the book for you. If you like thrillers with a little more subtlety and believability, spend your money on Nelson DeMille or Brian Haig.

Other than a few factual errors, I found this story another of Patrick Robinson's quality projects. These books just keep getting better and better. A very intriguing story. I had a hard time putting it down.

I'm really torn on this one becuase the premise of the book is a great one. I find Patrick can think up scenarios that seem plausible and yet (hopefully) unlikely making the book interesting. This one in particular though set up the story for 3/4 of the book. I knew exactly what was going to happen next because he'd planned the battle twice already to the nth detail. Then the action & resolution are fast but end too swiftly. Right -- the US gets an apology just like that, there are no repercussions and the economy gets better I guess. Don't know -- he didn't go into details.

The thing I find most annoying at this point with these books though is their predictability in solution and in general attitude. Basically, all democrats are idiot weaklings, the french are selfish, Clinton screwed America and the way to solve anything is by sticking a submarine in the water and firing a few missiles. Wow, it would be nice to have a little more well rounded a point of view.

I hope Patrick reads this -- hopefully he's a little more well rounded than this and can improve his future books because they have a lot of creativity in plot.

I love the type of book that takes a little bit of factual history and weaves a great story around it.

This is awesome!! And you could almost imagine how this could happen.

Lee

If ever there were a timely political thriller, this is IT!

Set in the Middle East, a battle for fundamental moral values of Islam is hidden behind the battle for control of the Saudi oil fields.

Prince Nasir is tired of the opulent and nonproductive life style of the extensive extended royal family. The only way he can see to reverse the trend toward westernization of his culture is to align with the French to overthrow the current frivolous ruling family.

The French government hires Col. Jacques Gamoudi, a Moroccan mercenary, and Ravi Rashood, the world's most-wanted terrorist, to be sure the operation appears exclusively Arab.

Part of the overthrow involves destroying Saudi oil supplies, damaging the economy and sending the price of oil sky high. As the world begins to scramble for alternative sources of oil, the American government realizes the only country who had the "foresight" to have shifted their oil imports from Saudi Arabia prior to the overthrow was France.

Admiral Arnold Morgan and Lt Col. Jimmy Ramshaws are summoned by the White House to help unravel this mystery. As soon as the involvement of Gamoudi and Rashood is uncovered, a search begins. The Americans want them as witnesses, the French want them dead.

Armchair Interview says: A thrilling novel--almost too real to disregard.

Patrick Robinson really started his fiction career with a bang with "Nimitz Class" and "Kilo Class". Since then, he has seemed wildly erratic. The quality of his output has evened out somewhat in the last three or four outings, into a pattern that is almost maddeningly mediocre. As with most every one of his naval-themed novels, the plot summary seems that it should be wildly entertaining and at least partially plausible. Mr. Robinson has delivered on that promise on a few occasions, and other times he has not. "Hunter Killer" seems to have fallen into the latter category.

One hang-up in some of Mr. Robinson's earlier works is that he got bogged down in trivial detail; every meal and wine tasting that every character had was described down to the most minute detail, at the expense of the storyline. Fortunately he curtailed these descriptions, though they pop up a few times throughout "Hunter Killer", and - despite the obvious fictional content - one can't help but wonder how naval officers can afford such extravagant feasts. In reducing the gourmet play-by-plays, Mr. Robinson kept the story very tight. However, that has led to another problem in the past several stories. Where he has reduced that unnecessary detail, it seems that he has not adequately filled out certain components of the plot and storyline. Everything seems to play out just a little too cleanly or awkwardly, or the action sequences are minimally detailed, while the discussions fill up three or four chapters.

In "Hunter Killer", this pattern holds. So much is devoted to discussions about carrying out the operations, recruiting the participants, and so on. Several chapters occupy the reader's time to these details. But then the actual execution of the operations and the ensuing U.S. response occupies a very small percentage of the book. The result, to this reader, is a lot of buildup to a resultant sequence that elicits a sigh in response. There is also the continued annoyance of how Mr. Robinson keeps writing the escapes of the antagonist Ray Kernan; I had a hard time fathoming in "Hunter Killer" how he could walk up to a team of SEALs who have targeted him for years and still be able to slip away. It is a somewhat lame way of trying to keep your foil for future novels.

The characters in Mr. Robinson's books - "Hunter Killer" included - also fail to ever do much for me. I find the Jimmy Ramshawe character slightly annoying, and Arnold Morgan - for all his bluster and kick-ass attitude - pretty boorish and obnoxious. That doesn't say much for the protagonists of your franchise. Even in reading fiction as escapism, one can't help but wonder how these two would continue to run roughshod over the Washington political establishment and leaving the President completely impotent. To his credit, though, Mr. Robinson did introduce a character with some potential in Jacques Gamoudi. He could be what John Clark was to Tom Clancy's franchise, but something tells me that this potential may not be tapped, or at least not fully exploited.

One last pet peeve that shows up in "Hunter Killer"; that of the stabs at humor through overused lines that Mr. Robinson tries to pass off as funny. He'll use it throughout the entire book, or take the "shock-and-awe" approach and use it dozens of times in the course of one or two chapters. To cite one example from "Hunter Killer", he usues a line about Jackie Gleason doing a French accent at least four or five times in the course of twenty pages. It wasn't very funny the first time, and got worse as the same line repeated itself in that short a space. I don't mind humor, but it has to be funny, and the reader doesn't need to be repeatedly hit over the head with it.

All those annoyances aside, "Hunter Killer" does have its interesting and somewhat entertaining moments. It is clear that Mr. Robinson possesses a great deal of naval knowledge, and so the descriptions of the battles and naval operations are among the best in the fictional realm. Again, though, it just raises the sense that there was a lot of unfulfilled potential. Readers of this genre can do a lot worse than "Hunter Killer", but they should expect better. In that regard, then, I rate it three stars to reflect the latest in a line of mediocrity that has found its way into Mr. Robinson's writing.

This is Robinson's eighth submarine warfare novel, and I am starting to hope it will be his last, although it was certainly an improvement on the last two he has put out, "Scimitar SL2" and "Baracuda 945". A disgruntled member of the Saudi royal family gets disgruntled and plots their overthrow, enlisting the aid of the French. Using a French submarine, the coalition targets the Saudi family's foundation: oil. The US administration gets faint at the prospect of an energy crisis, and enlists the aid of retired Arnold Morgan to fix the problem, which he does, amid his usual right-wing racist banter. We also see the reappearance of James Ramshawe, a poorly developed character, although it is not as unfortunate as the re-appearance of that bumbling idiot Arnold Morgan. One gets the distinct impression that Robinson says to himself: I have "submarines, arabs and Arnold Morgan", and tries to throw them together to make a story. The novel deeply lacks the originality of his earlier works, the plot predictable, the characters shallow, and Arnold Morgan... well... he's just plain boring. I cannot recommend this novel. 1 and 1/2 stars.

This is one fun book. Patrick Robinson has whipped together a plot that will keep any military/techno/political thriller junkie vastly entertained.

A young Saudi Prince who does nothing but party and snort drugs rams his power boat into the Queen Elizabeth II. Just another day in the carefree life of almost 35,000 members of the Saudi Royal family supported by the nation's monarchy and oil wealth. Well, not all 35,000 royals are such fun lovers.

One senior Saudi Prince is so upset that he approahes those always lovable French with a proposal to overthrow the reigning monarch and put himself on the throne. The plan calls for treachery, inflicting massive pain on billions of innocent, greed, dishonesty and requires a complete lack of morality.

The French love it.

And so the fun begins.

Robinson deploys an arsenal of state-of-the-art submarines, special forces, political players and the skills of Jimmy Ramshawe, an underling at the NSA.

The plot is excellent. Lots of twists and turns all serving to advance the story without causing the reader to blink in disbelief. The characters are a bit uneven. Some are larger than life and unbelievably so. With others, Robinson paints well.

The action is never ending and Robinson does an excellent job of not telegraphing his punches. If you're given to biting your nails, wear gloves while reading "Hunter Killer," lest you munch straight through to your knuckles.

An excellent thriller and one that I obviously thoroughly enjoyed.

Jerry

This latest instalment from Patrick Robinson really packs a punch! It has everything - submarines and underwater action scenes, oil terminals and tankers blowing up, political conflict and the consequences of terrorists' actions on the rest of the world and how does one deal with it - would a new war making the mistakes of Iraq just add to the problem? Oh, yes, and you also get graphic descriptions of what wine everyone drinks and where it came from, and what food everyone eats and how one main character, the ongoing protagonist Admiral Morgan barbecues his steaks and lamb chops in a paragraph or two. This is very typical Robinson fare, but is fun to read these days. I quite fancy a few drops of the wine in the book actually! Anyway, the story is a great and highly plausible one. A spoiled rich Saudi prince crashes his yacht into the Queen Mary 2 after a binge drinking and drug session, killing himself and a British princess. Prince Nasir, heir to the Saudi throne and a fundamentalist Muslim to boot, decides he has had enough of the Saudi King and his monarchy behaving like decadent greedy Roman emperors, spending all their riches on themselves and not letting Saudi citizens benefit from the country's oil wealth. So he enlists the help of another enemy of the USA and its allies - France. The French President, seeking financial and political gain from a Saudi oil crisis as the French buy up Middle Eastern oilfields and refineries, covertly orders his DGSE(their version of the CIA) agents to bring in the help of a Moroccan, Colonel Jacques Gamoudi, and also Admiral Morgan's enemy Colonel Ravi Rashood, a HAMAS terrorist leader. Together, using the French Navy's latest submarines, they plan to strike secretly at Saudi oil terminals - AND topple the monarchy by creating dissent in the Saudi armed forces, taking over military installations and creating anarchy in the capital Riyadh. The result is that a global energy crisis looms - the price of oil rockets leading to chaos and the threat of economic collapse. Admiral Morgan, a retired National Security specialist, is recalled by the President to the White House to help prevent the crisis and track down those responsible. James Ramshawe, a brilliant young naval intelligence officer, helps the Admiral, using obscure threads of evidence, to track Rashood and Gamoudi, but he himself is now being hunted by French special forces who wish to cover up their involvement before world opinion turns against them! The ending is not what you would expect, but does lead the way to some interesting possibilities for future novels! Once again, another winner from Patrick Robinson, which is closer to tomorrow's news that you'd dare imagine, even though this book is set in 2010. Great build up, intriguing politics, blazing action scenes in Saudi Arabia and explosive military action to boot - and wine buffs might like to read as well(ha ha).

This is a techno thriller set around the de-stabilization of the oil market and a coup to replace the present leaders of Saudi Arabia. The new leader will be a prince with a more fundamental muslim outlook. This story really has two parts.

First is the actions of the good guys and the bad guys. And here Mr. Robinson does quite well. We have met both of them in previous books, General Ravi Rashood, the head of the Hamas organization and Admiral Arnold Morgan have met in previous books and have an ongoing relationship not unlike Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarity.

But second, there is the underlying tone of what would happen to the world oil marketplace if Saudi Arabia stopped shipping oil? As I write this the price of oil went to a new interday high last week (it seems that this could happen nearly any week). And this happened with no dramatic news like the sudden shortage that would happen if Saudi oil stopped flowing.

This book is, of course, fiction. But a good writer has to come up with a story that is at least possible. And Mr. Robinson has done an excellent job with this one.

This is a very solid novel that reads like it is from the current news. The characters I found to be very real and authentic, and the dialog and pacing is great. The technical details are well researched. I highly recommend this novel. It also provides real background on what is going on in Saudi Arabia (the author discusses the dwindling wealth per person in the kindgom, and the extravagent lifestyle of the 35,000 princes who run the kindgom, which is increasingly unpopular). CIA sources have already predicted scenarios of this type occurring in the near future. Very solid novel.

The Saudi princes and other family members have spent the money
coffers of the Kingdom nearly dry with the extravagant swinging
lifestyle.Their spending has taken Saudi Arabia to the brink of
financial ruin.Prince Nasir has had enough of his wasteful and
big spending relatives.Nasir approaches the President of France
with a plan to eliminate the Royal family,make Nasir King, and
give France exclusive oil rights.The President readily agrees to
this deal.With the use of two nuclear submarines,French special forces soldiers,and the hiring ofColonel Jacque Gamoudi(known as
Le CChasseur-The Chaser)Hamas General Ravi Rashood the French make this happen.These forces cause untold damage on oil installations on the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.They are also able to depose the King Of Saudi Arabia.The French are in total control of the situation.Mass chaos in the markets of the world
and the economies of the world ensues.The American President calls in Admiral Arnold Morgan and Lieutenant Commander Jimmy
Ramshawe to save the day.They immediately start implementing a
plan.La Chasseur becomes hunted by French Special Forces who want to kill him and American Special Forces who want to expose France. This is a very good book that you will read from cover to cover.Buy it and you won't miss out.