Blackmail: A Novel

by Rick Campbell

Overview

“As in Tom Clancy’s technothrillers, the war maneuvers feel authentic and are described in stellar detail.”—Booklist

The American aircraft carrier patrolling the Western Pacific is severely damaged by a surprise salvo of cruise missiles. The Russian government officially apologizes, but what it claims was an accident during training was actually a calculated attack. And now it’s time for Russia’s real mission to begin. . .

With the U.S. Pacific fleet at its weakest—and political unrest already spreading throughout Eastern Europe—the Russian president initiates a bold plan to reoccupy key industrialized areas of the former USSR. Doing so will mean cutting off much of the world’s oil and natural gas supply—and wiring every major pipeline with explosives. If the U.S. attempts to thwart Russia, every last resource will be destroyed. America’s only option is to launch a simultaneous attack on all fronts. But one false move could lead to a war of epic proportions—one that could do no less than destroy the world itself. . .

“Enthralling…The submarine and surface-ship battles are pitch-perfect.”—Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250391384
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/27/2018
Series:	Trident Deception Series , #4
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	4.12(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.96(d)

About the Author

Rick Campbell, a retired Navy Commander, spent more than twenty years on multiple submarine tours. On his last tour, he was one of the two men whose permission was required to launch the submarine's nuclear warhead-tipped missiles. Campbell is the author of The Trident Deception, Empire Rising and Ice Station Nautilus, and lives with his family in the greater Washington, D.C. area.

Editorial Reviews

04/10/2017
In Campbell’s enthralling fourth military action thriller (after 2016’s Ice Station Nautilus), the Russians decide that the time is right to attack the U.S. because the U.S.’s navy has been seriously depleted by the war with China that was the focus of 2015’s Empire Rising. Russian president Yuri Kalinin decides to test the Americans by approving an assault on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in the western Pacific. When the U.S. doesn’t immediately retaliate after the Roosevelt is badly damaged, Kalinin thinks America has lost its resolve to fight and initiates a plan to take over Lithuania and Ukraine. In response, the U.S. attacks Russian naval forces off the coast of Iran; the Russians counterattack, and the war is on. The submarine and surface-ship battles are pitch-perfect, and readers will shudder with every missile strike and every exploding depth charge. They will also cheer as the U.S. president and his advisers, including series star Christine O’Connor, figure out a way for the outgunned American forces to prevail. Agent: John Talbot, Talbot Fortune Agency. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Enthralling… The submarine and surface-ship battles are pitch-perfect, and readers will shudder with every missile strike and every exploding depth charge.” —Publishers Weekly on Blackmail

“The best novel about a submarine since Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October.” —Booklist (starred review) on The Trident Deception

“A military, techo-thriller throwback to the early days of Tom Clancy mixed with the best of W.E.B. Griffin…Empire Rising is a high-tech shoot-’em-up for a more thoughtful generation.” —Providence Journal

From the Publisher