No comments about Cold Choices.

No comments about Dangerous Ground.

5 comments about Larry Bond's First Team: Angels of Wrath (Larry Bond's First Team).

1. I have been a big fan of Bond's for years. However, when good authors take on "co writers" I get the idea the co writer does the books. I have seen this with several other Authors. This doesn't even seem like a Larry Bond book. It is worth reading but I wish I had gotten at library rather than buying. I hope Mr Bond goes back to writing books himslelf even in this series. Thanks



2. Larry Bond is an excellent techno-thriller author. Just a couple of weeks ago I gave a five-star review to his "Dangerous Ground," one of the best stories of submariners I've read in years. Perhaps that's why the disappointment I feel about "Angels Of Wrath: Rirst Team" is so sharp. The book just isn't Larry Bond. (It is co-authored by Jim DeFelice.)
   
   I dub this a Lego novel. It's like the authors wrote out a bunch of action scenes on notecards and than simply laid out a grid, like building something with Lego blocks. The result is a techno-thriller that's all fluff and no depth.
   
   The "hero" is Bob Ferguson. Hey, let's make Bob a maverick in the CIA, someone who has major difficulties in taking orders and playing well with others, particularly his superiors. Now let's make him a "team leader" of the "First Team," a multi-departmental group that's supposed to squash threats to the United States. Hmmmmmm, what else can we do for Ferguson. Hey, what a great idea! Let's give him a possibly terminal illness and have him take pills for it once in a while!
   
   Of course, Ferguson is ever so sophisticated. A ladies man, of course. A polylinguist. A oenophile and connoisseur of single-malt scotches. Is that enough? Not by a long shot. Ferguson's father was a legend in the CIA and Ferguson, the son, seems to have some psychological problems with that. But not to worry: every bad guy in the world seems to be frightened of Ferguson, who by the way, is also a master of disguise.
   
   In sum, Bob Ferguson is a total caricature, not even as believable as a comic book hero.
   
   Take this joke of a character and put him into a circus that is supposed to be a plot. First we have the extremist religious cult that is trying to foment a major terrorist attack in the Middle East in order to trigger the Apocalypse. The FBI thinks it has arrested everyone after one of the cultists is blown up in Egypt. Oh my gosh, they missed his sister who has been a sleeper for decades. Off she goes to the Middle East to find an arms dealer who will sell her the weapons necessary to trigger the end of the world. Believable? No.
   
   Arms dealers. The book is loaded with them. They all fear Bob Ferguson who has been dispatched first to find the cultists and then track down an Iraqi terrorist. Corrine Alston, a 26 year old special counsel to the President with no background in intelligence or covert operations is told by the President to "supervise" the operation. Of course, Ferguson wants nothing to do with his boss, who is running her own operations (yes, plural) in the Middle East. All of the arms dealers drink champage. All the time. So does Ferguson. Just can't be a tough guy without a flute of champagne in your hand.
   
   There are backstories aplenty. Too many. And there's action: every two or three pages another corpse or two or ten is thrown on the pile. The action rarely has anything to do with anything except filling pages.
   
   And then there is the rogue Mossad agent, an alcoholic, still grieving over the murder of his Muslim wife at the hands of terrorists. Oh yes, he has plans too.
   
   In sum, this is a sharp departure from Larry Bond's normal excellence. Every page is painful to read. The characters have no credibility. The plot is simply a mishmash of pointless action scenes. Compare this with most of Bond's earlier work and you have to ask if something horrible has happened to Mr. Bond.
   
   Whether it's the co-author or falling victim to fame and greed, I hope Larry Bond will put this part of his life behind him and get back to writing some of the best techno-thrillers of the day. This certainly is not one of them.
   
   Jerry



3. A very disappointing Bond/Felice novel. The book moved ponderously along, trying to make sense of a very disjointed plot. Not an attention grabber, nor very fulfilling for Bond fans.



4. Here, I think Mr. Bond was trying to help a friend, Mr De Felice to publish a book by printing his own name on the cover.
   The story is not too original, the "Dumb Arab" bit has been done to death, and the last thing we need is another writer selling a story about Middle East terrorists.
   I don't remember so many authors writing about terrorism when the Timothy Mc Veigh blew up a Federal building in Oklahoma City on April of 1995.
   
   An amateur effort at best. Lary Bond again show us his "softer side" by endorsing this book.



5. There were at least 2 dimensions to these characters, and the plot held together, however unlikely. Nice action, and a couple of good lines: One, "I often thought of patience as a deadly sin," or something to that end. I'd read it in an airport, but not on a long flight.

5 comments about Red Phoenix.

1. Good if not a little (well a lot) out of date. But never the less well crafted and well written. Among the best of the late 80s techno/war fiction.



2. The Bookcassette Adapter gives you balance control on your headphones and is so easy to use: Plug it into the stereo jack of your personal tapeplayer and then plug your headphones into the other side. The Bookcassette Adapter Works ONLY on Stereo Tapeplayers.
   
   If you plan on listening to Bookcassette audio books on a stereo system where you can adjust the sound between the left and right speakers separately, such as a rack system with separate left and right speaker controls or a car stereo with a left and right balance dial, you will be able to listen to Bookcassette audio books without a problem. If you plan on listening to these audio books on a portable cassette player that does not have this capability, such as a Walkman with headphones, you will require an adapter.
   
   As I said, it would be cheaper to buy it on the Internet, especially on eBay, instead of directly from the company (Brilliance Corporation) at 1-800-697-6797



3. Our government has a nasty habit of always leaving us one more to fight. This could become history, and it would be our fault. Excellent book. One of Bond's best.



4. This is a war fiction classic that I rate even with Tom Clancy's "Hunt for Red October" and "Red Storm Rising." Larry Bond brings to life a real war scenario. We know from the Gulf War he was a visionary when he wrote "Red Phoenix."



5. This is by far Larry Bond's best work, barring his collaboration with Clancy on Red Storm Rising. The two should be featured together in a 'better together' offer. The only delimna would be deciding which to read first.

5 comments about Larry Bond's First Team (Bond, Larry).

1. I was estatic when I found this book. I have been a fan of Larry Bond ever since I first Read "Red Storm Rising" which he co-wrote with Tom Clancy, following through every one of his other books. He writes a War Story as well as anyone in the business today. As a Veteran who has seen quite a lot of combat I know.
   
   I am VERY sad to say that this was not a very good book. The Story didn't make much sense. The charactors were not developed, heck in most cases, the characters weren't even explained as to WHO they were. I have read EVERY other book by Larry Bond and this is the only one I thought was bad. In all of his previous books the charactors were very detailed and real. In this book the charactors weren't even good enough to be called two-dimensional. Mr Bond always seems to colaborate with someone when he writes (Patrick Larkin and Tom Clancy) and It is VERY CLEAR in this instance which parts were written by Mr. Bond and which parts were written by Mr. Jim DeFelice.
   
   Please Mr. Bond, drop the Co-authors and write your next book alone. I know that Mr. Bond has a new book due out in May, 2005. I only hope he has gotten back to his roots in telling good stories with believable charactors.



2. A lot of people did not like this book. Folks you could do much worse. This book moves quite fast and you need to pay attention otherwise, you will lose the plot.
   
   The writing style for this book reflects the anxiety of the main characters as they track the components for a dirty bomb through Central Asia. If that was the intent then the authors achieved their goal.
   
   However, I think they missed an interesting subplot by not playing up the friction between Corrine (the lady lawyer) and Ferguson (who is trying to get killd before he dies of cancer).
   
   This is an average thriller against the back drop of the War on Terror.



3. This book is so far beneath normal Larry Bond standards...its as if he had no part in writing this rediculous book. There is no drama, a thin plot, and its filled with utterly putrid, unrealistic dialogue. This book is almost insulting - definitly cause for chuckling - only I paid money for this and therefore didn't. I really can't imagine what Bond was thinking with this one. Given his other great books, this must be a strange anamoly.



4. The main idea is good but the action is really slow. People waiting for things to happen! The cover looks like it was taken from a totaly different book.



5. Potentially a good plot, but anemic characters. Lots of action was developed and a good action movie could be made of it, but I found myself flipping through the book as if it were a little animated picture booklet, and I don't think I missed much.