Reading Notes : The Zero Option by David Rollins

The sixth thriller by David Rollins and the second without the "A". For those who were looking out for the next Vin Cooper book, this is not it, it's a stand alone novel but don't be alarmed because it's a powerful thriller indeed.

The story switches between 1983 and 2012 as we get a story of action and consequence that plays out after 30 years of lies and deception.

There is a terrible plan born in the Cold War days, hatched by NSA agent Roy Garret in which a commercial jet filled with innocent people would be "accidentally" flown into Soviet air space. The Soviets, if they were true to their threats would shoot the plane out of the sky, thus revealing themselves to the rest of the world as the true evil who must be stopped by the US. The plan is put in place in a bid to improve President Reagan's flagging popularity.

Something this large requires a lot of things to go right for the truth to remain a secret and inevitably there is a leak of information that is allowed to get by all of the work done by the NSA heavies. That leak comes in the form of an old American Air Force pilot Curtis Foxx and a Japanese radar operator Yuudai Suzuki. However it is only after their deaths in 2012 that they set in motion a series of events that threaten to uncover the terrible truth.

It comes down to Ben Harbor and Akiko Sato, two youngsters who don't really understand what they're getting themselves into leading a chase through some of the most inhospitable territory. Their pursuers? Well they will want them dead to keep a 30 year old secret.

The Zero Option by David Rollins is an action packed thriller that is your classic tale of the innocent small guy being chased by a formidible big-guy bully. There should only be one winner. And at this point I'm not sure exactly who that winner will be because I've still got another 100 pages to go and I'm riveted.

Deep Water by Peter Corris

The 34th book in Peter Corris' Cliff Hardy private detective series titled Deep Water was released a couple of weeks ago on 30 March by Allen & Unwin. Here is a series that has stood the test of time developing consistently from the first book (The Dying Trade).

My review, containing some of my thoughts about the book can be found on the Deep Water page at Crime Down Under.

Meanwhile, here is the Media Release that will give you the incentive to go out and get yourself a copy of Deep Water.

In a case of art mirroring life, the latest instalment in Peter Corris' Cliff Hardy series, Deep Water, sees the beloved Hardy undergo a quadruple heart bypass after suffering a life threatening heart attack.

Author, Peter Corris, underwent the same heart operation last year, obviously influencing the direction of the Cliff Hardy series.

However, the similarities stop there as Cliff Hardy gets drawn into a missing person's investigation, after the father of his nurse, Margaret McKinley, goes missing.

The search for renowned geologist, Dr Henry McKinley, takes Hardy behind the scenes at one of Sydney's biggest basin aquifers and ignites the wrath of local big buisness that stand to lose even bigger money if Hardy's discoveries are revealed.

Ignoring the threat to his life from both his health and his enemies, Hardy is determined to uncover the truth no matter how deep the water he finds himself in.

Except from the book.

The following excerpt from Deep Water gives a little bit of an insight into Cliff Hardy and what has made him so popular for so long.

A few days later, installed back in my house and with outstanding correspondence and obligations, mostly financial but also social and medical, dealt with, I called on Hank in his Newtown office to talk over the Henry McKinley matter. I climbed the familiar stairs from King Street bu tnow a fluorescent light made them more negotiable. As I was making my way up a man coming down fast bumped into me and almost knocked me off balance.

'Terribly sorry,' he said. 'Are you all right, sir?'

I was until you called me sir, I thought. I nodded and he went down, turning at the bottom of the stairs to look back. I signalled to him and went on.

If you want to find out more about Deep Water by Peter Corris you can also visit Inside Story where Shane Maloney has written an outstanding article about Deep Water, Cliff Hardy and Peter Corris.