Tag: David A. Rollins

When Major Vin Cooper, Special Agent in the US Air Force, is assigned to investigate the death of a General, he has no idea what he’s in for. Arriving at the NATO Ramstein Air Vase in Germany with a hangover, a toothache and a cloud over his whole career, he soon discovers that the apparent accidental death of Abraham Scott is sabotage. Scott was murdered, but discovering why, and by whom, will require every ounce of Cooper’s intelligence, strength and luck.

Cooper is paired with agent Anna Masters, who is supposed to keep him in line, but the pair both find themselves bending the rules and playing hard to solve the murder – and keep themselves alive. Someone high up is pulling strings, determined that the truth will never be known. It is a truth that could destroy the very fabric of contemporary society.

The Death Trust is a fast moving thriller with a likeable (if arrogant and flawed) main character and enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing. The conspiracy theory is believable enough to have the reader considering its feasibility. Rollins is a master story teller who combines action, suspense and humour with aplomb.

An absorbing read.

The Death Trust, by David A. Rollins
Macmillan, 2005

What if terrorists had weapons of mass destruction and they were aiming them right at Australia? This chilling scenario is at the centre of Sword of Allah.

SAS soldier Sergeant Tom Wilkes is in Papua New Guinea on protective escort duty when he comes across a drug runner exchanging weapons for drugs with a Highland tribe. Intrigued, he trails the smuggler, knowing he is onto something big. Just how big, though, is beyond his expectations.

In Indonesia, a terrorist organisation called Babu Islam has a camp where its members prepare for their work. Their drug running enterprise is a revenue raiser, to fund their work in ridding the world of infidels. To do this they need time, expertise and the chemical weapons which have come their way and now wait to be utitlised.

Tom Wilkes, who we first met in Rollins’ earlier offering Rogue Element, is on the trail of Babu Islam, but he cannot work alone. Only an international effort – involving Wilkes’ SAS, other Australian bodies, the CIA, even the Indonesian Kopassus, who Wilkes’ was up against in Rogue Element – can have any chance of tracking down the terrorists and averting a massive disaster.

From a slightly slow begining, Sword of Allah gathers momentum as it marches towards its climax. Australian readers will find it especially confronting, with the country’s preparations for the likelihood of attack and the reality of its unpreparedness a thought-provoking aspect of the book. It is a scenario which will have readers squirming, even as they keep turning pages, unable to put the book down.

Frighteningly real.

Sword of Allah, by David A. Rollins
Macmillan, 2004