Meltdown-Chuck Holton

Meltdown
Chuck Holton
Multnomah, Aug 18 2009, $12.99
ISBN: 9781590525609

Chernobyl remains a horrific radioactive wasteland due to its nuclear heritage; not just the most famous accident. Now terrorists see the locale as the perfect ground zero to devastate Europe.

U.S. Special Operations Explosives Ordinance Detachment (EOD) unit Task Force Valor is assigned to prevent a disaster in the Ukraine that will make 1986 look like a picnic. CIA Agent Mary “Phoenix” Walker leads the EOD squad with Master Sergeant Bobby Sweeney at her side. Both have issues but especially Mary who still suffers nightmarish flashbacks to when she was a prisoner. The threat widens to include the United States as the terrorists widen the Global War on the NATO alliance.

The third Task Force Valor anti terrorism thriller is the best of a strong series as even with the return of leads and support players from the previous books (see ALLAH'S FIRE and ISLAND INFERNO), the star is Chernobyl. The story line is fast-paced and filled with non-stop action, but it is when the heroes enter the dead zone where the MELTDOWN occurred that the true meaning of nuclear energy having no cost (disposal of the by-product in a waste land apparently does not count) is clear. Fans will relish Chuck Holton’s strong tale as the MELTDOWN dead zone eerily hooks the reader.

Harriet Klausner