The Kill Switch

Starred review from February 17, 2014
This exceptional military thriller, a spin-off from bestseller Rollins’s Sigma Force series (Bloodline, etc.), introduces U.S. Army Ranger Tucker Wayne and his four-footed partner, a small Belgian shepherd named Kane. After a short stint protecting a Russian billionaire, Tucker signs on with Sigma Force, a unit working for the ultra-secret Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. His job is to smuggle pharmacological tycoon Abram Bukolov out of Russia. Bukolov’s reasons for fleeing his country are murky, but it eventually becomes clear that he has the key to a virulent life form that has the potential to destroy all the plant life on Earth. Meanwhile, Gen. Artur Khazin of Russian military intelligence hires freelance mercenary Felice Nilsson to prevent Bukolov from escaping. The action careens across Russia and into South Africa, where Tucker and Kane must go underground to find the deadly life form. Rollins and Blackwood succeed brilliantly at depicting interspecies communication. Agent: Russell Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency.

Starred review from April 1, 2014

Late in the second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) in South Africa, a primordial material, to be later known as LUCA, sickens and kills a party of Afrikaners in a remote cave. Kept hidden for over a century, this strange organism has been rediscovered. Will it lead to scientific advancement or devastation in the modern world? Former U.S. Army Ranger Tucker Wayne and his military working dog, Kane, are recruited by Sigma Force to extract from Siberia a scientific genius, Russian pharmaceutical magnate Dr. Abram Bukolov, who just might know where to find the elusive LUCA, and the key to its control. Getting Bukolov out proves to be no easy task--the Russian military and GRU spy network, including the beautiful and ruthless Swedish sniper Felice Nilsson and Russian Gen. Artur Kharzin, have plans for LUCA that echo the worst Cold War nightmares. VERDICT The taut and complex story sprints across the globe from Russia to Istanbul to southern Africa to the United States, and offers a diverse cast of well-developed characters and a tightly woven plot that intrigues, excites, and doesn't let go. This is the first volume in a new subseries of the Sigma Force novels focusing on Tucker Wayne and loyal and fearsome Kane. Highly recommended for thriller readers. [See Prepub Alert, 10/20/13.]--Vicki Gregory, Sch. of Information, Univ. of South Florida, Tampa

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