The Ares Decision

August 29, 2011
The action never flags in the eighth entry in the Covert-One series (The Arctic Event, etc.), based on a concept created by the late Robert Ludlum. When a special ops team dispatched to Uganda to take out a vicious terrorist, Caleb Bahame, is quickly wiped out by unarmed civilians who appear to possess superhuman strength and speed, Fred Klein, the head of Covert-One, the supersecret intelligence unit created by the U.S. president, worries that a lethal bioweapon may have been used and that Bahame might share it with Iran. Dr. Jon Smith, the leader of the Covert-One team sent to investigate, discovers that Bahame is using a parasite to kill people. Smith and Namibian biologist Sarie van Keure race to prevent the parasite from being released on American soil. Mills (Lords of Corruption) nicely integrates relevant military and scientific details into the story line, while his skill at characterization will leave many hoping he’ll become a permanent posthumous collaborator with Ludlum.

September 15, 2011
Diabolical Caleb Bahame, "brutal terrorist and cult leader," has unleashed hell in Uganda, and there are rumors Bahame is seeking an unholy alliance.

The CIA knows something spooky is happening, perhaps involving Iran's rogue government. Into Uganda goes a special-ops team. Out comes one man alive. President Sam Adams Castilla understands the intelligence bureaucracy usually generates assessments suiting its own agenda. Castilla calls on Covert-One, a blacker-than-black operations group overseen by his longtime friend and trusted confidante, Fred Klein. Klein has a man he trusts too, Col. Jon Smith, an army microbiologist and veteran of several hazardous Covert-One missions. The video of the Uganda fight that wiped out the special ops team shows unarmed men, women and children running into gunfire and killing the armed men barehanded. There's speculation Bahame is fueling his followers with narcotics and witchcraft, but Smith's research soon says otherwise. The action moves from Washington to California, where Smith drafts ex-SAS commando Peter Howell for a clandestine foray to Uganda. Enroute, the pair stop in South Africa to meet Dr. Sarie van Keuren, world-renowned parasite expert. She decides to tag along. Meanwhile the Ayatollah Khamenei lurks in Tehran, half-believing that his trusted underling Mehrak Omidi has discovered a practicable biological weapon in the hands of the infidel Baheme. After firefights, diversions and an unlucky cave exploration, Smith and company end up captured and imprisoned at Baheme's camp. There Omidi is present for a demonstration of the bio-weapon. Characters are formulaic and Covert-One familiar. Action moves through brief, dialogue-heavy chapters and unravels a serviceable plot, right down to Sarie's capture and transport to an underground Iranian bio-weapons facility. There Omidi attempts to coerce her into weaponizing a thing best left untouched until Smith, Howell and an Iranian rebel force battle their way to the lab and beyond. 

Nothing fancy here, but plenty of comfort food for those with an appetite for the thriller genre.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

October 15, 2011
The latest Covert One thriller brings back Colonel Jon Smith and his cohorts in a tight and tense page-turner. A Special Forces team is sent to Uganda to eliminate a terrorist, but instead of taking him out, the entire squad is decimated. When Smith begins to investigate, the one surviving member commits suicide. Video surveillance seems to indicate the use of a parasite for controlling unwilling subjects. Smith recruits an expert in the field of parasitology along with an old friend to solve the bizarre puzzle and stop a madman from utilizing the bug as a weapon. Various subplots abound as well, adding to the complexity of the narrative. Mills is a fine writer of his action-centered thrillers in his own right, and he makes an inspired choice to continue the Ludlum-based series. This eighth Covert One novel is one of the best since Gayle Lynds was at the helm. Fans of the Ludlum style will have nothing but praise for this one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)