Age of Blood--A SEAL Team 666 Novel

August 26, 2013
Ochse's supernatural Special Forces unit (introduced in SEAL Team 666) is deployed to find the daughter of a senator gone missing off the coast of Cabo San Lucas. The kidnapping turns out to be linked to the Zeta drug cartel, which plans to "reinstate old Aztec rule" with the help of a cult of "neo-pagan Aztec worshippers," and the team's rescue mission leads its members to a bloody showdown at an ancient temple buried under Mexico City. Characters are developed in broad strokes while military gear is described in plot-stalling detail, but those who enjoyed Ochse's first book will find more of the same to please them here. However, the basic premise of the seriesâwhich portrays the non-American villains as monsters or allies of monstersâwill be very difficult for many readers to choke down. Agent: Robert Fleck, Professional Media Services.

September 1, 2013
Ochse (Seal Team 666, 2012) offers Volume 2 chronicling the demon-hunting SEAL warrior team. In this saga, the paranormal-pursuit SEAL team heads to Mexico to battle the usual suspects: demons, werewolves and homunculi. SEAL Team 666's mission is to rescue Emily Withers, the kidnapped daughter of a U.S. senator. Spinning his tale in short, cinematic chapters, Ochse employs characters direct from central casting. There's Holmes, the rugged, handsome officer in charge; Laws, wise-guy intellectual; Walker, dedicated, sometimes-conflicted sniper; Yank, an African-American from Compton, scared straight; and YaYa, Middle Eastern in heritage but patriotic to the core. There's even a hint of romance, with Walker being paired up with an attractive covert analyst. The main event comes when Team 666 confronts the Zeta drug cartel and an ancient Aztec cult whose members dress in the skins of the dead. Ochse laces the narrative with more acronyms than he defines, lists weapons exotic and prosaic, and splashes enough blood to satisfy fans of exploding heads. The action moves from New Orleans to California and then to Mexico City, but Ochse doesn't rely on setting. His modus operandi is demonology--and bloodletting. The prime bad guy, his motivation unclear, is white-suited Ramon, werewolf and former Zeta assassin. The original kidnapping is a trick to lure the senator to Mexico, where he too is kidnapped, the snatch pulled off by a Team 666 member infected by an otherworldly presence during a previous mission, now gone rogue at the demon's behest. The final battle takes place in ancient excavations beneath Mexico City. The good guys knife, shoot and explode Zeta gunmen, chupacabra, giant albino snakes and 7-foot obsidian butterflies called chacmools. Ochse has hit on a new subgenre: military special ops battling supernatural enemies. Gore ensues.

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September 15, 2013
In this follow-up to SEAL Team 666, a kidnapping propels the team into hell. The daughter of a senator vanishes from a beach, and video footage shows her being attacked by a giant sea creature. But evidence demonstrating she's still alive sends the team to Mexico, where one of the team members is bitten by the creature. Rather than seek help when he shows signs of being possessed, though, he hides what is happening to him. Soon the mission goes haywire, and the mayhem and bloodshed escalate. Ochse's novel attempts to blend the military fiction of Tom Clancy with the supernatural horror of early Stephen King. It shouldn't work, but it does, thanks mainly to the SEAL-team characters, just the kind of appealing heroes you want fighting visions from all our nightmares. More in this genre-blending vein will be eagerly anticipated.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)