A. J. Tata Rips From the News What Could Happen Soon! Dark Winter Now Out!

It was December, 2008, when I announced a new book and author, A. J. Tata with the Threat Series...  It was April, 2015, when Jake Mahegan was introduced in Foreign and Domestic! Now ten years later, he is one of the top thriller writers in America... There's a reason! And all you have to do is read one of his books to understand why...

Jake Mahegan is a formidable character that is exciting, comfortable in command and brilliant in strategy... But, in this latest novel, we see another side of him. He has fallen in love... And love can make a difference during combat and urgent action... No problem for the world, but definitely a problem for our hero! And I loved every incident where he was forced to deal with both love demands as well as military urgent action... So, I thought, if you are interested, I would include this video about how Jack Mahegan was born...

Dark Winter:

A Jake Mahegan Thriller

By Anthony J. Tata

...Gorham didn’t want to focus solely on dominance of the social and commercial world; he wanted political power. He had read Von Clausewitz’ On War and knew that military action was simply politics by another means. 

Given the state of the world today, Gorham knew that the deep political divisions in the United States and around the globe made the world ripe for a hostile takeover. 

“Boss I’m talking to you,” Shayne said. 

“Yes?” 

“You’re sure you want to launch the nuke? It’s your one freebie,” Shayne said. 

“Yes. North Korea strikes Japan with a nuke. World’s third largest economy. An extension of the United States for all practical purposes. 

The digital trails we’ve left for Assange and his lackeys to sniff around show Russia and Iran in full support of the North Korean weapons program and the launch. And you’ve got the follow up congrats e-mails ready for AUTO SEND from Iran and Russia to the acting North Korean president, correct?” 

“Yes,” Shayne muttered. 

“Okay, then. For the third time, execute,” Gorham said in an even tone. 

Shayne eyed him a second and then said, “You’re the boss.” His fingers rattled across the keyboard sounding like a thousand beetles on concrete and he hit ENTER. He panned the ManaSat camera over the Sangnam-Ri underground missile base, the location of many ICBM test flights. Two silos opened. They were maybe one-half mile apart. The openings looked like black dots on the satellite feed...

“THAAD defenses?” 

“Should be mitigated. 

ManaWorm showing activated and effective against American THAAD.” Shayne had developed the remote access Trojan, ManaWorm, so that they could plant the virus on unsuspecting defense contractor weapons and equipment a year or two earlier, when Gorham had hatched his plan. “Shadow missile effective?”

“So far. Looks like one launch. If we’re lucky, the Americans will think it’s just another ICBM tested and not even try to deploy THAAD.”

...“And,” Gorham said with dramatic flair, “we have the third nuclear weapon ever dropped in wartime and it is once again on Japanese soil. How ironic.”

~~~

The book description and additional publicity on Dark Winter left me with feelings of trepidation... Knowing the experience and expertise of A. J. Tata, I knew that this book was going to be as realistic as it could be, essentially responding to the question, "What If?"

Considering the state of the world today, with the division within the United States, one man could conduct a world-wide hostile takeover...and Gorham had been preparing for it for years... The first attack had been the assassination of the ruler of North Korea...

Of course, the hostility had been sparked quickly when the United States had withdrawn from the Iran Deal. It was also placing pressure on North Korea to completely eliminate their nuclear arsenal...and, with up-and-down pressure on Russia, who was already using cyberwar to work against the United States,  the time to act was now! Gorham and his staff had been working deep in the Dark Web to contact countries with whom he was negotiating... Responding to each of their known hatred and desires, the three countries with whom the U.S. had played with, had formed together into RINK... The target was to totally destroy America...

Each of the countries would be targeting nearby areas and moving into offensive position to overcome and destroy... Russia was also aiming for the total destruction of the United States, with their large arsenal of nuclear armaments.

It was to be a war of cyber action in the beginning. Through various contracts with the government across the world, weapons had been "changed" slightly from specifications, so that when put into action they would not make contact with proposed targets! It had begun with the bomb strike on Japan by the North Koreans and then ground military action by all three countries all at once. The ComWar had control of all types of equipment that was computer controlled and had weighted the three countries, Russia, Iran, and North Korea so that their military equipment were all efficiently working!

World War III was in its early stages...

If only Jake Mahegan was Real! But, of course, he is, in many ways. Tata writes based upon having seen the bravery, the expertise, and the patriotism of many American soldiers and he has forged their skills in our hero Jake...

But, something has changed in Jake's life...Cassie, a member of his team, who has the credentials, experience and expertise to have earned the Captain rank and who works at the side of Jake, had found her way into Jake's heart and, after never being in love before, has fallen deeply. It is somewhat of a burden, because he can no longer see her as a teammate...rather Jake needs to protect her...

Cassie is perfect for Jake! She's not willing to have Jake move her out of her team position, does not want to be protected, rather to allow her to act as normal in doing what she needs to do. But, the link between the two adds an extra dimension to the thriller that represents the love each soldier has for their loved ones and for their country. They love both, but will do anything to protect and serve those loved ones.

The lack of attention to cyber security for the last few years, as elections and social networks have been hacked with false information or used to hack election machines, while little has been done to lead and prepare for the use of computer manipulation, has been, illustratively, shown just how vulnerable the United States has become related to security...security of the infrastructure, not just on bigger and better ground and air equipment. Having worked with computer systems throughout my professional career, I am constantly alert to just how bad things can get if computer systems are affected in even small ways. The technological aspects of this book are beyond my expertise to actually do, but certainly the book is brilliantly done to show exactly how bad it can get! And a bit of coordinated criminal intent cannot easily be thwarted.

Tata presents us with an awesome, and, yes, terrifying, option of what can occur when criminal intent is allowed to take control. This is well beyond twists and turns...it is upfront action-packed, minute-by-minute intense waiting and moving. Picking up detail after detail to determine what may occur next. The characters are unbelievably able to get under our skin. I envisioned the villain as a evil genius whose ego has surmounted his ability to apply any level of common sense... While Jake Mahegan, our hero, seems to magically know who to trust, and not trust, and still make things happen to slow down and/or stop what is happening. It's a deadly time frame, and readers feel the tension, the sweat, the fear, as characters make things happen "just in time." Edgy, nail-biting, and hope and prayers are part of the move toward the climatic ending...

When I read this latest book of General Tata, and knowing he is already involved to some extent in government issues, I can't help but hope that he will enter the political realm and use his expertise to actually stop that potential WWIII that he has written about in Dark Winter. We have to deal with the violent terrorism that is rampant, as another mass shooting took place this very morning... Readers, if you don't understand about computer usage in relation to military safety and security, you must read this book! Learn what you need to know about cyber acts that can take us into a war like no other.

Sure it's exciting and those who like military thrillers are bound to enjoy the book. I loved it for putting the newspaper headlines directly into a book like no other could to describe the turmoil and world-wide concerns we already know exists today... Has RINK already been formed???

GABixlerReviews

BRIGADIER GENERAL (U.S. ARMY, RETIRED)

ANTHONY J. TATA

General Anthony J. Tata has more than three decades of public service as a military officer and in leadership roles at the county and state level. His last combat tour was as the Deputy Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division and the Joint Task Force in Afghanistan, commanding nearly 25,000 troops. He is also an acclaimed novelist with nine fiction novels, including national bestsellers Foreign and Domestic, Three Minutes to Midnight, and Besieged. Kensington Books will release Direct Fire December 2017.

General Tata is president of defense, transportation and energy services company, KaylaTek, LLC. He also frequently speaks on matters of foreign policy to companies such as Google, Hewlett Packard, General Electric, MetLife, Bank of America, Glaxo Smith Kline and other major corporations. Previously, General Tata served as the North Carolina Secretary of Transportation, leading the state’s 12,000 NCDOT employees and serving as a member of the Governor’s cabinet. Immediately prior to that, he served as the Superintendent of the Wake County Public School System, leading the state’s largest school district of 18,000 employees and 150,000 students to record academic heights. 

General Tata served two tours of duty in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. He also served as a brigade commander in the 101st Airborne Division and as the Deputy Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division. Among his military decorations, he has been awarded the Combat Action Badge and Bronze Star, served as a Master Parachutist and graduated from the U.S. Army’s Ranger School. He is listed as a distinguished member of the 502nd, 504th and 505th Parachute Infantry Regiments.

Tony received a Bachelor of Science at the United States Military Academy at West Point, a Master of Arts in International Relations at the Catholic University of America, a Master of Military Art and Science in Strategic Planning at the U.S. Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies, and was a National Security Senior Fellow at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.

Tony is the National Security Expert for One America News Network and reliably comments on foreign policy matters on dozens of programs and networks, including Fox News (Hannity, Bill O’Reilly Show, Megyn Kelly, Fox and Friends Weekday and Weekend, Geraldo Rivera Show, Fox Weekend News, America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer, and others), CNN New Day and with Brooke Baldwin, CBS News with Harry Smith, The Glenn Beck Show on The Blaze, and The Daily Buzz.

General Tata has two children, Brooke and Zachary....and more

Deadly Odds Author, Allen Wyler, Here on Blog Tour - Paperback Available Tomorrow!

Arnold is under 40, but when you start reading Deadly Odds, you may indeed think of Steve Carrell in the movie...  Except this isn't a comedy. When his best friend, Howard, convinced him to seek out a prospective companion and meet her, he did exactly that...

And now Howard was dead...

"What exactly was your relationship with the deceased?" Detective Wendy Elliott asked. She was sitting on an aluminum chair opposite him, a small metal desk separating them. She seemed to be studying him with a freaky detached curiosity he found unnerving.
The deceased.  The words reverberated through his mind and decayed like the ring of a bell as they vanished into heavy silence.
Howard's dead. Howard is the deceased. Then the words finally began to sink in, his muscles going lax. He slumped against the hard cinderblock wall. Blowing through pursed lips, he scrambled to grasp the full reality of those words. Until this very moment he'd desperately held onto a threat of irrational hope that the detonation he assumed to be a gunshop had been something entirely different--although he had no idea what that might be. Or if it was a gunshot, it had served as only a warning, a threat, anything but a defenseless senseless murder.
His best friend shot dead.
Guilt engulfed him.
Had he not gone for pizza, this awful senseless act of violence would never had happened. Meaning, in a perverse way, he was directly responsible for this friend's death...
He blew another deep breath and rocked forward, elbows on his knees, fingers knitted together as an anxious storm of butterflies fought to escape his stomach. The metal chair suddenly became too hard to bear but fear of moving was paralyzing and he was too afraid to say a damn word. The acoustical-tile walls began squeezing his shoulders together and this room's air--smelling of sweat and fear permanently embedded in the cinderblock walls--had become too warm and stuffy to cat one satisfying breath...
"Mr. Gold?"

Deadly Odds

By Allen Wyler

"We're best friends. Have
been since grade school."
More than friends...brothers.
Having grown up together,
Bar mitzah's only a month
apart. Shared their
fantasies, dreams, fears...
He flashed on the countless
hours spent together linked
by a love of all things digital,
sharing copies of WIRED
when other kids passed
around comics, building
outrageous computers from
junked equipment, reading
operating manuals and books
on languages like C++
just for fun...
~~~

I certainly enjoyed the two earlier books by Allen Wyler that I've had the chance to read; however, I really loved the main character in this book... You can actually see him evolving in personality and character as the book proceeds. A wonderful accomplishment by the author in my opinion... And it wasn't because he was no longer a virgin... 

Arnold was a nerd, geek, hacker...whatever you want to call an individual who is brilliant in the use of computers. Arnold was rarely far away from this computer lab that he'd set up in his basement. It was only Howard who was close enough to worry about and urge Arnold to "get a life" beyond the computers...  For Howard, he thought that Arnold needed to find someone and enjoy what he'd never experienced...sex... He urged him to hit Vegas and

do nothing but enjoy some time away...with a girl...

A sad little story was that Arnold had always had feelings for Howard's sister, but had never done anything to forward that relationship until... now it was too late, for so many reasons...

Arnold was drilled by the police but had refused to talk. But when he got a lawyer, who was another main character who had been developed so wonderfully, a kind and caring man which is not the usual image for a lawyer, do we begin to hear all that had happened, there in Vegas...

It could only happen in fiction, I hope... But, let's just say that picking out a beautiful girl from so many choices, who happens to be a terrorist??? Wow!

Firouz let Karim drive, giving him more time to
think, regroup, strategize, always his responsibility
because that was the way things  needed to be with
Karim. If it weren't for being brothers he would
never bother using him. On the other hand, he was
a devoted believer, a good Sunni, which, in the end
stood for something. But the needless killing now
drew attention to them they could ill afford. Not
with what was at stake. But there was no sense
saying anything more. They now had to deal with
what they had, and, God willing, would still
succeed.
"The Jew say you?"
Karim said, "Yes."
Firouz silently shook his head and bit his tongue
because the mission was not a total failure. They
did, after all, have the computer...Gjayoor was a
true believer as well as a brilliant computer expert.
He would be the one to examine the extract
information from the Jew's computer,
determine how he was able to see into the future
and predict events as Naseem had explained.
~~~

He had, though, in a personal way, chosen a lovely girl who did much to help Arnold... His request to her had been to explain and teach him what women wanted...

And she did, including helping him select non-geek clothes, about fine wines, where to dine...as well as all about sex.  If she had not discovered what Arnold was capable of, perhaps he could have benefited from their time together and just gone home...

But Arnold had developed a system...

He was good at analyzing issues and pulling in what type of information should be considered in evaluating how to proceed. He used it mostly for gambling--but, of course, that was part of the problem since he'd never paid taxes on any of his income...in other words, once he started talking to his lawyer, he had to realize that he was no longer the little boy that loved computers... He was now a man who was known as a "hacker..."

In fact it was his ego that first got him in trouble. For, of course, if you are going to be spending time with a woman day and night, she's going to start asking personal questions... Arnold had grown to like her so much that he wanted to appear special to her...

They first went to horse racing...where he made an impression on what he'd picked... But as she asked more questions and he wanted to impress her, he shared that the system could work on anything... When she expressed surprise, he told her more--too much more.

Soon, she had scheduled a meeting with her two friends, Karim and Firouz...

When later a bomb went off, Arnold knew he was in deep trouble, because that bomb was exactly where his system had said it should go... This was not really a game anymore... 

It wasn't long before the FBI was involved and Arnold was right in the middle... Afraid of getting killed by Firouz and afraid to be jailed by the FBI...

The strange but intriguing decisions made by Arnold is what makes this book far more exciting that the action of a good thriller. Arnold blamed himself for Howard's death and that was the most important thing--he wanted revenge even if he was killed in getting it. In deciding that, though, he put into action all of that hacker brilliance he had access to and that results in an unbelievably enticing look into a hacker's genius doing what he does best! Ok, my personal disclaimer that I hate all things illegal through use of computer, but I've got to say that Wyler's creation of Arnold results in one very cool novel! Highly recommended!


GABixlerReviews

A Seattle native, Wyler’s parents died early,leaving him on his own by the time he entered college. He supported himself with various jobs including being a fry cook at a drive-in and a professional musician playing drums for various local blues and jazz groups. In his first year of medical school, he knew he wanted to specialize in neurosurgery. Upon graduating from residency he started on the faculty of the University of Washington and then the University of Tennessee where he developed an international reputation for pioneering surgical techniques to record brain activity. In 1992 the prestigious Swedish Medical Center recruited him back to Seattle to develop a neuroscience institute.
Wyler’s love of thrillers began in 1974 on his way to Cincinnati to take the oral boards in neurosurgery. At SeaTac airport he picked up a copy of William Goldman’s Marathon Man to read on the flight. He became so engrossed he stayed up all night to finish it before stoking up on coffee and meeting with the examiners. He aced the exam.
Wyler develops plots from actual events in his practice. While serving on a committee charged with selecting the medical center’s new computerized medical record system he wondered what might happen if the software had a random bug. From this came the story line for Deadly Errors, his 2005 thriller that has been subsequently translated into several foreign languages, including Russian. Crime Spree Magazine wrote:
“There is a grand tradition of medical thrillers in the suspense field – hardly surprising since medicine is one place where life’s rubber really meets the road. A new entry, Deadly Errors, by a new author, Allen Wyler, is right up there with the best.”
Much of the background for Dead Head, a story about keeping a detached head alive for the information in the brain, was derived from Wyler’s own research on recording the brain’s electrical activity. As Adam Woog (Seattle Times) wrote:
“Wyler’s premise is deliriously over-the-top… (You’ll notice I’m avoiding any cracks about how fiction writing ain’t brain surgery.) But the story barrels right along, and, as Wyler points out in an afterword, the science of maintaining a disembodied head is already chillingly close to reality.”
Wyler’s third thriller, DEAD END DEAL, originated a few years ago, he was a guest lecturer at a medical center in Seoul, South Korea. He wondered what it would be like to be trapped in a foreign country hunted by police because of being framed for a murder.
In 2002 he left active practice to become Medical Director for a start-up medical technology company, Northstar Neuroscience, which went public (NSTR) in 2006. At the end of 2007 he retired to devote full time to writing.

~~~

http://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2012/12/allen-wyler-goes-beyond-medical.html in Dead Ringer
http://gabixlerreviews-bookreadersheaven.blogspot.com/2014/07/dead-wrong-by-allen-wyler-heavy-on.html

     Amazon: http://amzn.to/1xh54PS  

·         Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1sZrIy1

·         A+B (Publisher): http://bit.ly/1uspcim

Review: Great New Series Started by Kath Russell!

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A Pointed Death:


First In The Pointer Mystery Series


By Kath Russell




Kath Russell didn't have to do much to acquire a new fan! First, she started a new series, which I always enjoy. Next she added a wonderfully funny animal who is the side-kick of the lead female. And, best of all, she placed a mature woman as her lead character! How coooooool is all that! Now I enjoy any intelligent, tough, gritty female character, but since I've been around a little now, it is always a wonderful treat to read about older women who are exciting, enjoying life, laughing, playing, and...getting herself into trouble...LOL! Top all that with a great mystery, and I just have to add that I loved the whole package! 


Nola Billingsley had started up a dot.com company, but a credit card check on her company's cards revealed there was an employee/thief using his card to embezzle! In fact, he was setting up his new girlfriends apartment with purchases from Ikea and many other places.


Things had been going bad, but this forced Nola and her co-founders to finally face the issues and close the company. I have to include that the thief had checked her insurance, and when discovered, calmly pointed out that her coverage would take care of it!


Ahhhh, the young people of today...


Fortunately, Nola had fall-back contacts and work since she had been a former biotechnology consultant and there were many new companies looking for somebody who had both her technical and marketing skills. Soon Nola was contacting potential new clients. But she was also working with the police regarding the theft--and was immediately attracted to Harrison, the assigned officer.


But life was not going to settle back into a routine...


Now we come to the fun! Meeting Skooch! Ok, he may not be exactly involved in helping to solve cases, at least not this time. But he did discover the body--does that count? And the body, which had been beheaded was Nola's employee/thief! Obviously there were others who had a problem with his cavalier life style.


Fortunately, something good came out of this horrible find. The entire case, which was now a murder case that involved theft, was assigned to another officer. Which left Harrison to ask Nola out on a date! Cool...


Now seems the perfect time, though, to add another important character. Janie Belle is Nola's mother; they live together. Not a great situation for getting to know a new man in your life--but for we readers it adds even more hilarity to the trio--Nola, plus Skooch and Janie Belle--with whom Harrison must make nice. Actually, he did very well with all of that and I'm already hoping he stays as part of the series. What is more fun than an amateur sleuth who has a police boyfriend who constantly tells her to stay out of everything...but figures she probably won't...


Now the reason behind the murder does indeed deal with biotechnological espionage and soon Nola gathers a group of her coworkers who all feel they are better to deal with what is going on than the police. Nola meets a new friend, Karin plus former partners and they do indeed figure out who, what, when and where. I'm not sharing any more on that except to say that the espionage is intriguing, involving a foreign country who plans to use medical drugs for an entirely different reason--quite complex enough to make readers get involved to help solve the "why." of it all.


Great mystery and funny, wonderful characters. Kath Russell, in my opinion, you've got a winning combination! When is your next novel coming out?


Book Received Via
Bostick Communications


GABixlerReviews

John L. Betcher Announces First James Becker Mystery! Review Coming Soon

After decades of clandestine government operations, James “Beck” Becker and his wife Elizabeth return to “Beck’s” childhood home to enjoy a settled retirement in the small Mississippi river town of Red Wing, Minnesota. But “settled” is a relative term and no matter where Beck goes, intrigue follows.

When Minneapolis computer genius, Katherine Whitson, disappears under peculiar circumstances, her husband exploits a sympathetic Red Wing acquaintance to enlist Beck’s aid in finding her. As it turns out, Katherine’s kidnapping is more complicated than the typical abduction, and the case taxes the Beckers’ considerable skills to their limits.

After dispensing with the “usual” suspects – the unfaithful husband, his same-sex lover, an overly-ambitious co-worker and a cadre of beleaguered managers – Beck homes in on Katherine’s boss at ComDyne Computer Systems as the likely mastermind behind her abduction.

Under cover of darkness, Beck and his word-miserly American Indian cohort, Bull, follow the kidnappers on a visit to their remote “hidey hole” in an abandoned artillery installation. With the aid of law enforcement, the two guys in the white hat and headdress free Katherine from her dungeon imprisonment. But she’s not safe until her boss is behind bars.

Now it will take all of the Beckers’ collective experience – his as a military intelligence specialist and hers as a CIA code-cracker – to bring Katherine's captors to justice, and to neutralize an international cyber-espionage threat that has been at the root of the kidnapping all along.

Katherine herself proves instrumental in orchestrating an FBI raid on her employer’s--ComDyne Systems, Inc.’s--headquarters and in exposing the nefarious potential of ComDyne’s new network hardware.

In the end, Homeland Security halts the release of ComDyne’s spy components. And the would be pooks/kidnappers receive their due.

Some of the book’s more unique characteristics are its Minnesota setting, its likeable main characters and its high-technology-made-understandable. Not to be forgotten is Beck’s American Indian cohort, “Bull,” who presents a stoic, formidable and good-humored persona.

The characters are reminiscent of those in the Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series. The book also features a good deal of law enforcement tactics and technology throughout.

WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK UNIQUE?


The Missing Element delivers high-stakes action in a Midwest setting. The book’s likeable characters, intelligent dialogue and traditional mystery plot line will appeal all readers of commercial mysteries. Along with the mystery comes a good deal of hightechnology-made-understandable, as the main character, James “Beck” Becker delves into the mind-bending world inside computer micro-processors.

Written in the style of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser novels, The Missing Element's action takes place at various venues in and around the Twin Cities area. So readers who are looking for a Minneapolis, or even a Minnesota, connection will appreciate the book’s authentic local color.

According to computer experts with whom the author has consulted, the book’s cyber-espionage premise is not only plausible, but likely. Reviewers agree.

And finally, readers who are concerned about the Orwellian aspects of the ‘black box’ that computer high-technology has become, will enjoy the philosophical questions Beck raises as he contemplates the reality that ‘man’ is fast becoming the ‘missing element’ in the cyber-equation

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY


The author holds a Bachelor’s Degree, cum laude, in English from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis. He has practiced law for more than twenty-five years in the Mississippi River community of Red Wing, Minnesota. He has also been a long-time supporter and coach of youth volleyball there.

Mr. Betcher has published three feature articles in COACHING VOLLEYBALL, the Journal of the American Volleyball Coaches Association. His most recent article was the cover story for the April/May, 2009 Issue.

His book on volleyball coaching philosophies entitled The Little Black Book of Volleyball Coaching has been selling nationwide and is currently available at Amazon.com.

His mystery novel, The Missing Element, was featured on the Reading Minnesota Blog on April 5, 2010, Reader’s Choice Review on April 25, 2010 and in the Red Wing Republican Eagle newspaper on May 1, 2010. He is also an active member and writing peer coach at the Agent Query Connect writer's forum.


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