In this modern-day Hunt for Red October, an armed nuclear submarine is taken over and must be hunted down before its weapons are launched.
The USS Kentucky—a Trident ballistic missile submarine carrying a full complement of 192 nuclear warheads—sets out on a routine cruise. Not long after it reaches the open sea, however, the Kentucky receives a launch order. After receiving that launch order, it is cut off from all counterorders and disappears into the Pacific while it makes the eight-day transit to the launch site. What the Kentucky's crew doesn't know is that those launch orders didn't come from the US government.
Rogue elements within the Mossad have learned that Iran has developed its first nuclear weapon and, in ten days, will detonate it—and the target is Israel. The suspected weapon complex is too far underground for conventional weapons to harm it, and the only choice is a preemptive nuclear strike. With limited time, this rogue group initiates a long-planned operation called the Trident Deception: they'll transmit false orders and use a US nuclear submarine to launch the attack.
With only eight days before the Kentucky is in launch range and with the submarine cut off from any outside communication, one senior officer, the father of one of the officers aboard the submarine, must assemble and lead a team of attack submarines to find, intercept, and neutralize the Kentucky before it can unknowingly unleash a devastating nuclear attack.
Download and start listening now!
“A terrific thriller debut…Campbell does an amazing job,
balancing character interaction with high-octane action, all the while keeping
the technical jargon to a level understandable by nonmilitary readers. This is
the best novel about a submarine since Tom Clancy’s classic The Hunt for Red
October.”
—
Booklist (starred review)