Review
Requiem For The Dead - Book Review - AuthorsReading.comA criminal investigation or a terrorist plot? Requiem For The Dead by Victor M. Alvarez is a military cloak and dagger thriller written by an authority on military protocal with years of personal experience. The suspense novel is well reserached and relatable. Set in and around military installations in Stuttgart, Germany. The story is propelled forward quickly by well developoed chartacters against a realistic backdrop. The engaging plot follows two storylines, both involving military mayhen, murder, and the seemindly unrelated mysteries of kidnapped children.
The author enables the reader to visulize the protagonist, CID Specail Agent Jacqueline Sinclair, as a sophisticated, tough, hard-core soldier . . . highly attractive and sexy. Her assigned partner, DIA Agent Tom Price, is leand and well-muscled. . . The many minior characters are equally fleshed out as identifiable individuals.
Agent Sinclair and her partner, Agent Tom Price, are investigating the sudden disppearance of four dependent children of high ranking generals. The children have become hostages of rogue ex-US military personnel who are using them as leverage in an attempt to coerce the military to exact revenge on Pyongyang for the capture, torture, and killing of another US Army General's son suspected by North Korea as being a CIA spy. The agents discover that the kidnappers are a surprisingly large unit of highly-trained mercenaries who are blindly following their leader as he advances his plot of revenge on Pyongyang, and the United States Government for it foreigh policies. Can the agents unravel the plots' twisit in time to prevent the hijacking of nuclear bombs and prevent the possibility of WW3. How are the president of the US and the leader of North Korea in Pyongyang involved?
The engaging and detailed plot is enhanced by the author's authenticity and insight into the inner workings of the military. He uses miltary jargon with clarification. The author's use of curent military terminology enhances the comtemporary plot and may be compared to novels by Tom Clancy.
The vortex of violence is resolved in a climactic conclusion as the Agents Sinclair and Price lead militarty and civilian Special Forces into battle with the terrorists. The reader is left with the question of the possibility of such actions taking place in today's society. Requiem For The Dead is an engaging, fast-paced novel with a satisfying plot complete with all the technical jargon that provides the authenticity in a military-focused book. It is a freighteningly genuine four de force with a gripping narrative that will resonate for military buffs. Alvarez's work of fiction will definitely delight readers of action, adventure, thriller, suspense, and military genre books.
Reviewed by: Carole W.
When a suspected CIA operative is captured by the North Korean government, the man's father, an American General, repeatedly asks the White House to intervene. The White House does nothing, and the alleged spy endures daily torture for three years before dying in captivity. After his battered body is returned to Texas, General Scott vows that someone will pay for his son's death. Scott isn't just any officer. He's a widely respected Brigadier General and combat veteran. After his retirement, several former special forces operators - each of whom owe their lives directly or indirectly to him - are enlisted to help him exact revenge.
Their plan? Kidnap the children of several high-ranking generals in the United States European Command. In doing so, they aim to force the Army's brain trust to implement a first-strike plan against North Korea without requiring permission of the President of the United States. If they succeed, and China suspects that the U.S. is behind the attack, they may be drawn in, sparking a global conflict.
Can World War III be averted? Enter Special Jacqueline Belle Sinclair, the top agent in the Army's Criminal Investigation Command. Sinclair comes from an exceptionally long line of military leaders tracing back to the 1300s, and she isn't about to let her father - a Colonel - down this time.
Author Victor M Alvarez writes like the veteran that he is, describing the inner workings of military life in vivid detail. Alvarez attended Ranger and Airborne schools, the US Army Jungle Warfare School en route to two ground combat tours during the Vietnam War, before becoming a US Army policeman and criminal investigator (CID Agent).
While Alvarez' prose may not have the polish of Mark Greaney or Brad Thor, the writing is authentic, and the emotional heft of a grieving father is undeniably raw. Most importantly, the stakes could not be higher. For readers that like revenge fantasies, we can't think of one more powerful than hijacking America's nuclear arsenal. - by BestThrillers
From the Author
The story deals in fact, to a large extent, on the majority of foreign prisoners detained in North Korea, primarily Americans, who have been subjected to show-trials, and forced under duress to confess to crimes including espionage since the early 1990s. One such was Mr. Otto Frederick Warmbier and his tragic end. Imagine if you would, someone who'd decided to seek revenge on the North Koreans! Such is my book. I feel that telling an extraordinary story of revenge may waken the communist regime to the possibilities that their homeland could be targeted and destroyed by such Americans or others. This is a story that compels one to the realization that, that everything has consequences.
From the Inside Flap
Dedicated to the courageous men and women that make up the
US Amy Criminal Investigation Command CID
And for all they do
From the Back Cover
Author's Note:
A brief history of the United States Army CriminalInvestigation Command
TheCID Motto:
"Do WhatHas To Be Done!"
During World War1, General John J. Pershing ordered the creation of a separate organizationwithin the Military Police Corps to prevent and detect crime in the AmericanExpeditionary Force in France.
The newlycreated Criminal Investigation Division (CID) was born.
In 1971, theUnited States Army Criminal Investigation Command was formed with command andcontrol authority over all Army Wide CID assets.
With well overnine-hundred agents and five separate CID commands, these agents like theircivilian counter-parts investigate a wide range of crime, and just like theircounter-parts have arrest authorization, under the Uniform Code of MilitaryJustice.
These agents arehighly trained, highly decorated men and women, who make up the United StatesArmy Criminal Investigation Division, CID.
The stories ofthese brave men and women are the basis for the fictionalized character of SpecialAgent Jacqueline Belle Sinclair.
About the Author
Victor M. Alvarez was born in Puerto Rico, and at nine his family moved to New York City and later drafted into the US Army. He received airborne training, ranger, military police school and later jungle warfare training. His military awards range from Jump Wings, Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, awards of the Purple Heart, Air Medal, and Army Commendation Medal, among other many awards. He makes his home in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
