I have read a few of Patrick Robinson's naval thrillers. Had been lent this one, and then found a copy on my shelf. Read one book, clear two.

It is a fairly simple plot, the Russians are getting nervous about the Siberians clamour for independence so they can sell their oil to the highest bidder, and eliminate all the main players. They then strike a deal with the Argentineans to exploit the newly discovered oil filed at the Southern tip of the country and under the Falklands. Argentina invade the Falklands (again) this time, with the assistance of a Russian sub, hammer the British. They surrender and there are a team of SAS left on the island and are being searched for. So far so bad.

The American realise that there is more to this attack than they first thought, and Exxon have lost several billion dollars of investment. They decide to covertly put Argentina under pressure by destroying planes etc, and rescuing the SAS.

It is a very swift read, and not particularly challenging. Robinson also uses the book to have a dig at UK political spending on defence. Not bad, but not great either. ( )

If you believe in reducing military spending and reducing sovereign nations defense and offense capability will result in the countries of the world holding hands and singing 'Kum ba yah' then this book probably won't sit comfortably with your world view.

The story mainly revolves around the reduction in British military capability, specifically the retirement of the British Aerospace Sea Harrier FA2 (which actually in 2006 despite their being no replacement until 2012, which has now been pushed back to 2016) and then breaks out into the realm of military thriller with Argentina taking a second swipe at the Falklands.

The first half of the book deals with story background, reductions in military spending by leftish governments and the invasion of the Falklands. I found it to be great and hard to put down.

The second half of the book deals with the recapture of the Falklands via the almightly US Special Forces manpower and Admiral Morgan's noggin power. This section of the book was still good, but a little trite in regard to previous novels.

If not for the second half it would be 5/5, was still hard to put down, but I felt the end game could have been a little more interesting and/or original. ( )

This isn't a novel so much as it is a war-gamer's narrative. So the characters exist mainly to provide 'As you know, Bob..." exposition while the operation drives the plot. In this op, Argentina and England again battle over the Falkland Islands with disastrous results for the English. Luckily, they're friends with America, who sends a handful of spec-ops soldiers to pull their ass out of the fire.

As is usual in this genre, liberals, especially liberal politicians, are stupid, cowardly and corrupt, swarthy people are infantile and also stupid, and American soldiers and the brave conservative politicians who command them are manly, brilliant, supremely attractive, and extraordinarily lucky. And, stealing a line from my all-time favorite movie "Rustler's Rhapsody", they never miss what they're aiming at.

But hey! -- it's all about the scenario, right, and this is a pretty good one. ( )

This was a blooming good read. Jumps about a bit, so you need to keep focused, but well worth the effort. ( )

The amount of detail about weapons and ships was not my cup of tea, but when I got past that to the story line, I liked it. ( )