Eden's Gate

David Hagberg sure does know how to weave a spell of excitement. Some of his best stuff has been written with his CIA adventure seeker, Kirk McGarvey, but the character of Bill Lane originally started under his pen name, Sean Flannery. Just as fun as anything else in his impressive repetoire of literary home run's, 'Eden's Gate' is just plain fun. The easiest way to describe this tale is a dash of James Bond, a bit of Indiana Jones and a touch of Dirk Pitt all rolled into one. Adventure that moves at a brisk pace throughout the novel from Montana to Germany to the High Seas, this story just never let's up. What exactly is it about Nazi atrocities, from the true to the entirely fictional that keeps us coming back for more? I can't exactly say as I have the answer to this question, but I will say that as long as the story is as compelling and as fun as this one, you can bet we'll keep buying them up.

This was my first Bill Lane novel, but rest assured I am going to find the earlier ones and tear into them as well. Word has it that Hagberg is working on his final Kirk McGarvey novel, which leads me to believe that Bill Lane may be Hagberg's answer to the soon-to-be-asked question: What happened to Kirk? If the other Bill Lane novels are as exciting as 'Eden's Gate', rest assured, we won't feel the sting of McGarvey's loss nearly as much. Kudo's to Hagberg, this is really a fun story.

For fans of the tech-thriller, Sean Flannery, a.k.a. David Hagberg, sets the gold standard. Suspense, action, plot twists, they're all here in Flannery's novels. So, they don't have a half a dozen co-mingled plots and sub-plots. It's just good techno-thriller fun. The details are more than adequate, the believeability factor ranks with Vince Flynn. An enjoyable, light read with plenty of action and suspense.

Hagberg has crafted a solid thriller. I'll spare you the plot since other reviewers have already described it well.

Bill Lane is another almost believable super-hero. You suspend your credulity while he does his derring-do . . . endlessly. As with most thrillers, the plot is inherently unbelievable. But Hagberg does the trick of getting you so engrossed in the action, that you forget about reality.

All in all, an excellent choice for whiling a day or two away while your pulse beats just a bit faster.

Former National Security agent Bill Lane returns in this fast-paced international thriller, to battle a former East German Stasi officer, Helmut Speyer. It seems there is a secret buried in an old german bunker under hundred's of feet of water. A secret not even the present day Germans want made public. With the help of his wife, Frances Shipley, he infiltrates Speyer's operation, and in doing so, helps recover this secret. The action is non-stop, taking you from the mountains of Montana to the countryside of eastern Germany. From the high seas of the Atlantic to the D.C. area. Ambushes, sinking ships, narrow escapes(quite a well dressed hero we have here)along with some underwater action, all bring this hard to put down novel a high edge of excitement.

Highly recommended.

Former national security agent Bill Lane is in Kalispell, Montana on an undercover assignment. Bill along with his English wife Frances Shipley head up The Room, a top-secret organization that reports to the White House and Ten Downing Street. Because of the panic of the German government, Bill is trying to infiltrate the militia headed up by Herbert Sloan, who reportedly is an alias of the vicious former Stasi officer Helmet Speyer.

Apparently, Helmet has plans to enter the underwater Reichsamt 17, the place where the Nazis committed abominations the Master Race called scientific experiments. Lane knows he must stop Helmet before the man obtains the weapon he desires and flees to hid Eden in Cuba.

David Hagberg is known for his thrillers that seem to accurately predict the future. His latest wild ride, EDEN'S GATE, never slows down as the action goes at SST speed. The rivalry between Helmet and Bill is cleverly designed to keep the action moving forward at a tremendous clip, but that also takes away from understanding what drives the villain although Frannie helps humanize Bill a bit. Still, no one writes better action-packed thrillers than Mr. Hagberg, but let's pray that he is inaccurate about superweapons hidden in World War II Nazi bunkers. There are enough mass destruction weapons already under questionable controls.

Harriet Klausner