Special Ops

by David Alexander

Book Overview

The result of years of research, SINDAS is a computer system programmed to respond to nuclear threats. But something has gone wrong-very wrong. A virus has attacked the system. And all across the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425178625
• ISBN13: 9780425178621
• Release Date: February 2001
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 325 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.1" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

SPECIAL OPS -- A DAMN GOOD READ

I read Special Ops when it came out and I just happened to spot a senseless hate review that tried to pan it, so I checked out the reviewer's comments. Here's what I found. First, the hate reviewer states he doesn't understand "lot of acronyms he's using" and mistakenly cites the term "Zulu time" as an acronym when, according to any dictionary, it is not an acronym at all, and uses some strange calculation regarding this statistic, therefore basing his unfounded criticism on no acronyms at all.His other statements of "fact" are equally erroneous. For example, the word "sub-supersonic" was made up by the reviewer. It never actually appeared in the book.In all, the reviewer based a scathing criticism of a 1000,000 word novel on a handful of miscellaneous terms scattered throughout the novel and whose attention to the plot -- which is, of course, what any novel is mainly about, is limited to the asinine observation that "The mere thought of a computer system that develops the power of thought and the means to destroy human beings beggars belief." If such a development is inconceivable to the reviewer then the reviewer needs remedial reading lessons.Finally, the reviewer has a spelling problem, such as with the word "friagtes" instead of "frigates." Either that or he's trying to tell us that "friagtes" is the correct term.Again, this review was a scream of pure, mindless hate and jealousy. Special Ops is a novel, not a documentary. I believe it is irresponsible to print hate reviews of this kind, and by "this kind" I mean mindless, hate-filled screams of jealous rage from sick losers who use the time-worn, empty tactic of scouring a book for a line here and a word there that can be taken out of context and used as a pretext to justify an attack, and disregarding the entire substance and basis of the novel as a whole.I believe that individuals who write these reviews need therapy but should not be permitted to use a book review page as a therapy session. Just as writers of spam are blocked because they are offensive, this sort of review is just another type of spam and there should be a way to block it too.Special Ops is a damn good technothriller. The fact that this creep was so full of twisted hate toward it means he probably wished he could write something half as good.

Technothriller Page-Turner

I think this is one of Alexander's best thrillers. It's convincing because he's dealt with global realities such as North Korea's continuing to build up a nuclear arsenal and the threat from other rogue states like Iraq. The way the behind-the-scenes parts of the story were handled, such as those taking place at the Pentagon, was also well done. The idea of having secret paramilitary groups that are specially trained to take out weapons of mass destruction I thought was handled in an original way. Special Ops has got my recommendation.

AN ACTION TECHNOTHRILLER WORTH ANYBODY'S TIME

I've just finished reading Special Ops, and I think it's a really good book, with effective plotting, strong characters and exciting action scenes. I happened to notice the reviewer who griped about alleged mistakes in the book, and I'd like to put in my two cents worth. I'm sick and tired of those who try to put down good writers by pointing out minor mistakes -- real or, in this case, imaginary. In fact, one of the reasons I stopped cruising some Tom Clancy discussion groups was because members were always bitching about this or that thing that Clancy got wrong in his books. In most cases -- including the situation here with Special Ops -- the writer not only pulled a few stats out of several hundred pages, but every one of his criticisms is either misleading or just plain wrong. I won't go over them point by point, because I've got better things to do, but they're either all disproven from context, justified by creative license, correct according to standard reference works, or correct by the actual experience of real fighting men in the field, not those who have to thumb through back issues of Gun Digest to get their info. I wish guys like the griper would just put a sock in it.

A GREAT, FUN READ WITH ACTION GALORE

Special Ops was a very enjoyable book, one I'm glad I brought along with me on a recent business trip overseas. It was a real page-turner, with plenty of action, a lot of interesting characters and quite a few clever twists and turns. I hope they make a movie out of it someday.

SPECIAL OPS -- A TECHNOTHRILLER WITH GLOBAL REACH

David Alexander's new technothriller, Special Ops, is a page-turner that is based upon real-world military, political and technological scenarios. The book uses a multilayered plotline to weave a complex and exciting story that intercuts between the various scenarios and ties them all together. There are three main scenarios that Alexander exploits to drive the momentum of the novel. The first scenario concerns the automation of the single integrated operations plans or SIOPs of the United States, the C.I.S., and NATO allies. The U.S. SIOP is a complex plan for the waging of nuclear war and includes the five DEFCON or defense condition levels, each of them mandating a different readiness posture. In Special Ops, the human element has been taken out of the decision matrix, and the SIOP is computer controlled. The next scenario concerns the existence of a covert special missions unit tasked by high echelons of the U.S. military to deal specifically with the threat of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This elite unit acts as a scalpel force, surgically striking at nuclear/biological/chemical (NBC) weapons development facilities around the world. Alexander's next and third major scenario is based on North Korea's ongoing nuclear weapons development program and on that country's determination to launch nuclear strikes on South Korea and the U.S. West Coast using theater and medium-range ballistic nuclear missiles. Beyond this, a Kremlin coup results in the establishment of a neo-Communist Russia with new expansionist and militarist aims. The reborn Soviet state soon launches an incursion into the Balkans and embroils U.S. and NATO forces in a regional European land war that could quickly escalate into global and nuclear East-West confrontation. These three main scenarios form the foundation of the technothriller. Using multiple sub-plots and a variety of characters, Alexander skillfully weaves a tapestry of action, adventure and suspense that builds with every chapter. Throughout the book, there is scene after scene after scene of what I consider to be some of the best procedural writing on warfare ever done. The battle scenes take place on land, in the air and on the sea. They include tank battles, fighter missions, stealth bomber missions, special forces operations, tube battery fire, and very well-crafted and believable accounts of the battlefield deployment of special (read nuclear) weaponry. Alexander, who is the author of the nonfiction Tomorrow's Soldier, is a specialist in the strategic and tactical aspects of land and aerial warfare, and he has once again proven himself capable of believably describing how the hardware would work within the battlespace of a multi-theater regional war. In this regard Special Ops is full of the same wealth of detail as two of his previous successful technothrillers, Bandit and Shadow Down. But where these two earlier books mainly focused on the SR-71 Blackbird and the F117A Nighthawk, Special Op