cover image Sand and Fire

Sand and Fire

Tom Young. Putnam, $26.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-399-16688-4

Gunnery Sgt. A.E. Blount joins the cast in Young’s gripping fifth military thriller (after 2013’s The Warriors). A day away from retirement, Blount witnesses a brutal chemical weapons attack by enemy jihadists on a nightclub mere steps away from the Sigonella Naval Air Station in Sicily. In the aftermath, Blount—a big man, at almost seven feet tall and 245 pounds—reverses course, rejoining the Marines for another final mission, which might be his most dangerous yet. As for the series regulars, Sophia Gold now works as a U.N. translator stationed in Libya, while Michael Parson has been promoted to lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Africa Command, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. With the strikes spreading to North Africa, the three heroes unite with old friends to take out terrorist leader Sadiq Kassam before he carries out his threats to bring chemical warfare to the U.S. This page-turner offers thrilling action sequences and harrowing plot twists in abundance. [em]Agent: Michael Carlisle, Inkwell Management. (July) [/em]