Hunter Killer (Admiral Arnold Morgan Series #8) » (Abridged)

Patrick Robinson is the author of seven international bestselling suspense thrillers, including Nimitz Class and Hunter Killer, as well as several nonfiction bestsellers. He divides his time between Ireland and Cape Cod.

Appalled at his family's extravagant lifestyle, Crown Prince Nasir vows to end their careless and destructive rule, and sets in motion a top-secret operation to destroy the Saudi oil industry and bankrupt the monarchy.

Nasir turns to France with their Hunter Killer guided missile submarines, which can inflict devastating damage on the massive oil installations on the shores of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

Under the command of the mysterious and lethally effective Col. Jacques Gamoudi -- nicknamed Le Chasseur, or "The Hunter" -- the ferocious battle for the desert kingdom begins. As the world's oil markets plunge into chaos, Admiral Arnold Morgan and Lt. Cdr. Jimmy Ramshawe are summoned to the White House to discover that Gamoudi has been joined by none other than Morgan's archenemy, Hamas General Ravi Rashood, in the battle for the capital city of Riyadh.

Performed by Simon Vance

Publishers Weekly

Talk about "ripped from the headlines": bestseller Robinson's latest international political thriller (after 2004's Scimitar SL-2) reads like the evening news on speed. In 2009, Saudi Arabia's Prince Nasir plans to overthrow his country's royal family-a popular target, especially since Farenheit 9/11-with the French government's help. In order to make the coup d'etat appear an exclusively Arab job, the French hire a Moroccan, Col. Jacques Gamoudi (aka Le Chasseur or the Hunter), to lead the operation. Joining Gamoudi is a notorious Hamas terrorist (the killer of the title). Foreseeing all that Saudi oil flowing away from American gas stations, U.S. Adm. Arnold Morgan has to find a way to stop the coup without making the French hate us more than they already do. If the surfeit of military detail tends to slow the action, the main characters come across as real people caught up in a frightening scenario-one that's perhaps a bit too close to reality to make this novel completely comfortable as escapist fiction. Agent, Ed Victor (U.K.). (May 1) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.