Against All Enemies

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Mixing high- and low-tech espionage, Air Force missions and politics into a credible and exciting plot with attractive characters and breakneck action, Herman's latest (after Power Curve, 1997) is a sure winner. When a Sudanese terrorist group is discovered to be almost capable of dispersing the Ebola virus ("the poor man's atomic bomb"), two Americans are sent on a secret B-2 mission to destroy the underground Sudanese lab--then are captured, tortured and almost certainly doomed. At the same time, in Missouri, Bradley Jefferson, an outstanding, African American Muslim Air Force captain, is charged with having passed mission details to the enemy. Trial lawyer and Air Force Reservist Hank Sutherland is recalled to active duty to prosecute Jefferson and is almost immediately plunged into a complex swirl of suspicious characters and conflicting motives. Adding nightclub strippers, FBI agents, a ruthless demagogue with sights on the presidency and a mysterious presidential adviser with a big, smart computer at his disposal, Herman keeps all of his plots spinning and readers of military adventure on the edge of their seats. (Aug.) FYI: Avon will simultaneously publish Power Curve in paperback.

Library Journal

Look for major advertising for this new thriller from Herman, a member of the USAF for 21 years and author of the successful Power Curve (LJ 4/15/97). Here, a court martial after the crash of a B-2 bomber gets complicated.

Kirkus Reviews

Former Air Force major Herman (most recently, Power Curve, 1997, about the first woman president of the US) produces realistic suspense tales that some call "thinking man's" thrillers that out-Clancy Clancy. Here, a military mission goes sour when an American B-2 bomber loaded with high-tech goodies fails in its attack on a Sudanese biological weapons plant and the crew is captured. Back in California at the ironically named Whiteman Air Force Base, an African-American (and Muslim) Air Force captain, Bradley Jefferson, is cast as scapegoat, charged with espionage, and readied for court-martial. Taking advantage of this trial is demagogue Jonathan Meredith, head of the superpatriotric First Brigade, who fancies himself an American Caesar and is running for President. His heroism during the Oklahoma Cityþstyle bombing of the new San Francisco Shopping Emporium (and his angry comments following the disaster) have given him great cachet, even though he's leading the country into a racial war. Government prosecutor Hank Sutherland looks likely to convict the Air Force captain, though Jefferson is defended by a famous defense lawyer. Echoes of the Dreyfus case abound, while legal issues stitch together much of the novelþs high tensions. Herman has a distinctive beat to his wickedly adroit military thrillers whose firestorms are averted only at the last second.