THE KILL BOX

by Chris Stewart ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1998

Exciting air battles, virus attacks, and heavy duplicity in Iraq, courtesy of second-novelist Stewart (Shattered Done, 1997), an Air Force major who's logged thousands of hours in the F-15 jet fighter and B-1 bomber. Here, radio contact with Air Force One, returning from the Middle East and hearing ex-President Bush and the nation's current veep, suddenly dies, as does everyone aboard the craft while it flies on over North Carolina like a ghost ship until crashing. Blood and tissue samples reveal that the crew and politicos perished of a new virus--the cause traced back to Odai Hossein, top military commander of Iraq and son of Saddam. Odai, according to the story here, was in charge of executing his three brothers, their male children, most of their wives, and his brothers-in-law (not true, in fact, but Stewart hardly need fear a lawsuit from Odai). Against his father's wishes, Odai has now launched numerous virus attacks on the great Satan, downing not only Air Force One but also offing 5,000 US military personnel at Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia--and planting an aerosol bomb in Washington meant for President Andrew Brooks. Millions upon millions will die as the virus spreads. Thus the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff calls upon Captain Charlie McKay, the Air Force's Top Gun, to fly into Iraq, kidnap Odai (not an easy task), and wrest from him the exact desert location of Iraq's supersecret hidden biological lab. They'll finally be led to their prey by a detection device placed in Odai's all-terrain Range Rover by Arai McKenzie Cutter, an Iraqi-born US citizen who knows every corridor of the Presidential Palace. Much fireworks as Charlie outfoxes missiles and crazed Odai sheds lakes of blood.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1998

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Evans

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1998

Categories: FICTION