THE LAST PHOENIX

A routine thriller about our first woman president, who’s burdened by political, geopolitical, and pesky un-political problems.

She turns for help to the soldier she loves, too. Which goes to show how smart Madeline O’Keith Turner is, because Matt Pontowski—himself the grandson of a US president—is the very model of a modern major general. Brilliant, courageous, charismatic—and, until injured, the hottest of hot pilots—he’s Rambo gentrified. And to cope with the sea of troubles Maddy is beset by, he’ll need every bit of his vaunted firepower. Bad enough that Iraq, Iran, and Syria have joined in a secret alliance—the United Islamic Front—aimed at total control of Middle Eastern oil reserves. But what are the Chinese up to? Do they see Middle East unrest as an opportunity to have their way with a vulnerable, unguarded Asia? And is all this messing about prelude to a combined attack with the US as target? You bet it is, and Major General Matt, who’s as sweet on President Maddy as she is on him, buckles on his work clothes, ready to save the woman and the country he loves. Off he goes to Malaysia, where China’s People’s Liberation Army has begun serious incursions. At the head of his ad hoc group of special forces hard guys (men and women)—including a prime collection of Golden Oldie top-gun pilots with whom he’s gone to other wars—Matt takes on superior forces as only he can. In the meantime, back in “the Imperial City,” Maddy, too, is whittling away at powerful enemies, including one black-hearted senator with literary roots in 19th-century melodrama.

As always, Herman, a retired Air Force major, evokes his far-flung battlefields with colorful authenticity (The Trojan Sea, 2001, etc.). It’s his home-front warriors that seem pale and stale.