Richard Herman

"The China Sea" is about a team put together by General Santos, an old Vietnam war veteran. The task force has an unlimited budget and reports directly to the President. Their task is to stop the Chinese aggressive effort in the China Sea. China’s intent is to take over much of the ocean between its new man-made islands and Taiwan, making it all part of one China.

An extremely talented Australian computer hacker, Alexandra, takes a central role in the disruption of Chinese supply chains and ends up being personally targeted. The love interest of the task force’s second in command, at the end of the book Alexandra is abducted. She isn't recovered which convinces me that this will be the focus of a sequel.

Incorporated in this book are many of the events going on in the Pacific today. This inclusion makes the book realistic and the plot lines plausible. With regard to the task force's off the books two-billion-dollar budget, I doubt that any US President could spend that kind of money without drawing some congressional oversight committee's scrutiny. But, an almost unlimited budget made for a good story.

I liked this book. Its only 249 pages long, the plot is not complex, and it is a quick read.… (meer)